KAMPALA – Church of Uganda Archbishop Stanley Ntagali has lashed out at parents for neglecting their children.
In his Easter message delivered on Thursday, Archbishop Ntagali said many parents are giving the excuse of work to abandon their own children.
“Too many parents leave the house before the children are awake and return home after they are asleep. Children are not being raised by their parents, but are being raised by house helpers who may not share your values. Children get concerned and think they are the ones who have caused their parents to neglect them. But, that is not true. Children have not done anything wrong. It is their parents who have chosen their own selfish interests and neglected their children,” he said.
The archbishop also lashed at parents who he said defile minors.
“Parents, you can control your sexual urges and stop defiling children and stay faithful to your spouse. We all know what it is like to attend the burial of a man in our community and for children from other women to appear at the burial asking for support. Most of the time, his wife and her children never knew about these other women and their children,” Archbishop Ntagali said.
He said the Church of Uganda has declared 2019 to be the Year of Children as a move to advocate for the children.
He warned that parents no longer have to be enslaved to your selfish decisions saying that parents should emulate Jesus’ death and resurrection get the power to exercise self-control since they are no longer slaves to sexual instincts and desires.
“Our children desperately need parents who have embraced the death and resurrection of Jesus for themselves. It is the only way to protect our children and ensure they have the best opportunities to grow into the full stature of Christ and to also personally know the freedom that comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus,” he added.
He also asked step-parents to desist from forcing their partners to choose between them and the children.
“The child is the one who suffers by being sent away to be cared for by a relative or a stranger who considers the child only as cheap labour to fetch water and firewood. Many of these children end up being trafficked into sex slavery. This is terrible and must stop,” he suggested.
Archbishop Ntagali said because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, people’s will, ability to choose and make good decisions was been redeemed.
“We can now exercise self-control as God designed us to do when he made us in his image. We are no longer like animals that follow only our instincts and desires,” he said.
