Harare — THE cultural practice of "resting the spirit of departed relatives" (kurova guva) is destroying Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church Bishop of Mutare, Right Reverend Alexio Churu Muchabaiwa, has said.

The bishop's declaration was a bombshell for many of the more than 800 Catholic men gathered for the St Joseph's Guild National Congress at Regina Mundi School in Gweru at the weekend.

Catholics in Zimbabwe have, for many years, passionately and emotively differed on the thorny matter that has left the Church deeply divided with battle lines drawn between priests and nuns, on the one hand, and congregants, on the other.

Presenting a paper on the position of the Catholic Church on the age-old ceremony to rest the spirit of the dead, Bishop Muchabaiwa said: "If there is anything that destroys Christianity it is kurova guva. It destroys Christianity fundamentally."

By engaging in this practice, which is linked to the belief that ancestral spirits are capable of acting as intercessors between the living and God, Christians were fundamentally destroying the very basis of their faith - that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to God, said Bishop Muchabaiwa.

The highly contentious matter, which stirred heated arguments during a two-hour long debate among the delegates at the congress, is likely to generate further debate not only in the Catholic Church, but also other Christian denominations, whose membership still consults spirit mediums and n'angas (traditional diviners).

Strongly bound by the desire to uphold such cultural practices that touch on core aspects of their lives, some delegates pointed out that it was now extremely difficult for Christians to extricate themselves from this practice because they were nurtured in the credo.

Said Bishop Muchabaiwa: "The biggest problem most Christians face today is that of transition. But, fortunately, God is a God of freedom.

"As Christians we should, however, make up our minds which side we want to belong to. Either you follow Christianity or the ancestral route --- it's that simple."

Leading the camp of delegates who supported the practice of resting the spirit of the dead were a sizeable number of elderly men who argued that there was nothing wrong in partaking in such ceremonies as Christians since this was in line with the Vatican's accculturation initiative.

However, presenting a different topic during the same congress, one of the Catholic Church's oldest practicing priests, Father Xavier Munyongani of Masvingo, fired a broadside at Christians who justified unChristian practices and also taught what they did not practice.

"There are too many Christians practicing double standards who declare during the day that they don't consult n'angas on matters of appeasing the spirits, but secretly do so at night," said Fr Munyongani.

"If all these born again people swear that they don't talk to n'angas, where are the n'angas getting all their money to buy all the Mercedes Benz cars they own? Who is fooling who?" he asked.

Drawing delegates from the Church's eight dioceses of Hwange, Bulawayo, Gokwe, Chinhoyi, Masvingo, Mutare, Gweru and Harare, the congress ended yesterday with no clear resolution after Bishop Muchabaiwa left the issue open for further debate.