The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo, Osun State, Most Reverend John Oyejola, has advised members of the clergy to ensure that they have appropriate discernment of their calling before proclaiming themselves as ministers of God.
According to Bishop Oyejola, the growing number of Christian pastors could be attributed to ignorance and unemployment ravaging the country.
The cleric argued that this was why most youths, who could not secure gainful employment, had been turning themselves to ‘emergency pastors.’
He lamented that most clerics lacked the understanding of God’s calling, stressing, “There must be a kind of discernment before you can say you are called or you become a pastor.”
The Catholic bishop, who spoke with our correspondent in Osogbo during his visit to journalists at the Correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state, said many young Nigerians had become lazy and in order to beat economic hardship, resorted to becoming pastors even when God had not called them.
Oyejola said that unlike what obtains in the Catholic Church, where anyone aspiring to be a priest would spend nine or more years being reformed in the seminary, people now just wake up and become pastors even when they have yet to overcome their ignorance.
He said, “It took me nine good years in the seminary to become a priest. We were 72 in class and only 12 of us were ordained priests. Others could not be priest because they were not called.
There must be a kind of discernment before you can say you are called or that you are a pastor. At times, lack of job make people become pastors overnight.
“Many young people are becoming lazy in this country. We are going to continue like this until we become realistic and disciplined. It’s a pity we are at this level. The big scandal in Christianity is the problem we have.
For 1,600 years, there was only one faith which was the Catholic Church before we had the Lutheran church for 500 years. “People wake up, overnight, they build churches and become pastors. It is ignorance.
In the medical profession and law, medical doctors do not just wake up and become doctors; neither do lawyers. But in Christianity, people just wake up and call themselves pastors.
The bishop also kicked against the new fad of ownership of private jets by clerics and church leaders, saying such display of opulence was needless.