Thursday, April 14, 2011

Milingo: I will keep raiding Catholic Church

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the leader of the 'Married Priests Now' Catholic Church has vowed to continue poaching priests from the mainstream Catholic Church. 

Milingo claimed that about 200,000 priests allied to the Roman Catholic Church had joined his movement, since it waived their celibacy vows.

"We are calling on all priests who are not able to hold on and live to celibacy to join us," he said.

"We are aware they are undergoing frustrations and threats of suspension and ex-communication from Vatican, but we are ready to welcome them, since in heaven there is no ex-communication," Milingo added. 

Speaking in Nyeri when he ordained Bishop Peter Njogu, a clergy married to Mrs Mary Karimi, Milingo — who was accompanied by his wife Mrs Maria Sung — said most priests who have taken celibacy vows were having secret affairs with women. 

"The Roman Catholic Church in America is riddled in controversies and cases of peadophilia, and at the moment, the church is almost running bankrupt," he said. 

Milingo said his movement was hunting down errant priests, and others being frustrated by the mainstream Roman Catholic Church, to help it constitute a structured hierachy.

"We know they are afraid of their higher authority in Rome. If you have a relative facing such frustrations, tell them we are more than willing to welcome them," he said. 

The movement, he said, had not started training its own priests, adding that it would commence once it established its facilities and gathered a commendable flock. 

He insisted that his church was a genuine Catholic Church, noting it was raising its priests population to serve in various dioceses.

"We are the church, and that is why we are urging others to join us," he said, amid applause from bishops and priests who accompanied him. 

"I pray for priests who are still holding to their celibacy vows. God help them," Milingo said. 

He and Maria thanked the media for what he termed a spirited campaign that led to their marriage. 

Maria recounted how she camped and fasted for 27 days at the Vatican when her husband was detained in 2001, in an effort to keep him from her. 

Milingo, a former Zambian Archbishop was ex-communicated in 2006 by Pope John Paul II after he ordained four men as bishops without a papal mandate.