ISSUES OF RACE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

                                                                                

                                                        Image courtesy of Stjohnchurch.net

Disclaimer: This article is not an attempt to speak ill of the church or mar its image and shouldn’t be treated as such.  It is strictly an “imperfect” observation and opinion of the writer.

Some topic seems to be so sacred that nobody wants to talk about or discuss it even when some have given it serious thought. We stopped existing in the medieval times a long time ago and nobody would cut off your head or hang you on a tree for speaking your mind even if it is not in favour of the church. Last time I checked, the era of the Spanish inquisition is no more. I refuse to be one of those that would put religion before God. The subject of this article is with reference to the Roman Catholic Church.

Let me state emphatically that I was born and bred a catholic before those thoroughbred-soldiers-of-Christ set of Catholics would start hurling stones/arrows of criticism at me. Silence or shying away from issues has never been proven to be a solution to problems. And although this may not be a problem to millions of Catholics around the world, it is to me. 

When you take a look at all the popes in the Catholic Church from Saint Peter to Pope Francis, there is no single black man amongst the 266 men that have become pope till date and it leaves one wondering if black men don’t serve God too or if they are not good enough to be popes. I may be ignorant of the procedures or criteria for selecting a pope but I believe that all things being equal a black man should have been made pope at one time or the other since the church came into existence, if it is to be fair. There have been black cardinals if I am not mistaken and I have been privileged to have the understanding that two of them presently are Nigerians. It was said that one was among the preferatti /papabile to succeed Pope John Paul II and I guess that is the only level that a man of colour would attain in trying to become pope.

I was talking to an acquaintance who happens to be a writer about this subject and he mentioned that Papacy could be coming to the blacks soon since it has moved from Europe where it was situated to a third world country as seen in the current Pope emerging from Argentina. His tone could be perceived as saying: All we have to do as coloured people is hope that it would come down to us someday. Truth is: As long as internal politics are at play in the church, I doubt if we would be seeing a black pope soon.  Some people would say, “why not serve God and forget about who becomes pope or not?” And my reply would be that I have always been an advocate of justice and equality and would not shy away from asking necessary questions.  The only proof to ascertain equality as humans is by making a position of power open or available to qualified persons no matter their race or colour. This was at play when a black man became the president of the USA for the first time.

Another area where I think racial profiling could be found in the church is in canonization or the art of making someone a Saint. You can count the number of black men that are Saints (in the church’s standards) but when it comes to those on the other side of the divide, the number is overwhelming. Growing up in a catholic family, I attended the block rosary crusade which was almost mandatory for young Catholics and in several of our meetings, we read the Lives of The Saints. Several saints were mentioned in the book and their life and works chronicled. If memory permits, the only black saint I could recall coming across is Charles Lwanga and his companions from Uganda. To be on the safe side, I tried searching for black saints on Google and the only result of note took me the site of a catholic diocese where eight saints were mentioned, just eight.  Although, I may be ignorant again of the criteria for someone attaining Sainthood but I know that if the church is being fair, there should be more black saints in the church. The late Iwene Tansi has been called “Blessed” ever since I learnt how to read and Late Pope John Paul II who died in 2005 was beautified last year. I don’t know what the church’s reasons are for not Canonizing Fr. Tansi but I would state that apart from whatever reasons there are, his skin colour and the part of the world where he is from could not be far away from it.

I may not have read the Canon Law of The Church from cover to cover but that should not stop me from saying what I believe is obvious and should be looked into. The Roman Catholic Church may not appear to be liberal and I am not suggesting that it should be but some things have to be readdressed and of course with divine guidance. Conservatism have worked for the church over the years but little changes like equality, I believe would not collapse the structure of the body of Christ.

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BASTARDIZATION OF CHARITIES IN NIGERIA

Image courtesy of sufenwang.com

If you take a look as the amount of Nigerians seeking to ’blow’ just from owning and starting up charitable organizations and NGOs in Nigeria, you would be amazed at how degraded the term charitable organizations has become in the country.

Businessdictionary.com defines a charitable organization as an incorporated or non-incorporated tax exempt body which (1) is created and operated for charitable purposes, (2) employs all its resources to those charitable activities that are under its direct control, (3) does not distribute any part of the income generated for the benefit of any trustee, trustor, member, or other private individual, and (4) does not contribute to or associates with political organizations.

The above definition shows that the aim of charities is mainly philanthropy and every other form of giving back to society but down here, the reverse is the case – taking from the society in the guise of NGO, foundations and those other fancy names they give to these money making ventures nonprofit organizations. A critical look on some of these supposed charities or NGOs would reveal that they are not different from most for-profit organizations; they appear on the surface as a group established for humanitarian, religious or philanthropic causes but underneath, the ‘business’ goes on.

In a January 2012 article on Thisday newspaper titled Sustaining NGOs for Effective Service Delivery, Amaka Eze wrote, “As good as the concept of NGOs seems to be, some individuals however see the platform as a meal ticket and way out of poverty, thus use funds and grants from donor agencies to build personal houses, buy exotic cars, while those for whom the monies were donated are allowed to wallow in abject poverty.”

