2014 will be a big headache - Catholic Church
By By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 31 Dec. 2013, 16:10 CAT
THE Catholic Church says government's lifting of tax exemptions for public benefit organisations and other non-governmental organisations through Statutory Instrument 103, will have enormous and long-term repercussions on the church's ability to help poor people.
In a New Year's message yesterday, Zambia Episcopal Conference spokesperson Fr Paul Samasumo stated that the Church would begin this year with a big headache caused to it by way of the Statutory Instrument No. 103 of 2013.
He stated it would become increasingly difficult for the Church to purchase field utility vehicles such as vans for pastoral and social activities, equipment for churches, schools and hospitals as well as spare parts.
Fr Samasumo stated that the Catholic Church in Zambia simply does not have the ability to pay the high customs duty that would now be required.
"This, in turn, will seriously and negatively impact on the Church's ability to help the poor, who are the beneficiaries of most of our social programmes. The impact will be felt more in the health and education sectors. However, our pastoral and Church programmes will similarly be affected," he said.
Fr Samasumo said if one considered that the Catholic Church provides close to 70 per cent of all rural health care in Zambia or the fact the Church runs the largest number of grant-aided schools in the country, the Statutory Instrument had serious and far-reaching implications.
"Just to illustrate: We have three teacher training colleges; 38 grant-aided secondary/high schools; nine special schools for children with various disabilities; more than 100 nursery and community schools; numerous primary and secondary schools that are privately owned and fully run by our missionary congregations. These figures do not take into consideration nursing schools, many vocational training centres and schools such as carpentry, secretarial, home craft centres, hotel and catering schools as well as parish adult literacy clubs. All these in various ways will be affected by this Statutory Instrument," he said.
Fr Samasumo said most of the help for church programmes in Zambia comes from Europe and this aid had been dwindling over the years.
He said the few donors still remaining would not take kindly to the use of donated funds for customs duty or for donated equipment meant for the poor to be taxed here in Zambia.
"They will simply reduce or stop sending aid. In the end, it will be the poor to be affected. Our experience is that once donors move aid elsewhere, they do not return. The government facility of tax exemptions has always been for non-luxury items and non-luxury vehicles. If government knows of anyone abusing this facility, the best thing would have been for the law enforcement agencies to prosecute those found wanting instead of punishing everybody," he said.
He said governments encourage and give incentives to anyone doing good charitable work because they realise that governments were not able to be everywhere.
Fr Samasumo said the Church was a partner of government and targeting the very institutions supplementing government work was "indeed very disappointing".
"We hope there can still be dialogue over this Statutory Instrument. As our Bishops come for their January meetings, this is something that they will certainly be keen to engage with government," he said.
And Fr Samasumo said Pope Francis has written a New Year message in which he has called the world to embrace fraternity as the foundation of peace.
"Fraternity is about treating each other as brothers and sisters because that is what we really are," he said. "From the very start, Pope Francis has himself personified the very meaning of fraternity by his openness and concern for the poor. It is therefore not surprising that in his first New Year's message, Pope Francis elaborates on the poor and on peace under the inclusive and meaningful heading of fraternity."
He said the Catholic Church in Zambia would this year continue to embrace the poor wherever they were.
Fr Samasumo said the Church would do this through the social and development wing known as Caritas Zambia.
"There is a branch of Caritas in every parish and diocese. Although normally one wants to be positive and hopeful at the beginning of the year, for us the year is beginning with a rather big headache (Statutory Instrument)," said Fr Samasumo./SM/News/WK
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Pope Francis and world food security
By Editor
Sat 29 June 2013, 14:00 CAT
Over 50 years have elapsed since the World Indicative Plan for Agricultural Development (WIP) was presented within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1962. It reflected the difficult food and agricultural development situation at the time and established the guidelines for a programme that was, by 1985, to make hunger and undernourishment mere bitter memories of an unpleasant past for the peoples of the Third World and turn the agriculture sector into a dynamic development factor instead of a traditionally stagnant and weak sector.
Over 38 years have, likewise, elapsed since the World Food Conference in Rome in 1974, urgently convened in view of the massive famines and alarming decrease of food reserves recorded during those years. On that occasion, the conference solemnly declared that hunger and undernourishment should be stumped out on the planet in 10 years and called on all nations to cooperate in an enormous effort for international food security. And this week Pope Francis, addressing participants at the FAO conference in Rome, said current levels of food production were sufficient "yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This is truly scandalous, the dictatorship of the economy and the spread of consumerist values should not be allowed to continue. A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table. This culture of waste in an increasingly consumerist world should be denounced and throwing away good food is like stealing from poor people".
The total failure of these endeavours to achieve the basic and essential objectives of supplying all human beings with enough food to develop their potentialities for enjoying a full life is today more evident than ever. The millions of hungry people are turning into a tragic irony all these good intentions.
By now, it is perfectly obvious that the global efforts to eliminate hunger have failed and a new approach to the problem is needed.
The painful truth is that despite the goals to eradicate it, hunger persists and tends to grow. This is a disgraceful reality for all mankind. The existence of large numbers of hungry and undernourished people in the world constitutes an affront to all mankind. A stable, permanent solution must be found for this serious problem.
An immediate solution should be found for the acute deficit in foodstuffs in certain regions of the world, by means of a considerable flow from the large world excesses, transferred in the form of donations, soft credits and sales at special prices.
It is vitally necessary to create world reserves of foodstuffs and, at the same time, to struggle against the deliberate reduction of the production of foodstuffs and their absurd destruction for commercial reasons in certain developed countries, as this is both inhuman and selfish.
Clearly, new concepts and ideas are required that will make possible world food security, a sustainable world and a better world.
Why must anyone endure hunger and all sorts of human and social afflictions for exclusively commercial reasons and profits? Why should this be so when it's possible to produce all the food required for meeting reasonable human needs compatible with the preservation of nature and life on our planet? We must ponder and reach our own conclusions. Obviously, it is reasonable for people to have food.
Pope Francis correctly talks about the culture of waste in an increasingly consumerist world and urges us to denounce it. By creating unsustainable consumerism in the industrialised countries and sowing impossible dreams throughout the rest of the world, this is causing great injury to humankind. It has poisoned the atmosphere and depleted its enormous non-renewable natural resources, which humankind will need in the future. And in saying this, we are not thinking of an idealistic, impossible, absurd world; we are merely trying to imagine what a real world and a happier person could be like. Without mentioning commodities, it suffices to mention a concept: inequality has made more than 80 per cent of the people on the planet unhappy.
The concerns being expressed by the Pope are legitimate. We shouldn't forget that within 50 years, humanity will be 10 billion plus people, although the world cannot cope with the seven billion it has now. Of those seven billion, over five billion live in the poor, underdeveloped world and only around one billion or so live in developed countries. It doesn't mean that all those who live in the developed countries are receiving the benefits of development. No, there are great inequalities in wealth in those developed countries and millions of unemployed, too.
There are also rich people in the underdeveloped countries. They do not have any problems. There is a percentage who live as if they were in developed countries. From that point down is where the tragedy begins. That is to say, the rich classes in the underdeveloped countries can have the average consumption level they have in developed countries.
Sooner or later, everything will have to change. We hope the world can be saved. The world has no alternative; it must be saved, and it should save nature, from which the 10 billion people that we will soon be will have to live. Why not seek other formulas and admit that humankind is able to organise its life and its destiny in a more rational and humane manner?
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Pope Francis and world food security
By Editor
Sat 29 June 2013, 14:00 CAT
Over 50 years have elapsed since the World Indicative Plan for Agricultural Development (WIP) was presented within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1962. It reflected the difficult food and agricultural development situation at the time and established the guidelines for a programme that was, by 1985, to make hunger and undernourishment mere bitter memories of an unpleasant past for the peoples of the Third World and turn the agriculture sector into a dynamic development factor instead of a traditionally stagnant and weak sector.
Over 38 years have, likewise, elapsed since the World Food Conference in Rome in 1974, urgently convened in view of the massive famines and alarming decrease of food reserves recorded during those years. On that occasion, the conference solemnly declared that hunger and undernourishment should be stumped out on the planet in 10 years and called on all nations to cooperate in an enormous effort for international food security. And this week Pope Francis, addressing participants at the FAO conference in Rome, said current levels of food production were sufficient "yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This is truly scandalous, the dictatorship of the economy and the spread of consumerist values should not be allowed to continue. A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table. This culture of waste in an increasingly consumerist world should be denounced and throwing away good food is like stealing from poor people".
The total failure of these endeavours to achieve the basic and essential objectives of supplying all human beings with enough food to develop their potentialities for enjoying a full life is today more evident than ever. The millions of hungry people are turning into a tragic irony all these good intentions.
By now, it is perfectly obvious that the global efforts to eliminate hunger have failed and a new approach to the problem is needed.
The painful truth is that despite the goals to eradicate it, hunger persists and tends to grow. This is a disgraceful reality for all mankind. The existence of large numbers of hungry and undernourished people in the world constitutes an affront to all mankind. A stable, permanent solution must be found for this serious problem.
An immediate solution should be found for the acute deficit in foodstuffs in certain regions of the world, by means of a considerable flow from the large world excesses, transferred in the form of donations, soft credits and sales at special prices.
It is vitally necessary to create world reserves of foodstuffs and, at the same time, to struggle against the deliberate reduction of the production of foodstuffs and their absurd destruction for commercial reasons in certain developed countries, as this is both inhuman and selfish.
Clearly, new concepts and ideas are required that will make possible world food security, a sustainable world and a better world.
