Tue, 17 Oct 2017 14:49:14 +0000
WHEN we think of the Church, its functions, we often only understand it as a community of Christians with the sole responsibility of evangelization. This perception is not wrong.
It is a true perception, but behind this truth, we need to appreciate that there are men and women who have made it their vocation either as full time or part time workers to be facilitators for the Church to fulfill its mission.
These people live as ordinary mortal human beings with the same needs that affect all humankind. The Church therefore to provide for their needs adequately for them to sustain dignified livers and appreciate that working for the Church neither makes them superhuman nor subhuman.
In 1997/1998 the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) undertook a research on the plight of Church workers and their findings were pathetic and regrettable.
In one of their findings they came across a case of a cook who had worked for the Catholic religious community for 15 years and had nine and out of the nine, five were school going, and his monthly salary was only K55,000.
One of their other findings was that this cook had indicated to his employers to stop work, but the employers did not know what to pay him because he had been working without a contract., When he stopped work, he was however paid six hundred thousand (K600,000=00) as a token of appreciation.
However when the CCJP research team did its calculation – this man was entitled to K2,475,000= (old currency).
Indeed, there were several other findings similar to the above which the CCJP research team came across.
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace(CCJP) in their report said, their assessment of the employment habits within the Catholic Church in Zambia had not been encouraging , particularly at the levels of the dioceses¸ formation houses and religious communities and some Church Institutions.
The CCJP research team added and said they had received a lot of pleas for arbitration involving workers or formers workers at these levels of the Church structure. By and large the CCJP found guilty of omission or mere lack serious regard for the commitment they enter into as employers. The specific areas of concern that the CCJP research team came across were:
- Low wages paid to Church workers
- Absence of valid contracts
- Absence of any stipulated conditions of service
- Un defined termination procedure( due to lack of contractgs)
- Absence of bargaining and a protection forum for workers
- Inability on the part of Church employers to appraise themselves of their statutory obligations as employers
This gloomy situation that the CCJP came across almost 20 years ago is still prevailing in some of the dioceses and Catholic institutions.
This now brings to mind what Pope Paul the 6th said . He said the greatest challenge for the Church was not to preach about justice, but to be seen to be just.” How just are we?
In 1891 Pope Leo X111 wrote an Encyclical on the Conditions of Labor “ Rerum Novarum” in which he examined the situation of t he poor people and workers in industrialised countries.
He stated several important principles that should guide the response to these people. He then articulated the role of the Church, workers and employers, and the law and public authorities in working together to build a just society. In this encyclical, employers were given a greater role as agents for change.
The encyclical was as a result of the terrible exploitation and poverty of Europeans and North American workers at the end of the nineteenth century . It is also true that the document was inspired by the work of the Fribourg Union of Germany, a Catholic Social Action movement in that country and also by a request from the hierarchy in England, Ireland and the United States.
In that encyclical Pope Leo X111 reflected on the situation that was prevailing in Europe and North America and analyzed it as follows’
- Destitution of the masses and the wealth of a few
- Decline of public morality
- Workers exploited by greedy employers
- Public authorities not protecting the rights of the poor
The Pope then offered the following guiding principles
That all have been created by, strive toward, and have been redeemed by God, divine grace and the goods of nature belong equally to all
- That natural inequalities in talents exist among people, but God has gifted all with equal dignity
- That ability to reason is part of human nature, humans rule themselves by reason
- That the common good is the end of civil society, all have the right to participate in society
- That dignity resides in moral living, people of virtue will have eternal happiness
- That laws are to be obeyed only insofar as they conform with right reason and the eternal law of God
- That National wealth originates from the labor of workers
- That all have the right to own private property
- That people have the right to the fruits of the t heir labor but should use them to benefit all
- That wealth is a hindrance to eternal life
- That just ownership is distinct from just use of property
The Pope then challenged the Church and said its role would include the following
- That the church has the right to speak out on social matters affecting religion and morality
- That through use of Gospel principles, the church can help reconcile and unify classes
- That the church can educate people to act justly
- The Pope then went on to outline the role of public authorities and LAW in society and challenged public authorities to
- Defend and foster the rights of families
- To support the common good
- To safeguard well being and rights of non owning workers
- To intervene when necessary to prevent harm to individuals or the common good
- To give special consideration to the rights of the poor
- To uphold rights of private property and enable all to possess private property
- To uphold the rights of association ( to form trade unions in of workers) and the religious rights of the people.
- While the Catholic Church should be commended for supplementing the work of government through provision of essential services to communities such as health, education and other welfare facilities, the words by Pope Paul the 6th that the “ greatest challenge before the church is not to preach about justice but to be seen to be just”.
Christians should know t hat, the church under VATICAN 2 is not the bishops, is not the priests, on the contrary, it is us the ordinary men and women in the small Christian communities (SCC) and in our lay organizations..
That challenge b y POPE PAUL the 6th is being directed at us. The challenge for the bishops and priests is to ensure that these small Christians communities and the lay organizations are a always a life to the Gospel teachings and live by Gospel values of love, justice, kindness, and concern for the poor. Unfortunately and regrettably, we have several Catholics who are but only Sunday Christians. These are, people who practice their Christianity only on Sunday by going to church and thereafter divorce themselves from Christ, until the next Sunday. Some of them do not even know the names of their next door neighbors and or rarely great their neighbors. We all must bear fruits of love, kindness, justice and concern for the poor or we shall be cut off from the tree and thrown out.
“ I am the real vine, and you the braches, those who remain in me and I in them will bear much fruit, for you can do nothing without me. Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up, such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish and you shall have it. My father’s glory is shown by your bearing much fruit and in this way you become my disciplines “. JOHN 15 V 2 – 8 . Clearly from the above, you are not a disciple of Christ unless and until you bear fruit. You can call yourselves all names, Actio, women league, St Annie, CCJP, St Vincert de Paul, St Kizito choir, Holy cross choir, Legio Maria, etc e t c, unless and until you bear fruit and much fruit, those titles are nothing.
In 2018 the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) would be celebrating 30 years of justice and peace ministry in Zambia and it would nice to start reflecting on our failures and or successes and ask God how our next thirty(30) years will be.“ Unless the Lord Builds, the labourers toil in vain, Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen watch in vain.” – PS 127 –
THE AUTHOR IS A GOVERNANCE ACTIVIST IN KASAMA AND MEMBER OF THE CATHOLIC COMMISSION FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE (CCJP) cell: 0961835-055, email walkingsafari2015@gmail.com