Someone was talking to me about trying to “help” a female friend (he was also interested in dating her) and he used these words, “Imagine the girl I was trying to help better her life. I was talking to her about looking for a name, starting up an NGO after which I’d introduce her to one or two people and from there, things would be better but she is misbehaving.” From every indication, “things would be better” as used by this young man could pass for: she’d make money, fame etc . There are a lot of Nigerians who are like this young man, they see starting up charities as a form of business venture – an escape from being broke or a source of income. From politicians who start or own them just to garner votes during elections, as objects of campaign, as tools to harness theft and misappropriation of public funds to celebrities who own them just to stay in the news, sometimes without even being concerned with the activities of the organizations for instance, every year, new queens emerge (as either Miss Nigeria or one of the other Misses in the numerous pageantries available today) and part of their projects is establishing charities that would cater a particular humanitarian need in the society but the twist is this: most of these charities either ceases to exist or become non-operational after a while or would only exist for the duration of the supposed queen’s reign. Why start it in the first place?!

Charitable organizations has been toyed with, misused and abused in Nigeria. In other parts of the world, there are charity regulators ie a group that sees that these charities are managed effectively and operated within their legal framework but I doubt if there is any like that here in the country because I’m yet to see or hear of any.

To ensure proper practice and regulation in the Third sector, a body should be created solely for seeing to the establishment and regulations of these charities (if none is in existence already)and if there is a regulating body, I think they are not just doing their job as it should be done because if handled properly, they (Charities or NGO’s) contribute to the nation’s economy and therefore shouldn’t be left for those who have decided to make money from any possible means or who see every single venture as a tool for their political antics.

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CANCER IS CURABLE BUT THE BUSINESS WOULD DIE

                                                                Image coutesy of www.giveforward.com

This article was born out of curiosity after seeing the 2014 movie The Cure (which I'd advise that you try to see anyway). It could be easily dismissed as fantasy or fiction but it should be viewed objectively.  

The movie is about this Fortune 500 CEO of a pharmaceutical company who came up with a cure for cancer but had to keep it secret because if it is released, the billions generated from the sales of drugs used in chemotherapy would be lost. Also because money generated from chemo would surpass that of the cure. He hoarded the cure for 11years. Fortunately, two biochemists working in the company uncovered this secret and he contracted assassins to kill them so as to keep his secret that could save millions of people if released. 

Although the film climaxed with the cure being released, in the real world we are yet to come up with a cure for cancer, which is why I think questions should be asked and the issue looked into critically.

Millions if not billions are spent annually on drugs used in chemotherapy alone. Even with several researches we are made to believe is ongoing in oncology, there is yet to be a final cure for the disease. This movie could be easily discarded as a work of fiction but before we do that, we should really take time to look at this prediction (which is what I prefer to refer to it as) because there could be some iota of truth embedded within. It addressed an important issue which is the possibility of there being a cure already but is kept secret just to satisfy some people's selfish desires. 

We live in a world governed by the filthy rich and powerful, a number of who makes money either from legitimate or illegitimate and sometimes unnoticed means. If that is the case, the possibility of there being a conspiracy to keep the purported cure a secret shouldn't be waved off. There could be this grand conspiracy to keep the cure secret, who knows. Even conspiracy theorists would tell you that the true rulers or those responsible for formulation of policies in the world are not the ones that appears as presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, CEO's etc but a particular group of people lurking in the shadows. Everybody wants to get or remain rich hence the quest to make millions or sustain the in-flow of billions at all cost so if there is a final cure, money is lost and that is bad business so they could assume that it better for people to die so that there could still be a lot of money in their pockets in circulation. The same could be applied to a number of terminal illnesses that we are made to believe have no cure yet.

One may be forced to ask, researches to find a cure could cost billions of dollars. How do you think such money could be spent and the resulting cure hoarded? My answer would be this: In our world, are billionaires and multi-millionaires who are keen on sustaining that status and hence would invest in any venture that seem profitable. More like, let's make all the money we can from chemo and then leave the cure as 'treasure' for our heirs and heiress'.

While discussing with a friend about this same subject, she asked, "But thousands of lives are lost annually, do you think they would prefer to have people die because of their quest for riches?" The sad truth is, it won't be first and probably not the last time that money is made at the expense of human lives in the world that we live in. Some of the pharmaceutical companies around carry out untimely human trials indiscriminately just to beat their competitors to that "pioneer status"-- we produced that drug before others. Also, most wars are fought solely for financial reasons but we are made to believe otherwise. The perpetrators of these wars have a picture of profits that would be made as against the number of lives that would be lost.
Bottom line is: They don't care as long as there is money to be made.

I'm not of the opinion that there is already a cure for cancer but just as the movie suggests, the possibility shouldn't be erased entirely. It is something that is worth thinking about.

PS: If you are in or around Lagos, there is a free breast and cervical cancer screening going on @ 118 Bode Thomas, Surulere courtesy of Dr. Femi Olaleye, Optimal Cancer care and Go PINK Nigeria.

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Follow me on Twitter: @victorikeji