Share with the people their daily sorrows, Fr Ngosa urges priests

Share with the people their daily sorrows, Fr Ngosa urges priests
By Darious Kapembwa in Kitwe
Tue 28 Sep. 2010, 03:30 CAT

FR Alexander Ngosa of St Theresa’s Ibenga Mission has called on young priests to share with the people their daily sorrows and happy moments in times of confusion.

During the 10th priestly anniversary of Fr John Lesa of Sacred Heart Parish in Kitwe on Sunday, Fr Ngosa said people wanted inspiration in times of suffering and were looking to prophets such as priests to give them hope at a time when they felt neglected. He also observed that those with money and power were doing everything in their power to oppress the poor and the weak.

“As a nation, we have failed to share resources equitably and people with money and power have been blinded such that they cannot see the poor on either sides of life,” Fr Ngosa said.

And Fr Ngosa, in apparent reference to President Rupiah Banda, said some people were stopping others from campaigning for elections while themselves were running television messages which were purely campaign materials.

“Those without money are being stopped from campaigning under the pretext that it is not yet time for campaigns while those with power and money are running pure campaign speeches on television. This clearly shows that somebody has started campaigning, it’s totally unexpected,” Fr Ngosa said.

He said people in authority did not care for the majority anymore but only cared about themselves and their families. He said those in authority had tarred roads that led to their houses up to their doorsteps but that elsewhere there were no roads to talk about.

He called for equal distribution of wealth in order to reduce the discrepancy between the rich and the poor.

Fr Ngosa told the congregation that it was wrong for those in leadership to leave the poor to fend for themselves while they (leaders) had access to public wealth.

He said what was disturbing was that even governance policies that were being formulated were tailor-made to suit the rich.

“In today’s society, if you have money you can say anything and you cannot go to jail but a poor man can’t say anything. The moment you open your mouth as a poor man, you will go to jail,” he said.

Fr Ngosa reminded the congregation not to be blinded by the wealth they acquired but always remember that poor people needed to benefit from the power they were holding and the money they had acquired.

Fr Ngosa who quoted from the book of Amos 6: 4 - 7 and the gospel of John which tells the story of a rich man and poor Lazarus warned Christians against taking advantage of the poor in society just because they had acquired some wealth.