ZAMBIA: ZCCB National Education Secretary Urges Clergy to Side with the Poor

Radio Icengelo

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) National Education Secretary, Fr. Leonard Namuhumba, has called on the clergy to show solidarity with the poor and the oppressed in order not only to win respect from people but also to preach by witness and with conviction.

Fr. Namuhumba observed that when religious leaders become more concerned with privileges, power, fame and social status, they betray their own divine mandate.

The Catholic National Education Secretary said believers are invited to reflect on three aspects of their calling; firstly, that, as baptized men and women, religious and pastors, they are called to preach the word of God by their lives.

In his recent reflection, Fr. Namuhumba warned that without profound prayer life and reflecting on the word of God, the clergy will preach more of their personal feelings and opinions, and in the end, become social and political commentators.

“Without prayer life and the word of God, they will preach more of their personal feelings and opinions and in the end, become social and political commentators. By this, they can easily put the Church under spiritual emergency, bereft of any power to inspire and motivate society towards union with God,” Fr. Namuhumba.

He added that religious leaders must not allow party politics to destroy their sacred unity and synodality.

“Today, let us all become more aware that we have been called and sent to transform society and its systems, beginning with our own selves, families, communities and institutions. And indeed, the first call is not the call to church leadership, or religious life, or priesthood but to holiness,” he said.

Fr. Namuhumba has urged the clergy to do their work as they reflect on the pastoral instruction of St. Paul, who said God chose us in Christ, before the world was made, to be holy and faultless before him.