... of criticism from the pulpit

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) wonders whether priests or pastors have the God given legitimate right or licence to criticise blankly from the pulpit. There have been instances in my church when the parish priest ruthlessly, point-blankly, and strongly lashed out at certain individual, individuals, groups and teams in the church. To Y S, lashing out from the pulpit is like hitting below the belt because you cannot expect the congregation to answer back or at the very least clarify the issue.

There is this " throwing out of hat" criticism whereby you wear it if it fits you. Then, there are times when the hat thrown out is so tailored that it is " FS " or Free Size and seems to fit everyone, or it is tailored XXL, so large that it fits almost everybody's head, and you keep wondering whether the criticism is directed at you.

Of course, there are culprits for whom the hat is meant for, but they are not seated at the pews in church to receive the hat. So, the poor faithfuls who have been attending church regularly get the hats thrown right into their faces Sunday after Sunday ! It is like preaching and preaching to the converted !!!

There is also this "to whom it may concern" criticism, so loudly proclaimed that it injures your ear drum even though you know fully well that you have nothing to do with it. Again, the receivers are not in church to be corrected.

An injurious occasion Y S could remember was when the church choir was mercilessly criticized from the pulpit. Following that you could hear the choir members sang with lumps in their throats, and the choir master who had tried his butts to form the choir was red in his face. He resigned after that. Being criticised from the pulpit can be pungent and hurting. The choir master had even stopped coming to church. He attends another church a distance away. Perhaps he could not take the shaming. Well, Y S does not blame him. It is hard to take criticism which border shaming in public, especially in a Christian public in church !!! This was done a lot in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Y S himself was once publicly criticised in a priestly meeting. An ecclesiastical meeting which Y S thought would have been motivational, upbuilding, merciful, gentle, kind and all the positive heavenly adjectives you can think of. There was this robed person with many years of priestly vocation and who was not attentive to Y S' presentation as he was playing "Soduku" , opened his caustic mouth, introduced his opening paragraph with, " I HAVE TO EDUCATE YOU that ....... " right to Y S' face. Y S has forgiven him but somehow the words still ring in my subconscious. Y S does not have Alzheimer so it is hard to forget such critically cutting criticising remarks.

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots. Mahatma Ghandi once said that " Throughout my life I have gained more from my critic friends than from my admirers, especially when the criticism was made in courteous and friendly language. " They say that a trained diplomat can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.

While criticism has its good point, it should be handled out and received with loving kindness and care and above all the dignity of the individual involved should not be sacrificed on the altar of the pleasure of blasting out the criticism. It may give you the feeling of being John the baptist for a short while but then it has no changing effect but breeds ill will and division.

If the criticism involves a individual, do it gently in private. If it involves a couple, invite the two persons and do it in private. If it involves a group, summon the whole group and do it in private. If it involves the whole congregation, then by all means, do it diplomatically with Christian love and charity from the pulpit.

What say you?