As Hon Paul Kato Lubwama is laid to rest today in his eternal place, while his life rested helplessly, the news about the Catholic Church refusing to preside over prayers for the deceased on the allegation that the late was a traditional herbalist who practiced traditional culture came with shock and disappointment among the believers who argue that the churches ought to practice what they preach.
While the prayer for the departed is held for various purposes, among which to comfort the living and remind those who remain alive that there are immortal.
Within the teaching of the church, “Forgiveness of Sins through Prayer in the Communion of Saints” tells us that the prayers can and do help the dead if they are in purgatory, the Catechism of the catholic church says, “From the beginning, the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.
What is true is forgiveness is refusing to hold on to the past, or expectation of what a person was supposed to be, it encourages compassion so that we relate to others as part of the human experience.
The church teaches that if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” As in the book of Matthew chapter 6 verse 14, the church should have forgiven the fact that the late Kato Lubwama owned a traditional shrine and prayed for his body.
Maybe this could help the rest of his family members know how important God is in their lives. The church could forgive as it’s written in James chapter 5 verse 15 which says “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
The church is perceived as a home for everybody, the rich, poor, and so-called holy ones but most importantly a church is a home for sinners the owner of the Church (Jesus) asserted that He came for sinners but if a church begins to refuse sinners, then we have a serious problem.
This is the time we need to have remorse and empathy as a country for our motto is For God and My Country, and our National Anthem is a prayer. The two speak volumes for us the people of Uganda.
With the teaching that for one to enter heaven, one must be completely attached to God and radically detached from all sin and everything that is not of God, the refusal by the Kampala archdiocese chancellor, Rev.Dr. Pius Male Ssentumbwe, to hold prayers for the late on the basis that a requiem mass is only meant for those who during their life were active members of the church is not only false teaching but a narrative that does not put into practice the teaching of the church on forgiveness.
In his statement, he said that” if family members were active in churchgoing, they can be allowed to pray for the dead in church but the body may be rejected at the church podium.”
This is not only an absurd teaching but also a wrong practice that stands away from the principles of Christianity and onto which the church is founded, it should be recognized that church leaders are doing the work of God and they have no right to judge others as it is said in the Bible. The church should act as an example by practicing what it preaches and in this they should not judge, or condemn anyone for not being a Christian, but instead preach to people how good it is to be a Christian and be in the church.
The church is there to amend souls, not to tear them, to unite communities not to separate them, the church is supposed to heal the community but not to cause pain and sorrow to them. A church together with its priests is a representation of God and we expect them to act the same way God keeps on forgiving man with all his repetitive shortcomings.
Conclusively, the practice to promote peace and forgiveness by engaging in peaceful dialogues, respecting each other’s differences, and working together should be each one role and in this case, the church ought to repent for the inaction to put into practice what it teaches.
Caroline Kanshabe is a third year student Pursuing Bachelor’s of Arts in Mass Communication At Uganda Christian University(UCU)
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