Why must anyone endure hunger and all sorts of human and social afflictions for exclusively commercial reasons and profits? Why should this be so when it's possible to produce all the food required for meeting reasonable human needs compatible with the preservation of nature and life on our planet? We must ponder and reach our own conclusions. Obviously, it is reasonable for people to have food.
Pope Francis correctly talks about the culture of waste in an increasingly consumerist world and urges us to denounce it. By creating unsustainable consumerism in the industrialised countries and sowing impossible dreams throughout the rest of the world, this is causing great injury to humankind. It has poisoned the atmosphere and depleted its enormous non-renewable natural resources, which humankind will need in the future. And in saying this, we are not thinking of an idealistic, impossible, absurd world; we are merely trying to imagine what a real world and a happier person could be like. Without mentioning commodities, it suffices to mention a concept: inequality has made more than 80 per cent of the people on the planet unhappy.
The concerns being expressed by the Pope are legitimate. We shouldn't forget that within 50 years, humanity will be 10 billion plus people, although the world cannot cope with the seven billion it has now. Of those seven billion, over five billion live in the poor, underdeveloped world and only around one billion or so live in developed countries. It doesn't mean that all those who live in the developed countries are receiving the benefits of development. No, there are great inequalities in wealth in those developed countries and millions of unemployed, too.
There are also rich people in the underdeveloped countries. They do not have any problems. There is a percentage who live as if they were in developed countries. From that point down is where the tragedy begins. That is to say, the rich classes in the underdeveloped countries can have the average consumption level they have in developed countries.
Sooner or later, everything will have to change. We hope the world can be saved. The world has no alternative; it must be saved, and it should save nature, from which the 10 billion people that we will soon be will have to live. Why not seek other formulas and admit that humankind is able to organise its life and its destiny in a more rational and humane manner?
Labels: AGRICULTURE, CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Hatred blinding opposition leaders -Fr Mpasa
By Godfrey Chikumbi in Kawambwa and Cynthia Phiri in Pemba
Sat 13 Apr. 2013, 14:00 CAT
FATHER Mambwe Mpasa says hatred against those in leadership by the opposition is making them oppose even good things.
And Fr Mpasa says President Michael Sata has shown true statesmanship by lobbying for Felix Mutati's election as UNCTAD secretary general.
Fr Mpasa, who is Catholic Church Vicar General for Mansa Diocese, observed that too much hatred against President Sata and those in government had blinded some opposition leaders from seeing even the good things that the government was doing.
"Hatred is not good because if you go on harbouring hatred, it will blind you from seeing the good in others. So for those harbouring hatred, let them come out of it. Let's show love even towards government.
Where there are mistakes, let us correct them with love," Fr Mpasa said.
He called on the opposition to correct the government out of love and praise where things were good.
And Fr Mpasa said President Sata had risen above partisan politics to focus on national interests by advertising Mutati's name for the UNCTAD position.
He said President Sata never wanted to be confined to his own party when it came to doing what was good for Zambia.
Fr Mpasa implored Zambians to learn from the head of state to support talent regardless of where it was.
"The President has demonstrated how we should support each other where necessary without discriminating ourselves. What the President has done will remain good for Zambia," he said.
Fr Mpasa also commended MMD president Nevers Mumba for welcoming President Sata's support for Mutati's candidature.
Meanwhile, Pemba district commissioner Reginald Mugoba says it is unfair for the opposition to gain political mileage by peddling lies that the government is doing very little to put up infrastructure in the newly created districts when the government had lined up a comprehensive programme in Pemba.
Addressing scores of villagers when he handed over anew hammer mill from government to a local women's club on Wednesday, Mugoba lashed out at opposition parties for engaging in baseless arguments.
He said President Sata had not U-turned on his promise of decentralising the governance structures and that the granting of district status to Pemba was one such move meant to empower the local people to govern themselves.
"Government has a clear and well defined roadmap on infrastructural development in the new district, so I am just wondering why the opposition is engaging in baseless claims when they have no facts," he said.
He said the district administration had embarked on an aggressive campaign to woo investors to Pemba who would set up facilities service stations and banking facilities among others.
And Mugoba assured the Munyona women's club that the donation of the hammer mill was one of the many things they were yet to benefit them from government.
Meanwhile, a women activist of Pemba, Keziah Munsanje, described President Sata as the first President to put in place robust programmes aimed at economically empowering women.
Munsanje, who is both former Pemba UPND councillor and mayor for Choma, said none of the opposition parties had demonstrated willingness to improve the status of women especially in Sothern Province.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, MWAMBE MPASA, POLITICS
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Sata delivering - Nkomeshya
By Mwala Kalaluka in Chongwe
Mon 01 Apr. 2013, 14:00 CAT
HOUSE of Chiefs chairperson chieftainess Nkomeshya II of the Soli people yesterday vowed to defend her statement that President Michael Sata's government is delivering on its campaign promises if some people want to describe it as politics.
And chieftainess Nkomeshya says the people of Chongwe will pray for President Sata so that he bounces back in State House in 2016. Meanwhile, President Sata told the people of Chongwe yesterday that many Zambian men lack the spirit of perseverance.
But Chongwe's St Paul's Catholic Parish priest Fr Gabriel Mwanamwalye says irresponsible characters always rush to point fingers at others instead of owning their decisions.
In a vote of thanks after President Sata and first lady Dr Christine Kaseba joined hundreds of Catholics at an Easter Mass held at Chongwe's St Paul's Catholic Church yesterday, chieftainess Nkomeshya said her people were seeing the development that the government was delivering.
"We will be praying for you that even in 2016 you come back because your works are being seen by everybody," said chieftainess Nkomeshya as the congregation applauded.
"When other people say'when are the promises going to be made?' I think for us here in Chongwe, we have seen what is happening. You are linking Zambia. You are not upgrading roads which were left by other people. You are opening new roads to link, to pass in areas where other people never thought that they needed a road, but you are doing it. What else are we looking for? We thank you, please continue. All the people of Zambia need you."
She said the fact that people were defecting from their political parties to join the party in government was an indication that President Sata was doing very well.
"If you were not, they were going to stick to their political parties. We thank you," chieftainess Nkomeshya said. "I am not campaigning. It is not my role. I do understand the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia and its requirements and the dos and the don'ts as a traditional leader... Therefore, if I am talking about developmental things, it cannot be referred to as politics. If people want to refer to it that way, I will stand my ground and defend my position."
Chieftainess Nkomeshya, who thanked President Sata for the donation of K50 million for the Church to erect a wall perimeter, said being the first female House of Chiefs chairperson was a challenge but that she could only make a difference with the support of the government.
"It demonstrates that you yourself, from what you have said, are a grassroots leader. You have come to celebrate the Mass with the poor, with the villagers. What else can we say?" she said. "I also want to thank people who have congratulated me for my election as chairperson of the House of Chiefs. It is a challenge but with the hand of the Lord, I will meet the expectations of the chiefs and their subjects in this country."
And President Sata said Zambia would go a long way if its men learnt to persevere like women.
"But men, even of my own age, perseverance is lacking," President Sata said. "There is no perfect person… if you don't offend others, be offended but all of us we offend each other. Let us forgive each other."
President Sata, however, said the spiteful and backstabbers should forget about going to heaven.
"If Jesus had hearts like ours, he would not even have died on the cross," he said.
President Sata said he had persevered from the time he was a councillor to date.
"No one wants to be a loafer," said President Sata.
But delivering his homily at the same Mass, Fr Mwanamwalye said Easter was a time for a renewal.
"It is a day of joy, it is a day of love, it is a day of reconciliation and it is a day of liberation," he said. "If we are to understand the meaning of Easter, we must go back to where it all began, at creation."
Fr Mwanamwalye said when sin entered the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Adam blamed the woman and the woman in turn blamed the serpent.
"Here comes an issue of responsibility. Us human beings, when we are found wanting, instead of owning up over our decisions, we point a finger at somebody," he said.
Fr Mwanamwalye said when someone steals from the poor people, they first offend God, then offend those who are affected and they ultimately degrade their personality.
"A leader must always be a servant… There are some people who have tried and tried but at last they managed to get what they wanted. We don't want to mention names," he said. "The poverty we are seeing has some background; greedy people… There are is an aspect of corruption, stealing from the poor people."
Fr Mwanamwalye said amidst applause that the corrupt tendency of stealing from poor people should be fought religiously but also with love.
"It is a noble task to defend the poor," he said.
Fr Mwanamwalye said laziness, lack of priorities and regionalism were also the other stumbling blocks inhibiting Zambians from enjoying life to the fullest.
"In our country we have a lot of people who are lazy," he said.
Fr Mwanamwalye said obsession with tribe would just cause war.
Fr Mwanamwalye in his closing speech asked President Sata to continue being humble and closer to the people.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHIEFTAINESS NKOMESHA, GABRIEL MWANAMWALYE, MICHAEL SATA
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Fr Chilinda criticises MPs for removing Rupiah's immunity
By Henry Sinyangwe
Tue 19 Mar. 2013, 09:20 CAT
ST Ignatius Catholic Church priest Fr Charles Chilinda yesterday criticised members of parliament who voted for the removal of former president Rupiah Banda's immunity, saying they do not have clean hands.
Delivering homily during mass yesterday whose theme centered on a woman who was taken to Jesus after being found committing adultery, Fr Chilinda said he wished those who overwhelmingly supported the removal of Banda's immunity "were clean".
He likened the story of the adulterous woman in the Bible to what happened during the removal of Banda's immunity.
