Recent transfer of controversial priest of the Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka to another parish should ordinarily have passed as a routine exercise. Bishops, from whom Catholic priests take orders, do regular posting of priests depending on the needs of their respective dioceses.
Sometimes, priests are changed at quick intervals depending on the discretion of their superiors. Instances abound where priests have been deployed to new parishes or sent for further studies even before they have hardly settled down in their new places of work. That has been the pattern.
But the posting of Fr. Mbaka from Christ the King parish, Enugu where he had established a flourishing ministry for over 15 years to nearby Our Lady’s parish, Emene seemed to have turned to something else. Not only have motives been imputed into the posting, the authority of the Catholic Church has been questioned by quarters that should ordinarily, not have any business with how it runs its domestic affairs.
Mbaka did not help matters by the way he reacted to his posting. Not only was he overtly emotional, he gave the impression that he was being punished for whatever reasons. And that largely accounted for the controversy that enveloped his transfer. For the fiery priest who is not new to controversy, the transfer was ‘a calculated move to make him suffer’.
He said, “I know I will suffer within now and a few months to come. I am going to suffer and suffer. I know that I am going to suffer because I have no place to put my head. I am going to suffer because I have no place to keep the Adoration Ministry’s assets”. These lamentations, signposting helplessness, have tended to convey the impression that there was something punitive in the transfer and that transfer of priests is not a routine thing within the Catholic Church.
Apparently taking a cue from Mbaka’s emotional outburst, the South-east spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu faulted the transfer, attributing it as punishment for his prophesy during the last elections that Buhari was going to win, which has come true. Not only did he attribute the transfer to external influences that brought pressure to bear on the bishop, he questioned the authority of the Catholic Church in the transfer which he curiously claimed will put Mbaka’s life and that of his flock at risk.
“We do not wholly accept a situation where the church allows external forces to influence transfers as the Mbaka’s case suggests. We frown at anything which will put Fr. Mbaka in harm’s way or deny his flock healing”, Okechukwu said adding that his party was in solidarity with him.
On account of these allegations, the Catholic Secretariat came out and clarified the transfer as a “normal church procedure”. Secretary General of the Secretariat, Rev. Fr. Ralph Madu said such ‘frivolities’ (accusations) have nothing to do with the posting. He said his posting should have been a privilege, and not a punishment and that the bishop has the right to post a priest wherever he feels his services will be more useful to the church. And that says it all.
The issue of punishment, security of the lives of Mbaka and his flock which Okechukwu sought to dramatize should not have arisen at all. Not from a quarter that has nothing to do with how priests and other worshippers live their lives. Beyond that, Okechukwu obviously crossed the line of his duty to have questioned the authority of the bishop to transfer a priest under him to where he feels his services will be most needed. Here, we are talking of other peoples religion; their faith. These are very sensitive and emotional issues that should not be mixed with politics.
It would seem to me given the sensitivity of the matter, that the opinion expressed by Okechukwu should rather be seen as his personal views. Associating his party with such very sensitive and controversial statements that question the authority of the bishop is bound to offend the sensibilities of the Catholic faithful. Nobody needs to be told how volatile and fragile our society can be when it comes to the personal faith of some people.
It is also curious he even embarked on the hazardous voyage of pontificating on the safety of the priest, that of his followers and the seeming hardship they are bound to face in seeking spiritual healing and assistance at Mbaka’s new place of posting. And if one may ask, on whose authority is Okechukwu dabbling into issues he knows little or nothing about; issues that fall within the purview of the church leadership?
Before now, the distinction has been made between the ecclesiastical and corporeal realms. That was the major concern of early philosophers and their opinions have come to shape the relationship between modern states and the church. That relationship characterized by separation of the affairs of the church from that of the state was aptly captured by St Augustine in his famous allegory of the two cities- the city of God and earthly city.
This pristine philosophical perspective came under assault in the hands of Okechukwu when he questioned the powers of the church to transfer one of its priests; to promote or demote priests. At any rate, who is in a better position to assess the performances of a priest- his supervisor or some other interloper intent to score cheap political point? Even at that, he has not helped the case of the fiery priest by associating his transfer with partisan politics.
Beyond all this, Mbaka should take responsibility for the controversy that has trailed his transfer. It was indeed curious hearing a Catholic priest, a missionary for that matter, lamenting that he was going to suffer as he will not have a place to lay his head. It was strange to hear him talk about the problems he will encounter in preserving the property of his ministry which the Catholic Secretariat has described as his private affair.
If one may ask, what remains of a Catholic priest or any priest for that matter if he is afraid of suffering? What is hardship, suffering or self-mortification to priests who have laid down their lives for the sake of the gospel? Did Our Lord Jesus Christ who they intercede on his behalf not pay the supreme sacrifice for the sake of humanity? For priests that take many vows including obedience, poverty and chastity; priests that abandon their parents, relations and all earthly things, what is there again in suffering that they should be afraid of? A priest that left all the things of the world to serve God better has no need to talk about or entertain any iota of fear about suffering. And what suffering is there in moving to another parish to re-enact that which endeared him to worshippers in his former place of assignment? These are some of the puzzles thrown up by Mbaka’s reaction to the posting.
There are missionaries all over the world facing untold hardship including threat to their lives for the sake of spreading the word of God. And we talk of suffering in a routine transfer within the vicinity of the same Enugu metropolis. He should take his posting in good faith even if he does not feel good about it. The people of Emene would be very eager to receive and take care of his needs and he may find the place better than what he had imagined.
But he must come to terms with the line that should exist between the Church and the State. He must begin to sieve the revelations and prophesies that come his way. It is obvious that his recent widely publicized prophesy that many people are planning to kill Buhari so that corruption and embezzlement will continue, is loaded with the frightening prospects of creating more problems for this country than it is intended to solve. He needs to apply more caution on how he conveys such sensitive revelations or prophesies in the future.
NATION
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