It has been observed with dismay that some Church workers, ordained & lay, take pleasure in commenting, scandalizing & sharing unfounded & unverified, written & unwritten gossips & rumours about our Church Clerics, especially in the social media & other public domains, and more painfully when it concerns our Church fathers.
It has unfortunately aggravated and contributed to the quantum of crises, controversies, tensions, etc, which is everywhere in our Communion. That covertly & overtly is an act of indiscipline & otherwise referred to as ANTICLERICALISM. A Clergy should be disciplined enough to know what he is permitted to comment on, when to keep quiet & when to allow his Ordinaries to comment or speak on a particular subject matter.
Anyone sharing certain scandalous information should know that he may not be the first to have come across such information, & by sharing & commenting on such information unwittingly, makes such a person an accomplice to the said scandal, scandalous & stigmatizing information. Clerics should above all others be disciplined especially as it concerns discussing & divulging their superiors’ privacies.
Whoever that imports uncensored facts & figures to this platform should beware. Otherwise, one day someone would be invited to answer or defend what he has published or discussed on social media or other public domains.
Written by The Ven Izu Obiekwe, St Stephen’s Parish, Oba, Diocese On the Niger