Justice minister Wynter Kabimba on Friday moved a motion in Parliament to remove Banda's immunity based on allegations of money laundering, corruption and abuse of office.
"All those who removed his immunity, I wished they had clean hands. If none of them had sinned in their lives, I would have shaken hands with them, but not now because some of them are not clean, especially the mover of the motion. He cannot talk about the oil deal of Banda because he is also accused of taking a bribe," Fr Chilinda said.
He said he was aware that a certain editor of a newspaper would attack him because of the position he has taken on the removal of Banda's immunity.
"As I am saying this, there is a certain editor of some newspaper who is going to attack me and I hope you parishioners will come and join me when I am being persecuted for the homily I have given on the immunity," Fr Chilinda said.
He repeatedly emphasised that his decision to speak against the removal of Banda's immunity was based on understanding that "none of the members of parliament who voted for the motion had not sinned".
Fr Chilinda said he wondered what type of presidents Zambia will have if each one will have their immunity lifted in the manner that of Banda was removed.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, POLITICAL IMMUNITY, RUPIAH BANDA
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COMMENT - Also from Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!:
(YOUTUBE, DEMOCRACY NOW!)
Pope Francis' Junta Past: Argentine Journalist on New Pontiff's Ties to Abduction of Jesuit Priests
Pope Francis I: Bergoglio Has Ties To A Dark Period For The Catholic Church
By Global Research News
Global Research, March 13, 2013
Business Insider
by Geoffrey Ingersoll
Francis I along with the whole Argentine Catholic Church have faced criticism for their silence or complicity during the post-1976 military dictatorship — a failure for which the Church apologized in 2012.
Known as the Dirty War, this period saw a brutal battle between the ruling military elite and leftist guerrilla fighters, in which up to 30,000 Argentinians were “disappeared” and others were raped or killed.
Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky chronicled how the Church and Bergoglio were involved in this dark era. As described by Hugh O’Shaughnessy of The Guardian in 2011:
[Verbitsky] recounts how the Argentine navy with the connivance of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now the Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires, hid from a visiting delegation of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission the dictatorship’s political prisoners. Bergoglio was hiding them in nothing less than his holiday home in an island called El Silencio in the River Plate. The most shaming thing for the church is that in such circumstances Bergoglio’s name was allowed to go forward in the ballot to chose the successor of John Paul II. What scandal would not have ensued if the first pope ever to be elected from the continent of America had been revealed as an accessory to murder and false imprisonment.
Bergoglio contended to writer Sergio Rubin that he hid these people to keep them from the violent military junta, not the Human Rights Commission — even as his Jesuit order and Church leaders publicly endorsed the dictatorship.
He later said the endorsement was one of political pragmatism, which is understandable in the face of certain death, if not exactly righteous, according to the AP.
Bergoglio also faced criticism from human rights lawyer Myriam Bregman, who tried to bring the Catholic leader to court for allegedly turning over two priests to Argentine death squads — charges which others have denied.
In any case Bregman sees evidence in Bergoglio’s statements that he knew of the dictatorship’s crimes. “The dictatorship could not have operated this way without this key support,” she said, according to the AP.
Certainly the waters here are a bit muddied. The history has many sides, as it often does when it’s so far removed from such shocking tragedy and conflict. But it shouldn’t be forgotten, even as the present is filled with white smoke and cheering crowds.
Labels: ARGENTINA, CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Selfishness and the Church
By The Post
Sun 25 Nov. 2012, 14:00 CAT
The Church, like every other institution of our country, has not been spared from selfishness. And as Tabernacle of David Assemblies of God deacon Felix Kazwala correctly observes, very few people in this country are discharging their duties or obligations selflessly; "selfishness is everywhere, we see it in our political leadership. And it is also present in our workplaces, in our homes and even in the church, there is a lot of selfishness.
A selfish person is only interested in pleasing himself and is looking for only his ways, that which benefits him. While selfishness is for me and now, unselfishness is for the later, the future and for all of us".
This reminds us of the questions a friend of ours had to ask himself when he was asked by President Michael Sata to serve in some government institution. Our friend who had much higher personal earnings was going to face a serious drop in income if he took up the public service job and risked a drop in the standard of living of his family. But then he posed a few questions: can we fail to serve our people simply because of money?
A drop in income should stop us from serving the cause of our people when we are asked to do so? Yes, my family will suffer a drop in income, but are they going to starve? And what will the future generations think of us when they will be told that we refused to serve our government and our people because of fear of losing some income, because of money?
Clearly, all the reasonable and selfless answers to these questions left him with no alternative but to take up the government job that the President had offered him. And today, this brother of ours, this comrade of ours, is serving the cause of our government and our people selflessly and with sufficient honour and integrity. This is what is required from every one of us.
As for our Church leaders, it is true that some of them, or many of them are not in selfless service. There is selfishness in the Church and its leadership. And this being the case, how can they preach the word of God that is so much anchored on selflessness? It is said that justice begins at home and our church leaders themselves must be the first to give witness.
They cannot call others to virtues which they themselves do not make an effort practice. We therefore join Deacon Kazwala in asking our church leaders, our religious leaders, to be selfless, to respect themselves and to be exemplary in their daily lives.
The Church certainly cannot preach selflessness if it does not practice selflessness itself.
The poverty situation we see in our country today is the product of selfishness. And our church leaders are members of the church, which is also the product of a society that has taught us to look coldly on the impoverished plight of our brothers and sisters.
Clearly, our church leaders must draw nearer to the poor. They cannot just dedicate a small portion of their time to the poor; they must selflessly dedicate themselves fully to the cause of the poor, for only then will they be able to change the situation radically.
The limits of self-sacrifice must be set by real love, not by the standards of a society that tends to maintain the present situation. And the real import of all their actions must be sought in the love of their Lord Himself. He shared this love with them, and they must learn to grow in it.
St Paul suggests the outlines of this love: "If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will not do me any good whatever" (1 Cor 13:3); "Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty" (2 Cor 8:9).
We, too, must become poor in order to save the poor from poverty. Our churches and our religious leaders must somehow get close to the poor, because only close experience will teach them the great magnitude of the problems that afflict the majority of the people.
They must therefore transform the structures of their organisations so that such conduct really takes place. So long the Church and its individual members do not actually share the problems of the people - lack of basic necessities, insecurity, unemployment and so on and so forth - they cannot really identify with "the joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties, of persons of this age, especially those who are poor."
Against this background, it will be necessary to re-emphasis strongly that the example and teaching of Jesus, the anguished conditions of most of our people place before our church a challenge and a mission that it cannot side-step and to which it must respond with a speed and boldness adequate to the urgency of the times.
Christ not only loved the poor, but rather "being rich, he became poor," he lived in poverty. His mission centred on advising the poor on their liberation and he founded his Church as the sign of that poverty among men or women.
The Church itself has always tried to fulfil that vocation, notwithstanding very great weaknesses and flaws in the past. Our church, given our country's condition of poverty, experiences the urgency of translating that spirit of poverty into actions, attitudes and norms that make it a more lucid and authentic sign of its Lord. The poverty of so many brothers and sisters cries out for justice, solidarity, open witness, commitment, strength, selflessness and exertion directed to the fulfilment of the redeeming mission to which it was committed by Christ.
The present situation, then, demands from bishops, priests, reverends, pastors, religious and laypersons the spirit of poverty which, breaking the bonds of egotistical possession of temporal goods, stimulates the Christian to order organically the power and the finances in favour of the common good. The poverty of the church and its members in our country ought to be a sign and a commitment - a sign of the inestimable value of the poor in the eyes of God, an obligation of solidarity with those who suffer.
We ought to sharpen the awareness of our duty of solidarity with the poor to which charity needs us. This solidarity means that we make ours their problems and their struggles, that we know how to speak with them. This has to be concretised in criticism of injustice, in the struggle against the intolerable situation that a poor person often has to tolerate, in the willingness to dialogue with the groups responsible for that situation in order to make them understand their obligations.
We should try to always be very close to those who work in the self-denying apostolate with the poor in order that they will always feel our encouragement and know that we will not listen to parties interested in distorting their work. Human advancement has to be the goal of our action on behalf of the poor and it must be carried out in such a manner that we respect their personal dignity and teach them to help themselves.
To put it in one word - in a word that sums it all up and makes it concrete - the world that the Church ought to serve is, for us, the world of the poor. And we say of the world of the poor that it is the key to understanding the Christian faith, to understanding the activity of the Church and the political dimension of that faith and that ecclesial activity. It is the poor who tell us what the world is, and what the Church's service to the world should be. It is the poor who tell us what the polis is, what the city is and what it means for the Church really to live in that world.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, LEADERSHIP
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Church must do its best to lead above average - Rev Siwila
By Agness Changala
Sun 25 Nov. 2012, 14:00 CAT
A UNITED Church of Zambia clergyman Reverend Teddy Siwila has urged the Church to set an example of how a just society ought to be.
Commenting on Tabernacle of David Assemblies of God deacon Felix Kazwala who observed that the Church had not been spared from selfishness, Rev Siwila of Mufulira said the voice of the Church must be strong compared to the government and society.
He said the Church must set a standard in speaking for those less privileged in society.
"I think that was a question that Jesus Christ brought. He made it clear that the Church must be fair and even the people who speak out, must be fair and just," he said.
Rev Siwila explained that if the Church was measured at the same level as society or politicians, "it would lose saltiness and its mission becomes ineffective".
He said the Church must do its best to lead above average for it to speak authoritatively on all matters.
Rev Siwila said the mission of the Church would never be effective if what people saw in the Church was the same thing that existed in society.
