The Anglican Church and Luweero Diocese in particular is reeling in controversy trying to replace the outgoing bishop, the Rt. Rev. Elidard Nsubuga.
Bukedde news paper has been running a series of stories insinuating that the fate of the incoming fourth Bishop elect is in jeopardy!
Initially the process was also halted and eventually stopped by a clique of Christians whose motive was to front their chosen candidate for the same post.
All along, I had thought the election and appointment of the Bishop to office is sacred and a divine duty bestowed up on the House of Bishops which manifests and decends to guide them to perfom this divine duty.
By exposing this divine responsibility and relegating it to mundane feelings, malicious audios and debates, Luweero Diocese is bound never to get a Top clergy.
The vain attempt to please every Tom, Harry and Dick , let newspapers, gossiping neighbours and ill intentioned observers decide the fate, choice and quality, of person to sit in the office is not only futile but bound to split and break the church forever.
Am not privy to the dark secrets of the candidates neither am i interested in the evidence against them, However, am aware each one of us has a bitter history of eating dirty stuff while young and if this didn’t hinder or stunt our growth then it can’t be blamed for our future ailments or good health.
If someone struggles to be a candidate and becomes a candidate through the rigours of pre- election qualification, then other stages of election process like nomination, vetting, and the required period for those who may raise issues against the Bishop election has passed it should be considered a divine choice. Reversing this decision should be with proof beyond any reasonable doubt .
If the opportunity is endless for fortune seekers and player haters to bring premeditated and orchestrated allegations to bring down a carefully selected person, then the credibility of the house of Bishops is now at stake for being unfit to do its due diligence.
Election process is comparable to an electric train which when a time to leave a station is due, those left will have to wait for a differnt train time. Likewise, if an activity in the election process has passed, you have to wait for a different time in another election cycle.
That’s why petitioning the election of a winning candidate has timelines and limitations.
At a wedding, the priest asks, If anyone in the audience has a reservation against this marriage should say it now or FOREVER stay quiet.
This by implication, stops endless, frivolous petitions which comes as afterthought by aggrieved parties after the wedding .
If someone waits untill one becomes Bishop and fails to exercise their rights at the different stages of the process, s/he should technically be stopped.
Secondly, in a landmark case, Ndawula Vs Nadduli, the learned trial judge castigated Hajji Nadduli for ever going to court in an election in which he (Nadduli) was not a candidate yet the law talked about aggrieved candidates.
By allowing all people with innumerable sentiments trample upon divine decisions the church should better opt for universal adult suffrage to come to a divine choice if it provides and entertains endless petitions with people who don’t have locus to petition.
This time round Like in our competitive politics, I heard about people campaigning for their candidates and throwing ridiculous, demeaning and contemptuous accusations to others in church!
I heard about people buying votes and stationing agents in decision makers to tilt elections in their favour! I heard about people who had scores to settle with the outgoing Bishop and the list goes on!
If this is allowed to go on and flourish then let political leaders take charge in church to save time and trouble and relieve the house of Bishops of the mandate to perfom this divine duty.
The church must as a matter of urgency nip this meddling by crowds, WhatsApp groups, and ill intentioned, aggrieved people who are not even allowed at the alter table for Holly communion to decide the fate of the highest office in the church which is a preserve of the House of Bishops.
In another way,
If someone knew the short comings of a leader before ascending to another level, and that person keeps quiet till the leader looks for another elevation then its double standard.
If the church entertains Reverend, Canons and parish priests with challenges then it should also know and entertain Bishops with challenges. (LARGE OAKS GROW FROM LITTLE ACORNS)
The son of a devil is a devil, you can’t raise a bar to serve God. In his eyes we’re all equal and descendants of Abraham.
The best disciples came from Fishermen and who knew their past misdeeds?
Finally, what’s the purpose of repentance? It’s like when You break any of the 10 commandments you can never be forgiven by church!!!
I understand all these candidates castigated by WhatsApp groups are born again Christians as per their many confessions, if AT ALL they repented and still are haunted by others for their past shortcomings then there’s no purpose in going to church to get pardon.
Finally, Jesus explicitly said 2 things when he was presented a woman who the crowd had started stoning for fornication, “LET HIM CAST A STONE FIRST WHO HAS NEVER SINNED…”
The bible says, “they all dispersed”
Secondly, the church is not for the righteous but all who seek salvation and redemption .
Those who assume hollier than thou belong to heaven not earth.
Assuming a position of righteousness by some sections in church to stopgap decisions for their selfish interests are inadvertently committing the worst seen like the Pharisees of the bible.
In the end they plotted the murder of Jesus by crucifhying him on the cross and the crime was that he calls himself the son of God not joseph the carpenter!
Ndawula Ronald-Luweero