Priests, Bishops and Popes are master tacticians, they are very innovative. To fulfil the need of the hour was their speciality, if not by fair means then by unfair means. What is important for them is the attainment of their goal. If nothing works in their favour then they will use the name of God and Heaven and faithfuls fearful of God’s wrath will surely surrender to the will of the supposed to be holy men in cassocks. Clergy are known to create fear into the minds and hearts of the faithfuls in the name of God even though many Theologists say that our God is not punishing, our God is loving, caring and forgiving.
Bishop Stella was the first Bishop of Kuwait who was responsible to establish firmly the Catholic Church in Kuwait. Under his leadership, Ahmadi Church first and later on Kuwait’s Cathedral were built. At the time of construction of Kuwait’s Cathedral, need of finance was imperative. He borrowed money from here and there as loan but did not harass the faithfuls by taxing them for this service and that service though there were no cries at that time from the faithfuls saying ‘No Taxation – Without Representation’. Even though he borrowed money yet it was not sufficient enough to fulfil the job. Then he used one nice and intelligent tactic to put forward in front of the faithfuls to get money from them without giving a financial pinch to their pockets. According to this tactic, he preached in his sermon asking the faithfuls not to put Coins in the Weekly Collection Box but instead put Notes with the excuse that when Coins are put it makes sound which disturbs the attention of the faithfuls concentrating on the Church Service, this type of disturbance is not good, he said. But when Notes are put in the Collection Box, it makes no sound and hence no disturbance in the Church during the Church Service. By using this tactic Bishop Stella convinced the faithfuls to give more money in the form of Notes by using religious code.
During those days in Vatican the then Pope wanted to build St. Peter’s Basilica and for this job lot of money needed. In order to get this finance the Pope issued especial Bulls to the faithfuls, purchasing of Bulls means remission of your sins. Also, during my younger days in Goa when Goa was still under Portuguese colonialism, in 1959 I still remember purchasing Bulls at one Anna each. Coming back to Pope’s Bulls in Rome, Martin Luther was very vocal Prelate that time having lot of influence at Vatican affairs. Sensing this was not the proper way of collecting funds for the construction of luxurious Basilica when the same money could be used for the development of the faithfuls who were facing so many financial hardships, Martin Luther Protested over this cunning tactic of the Pope of taxing the faithfuls by selling the Bulls in the name of God and told the faithfulls not to purchase these Bulls. Pope got angry, he called Martin Luther for explanation but sensing the omnipotence of Pope who could inflict any type of cruel punishment on him by virtue of being all powerful Pope, Martin Luther fled from Rome for safety elsewhere and from where he established Lutheran Christianity, one more Christian denomination. Before fleeing Rome, he declared that the Pope was using the name of God to collect money from the poor faithfuls to build rich Basilica which was not necessary. He further declared that Catholic Church and Clergy cannot live in luxury and pomp with pride and arrogance; they must imbibe the qualities of Christ who lived a humble life in humble dwelling without pride and arrogance and then only he said Clergy will serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin Luther disliked Pope and other Church leaders including priests spending faithfuls’ money recklessly without producing transparency of the money coming from faithfuls’ contribution.
Talking of omnipotence of Popes then, They could inflict any type of punishment even brute punishment on the erring people. For example, Gallileo discovered that it is not the Sun that moves round the Earth but it is Earth that moves round the Sun. Hearing this, the Pope at Vatican got annoyed at Gallielo, called him, reprimanded him for this discovery and asked him to withdraw this statement. To do this, as a punishment, Pope made Gallileo to climb on top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and with the help of Megaphone told Gallileo to declare to the multitude of the people gathered down there “it is not the Earth that moves round the Sun but vice versa”. But Gallileo was real Gallileo who instead said what he really discovered and loudly told the crowd down below “Dear brothers and sisters, from here I tell you that “It Is Not The Sun That Moves Round The Earth But It Is Earth That Moves Round The Sun, and for your further information the Earth still moves and I feel it MOVES”. Then Pope with his brute power punished Gallileo.
Recently in Goa I noticed a latest trend among the new Pe. Vigars to make money for them and for their concubines, many of them when they get new postings in new parishes, first thing they do is to go for the renovation or repair of the Churches where they are going to serve with the excuse that the House of God should be clean and neat. Many of the Pe. Vigars are not sincere to their principles but with the excuse of changing the face of their Churches at their new postings, they want to make money. With this motto in mind, they go to the faithfuls for the donations with inflated bills thru the cunning help of the contractors who also get their cut. Faithfuls being weak and always at the mercy of God, immediately surrender to the decisions of the Pe. Vigars who easily exploit them financially.
I remember some years back our former Bishop how he stopped a young Goan girl from collecting donation for the construction of the Church in her locality in Goa. When our the then Bishop noticed the Goan girl in the Church compound asking donation he stopped her from proceeding further and advised her ‘first collect donation for constructing your own house’. The Bishop knew how difficult it is for us in Kuwait to sustain ourselves in the midst of so many difficulties. He did lot of construction work but never taxed the faithfuls directly or indirectly because he knew the difficulties the faithfuls are undergoing in this part of the world.
And while concluding, let me say that for the Clergy it is not enough to preach from the pulpit only, they must help alleviate the hardships of the people thru practical help. It is said that “the hand that serves humanity does better service than the tongue that preaches divinity”.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
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