"At the end of the day, people do not see any difference between the Church and society. When you talk about corruption, you talk about the Church, who are the richest?" he asked
Rev Siwila said if the clergy was getting rich at the expense of the poor, it meant that the Church and society had become selfish.
He said if the Church expected the government to be selfless, it should demonstrate what it means to be selfless.
"I think, I agree with him deacon Kazwala," he said.
Rev Siwila said the vice of selfishness must be overcome by following the teaching of Jesus Christ and allowing all members to prosper.
"But if as a pastor I live above average by far than anyone else, then we will be questioned," said Rev. "Because obviously what that means is that prosperity is more on the side of the pastors than the members of which we will be questioned."
During a sermon last Sunday, Kazwala noted that very few people were discharging their duties selflessly.
"…Selfishness is everywhere, we see it in our political leadership. And it is also present in our workplaces, in our homes and even in the church, there is a lot of selfishness. A selfish person is only interested in pleasing himself and is looking for only his ways, that which benefits him. While selfishness is for me and now, unselfishness is for the later, the future and for all of us," said Kazwala.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, LEADERSHIP
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I've never supported secession - Litunga
By Roy Habaalu
Fri 23 Nov. 2012, 17:10 CAT
THE Litunga has told Catholic priests and other church leaders in Mongu that he has never supported calls for secession of Western Province.
The Litunga, who is Catholic, met the priests and other church leaders at his palace on Wednesday from 15:00 hours till late in the night to talk about current issues relating to the province.
Sources close to the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) who attended the meeting said the Litunga disapproved of immediate past Ngambela (chief counsellor) Clement Wainyae Sinyinda's advocating secession.
Sinyinda, a former deputy minister in the MMD administration, resigned as Ngambela recently following deep-rooted disagreements with Litunga Lubosi Imwiko.
According to sources, the Litunga had wanted to dialogue with the government but Sinyinda refused accusing him (Litunga) of being compromised.
"The Litunga spoke freely and was very open to us and spoke more as a parent and not as king. There were no restrictive protocols and there is hope at the end.
It was a fruitful meeting. He acknowledged that a lot of things were happening and that was the reason he wanted us to hear directly from his mouth. The Litunga said; 'It's the trust and respect I have for the Church that's why I invited you here, hear it from me I have never supported calls advocating for secession'. He was very clear and said at no time had he sanctioned calls for Western Province to gain independence from the Republic of Zambia.
He said he has always believed in addressing the unemployment and poverty levels in the province. He explained that historically, the BRE had worked with all successive governments and saw nothing wrong with addressing concerns with over the Barotseland Agreement with President Michael Sata," said the sources.
"After disagreeing to dialogue with the government, Sinyinda teamed up with some indunas and began a tour of the country telling people that the Litunga had let down his people.
He was moving around with Induna Mukulwakashiko (Batuke Imenda) soliciting for signatures from Lozis that they had lost confidence in the Litunga and that Barotseland was ready to govern itself. The Litunga says he was not consulted over the holding of the Barotse National Council (BNC) but when he learnt about it, he called it illegal and refused to approval its resolutions to secede from Zambia," said another source.
Sources said listening to the Litunga, it was shocking why Sinyinda mobilised people calling for secession because that was never the position of the BRE.
Sources said after the Litunga made attempts to dialogue with the government to address complaints raised by groups of activists, Sinyinda opposed and changed his sim card cutting communication between the two.
"It was learnt that some activists were collecting money from international organisations and Lozis in the Diaspora," the sources said.
According to the sources, the Litunga invited the Church so that they could know that the BRE and himself were not against Sinyinda but his illegal activities in the name of the establishment.
And efforts to get a comment from Sinyinda proved futile and could not be reached on his mobile.
Labels: BAROTSE ROYAL ESTABLISMENT, CATHOLIC CHURCH, LITUNGA, SECESSION
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ZEC, PF govt relationship cordial - Samasumo
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 23 Oct. 2012, 16:10 CAT
ZAMBIA Episcopal Conference spokesperson Father Paul Samasumo yesterday said ZEC's relationship with the government continues to be cordial.
And Fr Samasumo says the Catholic Church is presently unhappy about the deportation of Father Viateur Banyangandora, From front page and the constitution-making process.
Fr Samasumo said the Catholic Church and the government cooperate on many levels and fronts ranging from health, agriculture, provision of social services and through to health.
He said one of the concerns with the government was the constitution-making process.
"Our Bishops have urged the government to protect the constitution-making process in a legal framework. This has largely been ignored. Similarly ignored has been the call from ZEC and others for the appointment of a referendum commission that would already start preparations for the holding of a referendum."
Fr Samasumo said as things stand, ZEC would hesitate to endorse with confidence, the direction of the current constitution-making process.
"We still hope though that the end result will deliver to the people of Zambia a constitution that they have always yearned for - one that is all-inclusive and one that respects the basic minimums that have always come through in virtually all constitution review commissions," he said.
On the deportation of Fr Banyangandora, Fr Samasumo said: "We still do not have a satisfactory explanation about why such drastic action was visited on this priest. We still seek answers and the revocation of the deportation order. Our Bishops will be in Lusaka, in November, for their end of year meetings, and we expect they will find time (collectively) to engage with government on this issue."
And Fr Samasumo clarified media reports emanating from Parliament that the three Church mother bodies failed to submit views before the parliamentary select committee that was looking into the appointment of two new Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) commissioners.
He said the truth was that the internal inquiry at the Catholic Secretariat showed that no such invitation was received from the parliamentary select committee for them to make submissions.
On independence, Fr Samasumo said Zambians had many reasons to be grateful to God, who had journeyed with them, as a nation, from 1964 to date.
"As a nation, it is true to say that we have had our fair share of challenges especially in the areas of governance, constitution-making, nation building and even state management.
Yet, though school report card might read 'unsatisfactory', we still have cause to celebrate because there are many good things happening in this country. We can also point to many great achievements. Some of those good things to be found, in Zambia, include the Zambian people themselves. In spite of ourselves, we are a good people. We are a friendly, hospitable, God-fearing and peace-loving people," he said.
"With all these good attributes, where then do we go wrong? Why is it that, notwithstanding all the positive economic indicators, poverty in the rural areas is worse? Why is all this mining boom not showing in the lives of our people? Politically, why do we seem to be drifting towards our tribal enclaves?"
He said independence was and should be a time of giving account.
"As in the Gospel parable of talents, (Mt. 25:19) independence asks us to give account of how we have used our various gifts that are to be found within this great country. Have we used the gifts to bring development or division? This independence should also be used as springboard to begin preparations for the great jubilee year of 50 years which will be with us in two years time.
We must not wait until the fifty years. We must start now to prepare and to interrogate ourselves sincerely as a people. Where do we want to be in the next 10, 50 years? What kind of Zambia shall we leave for posterity?" he asked.
Fr Samasumo said the Catholic Church's covenant with the people of Zambia was total.
He said the church was rooted in the Gospel of Christ and Catholic Social Teaching.
"We are committed to our prophetic role and will always endeavour to be the conscience of society, regardless of which political party is in government," he said.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAUL SAMASUMO, PF, ZEC
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Sata makes Japanese Catholics very proud
By Bivan Saluseki in Sapporo, Japan
Mon 15 Oct. 2012, 14:00 CAT
A JAPANESE Catholic Priest says President Michael Sata's showing of faith and love for God which is public has made Japanese Catholics very proud.
And President Sata yesterday said he was very impressed with the penetration of the Catholic Church in some Asian countries.
President Sata attended Mass at Kita 1 Joue Catholic Church in Sapporo together with ministers Given Lubinda, Sylvia Masebo and Emmanuel Chenda.
During his sermon themed; 'Owning our possessions versus being owned by our possessions', Fr Ken Sleyman said President Sata was the first President to attend Mass at the Cathedral since it started 10 years ago.
"Your model of showing your faith and love for God so publicly makes us very proud to be Catholic today and encourages us to be more courageous in living our Catholic faith life in Japan," he said.
"Your presence here today Mr President shows clearly that no matter who we are and what we do, we all need God in our lives, to guide us and help us to be good shepherds of the people entrusted to our care, like Jesus did 2,000 years ago in ancient Judea (present day Israel and Jordan). May God bless you Mr. President and first lady Dr Christine Kaseba Sata as you endeavour to bring joy, peace, prosperity, and health to all the peoples in beautiful Zambia. Our prayers are with you both."
Fr Sleyman preached that Christians should know the difference between possessing things and the danger of being possessed by things.
"Sadly, the young rich man in the Gospel could not make this pivotal distinction and he turned and left the company of Jesus because the gospels report that he was very wealthy," he said.
"In reality the Gospel today is not to be understood as anti-money. Jesus was a carpenter himself and he knew the value of money to help meet the needs of his Mother Mary and his disciples. If it was not for many rich benefactors in Jesus' day helping the early Church, there might not be a Church today. Even Jesus had rich friends."
Fr Sleyman cited Joseph of Arimathea who gave Jesus his own tomb to be laid inside and Mary Magdalene as a woman of means who anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume before he died.
"We cannot let temptations and things become obstacles to our progress towards eternal life. That is Jesus' message for us today. Do our habits, values, and the things we possess help us or hinder us? Do you possess the things, values and habits in your life, or do they possess you?" he asked.
During the sermon, another priest Fr James Mylet praised President Sata, saying it was an honour to have him.
And President Sata, who was asked by Fr Mylet to speak to the church, reluctantly agreed and said since the time he was at a seminary in 1950, there were few Catholics in countries such as Japan, South Korea and China.
