By Our Reporter,
RUKUNGIRI
A catholic church priest in Rukungiri district has lashed out at poor christians offering coins in the offertory trays during mass saying coins are a disgrace to the Lord.
Rev. Fr. Julius Turyatoranwa, a parish priest attached to Christ the King parish in the heart of Rukungiri municipal town said during a Safari mass at Rwakamondo Church, Western Division on Sunday that God does not grace christians who spend the rest of the week working only to collect coins of Shs100 to 500 amounts to offer on a Sunday.
He said it was a shocking experience seeing big bellied men and women dropping coin shillings in the offertory trays yet they spend extravagantly on leisure activities such as beer parties, clothes and property.
According to the priest, offering coins impedes the development of church projects which disables priest’s pastoral works.
He announced the ban on coin offertories in all municipality churches with immediate effect.
Fr. Turyatoranwa is not the first priest to ban coins in catholic church. In 2021, Kasese dioces issued a ban on indecently dressed female christians from attending church masses and services in the entire churches under the diocese. They also banned coin money from offertories.
Another catholic priest from Gatete parish also in Kigezi Diocese, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Safari previously said he was displeased with coin offers and banned them in the whole parish.
Forget about the widow who offered two copper coins that became areal life parable of Jesus, modern church leaders have on several occasions made shocking utterances against poor christians who don’t offer anything or sometimes coins in the house of the Lord. Many times these are heard saying that coins make noise to God while others advise that christians should save their coins until they add up to a more reasonable amount of offertory.
The evangelization which started in the Pentecostal churches with selfish and greedy pastors making requests in exchange for miracles and wonders in the name of ‘sowing the seed’ is gradually penetrating traditional churches, that is to say the Catholic Church and the Church of Uganda with religious men and women sent to spiritually shepherd God’s flock making blasphemous statements about their financial disabilities.
In 2014, the then West Ankole Diocese Rt. Rev. Yona Mwesigwa Katonene made a mockery of christians who spend time accumulating wealth but do not share to the needy.
The bishop emeritus said it is common during offertory time when some christians open their wallets and pick coins to drop in the baskets leaving behind the big currency notes.
He said such christians are forgetful because it’s God who favored them with such achievements.
