you are suffering because you are a thief, priest tells plunderers
By Darious Kapembwa in Lufwanyama
IF you stole money and you are followed to pay back don’t say ‘I am suffering like Jesus’, you are suffering because you are a thief, you are not Jesus, says Catholic priest Chewe Mukosa.
Fr Mukosa, a Franciscan priest and parish priest at St Joseph Mission in Lufwanyama, made the remarks during homily yesterday in apparent reference to the Council of Jerusalem which was based on the first reading of yesterday’s mass.
Fr Mukosa, who is popularly known as the social-teacher because of his pro-poor humanitarian projects in the vulnerable communities, said the nation was today enjoying freedom of speech without anyone being arrested or intimidated.
“…and today people are saying they didn’t steal but why are you afraid of being searched if you didn’t steal?” he wondered. “If I say come we search you because you were working in public office and you say ‘no they are persecuting me’. Someone shamelessly is saying they are persecuting me like they persecuted Jesus Christ. Someone umukulufye [an adult] saying they are persecuting me like Jesus. Are you Jesus? That I am suffering like Jesus. You are suffering because you are a thief. That’s why you are suffering. Jesus Christ suffered because he was innocent. That’s why he suffered,” Fr Mukosa said.
He emphasised that Jesus Christ did not suffer for being a thief but because he was innocent.
“Some of our politicians took money and they are being followed that you are a thief we need our money back,” he noted.
Fr Mukosa said the money that is being collected from those who stole should be given to the Church so that it can be used to help the poor and vulnerable people in society.
“That money landed into wrong hands that is why it must be given to Sisters (nuns) to help in their care for the poor,” he said in apparent reference to nuns who take care of the deaf and dumb students within the mission.
Fr Mukosa, who has been mobilising resources to build small low cost habitable houses for the aged and homeless, said if the money that is reported to have been stolen by some leaders who occupied public office was given to his social-teacher organisation he could build more houses for the poor.
He said the Council of Jerusalem which Paul and Barnabas convened in 50 AD to resolve misunderstandings that had arisen among the Jews was a reminder that nothing in this world can’t be resolved by sitting down together.
He urged the congregation and the nation to embrace dialogue as a strong tool for conflict resolution.
Fr Mukosa said the freedom of speech that the nation was enjoying now meant that people can strongly criticise, advise or condemn without fighting.
-The Mast