Against the general belief across the globe that the Catholic Church is
one of the richest churches in the world, Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic
Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso has said it was a wrong
impression.
Bishop Ndagoso said if the Catholic is so rich as many people are
claiming, its leaders would have owned private jets all over the country
like other church leaders are doing.
According to Sunday Sun, he pointed out that many
people, including some Catholic faithful, even went to the extent of
believing that the Pope has a mint where he prints American dollars and
distributes to catholic dioceses around the world. The cleric who spoke
at a dinner cum formal commissioning ceremony of a newly built
multi-purpose secretariat for Kaduna Diocese, said the Catholic
leadership is prudent at managing meagre resources.
He said some people even have the erroneous impression that the head of
the Catholic church, Pope has a mint from where he distributes dollars
to dioceses all over the world.
Bishop Ndagoso restated that the catholic leadership does not engage in
wasteful spending, but proper management of its resources to the envy of
the world.
“Many people in our country, including Catholics, are under the wrong
impression that the Catholic Church is very rich. “If we are rich we
would have bought fleets of jets like any other church, but we are not.
“Some
even think that the Pope has a mint in the Vatican where he prints
American dollars and the Euro which he distributes to catholic dioceses
around the world. “If anything, what makes our church look rich is the
ability to properly manage scarce resources with prudence and
transparency.
“This is why with so little, the church has always
pursued goals that benefit humanity in general regardless of creed and
social status through schools, hospitals and other social services. “It
is for the same reason that as a church we always aspire to work in
close collaboration with the state and its agencies that seek to improve
the human condition like I said at the ground breaking ceremony of this
project eight and half years ago.“Be that as it may, I wish
to reiterate that our hands of collaboration are stretched out to the
government, civil society groups and non government organisations for
the common good of our people, especially in the areas of the provision
of qualitative and functional education, health care and social
services.
“In this vein, I wish to appeal to Kaduna State government
to borrow a leaf from other state governments especially those in the
southern and Middle Belt of our country and return our schools that were
taken away from us without compensation as a matter of justice so that
the church and the state can resume collaboration in the common service
of our people”. Bishop Ndagoso said.
