Cleric blames xenophobia on departure of hospitality in Africa
A Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr Tom-Ave Omiunu, has attributed the cause of xenophobia in South Africa to the departure of hospitality culture from the continent.
Scene of a Xenophobic attack in South Africa (Vanguard)
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The cleric, an associate priest in the parish, said like a joke the world was cracking down and people had been at war with themselves.
“One thing you can never take away from Africans is hospitality; it is in our culture to entertain and receive guests.
“Like joke, hospitality has become the opposite of itself in our world today; hostility, wickedness, hatred, bitterness and xenophobia have replaced hospitality,’’ the priest said.
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He questioned where xenophobia came from, saying “I checked it and I found out it is the most used word now as it appeared about 3.5 billion times online.
The priest said that hatred had replaced love for one another and everything evil had become like a joke in the continent.
“Foreigners have been burnt alive in South Africa, businesses have been destroyed, people are crying; even in Nigeria, some people planned retaliation.
“All these are because we have thrown away hospitality that God gave us and replaced with hatred for one another,’’ he said.
Quoting from the letter of Paul to Philemon verses nine to 17, Omiunu said in God, there was no slavery, adding that people had designed slavery and hatred like joke.
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“No slavery in Christianity, no second class citizen, no racism and no xenophobia; if you bring slavery into Christianity, then you have missed the mark,’’ he said.
According to him, Christianity is a way of life, it is a daily cross; it is a personal choice to follow Christ and putting Him at the centre of all things.
Omiunu , however, read the letter of South African Catholic Archbishop, Buti Tigagale, condemning xenophobic attacks in the country, comparing it to hatred in Nazi Germany to the parishioners.
“The teaching of the Church is direct and uncompromising. More than 80 per cent of South Africans claim to be Christian. What are our religious leaders teaching the multitudes that fill our churches every Sunday?
“Galatians three verse 28 says there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
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”By the same token, there is neither South African nor Nigerian nor Ethiopian. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
“Let us take heed of this. We are facing a rising tide of hatred and intolerance, no different to the rising tide of hatred in Nazi Germany.
“If we do not take urgent action to stop it, there will be nothing left,” the priest quoted the Archbishop as saying.
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