He said he was happy to see an increase in the number of Catholics in those countries.
President Sata said even though the number of Catholics in Japan might be small, as compared to Zambia where gatherings were like rallies, he was very impressed with the progress made in recruiting more converts.
Later, President Sata stood by the door to greet the congregants.
President Sata today leaves for South Korea.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, MICHAEL SATA
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Priest's Deportation shocks Catholics
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Thu 09 Aug. 2012, 12:20 CAT
CATHOLIC Diocese of Chipata Bishop George Lungu says the abduction and deportation of the Lundazi-based Rwandese priest Fr Viateur Banyangandora is a serious violation of human rights that has shocked the Church to the bone. And Bishop Lungu has appealed to Catholic priests not to be intimidated by anyone as they are ordained to preach the Gospel even in the face of persecution.
Fr Banyangandora, 40, a priest of Rwandese origin, was last Monday picked up by a combined team of security wings from his residence in connection with a homily he delivered on Sunday which was seen to have been inciting people to rise against the government.
In a statement addressed to all priests, religious sisters, brothers and the laity of Chipata Diocese to be read on Sunday August 12, Bishop Lungu stated that he, like the rest of the Catholic Church, was still in a state of shock that such a thing could happen to a priest and the government does not care to explain as to why he was abducted and deported.
He stated that the deportation of Fr Banyangandora must be immediately revoked and no one would be allowed to silence the voices of priests.
"I first learnt of the abduction of Fr Viateur on Monday July 30 around 17:00 hours when he, himself phoned me. He asked for permission to meet me in Chipata before proceeding to Lusaka where he was being taken.
I met him at Chipata Police Station where I had a brief chat with him. He told me that the security officers who took him did not clearly explain to him the reasons for his arrest except that it was in connection with Sunday Homily in which he spoke about cotton prices," Bishop Lungu stated.
"He assured me that he never attacked government in any way. His message was about sharing between the haves and the nots as the readings of the day were saying. On the day before his abduction, Fr Viateur spoke passionately about the plight and poverty of his parishioners and the people of Lundazi. He was exercising his prophetic ministry as any Catholic priest would and should."
Bishop Lungu stated that he was grieving with the parishioners and people of Lundazi who have been unjustly deprived of a pastor.
He said the deportation of Fr Banyangandora was great injustice that had been done to the Church by the government.
Bishop Lungu said the deported priest was "a good priest, a man of peace and integrity" adding that no amount of explanation would ever convince the Church that he would have behaved in a manner that would cause a breach of peace of the country.
"In Lundazi, I am reliably informed that Fr Viateur was interrogated on Monday 30th July 2012 by various officials, including the District Commissioner (a politician!) Fr Viateur was later that day brought to Chipata where he was further interrogated by a combined team of Immigration, Police and Office of the President (OP) agents.
During his interrogation and traumatising ordeal, he was not availed a lawyer and not a single diocesan official was present nor notified of Fr Viateur's arrest," Bishop Lungu stated.
"Without being charged, Fr Viatuer was later in the evening, driven to Lusaka in the night. From then on there is a blackout of information. Where was Fr Viateur taken? Was he beaten, tortured? Was he being fed? What did they do about his diabetic medicine? His BP medicine? What really did the State do to Fr Viateur? We will need answers. What crime did Fr Viateur really commit? Has preaching the Gospel in a so-called Christian Nation become a crime?"
Bishop Lungu stated that when Fr Banyangandora was being held by the security wings, he and colleagues from the diocesan administration of Chipata Diocese made several and frantic attempts to secure his release but they failed.
He stated that his administration had spoken to politicians, heads of the various security wings both in Chipata and in Lusaka but in most cases the people that were spoken to were tight-lipped and did not want to give any information.
Bishop Lungu stated that most of them were overzealous, not notwithstanding the fact that they were clearly afraid for their jobs.
Bishop Lungu said he personally even phoned and spoke to President Michael Sata on the issue who only promised that he would get back him.
"We were kept in the dark about the safety and the whereabouts of Fr Viateur for four days until the announcement after the deportation by the Zambian government on the evening of Thursday August 2 by the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Edgar Lungu who finally confirmed, through the media, of his deportation from Zambia to Rwanda.
The reasons given were that our beloved priest was deported for violating the laws of Zambia and that his conduct was found to be a danger to peace and good order in Zambia contrary to Section 39(2) of the immigration and deportation Act, No. 18 of 2010. Even after this confirmation, there was no courtesy on the part of government to inform me about the plight of our priest. I too, heard it through the media," Bishop Lungu stated.
He stated that the PF government was voted into the government on a popular platform of correcting the injustices of the past and entrenching good governance and a democratic culture where the rule of law would reign supreme.
Bishop Lungu said the Church never thought there would be a day in the current government when the freedom of expression, let alone at the pulpit, would be criminalised in the country.
He stated that the government must instead address real issues that were affecting the poor.
"Notwithstanding the fact that Fr Banyangandora holds a Rwandan passport, his human and constitutional rights have been grossly violated by the state. The way he has been treated flies in the face of natural justice. He was not given opportunity to be heard; he was not allowed legal representation of his choice and he was detained in secret location," Bishop Lungu stated.
"To all the faithful, it may take one week, one month or many years but we will not rest until justice and truth are served in this matter. We believe that justice and truth will be served one day! Fr Viateur will one day return to us. Could the deportation of Fr Viateur signal the start of worse things to come for this community and for our priests? Only God knows."
Meanwhile, Bishop Lungu has appealed to priests in the country to be fearless in spreading the Gospel, saying by doing so, they will be carrying out the prophetic role of being the conscience of society.
"As Jesus said, 'do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Gehena (Matthew 10:28)'," Bishop Lungu said.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, GEORGE LUNGU, MICHAEL SATA
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Catholic priests petition Sata over deportation of Fr Banyangadora
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Wed 08 Aug. 2012, 11:30 CAT
FIVE Catholic Priests on the Copperbelt, who were in the seminary with the deported Lundazi-based Rwandese priest, Fr Viateur Banyangadora, have asked President Michael Sata to seriously consider revoking his deportation.
In an interview yesterday before celebrating mass for their 8th anniversary in priesthood, Fr Augustine Mwewa who spoke on behalf of Fr Eddie Mubanga, Fr Christopher Chowa, Fr Epimaque Rafiki and Fr Evaristo Chisenga said the manner in which Fr Banyangadora was bundled and deported to Rwanda like a criminal without any explanations and without any due regard for the Catholic leadership in the country, was unacceptable.
Fr Banyangadora, 40, a priest of Rwandese origin, was last week on Monday picked up by a combined team of security wings from his residence in connection with a homily he delivered on Sunday which was seen to have been inciting people to rise against the government.
But Fr Mwewa said the government had an obligation to tell the nation why Fr Banyagandora was deported without even consulting the authorities of the Church.
He said the rush by the Ministry of Home Affairs to deport the Lundazi-based priest had raised a lot of questions by the public and the faithful who had a right to know why he was deported.
"We met our colleague Fr Banyagandora in 1994 in the seminary; we did philosophy together in Mpima, a very down to earth man of God, very humble with a heart for serving the poor. They have no right to deport our priest for unknown reasons. That is unbecoming, a grave violation of human rights and abrogation of priestly privileges,"he said.
Fr Mwewa said President Michael Sata must come out in the open and revoke the deportation if it was true that the priest was deported for merely playing his role of questioning government on the gap between the rich and the poor.
Fr Mwewa said President Sata's government managed to win the elections because of his consistency on matters that affect the nation and it would be a grave mistake to deport a priest who was merely playing his prophetic role of being a voice for the voiceless.
"The voice of the prophet which exists in the clergy should not be intimidated, the social teachings of the Church and our political philosophy emphasises being the voice for the poor; it will be extremely unfortunate if the government deported our priest on those grounds," said Fr Mwewa.
Labels: AUGUSTINE MWEWA, CATHOLIC CHURCH, RWANDA
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Church will support genuine corruption fight - Fr Chisanga
By Darious Kapembwa in Kitwe and Kaombe Chimpinde in Lusaka
Thu 21 June 2012, 13:22 CAT
THE Church will support every genuine efforts aimed at stamping out corruption at all levels of society, says Fr Patrick Chisanga. In a statement, Fr Chisanga who is the head of the Fransiscan priests in Zambia saidZambia needed to reclaim the standards of human dignity by stamping out the scourge.
"As a Church, the living body of Christ, our hearts continue to bleed at the sight of injustice against the poor and vulnerable of society," Fr Chisanga said.
"We therefore demand zero-tolerance to corruption in our localities, public offices, work places and at all levels of leadership in our country," Fr Chisanga said.
"In this same regard, we usually repeat the same message that the quality of life in our country continues to go down because of the selfishness of a few individuals who continue to steal from the poor. Such are people who become apprehensive at any mention of the fight against corruption because corruption has become their acceptable standard of life and way of survival," said Fr Chisanga.
He said it would be a great injustice for the church to leave the fight against corruption to a few politicians.
He said the fight against corruption was a moral issue that needed to be fought viciously from all angles.
Meanwhile, Ng'andu Magande says corrupt elements were enemies of every government and its leader.
And Magande has advised President Michael Sata to have more friends who support his anti-corruption fight.
President Sata recently said his hard anti-corruption stance had made him unpopular among some 'powerful' corrupt elements in the country.
But Magande said the majority of Zambians wanted to support President Sata and the government in the fight against corruption and wanted the crusade to be accompanied with results.
President Sata said the government was working extremely hard and were becoming unpopular because corrupt people were very powerful.
