1. The Holy Mass is the name Catholics call the threefold liturgical activities mentioned in Acts 2:42 — prayer, preaching, and breaking of bread (Eucharist). The three, together, form parts of the Holy Mass.
2. There is nothing wrong with wanting to listen more to God’s word or joining further group prayers after one has gone for Mass. It is even encouraged by the Church, that is why we hold some pious society prayer meetings or do faith-teachings on Sunday evenings (nkuzi nke okwukwe), because faith comes by hearing (Rm 10:17).
3. God is not restricted to using only priests for His many works; He can use both priests and lay people. The priest Amaziah could not understand how the village boy called Amos suddenly came to the city of the king and was prophesying, so he ordered him away. Yet Amos was a true prophet made so by God (Amos 7:10-17).
4. The Holy Spirit is found not only in meditative prayers (which is my kind) but also in speaking in tongues kinds of prayers which some call noisy. And He does not restrict Himself only to our Catholic Church, He blows wherever He wills (Jn. 3:8).
5. If we say that Zion people obeying divine inspirations to gather and pray in Jesus name is “disobedience” to church, then we are saying that the whole of Christianity was built on disobedience. The chief priests had told the apostles to stop everything they were doing in the name of Jesus, but the apostles did not obey that (Acts 4:18-20). They were expelled from the synagogues, and Christianity began. However, if the matter at hand is about priests and religious under promise or vow of obedience, then it is a different thing all together.
6. The Mother Church has always searched for ways to gather together all her children scattered in different denominations (Jn 17). When Pope Paul VI in the 1970s, for instance, saw the great flow of the Holy Spirit on Kathryn Kuhlman, an American Pentecostal evangelist, the Pope had to invite her to Rome for encouragement. And here we are on facebook tearing down our own fellow Catholics till another painful separation or secession emerges.
7. What we should be doing is to encourage the local church where the Zion ministry is found to try and incorporate it in full as Catholic ministry, put priests there as chaplains to be saying Masses, guard against aberrations, etc. The abundance of the harvest in Africa tends to make us to be too quick in suppressing charisms. It is in the nature of the sheep to sometimes act stupidly or even go prodigal, it is the nature of the Church to search for her.
8. Finally, if we are unable to make our opposing points without insulting our opponents, then we’re not showing ourselves as Christians, a name which means “one like Christ”. The beauty of constructive criticisms is that no matter how opposing the points may be, they are expressed finely and respectfully. And here’s one of my guiding principles: “Say evil of no one” (Titus 3:2).
God bless us always.
Fr. Gabriel
