Moving from theory to practice

We are living in a world that is undergoing perpetual scientific, intellectual and moral mutations. Due to a multiplicity of viewpoints and precepts, which sometimes stultify each other, many are left standing at the crossroads confused as they do not know which direction to take.

At such times the Church, as a moral and spiritual authority, becomes a safe haven and compass for them, as by her very nature and mission, she stands on a moral trajectory that defies the temporariness and pettiness of human concerns, however noble humans rate them.

If the Church were to fail in her mission, allowing these limiting temporary concerns to overshadow her spiritual and therefore eternal or timeless mission, and falls into the trap of just doing “business” as usual, the consequences will indisputably be unimaginable. And what better way is there to teach and transform than practicing what one preaches.

When he was once questioned about the ills plaguing the contemporary Church and if they do not put to question her holy nature, Douala Emeritus Archbishop Christian Cardinal Tumi explained that the Church is not holy because her leaders and the faithful are morally upright, but simply because Christ is the Church’s head.

To determine the Church’s strength exclusively on the moral uprightness of her authorities and faithful will at best be ridiculously simplistic and at worst presumptuous as our human weaknesses are some of our defining characteristics. But should this be an excuse for permissiveness?

There are claims of corruption, tribalism, human rights abuses and injustice, just to name these few, in the Church and that the secular and political order is increasingly influencing and dictating the Church’s modus operandi; and these claims can be dangerous for it is supposed to be the other way round, the danger is not that these ills exist in the Church as such, but that they are allowed to flourish and become institutionalised. When the Church, for example, sees a corrupt situation and deliberately looks the other way, it becomes a moral failing as she has sinned through omission or by condoning evil.

Though not directly related to the Church, Pope Francis points out in Evangelii Gaudium the consequences that evil can have when it is allowed to thrive. “Just as goodness tends to spread, the toleration of evil, which is injustice, tends to expand its baneful influence and quietly to undermine any political and social system, no matter how solid it may appear. If every action has its consequences, an evil embedded in the structures of a society has a constant potential for disintegration and death.”

Yet these setbacks provide ideal occasions for the Church to play her role and become stronger in carrying out her mission, for what is the value of gold that has not been tested. Through the conduct of her affairs, the Church cannot afford to establish negative referrals for herself.

The Catholic teacher’s pay should not be referred to as a “catechist salary”, giving the impression that such a teacher is being deprived of his rightful due, but if such a nomenclature cannot be altered, let it then be that the Church did her best to pay him within the means available and not with any malicious intention to foster unasked and undesired frugality.

Let claims of tribalism not be founded on irrefutable and overt evidence, but if such were the case, let it simply be that the selection criterion was objectively and dispassionately applied and people from a particular tribe were selected on required conditions and not through the intervention of a Church official.

In an increasingly acerbic world, the Church should be and remains a source of hope for many groping about in the dark. Were she to deliberately deviate from her corrective and moralising role and conform to the ways of the world, where will the suffering majority turn to?

For when pressure builds up and secular forces impose their dictates, the Church should actually be a counter force and not simply allow her own inadequacies to come cascading like water through fissures in a dam, only helping to increase the flood and making drowning a certainty for those looking for an escape route.