But Magande advised President Sata to have more friends who could help him achieve his goals to rid the country of corruption.
"If you have enemies and you know them, the best thing is to have more friends who can help you. What I think the majority of people would want to do is to support the President on the fight against corruption," Magande said.
"Zambians can only continue supporting him if they see visible things he is doing for them. They will say 'as far as we are concerned, we are happy with the current government because they are doing this and that for us'. If you just keep taking sides every day talking about corruption, the other people who are not corrupt and who are in the majority don't see what else you are doing, then they can't help you to fight corrupt elements."
He said the war against corruption must be fought side by side with improving the general wellbeing of Zambians."As the government, you have to fight on all fronts…Because you are fighting for the whole country, all fronts have to be safeguarded," said Magande.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, PATRICK CHISANGA
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The Church should defend Sata, says Bishop Chikumbi
By Lovely Kayombo
Mon 11 June 2012, 13:24 CAT
THE Church should closely watch opposition political parties that want to cause anarchy in the country, says Bishop Mwata Chikumbi. In an interview, Bishop Chikumbi of Jehovah's Kingdom Ministries said since the PF assumed power, change in the country has taken place.
He said the PF government needed the support of all Zambians to fulfil the mandate given to it by the people. He said politicians that were planning a 'punch for punch' with President Michael Sata should be aware that the Church will defend the Republican President.
"I am appealing to the Zambian people to give PF credit because since they assumed office, there is change which has taken place and as a church, we pray that we give them another mandate to govern. And the opposition political parties who are planning a 'punch for punch' with Sata should know that the church will defend him because he has the mandate to rule the country and we will watch them opposition parties until Sata fulfils his mandate," he said.
Bishop Chikumbi also said despite the current national budget being done by the MMD, the PF government has managed to execute it diligently.
"I would want to commend finance minister honorable Alexander Chikwanda for the good job he is doing at his ministry because the current budget is not for PF but for MMD and things are moving smoothly," he said.
On the current draft constitution released by the technical committee for debate, Bishop Chikumbi said it was a very progressive document.
"…As long as most clauses are maintained, it will stand the test of time," said Bishop Chikumbi.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, MICHAEL SATA
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Zanu-PF: Fending off, fighting on
Friday, 18 May 2012 23:05
Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis
As the story of TB Joshua rages on, rages towards its denouement, I have been reminded of the church politics in England of the late middle ages. And of course church politics necessarily meant the Catholic Church with its many Orders, its vast real estate, its ever swelling coffers, all set against gargantuan appetites of its supposedly holy, otherworldly inmates, starting with the Pope.
Far reaching reforms suggested for the Church in the 12th and 13th century had come to spectacular grief, as dictates of happy secular life got the better of monks and friars, got the better of church dogma, philosophy and vows to a life of devotional privation. Gone and gone for good was the devotional self-abnegation of the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th centuries which had given these religious figures and orders a higher spiritual plinth, well ahead of ordinary men and women of their time. Wealth had slowly but inexorably driven out single-mindedness and the devotion of yore, bringing with it “the world’s slow stain”, to quote A R Myers.
The things of Martha versus Mary
The abbot and the rest of the church officialdom found themselves spending more time in managing accounts of the church, in growing the wealth of the church through extortionate tithes and other exaggerated charges for the redemption of the soul, than in fulfilling St Francis’ dicta: follow naked the naked Christ. Myers puts it beautifully: “It seemed to them (church officials) a solemn, even sacred, obligation to maintain the privileges of their house unimpaired; but such a view meant that the things of Martha tended to drive out those of Mary, and that to its tenants and subjects the monastery appeared not as a holy community but as a property-owning corporation, tenacious of its legal rights . . . The lure of wealth had ensnared the friars . . . ”
Fixed and focused on the here-and-now, naturally the hereafter suffered, with the monastic values of isolation, ascetic frugality and regard for work, prayer and the poor, giving way to parasitic venality. So changed, so degraded, so material, so secular was the church that none in its ranks could dare repeat the Carthusian “nunquam reformata quia nunquam deformata”, which meant “it needs no reform that has never been deformed”. It was this sybaritic givenness to pleasures of the world which triggered massive disenchantment with the Catholic Church, and with faith in general, giving rise to the great ferment we now call the Reformation.
Holy See and the Mafia
Yet in spite of these excesses which are as old as the medieval era, the Holy See is yet to give us a clean Catholic Church. Only last month, in April, the Vatican was rocked by yet another sordid scandal involving the burial in 1990 of a mafia mobster, one Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis of the infamous Magliana organised crime gang, next to a whole row of bishops and cardinals. How such a sinner, how this dead bloody mafioso could buy his way onto the sacred grounds of the Holy See, and then find his way into one of the ornate sarcophaguses (marble tombs) of bishops and cardinals in the crypt of Basilica of Sant' Apollinare, all to quietly lie there unasked, unmasked, until 1997, lie there undisturbed and peacefully until April 2012, lie there a pretentious neighbour to so holy men, no one, no one in this great church is prepared to say! And how only keys to such a holy tomb could only be in the hands of the gangster's wife, now late, again no one was and is prepared to say to this day.
Explosive Vatileaks
But Vatileaks dramatise even more bizarre dimensions to the story: the dead crook made too huge a monetary offer to the Church for it to refuse him a holy sepulcher. Much worse, there is very strong indication that De Pedis was not lying in the tomb alone. A mysterious caller to an Italian investigative television programme intimated the mafioso was in the company of the 15-year-old girl, Emanuela Orlandi, daughter of a prominent non-clerical Vatican employee who mysteriously went missing in June 1983, never to be seen again, whether in person or by remains.
The belief is that she was kidnapped and killed by De Pedis' Magliana gang, possibly by De Padis himself, on the orders of a powerful cardinal of American origins, all to shut the mouth of her father who knew too much on the arcane banking affairs of the Vatican. Apparently the little girl’s father who worked for the Vatican had stumbled on documents linking the Vatican Bank with the Magliana gang through one Roberto Calvi, dubbed “God’s banker”. In a spiraling mystery, Calvi himself was found hanging in London in June 1982 in yet another unexplained case of murder. He stood accused of stealing millions laundered on behalf of the mafia.
Dead in company
Only Monday this week was the mafia boss’ tomb opened after the Vatican finally granted authority to Italian forensic police. That authority had been very long in coming. On prising open the tomb, De Pedis was found there, intact in his dark blue suit and black tie of the burial day. But also tucked under his body in this three-layered sarcophagus were dozens of boxes containing unidentified human bones. Italy is still to establish whose remains these could be, but with the missing Emanuela in mind.
[Paul Crouch.]
Paul Crouch.
The story of TBN
Still my mind wonders to TBN, Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world’s largest so-called God channel. As I write, it is embroiled in a vicious family feud, the latest in a series of scandals to gnaw it, including one of a gay tryst involving a male employee and TBN’s owner, Paul Crouch. TBN is a multi million-dollar world Christian media empire with so many diligent followers in many countries, including Zimbabwe. Now Crouch’s granddaughter, Brittany Koper, has filed court papers in Costa Mesa, California, that include allegations of US$50 million in financial shenanigans. Her suit was followed by another one from a Koper in-law which details opulent spending at TBN, including on purchasing such items as private jets mansions in California, Tennessee and Florida, and a US$100 000 mobile home for Crouch’s wife, Jan’s dogs. TBN is exempt from paying any taxes. Now the police and Internal Revenue Service are interested.
So little God, so much gold
TBN was founded in 1973 on the philosophy that if the faithful sacrifice for their belief, God will reward them with material wealth. TBN raked in US$92 million in donations in 2010 and cleared US$175 million in tax-free revenue. In the same year, TBN declared US$800 million in net assets. Reports speak of a maze of other organisations run by the Crouch through which financial transparency gets soundly and gainfully defeated. And the fight that has spilled into the courts is over competing lavish lifestyles. Gentle reader, it is not for me to draw any lessons for you from the foregoing anecdotes. That is your business. Or to suggest any parallels with any persons living or dead, here or in West Africa. Again, that is for you. Or even to impute un-holiness in the body of Christ.
Tithes and bank accounts
What I am very clear about is that our immigration laws place most West African nations in category C. That means they have to apply for visas well before their day of travel. That has not happened in respect of our guest of honour. That might never happen if May 25 is the day. Much more, many in the MDC-T did not think the invitation was clever, let alone uniting. They think it is much worse now, with all this mud bespattered everywhere. But the story of Jesus between two robbers on the crucifix, the story of De Pedis between tombs of bishops and cardinals, is quite intriguing, suggesting compelling parallels from Zimbabwe's brisk politics nowadays. Enjoy the National Day of Prayer when it falls due, always bearing in mind the basilica accommodates cardinals and De Pedis, indeed that in a bank account, even tithes and the widow’s mite, all come in one colour or money, indeed build towards a +dollar!
Thank you Excellency Deborah!
I heartily thank Deborah Bronnert, Britain’s official lady here in Zimbabwe. I spared her a few weeks back when she made some not-so-charitable comments on our policy on indigenisation, and what she perceived to be its negative impact on the country’s ability to attract foreign direct investment. I would have politely reminded her that our “mother country” Britain gave us a long lecture whose delivery began in 1890 and ended in 1980, a lecture that Newcastle coal is never given away to the Japanese, let alone to Russians. Coal tenaciously remains a British preserve, a dark British family “silver” for all time, for all generations, for all governments — Labour, Conservatives or Lib Dem. We took the lesson to heart, carried it in our bosoms for all time. We hope to be good students, so good that even the teacher shall not be spared the full wrath of well grasped lessons.
