GOSPEL GIST: NIGERIA - The Catholic church says Fr. Mbaka's transfer was not a punitive measure, rather a prerogative

The Catholic Church has clarified the controvery trailing the transfer of Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka. It said the priest was merely sent to where he would be more useful to the church.

In its first reaction since the controversy broke, the church said the posting was not meant to be punitive.
Secretary-General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria Rev Fr Ralph Madu said transfer of priests was a “normal church procedure”.

Public criticisms had greeted the transfer of Fr. Mbaka out of Christ the King Parish where he had served for over a decade and established the Adoration Prayer Ministry. He is to resume immediately at his new post, Our Lady Parish, Emene.

Speculations were rife that his transfer was a punishment for his support of a Muslim presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, over a Christian, Goodluck Jonathan.

Fr. Mbaka described his re-posting as a ‘calculated move to make him suffer’.

“I know I will suffer within now and a few months to come; I am going to suffer and suffer, I know that. I’m going to suffer because I have no place to put my head. I am going to suffer because I have no place to keep the Adoration Ministry’s assets. I know I’m going to suffer,” he lamented.

But Madu said: “Such frivolities have nothing to do with the posting. His posting should have been a privilege, not a punishment – which the Bishop can do because he has the power.

“Mbaka’s own is not an exception. The Bishop has the right to post any priest wherever he feels his service would be more useful to the church.

“If he (Mbaka) says it’s a punishment, then it’s open for further investigation. Posting is a regular thing; a priest can be transferred after two, three, four, or more years, on the Bishop’s discretion.

“That ministry is his private ministry; it does not belong to the church. Overseeing a parish is a full time job and overseeing a ministry is a bigger task. If the church decides to take him somewhere where he’ll have more time to carry out his ministry, how is it punitive? That should not be the language.”

Fr. Madu hinted that Fr. Mbaka had done things that were unacceptable to the church in the past but received no punishments for them.

“He is supposed to be a missionary, what if the Bishop had closed down the ministry, which is within his power to do? Sometimes, transfers can be for the good of the priest as something can be going wrong which he might not be aware of.

The Bishop is free to move any priest at any time, it is his prerogative.”



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