Mbaka, Milingo and deviant Catholic priests (II)

Mbaka, Milingo and deviant Catholic priests (II)

The Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Province and Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev (Dr.) Emmanuel Chukwuma did not only condemn Mbaka, but also asked the Catholic Church to summon and sanction the Adoration priest for his unguarded statements.

Mbaka calls himself priest, prophet and king.

He says he was ordained priest after the order of Melchizedek and with that self-assurance, Mbaka spits fire every week at the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry in Enugu where he makes kingly pronouncements and declarations from the ‘throne of heaven.’ When he was attacked by armed robbers a few years ago, he said it was the then Governor Nnamani that sent killers after him, calling the governor a ‘murderer.’

The priest is neck deep into partisan politics. But Mbaka is not alone. There are many deviant priests in the Catholic Church who while remaining under the banner of the Vatican Holy See have refused to submit themselves to the Canon Law that guides the behavioural pattern of the Catholic order.

Some of them have been punished through excommunication and lesser

sanctions by the church’s highest authority. One of them was Emmanuel Milingo of Zambia.

Milingo was ordained a priest in 1958 and later founded Zambia Helpers’ Society as well as the Daughters of the Redeemer.

He was consecrated bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka. But Milingo soon began to conduct public religious services of healing and exorcism which attracted huge crowds but was opposed by his fellow clergy for using elements of traditional African religion in his healing sessions. He was summoned to Rome for an investigation but the Charismatic movement supported him. As a consequence he was heard by Pope John Paul II and was given permission to continue his healing sessions in Italy where he became a celebrity and had the support of large groups of young people.

But his activities became a strong headache for the church as he continued to act outside the rules of the church.

In May 2001, Milingo said that the Roman Catholic Church should provide priests dispensation from the obligation of celibacy and should readmit married priests to the priestly ministry. At the age of 71, he and Maria Sung, a 43-year-old Korean acupuncturist married in New York which earned him serious rebuke from the Vatican. In August 2001, Milingo met with Pope John Paul 11 who appealed to him: “In the name of Jesus Christ, return to the Catholic Church.” Milingo agreed to separate from Sung and went into seclusion.

He resurfaced on July 12, 2006 and announced his “plans to embark on an independent charismatic ministry to reconcile married priests with the Catholic Faith.” He called the new organization ‘Married Priests Now.’ and went ahead to rejoin his wife and they live together as a married couple. In January 2010, 20 priests in Uganda formed a break-away Catholic sect which accepts married priests. This was said to be inspired by Milingo.

On September 24, 2006, Milingo consecrated four married men as bishops, each of whom was already ordained in the Catholic churches and In December 2007, in Brazil, Milingo conferred episcopal ordination on another married man.

On September 26, 2006, the Holy See’s press office announced in a statement that both Milingo and the four men involved in the episcopal consecration had automatically incurred excommunication in accordance with canon 1382 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law with his Vatican passport revoked, thereby ending his status as a person with diplomatic protection from the Vatican City State. On December 17, 2009, the Vatican Press Office in another statement announced that Milingo had been reduced to the lay state.

The statement explained the effect of the action as “loss of the rights and duties attached to the clerical state, except for the obligation of celibacy; prohibition of the exercise of any ministry, except as provided for by Canon 976 of the Code of Canon Law in those cases involving danger of death; loss of all offices and functions and of all delegated power, as well as prohibition of the use of clerical attire.

Consequently, the participation of the faithful in any future celebrations organized by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is to be considered unlawful.

Within months of his disgrace from the Catholic Church, the four men he ordained Bishops left his organisation leaving him totally defeated and utterly dejected.

Source: Daily Times