Not party to the GPA
But thank you Deborah, Your Excellency, for your candid remarks on the GPA and the obligations it unfairly places on your country in respect of the costs of our land reforms. I want to quote you: “Well, we are not parties to the GPA, this was a Zimbabwean agreement and we have never accepted liability to fund the land reform although we did actually provide some funds for land reform, soon after independence. I think it was £44 million which we paid.” You went further, Madame Ambassador: “But we do have a problem with the way the land reform was undertaken and we feel it was unfair to the individuals affected. It had a terrible impact both on those running and managing the farms, those working on the farms and the wider Zimbabwean economy.” Then you concluded: “At some point I think we are likely to . . . support a future settlement but I think we are a long way from it and it will require quite a big political shift and a political settlement here for that to be taken forward.”
[Deborah Bronnet...we are not part to the GPA.]
Deborah Bronnet...we are not part to the GPA.
No alchemists please
We understood your English, forever being grateful that you put it so plainly that none lost your meaning in all its compelling fullness. As with other lessons from your great, great civilisation, we take this one to heart, too! Your country is not a party to the GPA. This is truly and correctly put and we hope this settles the matter definitively. That you spare us the need to remind you in the not-so-distant electoral future that GPA is, in your own clear English words, “a Zimbabwean agreement”. Needless to say it did not, does not, should not, concern foreigners from any clime — Britain, Europe included. Zimbabweans should and must be left alone to deal with their GPA, in the best way they know how. It cannot be a document that outsiders conveniently and alchemically turn into a whip with which to lash at us. Equally, it cannot be a conditionality invoked in our name, invoked against us. Indeed the few quiet months which have gone by, with no meddling from all outsiders of whatever hue, who have been so solicitous in the name of our welfare, have seen remarkable progress in our effort at finding one another as Zimbabweans, GPA Zimbabweans.
When all are fed up
And as should be clear to Madame Deborah, Mugabe is fed up, Tsvangirai is fed up, Ncube is fed up — all are fed up with one another and with the Inclusive Government that all are ready to move to the GPA’s last phase, its last assignment, which is elections. We need to be left alone, something which most people, including this our good British lady, seem incapable of. I sometimes wonder why my little country prompts such deep but unsolicited engagement and involvement. Let me illustrate. After correctly renouncing the GPA, Ambassador Bronnert then goes on to voice “a problem with the way the land reform was undertaken”. Well, she does not have to for I am sure that as the British ambassador here, and as a British citizen away from home, her plate is already full, already spilling with unresolved British issues crying out for attention. She does not have to carry extra burdens from, and of, Zimbabwe. In any case we are not likely to be thankful, to be grateful. How we do things here is part of the exercise of our sovereignty. She does not have to like it, she does not have to shed an impulse, whether of empathy or of revulsion. Which is what begins to rile me about this woman.
Big political shifts?
Her last bit on the requirement of “quite a big political shift and political settlement here” before British support for land reforms which she says do not concern Britain, is quite provocative, to say the very least. I will hate any political shift meant to please this solicitous girl or her country. My country and I are not bound to please her and her Britain, the same way her country need not please or even help Zimbabwe. To require political shifts and settlements, whatever these are, is to meddle in our own affairs. It is to invite Zimbabwean opprobrium and revilement. And that she tries to hide her racist concern for white former farmers here — towards whom she simulates impersonal detachment by referring to them as “those running and managing the farms”, deludes no one. We know fully well that her heart goes out to evicted setter farmers the majority of whom are of British extraction, with blacks she calls “those working on the farms” only being dropped in to mask this racialised advocacy.
That gives colour and political identity to the “big political shift”, to the big “political settlement” she hungers after, but which she might never live to see or celebrate. This ambassador has chosen to take us back to Labour’s politics of confrontation in order to wreck the engagement currently underway with the EU. She must be taken on; we must not shirk confrontation if her country, simply on crass grounds of ex-colonial legitimacy, thinks it owns this country, and controls people and its destiny.
Locating Deborah’s politics
[Buoyed by Deborah, we see the otherwise moribund CFU in a resurrectional stir.]
Buoyed by Deborah, we see the otherwise moribund CFU in a resurrectional stir.
Buoyed by Deborah, we see the otherwise moribund CFU in a resurrectional stir. Its president, one Charles Taffs rues what he terms the destruction of property rights and land tenure during our land reforms. “The attrition of these rights has impacted, not only on citizens, but also foreign investors. Compensation for expropriated investments is a pre-requisite to the restoration of the country’s image as a good place to do business.” You are left in no doubt that he is Bronnert’s “those running and managing farms”, and whose stability only returns through “a big political shift”.
Equally, you cannot miss the implied throwback to a pre-land reform discourse, in its a-historical conceptual form, and seeking to gloss over massive colonial land alienation, massive destruction of original property rights without a single dime for compensation. And since Deborah has repudiated British obligation to meeting costs of resolving this colonial land question, it is clear from whom compensation is being asked. And a political settlement that guarantees such compensation can only exist outside the framework of Zanu-PF-), indeed can only exist inside the framework of MDC-T with its neo-liberal political outlook.
Land, mines and indigenisation
In fact Taffs gets quite explicit in his disappointment that the MDC-T has failed to fight in the CFU corner, for the greater part of the past decade. Bemoaning the party’s naked weakness, Charles Taffs says: “What is the MDC’s policy on indigenisation, mining and land? It concerns us that all that they want to do and will hinge their election campaign on is to remove President Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power. That is what they have been trying to do in the past decade. At least Zanu-PF programmes are clear-cut and well known. It is about time the election became a contestation of ideas.” You cannot miss the clarity and coincidence of thought between Bronnert and Taffs, a coincidence which more than attests to the reactivation of a political common front involving the British government, settler farmers and the MDC formations. Equally, you cannot miss the fact that white interests strip the next election down to land, mines and the rolling back of the policy of indigenisation as it relates to both classes of assets.
The real role of white farmers
If there is anyone in Zanu-PF who thinks land is now a done deal, that land is now irreversibly transferred, I urge them to think again. The electoral question and agenda has hardly changed, has hardly moved an inch. Though numerically trimmed and economically weakened, white farmers remain belligerently hopeful for a return to their pre-land reform heyday. True, they may not have the money now but their hopes remain as implacable as ever. They may have fought a lonely war but today they think miners and industrialists are so upset and shaken by the policy of indigenisation that the front against Zanu-PF could be decisively broadened. Their frustration with the MDC formations does not amount to a capitulation, a surrender; rather it underlines a desire to challenge and hopefully galvanise the formations’ inert leadership. Or even to rattle it in a way that brings forward new blood in leadership. MDC weakness cannot be merely read from the attitude of farmers. Long broke, white farmers no longer count for much as financial benefactors. But they help rouse British opinion and with it, the British Government. This is why the Deborah-Taffs axis must be taken seriously.
ZCTU bogey
Equally, the divisions in the ZCTU might mean very little to the MDC vote. The ZCTU will throw its weight behind MDC anyway, the real issue being that its membership has been declining precipitously over the years. The real issue is for Zanu-PF to interpret its indigenisation programme in a way that engages this dormant worker-voter who is no longer part of the ZCTU anyway by virtue of the fact that he is either unemployed or self-employed. That is where the numbers are; that is where the effort should be, apart from the youth.
Down to zero
More critically, the link between the efforts of Britain and white farmers to “push the clock back”, and certain ministerial behaviours in the Inclusive Government must be established. While Zanu-PF has been focusing on indigenisation and its own restructuring, a vying wing within the MDC leadership which is linked to angry white interests, has been mounting a very serious comeback rear attack on land. That attack has depth, has been developing incrementally. It has now gathered enough confidence as to be openly bold and defiant.
[While Zanu-PF has been focusing on indigenisation and its own restructuring, a vying wing within the MDC leadership which is linked to angry white interests, has been mounting a very serious comeback rear attack on land.]
While Zanu-PF has been focusing on indigenisation and its own restructuring, a vying wing within the MDC leadership which is linked to angry white interests, has been mounting a very serious comeback rear attack on land.
The capacity of the new farmer has been under an inexorable attack since the start of the Inclusive Government, initially furtively, now blatantly. And this capacity has been whittled down progressively to a stage where, as with wheat farming, it has shrunk to zero! What is even more worrisome is that both affected farmers and authors of the land reform programme, that is, Zanu-PF, appear to have been wearied, to have been worn down to zero protest. And the MDC faction’s anti-land reform strategy has been overwhelming: nil funding for farmers, overwhelmingly erratic power supply to levels where as a farmer you think you are being sensible by not planting anything at all. And because you are being sensible, you are content with silent self-congratulations for your induced no-show on the land.
Subduing a sense of ownership
Three outcomes are immediately apparent. Land is fast becoming a dead asset whose emotional attachment and intensity to Zimbabweans is being precipitously lowered to become a rallying point for elections or against their possible loss. That is worrisome, deeply worrisome. Much worse, because the land lies fallow in your hands, with someone relentlessly pointing that out to you daily through politically contrived editorials, you begin to feel guilty about your owning and occupying it, indeed begin to regret that you were ever given it in the first place. And guilt is not the impulse for resistance, for assertion of one’s heritage. The sense of deservedness associated with ownership gives way to a new sense of failure and futility founded on low or nil productivity. Farmers are being set up for failure in order to induce a sense of self-contempt for ownership. And of course a people without a strong sense of ownership are ready to be subdued into a new, menial role of a worker. Need we wonder then that Biti is pushing for a jobs programme?
