According to him, one would think their lives or salvation depend on how viciously they condemn the Catholic Church and its doctrine, traditions and worship.
“We call on our brothers and sisters who spend hours of their church service attacking the Catholic Church to devote more time to preaching love, to seek ways of living out practical Christianity to counteract the trending secularism, inhuman and unnatural behaviors, lack of respect for life, etc”, he said.
Kaigama in his Homily delivered at St. Elizabeth Pastoral Area, Kogo, Abuja, said the critics seem to be so angered by the presence of the Catholic Church in every nook and cranny of the world, spewing falsehood that Catholics worship Mary.
He said, “Occasionally, I see some social media preachers condemning Catholics aggressively; you would think their lives or salvation depend on how viciously they condemn the Catholic Church and its doctrine, traditions, worship, etc. They seem to be so angered by the presence of the Catholic Church in every nook and cranny of the world. They know that the Catholic Church has organizational ability, hierarchical orderliness, uniformity of the sacraments, diplomatic finesse, etc.
“Somebody must research why such pastors launch such violent verbal attacks on the Catholic Church.
Instead of preaching about the word of God, heaven, salvation, and love beyond frontiers, they emit bile and heap unprintable vocabularies on Catholics.
“They struggle so hard to portray Catholics as bad people, not even Christians, but satanic, cultists, etc. The Lord is good! According to the latest statistics, the number of baptized Catholics is on the rise, getting closer to 1.4 billion! Our Church continues to grow without much noise or fuss; no adverts, no promise of miracles, no material enticements, no pull him down (PHD) preaching; the grace of God is sufficient.
“They attack us that we worship Mary. We don’t. We only honor her as God first honored her, followed by the Archangel. I tell Catholics that if they accuse you of “worshipping” Mary, without fear or shame, burst into “Hail Mary full of Grace….”They attack us for not knowing the Bible: in their fanatical interpretation of the Bible, they believe the Bible dropped from heaven.
“We Catholics say it is the word of God written in the words of men. They say, “sola scriptura,” that it is only scripture that should guide us. Catholics say, that before the Bible was written, the Catholic Church was already flourishing. The Bible was a product of Catholic Church traditions. Perhaps they need to study the history of the Bible: the canonical books of the Christian Bible were approved by various Councils, Synods, and Popes of the Catholic Church, beginning with the Council of Rome in 382 A.D.
“The New Testament was written over the course of almost a century after Jesus’ death. The first gospel was written 40 years after the death of Jesus. They need to know that the Bible’s origin is both human and divine—not just from God and not just from humans. When they say, “Is it in the Bible?” they forget John 21:25 which says, “Many other things that Jesus did, which, if each of these were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not be able to contain the books that would be written.”
“They do not know that John Chrysostom between 386 and 388 AD was the first to use the Greek phrase ta biblia (“the books”) to describe both the Old and New Testaments together.
They may have not known that the first complete printed Bible was by the Catholic Church, the work of one Johannes Gutenberg in about 1455.
“How do you turn around to attack the Catholic Church of not knowing the Bible and just having become a church denomination, you claim to interpret it even better than the Church Fathers: Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp who saw and heard from the Apostles.
What is most important to a Christian is not how expert you are in condemning your fellow Christians, but how much fruit you bear by being rooted in Christ. Unfortunately, some Christians think they are real Christians depending on how nastily they criticize other Christians or Muslims.
“Sadly, too, some Muslims believe that putting their religious interests first in both public and government affairs is a priority to checkmate any other religious groups. The Bible or Koran does not ask us to commit injustice against another, fight useless fights or engage in useless arguments.
“It is time to band together to tackle the roots of poverty, disease, violence, etc. Just be nice to people whether they are Muslims, Buddhists, or even pagans. This is what can make the world go round. See the neighbor in the eyes of your brother or sister, not as an enemy to be dominated, eliminated, discriminated against, etc.
“Catholics come to worship not because of a personality who has become a cult, an excellent preacher, miracle worker, visionary, or prophet. We come to Church to commune with Jesus because we are convinced of His presence in the Eucharist.
“To all our “born again” critics, you don’t need to become hostile to anyone to express your love for Christ. Let your good fruits show, like those of Paul and Barnabas. Tertullian, a second Century Apologist and theologian, in his treatises To the Gentiles and Apology, written in defense of the faith, once said that the pagans should be able to say of the Christians, “Look . . . how they love one another and how they are ready to die for each other…”
Friday Olokor, Abuja
Archbishop Ignatius A. Kaigama
