By Paschal Norbert
WOTE, JUNE 27,2023 (CISA)- “When you looked at the nuncio, he read an original sermon. He was not reading from the Yellow Pages; you know the Yellow Pages that have been read over and over. He had it written, he even quoted the first prayer, he quoted the preface and all of the readings. Meaning that he had read, he had prepared and you saw him changing over the pages. My appeal to you my dear priests, you are teachers you don’t go there stand before people and begin shaking things off your sleeves, you prepare… you prepare, you are teachers, so that we can teach our people the mysteries of our faith,” implored Rt. Rev. Norman King’oo Wambua, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Machakos.
In his address during the priestly and diaconate ordination held at St. Joseph the Worker-Makueni Parish in Wote, Makueni County, on June 24, Bishop King’oo challenged both the new and old priests to prepare well for their homilies to teach better the faithful, especially “in these difficult times when our Church is under siege, when Christianity is under siege.”
“So that we can teach our people and protect them. Those who are newly ordained and those of us who were ordained before, please, it’s a sin of omission when you go unprepared yet you have the time and you just go there unprepared, ‘halafu unasema lakini nimesoma misa na imetosha, haijatosha,’ (then you say you have celebrated Mass and that is enough. It is not enough) you haven’t taught the people the faith,” said the 71-year-old bishop.
“Yes, God will do his bit but they need to know the faith. Therefore, that is my appeal to you today please my dear priests, for the faith to grow we have to teach it and there is no other way,” he added.
Bishop King’oo bemoaned the Shakahola Massacre in Malindi County and blamed the unfortunate situation of the victims on false teachings of the faith and the ineptitude of religious leaders to teach the people the truth of the scriptures.
“How do you explain what is going on in that other place along the coast? How do you explain it… and these people are Christians; they go there they get brainwashed to the point whereby they even refuse to eat when they are in prison in the name of going to heaven. I don’t think God needs them so soon,” he lamented.
“What you do is that when you teach them, they can make a decision. These women can make decisions. But they will only do that when you teach them the mysteries of the faith that there is suffering, there is death and there is a Cross of Christ, don’t sweet coat it because it’s a reality,” he admonished.
Bishop King’oo urged the priests to reflect on their prophetic role as teachers of faith and maximize the time they have with Christians during Mass to edify their understanding of the faith for continuous formation.
“Where do we teach them, it is in the sermon on Sundays. It is in the sermon. These people are busy, they are working from Monday to Saturday, where will you collect them for ongoing formation, it is on Sunday when you prepare and they are there. So that is my appeal to you so that we can protect our Christians,” the bishop urged.