The domino effect
Much worse, with agricultural production heavily compromised, the whole economy has drifted towards a reliance on food imports. And with that decline goes all processes of agro-value addition, principally milling. This week we saw millers wailing through a huge advertisement. The mills have ground to a halt against flour imports, against zero wheat farming. It is a sign of things to come. Had it not been for tobacco, those involved in the manufacture of agro-implements would have been wailing too. With little activity on the land, no one comes for services. They will cry eventually, unless this trend is checked.
Weakening the defence of land
With the farmer impotent and inert, he ceases to be a homogenous constituency for political outcomes, including voting. He also begins to seek livelihoods elsewhere, away from the land. And as he does so, he harbors bitterness which is not always easy to causally link with the guilty fraction in the Inclusive Government. Already we have witnessed a situation where Made and Biti are being blamed in equal measure.
Yet Made only moves upon disbursements of funds by Biti. When culpability gets this blurred, you could be witnessing a seismic shift in attitudes. With power outages endured everyday, we begin to get used to Mangoma’s non-delivery on energy, a non-delivery that we never got to at the height of sanctions. We forget this has a direct bearing on the meaning of land reforms, especially at a personal level. And where the meaning has been lowered, few are motivated to resist politics of land reform reversal. In such circumstances, Ambassador Bronnert’s “big political shift” becomes feasible.
Blaming it all on land reforms
The MDC is not concerned about agricultural failures. These will be posted on Zanu-PF anyway. And as reports of likely imports from Zambia gather visibility, we have seen the return of that discourse that blames imports on land reforms, that see imports as an indictment on land reforms. That discourse does not recognise that from about 2008, the productivity trend has been upward, except in times of drought. Such that we can no longer trace low productivity to land reforms, but to aborted agrarian reforms, thanks to the anti-land elements in the Inclusive Government. The agrarian reforms which were making steady progress before the Inclusive Government, have now been denied their inputs components, principally finance, well before hitting their threshold.
[TENDAI Biti...The capacity of the new farmer has been under an inexorable attack since the start of the Inclusive Government.]
TENDAI Biti...The capacity of the new farmer has been under an inexorable attack since the start of the Inclusive Government.
The budget tool
All of which means what? Well, that we must take notice of the clear definition of white interests and the relentless pursuit of their realization, riding on the platform of forthcoming elections. As Taffs says, it is not the removal of President Mugabe as a political proposition which matters in the forthcoming elections; it is the land, the mines, and reversing indigenisation. And in this crucial election, MDC formations are being instrumentalised by these white interests.
The budget becomes a principal tool. Biti’s double thrust of refusing to plant for a national harvest, while wanting to harvest what God planted in Marange for more and more debilitating imports, is quite telling. And you notice together with Mangoma, he will not import power to drive our engines, to drive our farmers, to drive our economy. Only to import wines, mixed flour, stale chickens and some such needless goods we can grow here with better financial support. Zanu -PF has been allowing this to happen.
Fend, fight!
Is all lost? Of course not. The MDC formations are not ready for elections. Tsvangirai is all over the world, including in Austria looking for funding for his sellout politics. His party is deeply fractured, with the white lobby losing patience with his leadership, while also pushing the likes of Biti in what amounts to a negative campaign. Bennett’s recent outbursts should be seen that way. Much worse, as Eddie Cross’ most recent piece shows, the MDC-T know they will not win the forthcoming elections. I quote him: “Almost certainly it will be another GNU — but this time led by Tsvangirai as State President and the leader of a defeated Zanu-PF as first Vice President.”
This is an admission of a failure to win the forthcoming elections, seeking measly consolation in imaginary convoluted posts. An MDC outright win does not yield another GNU. That was the essence of his article tellingly titled “making progress”, and not “winning”. He is right, the MDC formations will not win. Zanu-PF will, which is why it needs to understand the politics and subterfuges of this dire moment. The land issue is back on the agenda; the issue of mining and mineral rights must be firmly on the agenda through the programme of empowerment which will constitute its central message in the forthcoming election. Both issues should be carried by Zanu-PF. This means as it fends off attacks on the previously conquered and occupied ground of land, it should at the same time, fight on in respect of the new and more exciting ground of mines and minerals.
Icho!
* nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHRISTIANITY, ZANU-PF
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Proclamation of Zambia as a ‘Christian nation'
By The Post
Mon 02 Apr. 2012, 13:00 CAT
"…for me and the Catholic Church, the proclamation of Zambia as a Christian nation is a non-event. It is a useless proclamation because not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of God. How Christian are we? Just take a look at what happens when we have a simple by-election. Corruption, intimidation, fighting, thieving…is that Christianity?" asks Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.
We cannot agree more with Archbishop Mpundu on the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation. Truly, we should ask ourselves what kind of fair, just and humane society we have built in this country that declares itself to be Christian.
Truly, the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation is nonsense. And it reminds us of the behaviour of Pharisees. A church that places its patrimonial interests ahead of the demands of justice, life and the people among whom it is inserted is certainly a church that considers man less important than the Sabbath and, like the Pharisees, reverses evangelical priorities.
A religion that cares for the supposed sacredness of its objects but turns its back on those who are the real temples of the spirit is worthless. They don't understand that, in Jesus' way of thinking, there is nothing more sacred than the right to life.
Spirituality refers not only to our spiritual life. It refers to man as a whole, in his spiritual and bodily unity. In the gospels, the totality of the human being is what brings life to the spirit.
Thus, spirituality isn't the way you feel the presence of God. Nor is it the way you believe. As Archbishop Mpundu has correctly quoted, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Thus, spirituality is a way of living according to the spirit. José Marti, outstanding hero and forerunner of Cuba's liberation, said that "Doing is the best way of saying." For Christians, living is the best way of believing.
Faith without deeds is worthless; declarations of Christian this, Christian that without Christian deeds are worthless; as James stated, "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has not works? Can his faith save him?
If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:14-17).
Equally, our way of life is the result of what we believe. Our way of being the church is a reflection of our concept of God. Declarations of Zambia being a Christian nation without Christian deeds are worthless, are dead, are nonsensical and useless.
It is a deception, a lie, a falsehood. It is hypocrisy similar to that of the Pharisees. We shouldn't forget that in the Old Testament, the prophets were worried by idolatry, the gods created in accord with human interests. There is still much idolatry.
In the name of God and under the banner of a Christian nation that they had declared, Frederick Chiluba and his friends looted the national treasury to enrich themselves. Chiluba was a contributor to the coffers of many pastors who were his friends and their churches.
And it was them who came up and still support this nonsense, this falsehood, this deception of Zambia being a Christian nation to conceal their own inadequacies and corruption.
For Jesus, the world wasn't divided between the Christians and the non-Christians, between the pure and the impure, as the Pharisees wished; it was divided between those who favoured life and those who supported death.
Everything that generates more life - from a gesture of love to social revolution - is in line with God's scheme of things, in line with the construction of the Kingdom, for life is a greatest gift given to us by God.
Whoever is born is born in God to enter the sphere of life. At the same time, Jesus' spirituality contradicted that of the Pharisees, which consisted of rites, duties, asceticisms and the observance of discipline.
Fidelity is the centre of life for the Pharisees; the Father was the centre of life for Jesus. The Pharisees measured spirituality by the practice of cultural rules; Jesus measured it by the filial opening to God's love and compassion. For the Pharisees, sanctity is a human conquest; for Jesus it was a gift of the Father for those who opened up to his grace.
And in this sense, all who struggle for life are included in God's scheme, even if they lacked faith.
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?' And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to me'" (Matthew 25:37-40).
It is your fellow man, and especially the one who lacks life and needs justice, in whom God wishes to be served and loved. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the struggle for justice and the fulfillment of God's will. One demands the other. All who work along that line of God's scheme are considered Jesus' brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31-35). This is the best way to follow Jesus, especially in Zambia's present situation.
Looking at things this way, one can understand why Archbishop Mpundu says the fact that Zambia's current President, Michael Sata, is a staunch Catholic fundamentalist doesn't matter in the way the Church will deal with him and his government.
The religious persuasion of the President doesn't matter in the way the Church must deal with the government. This is so because, as Archbishop Mpundu correctly observes, the church has a God-given command to speak for the voiceless: "Speak up for the people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.
Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:8-9). Thus, if criticism is valid, it must be made. But this does not mean that the Church and its leadership must go on a marathon of cynicism criticising everyone and everything for the sake of it. Such a course will be tantamount to cynicism.
And societies have never been built by cynics. What is needed is a humble leadership. This is so because Christ's entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.
And given the humbleness of the great majority of our people, a true leadership of our people should be dominated by the humble.
The humble being in the majority, what is needed is a government that truly represents them as such - a government of the humble, by the humble, for the humble. Again, as Archbishop has correctly pointed out, "there is need for leaders to be humble. They were once ordinary people like everybody else. Great leaders are those who are humble. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to show how humble he was and so every leader should humble themselves".
We also know that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.Some people start to get deformed as soon as they have some little power, some little responsibility; they start to change the way they talk to others, the way they walk and act.
Power quickly gets to their heads; they start to become big-headed and so full of themselves. They forget that the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty and not a source of arrogance, lack of humility and abuses of power.
The exercise of power should not be something that changes someone, deforms someone. Of course, there is need to bear in mind that the exercise of power, if not moderated, has greater risks. And this requires being aware of this danger and ever alert, ever vigilant against it.
And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what label we put on ourselves - Christian this or that, socialist this or that, liberal this or that, conservative this or that. What matters is what we do - "doing is the best way of saying".
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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