The absence of a Lenten pastoral letter from the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) has raised eyebrows on what may have prevented them from releasing it this year.
Since 1992, ECM has been using the Lent period to release its popular and scathing religious commentary on socio-economic issues in the country.
Some have said the Catholic Church—whose members also played a part in the release of the recent Public Affairs Committee (Pac) statement, which was condemnatory of the ruling regime— has been silenced by the government and its sympathisers’ relentless attacks on the quasi-religious body.
But ECM Secretary General Father Henry Saindi said it is not all the time that a pastoral letter is released during the Lent period.
“That letter comes from the bishops and it is their prerogative to decide when to release a pastoral letter or not. They never announce the date for its release,” Saindi said.
He also said the attacks on PAC would not prevent the bishops from commenting on the socio-economic challenges affecting the country.
Chancellor College-based political analyst Boniface Dulani said the Catholic Church’s failure to release a pastoral letter during the lent period is not strange.
“I think there have been years that they did not release a letter during this period. Of course, it is them who can competently comment on the issue,” Dulani said.
On attacks on Pac that some religious leaders are making on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) radio stations and television station, Dulani said it sends signals that there are some people who are planted by the government to speak on its behalf.
Bishop Brighton Malasa of the Anglican Upper Shire Diocese and Sheik Dinala Chabulika have relentlessly attacked Pac using the public broadcaster.
Dulani said in Malawi people are free to express themselves but when they react angrily just because Pac or he (Dulani) has said something it sends wrong signals.
“If they say they know more about Pac, why didn’t they say it before Pac released its statement?” he said.
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