Christians To Replicate Forgiveness Shown By Battered Nun -Fr Chiti

Mr Sichilongo and Sister Emma Chakupalesa hug after reconciling

A catholic priest Fr Leonard Chiti has described as inspiring the decision by Sister Emma Chakupaleza to forgive Mr Daswell Sichilongo, the man who battered her about 2 months ago.
Early this week, Mr Sichilongo, the man who battered Sister Chakupaleza- the Acting Head Teacher at Roma Girls’ Secondary School was acquitted by the Lusaka Magistrate Court following the withdrawal of the case by the catholic nun.
Magistrate Aridah Chulu acquitted Sichilongo a teacher at Roma Girls High School on one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
This is in a matter in which Daswell Sichilongo, a science teacher was facing one count of assaulting Chakupalesa for locking his house after he allegedly failed to pay house rentals.
Sichilongo, 53, of Roma Girls flat number 02 is alleged to have on July 19, 2014 beaten up sister Chakupalesa in full view of a Muvi Television crew after the nun locked up houses of teachers who were defaulting on paying rentals.The Catholic Church owns houses within the School premises which teachers rent and pay subsidized rentals.
The lawyer representing the accused, Dickson Jere told the court that Sister Chakupalesa had decided to withdraw the case in the spirit of reconciliation.
Sister Chakupalesa, 44, a religious sister told the court that she had unconditionally forgiven Mr. Sichilongo.
And Magistrate Chulu cautioned Sister Chakupalesa that once a case is withdrawn from court it cannot be brought back.
She also warned Mr. Sichilongo not to commit a similar offence in future.Mr. Sichilongo and Sister Chakupalesa later embraced outside the court room photo shown above.
And commenting on the development, Fr Chiti who is also the executive director of Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) said the act of forgiveness shown by the nun was inspiring and must be replicated by all well meaning Christians.
“Forgiveness is something which we Christians talk about everyday but rarely do we exercise it. But this nun has shown us no matter how painful something can be, we can always forgive those who have wronged us. I really want to congratulate her for that bold decision. It’s not easy. I think this is something we as Christians need to lean from and replicate in our daily lives,” said Fr Chiti in a telephone interview.
The clergyman further reminded Christians that just as the Bible says, God will not forgive them of their wrongdoing if they do not forgive those who wrong them.
“I know it’s not easy to forgive and forget but you see in that Lord’s prayer there is that line that says ‘forgive us as we forgive our trespassers.’ So, we should always know that unless we forgive people who wrong us, God will not forgive us. Its that simple,” said Fr Chiti.

Posted by Kunda on September 28, 2014. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry