BishopAccountability.org
	The Church Can Do without These Scandals Daily Times [Malawi] May 14, 2007 http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/article.asp?ArticleID=4667 We read on the front page of this paper about the shenanigans of one Father Joseph Munyapa, a Catholic Priest who allowed his physical needs to get the better of his judgement and the result is a scandal of immense embarrassment to the Church and, needless to say, the priest himself. We do not want to be seen as seating in judgement over this Priest, himself a man of God, and we are not interested to rub any further mortification to all those involved in this scenario. But it is eternally scandalous that the reputation the Church has laboured to build over so many centuries is dragged through the mud in such a way. We are afraid that Munyapa is not the only one whose acts have put to shame the name of the Church. Not too long ago, we had another priest in Mzuzu, Father Isaiah Nyirenda, who seemed so hell bent on crafting a bad reputation for himself. He had a pregnant girlfriend, dumped her for another girlfriend and was caught in a fist fight in broad daylight in the middle of town. Then we watched as the Anglicans fought an internal war of their own, one that we thought as sober people of God, they would easily sit down and talk over. The CCAP has not fared better either, with the Livingstonia and Nkhoma synods so engrossed in a border confrontation even those outside the Church must have wondered what has ever happened to the period when the Church was the place to take disputes to for resolution. Ordinarily, the ordinary people look to the Church, not only for their spiritual direction, but the church to them is the epitome of morality and decency. That is the simple reason people go to their Church leaders to confess their earthly sins and seek redemption and guidance. This is why, when the Church speaks, all of us lesser mortals sit up to listen. The Priesthood in the Catholic Church is by such design that those who enter it vow to celibacy, to stay away from the physical needs of the body in search of the greater spiritual good. Of course, we are all human and at times we fall short. However, after the priests have fallen short, it becomes vital that the Church takes appropriate action so that its image does not suffer. It becomes a scandal of its own when those who are dragging the name of the Church into disrepute are treated with kids gloves, the worst punishment meted out to them being a mere transfer to a different location, as if to give them a new lease of life to commit further transgressions. We pray for the return of the days when the Priesthood was sanctified and when all churches were houses of the Lord.
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