The Ebola pandemic has inevitably come with serious challenges. Given what has been said of its mode of transmission and fatality, many people, institutions and governments have reacted to it in different ways all in a bid to halt the spread.
Though efforts of governments especially in states where there have been an outbreak have been commended, signals emanating from the larger society do not give sufficient cause for comfort. Not unexpectedly, the rumour mill has been agog with all manner of stories some of them leading to false alarm and panic.
Matters have been such that a sick person now stands the chance of abandonment for fear that he or she may have been infected by the deadly virus. In some pubic institutions and hospitals, people including medical doctors were reported to have scampered for safety as rumours went round that an infected patient had been brought there.
But in most of these cases, tests conducted on the suspects proved to the contrary. The confusion has been so much so that even the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) had to come out clearly to state that it will still cater for accident victims irrespective of the Ebola virus outbreak.
This statement highlights the problems which sick persons and their relatives are bound to face if a quick handle is not found to the deadly virus which spreads like wild fire. Stories emanating from other West African countries where the outbreak has been most rampant speak of confusion and helplessness on the part of their people. There were even reports of food shortages and all that.
That is why all the precautionary measures taken by the government, churches and other private establishments to stem the spread must be supported by all. Regrettably, signals from the larger society seem to convey the impression that all are not on the same page on the imperative of these safety measures.
The federal government’s directive for all private and public primary and secondary schools to remain closed till October 13, to enable them control the virus has been challenged by private school proprietors in Lagos. They drew parallels with churches and markets and contended that if these public places have remained open, it was needless closing the schools. What needed to done in their view was for the government to provide safety measures for the schools to adhere.
Apparently succumbing to this pressure, the federal government has said it may review the directive for the schools to now reopen mid-September after the minister of education would have consulted with the state commissioners of education. Though there appears to be some point on the issues raised by the proprietors, the comparison with churches and markets as a basis for the schools to reopen is highly circumscribed. For one, the segment of the population that go the school, the activities that take place within the school environment on one hand and the markets and the churches on the other differ very remarkably. For another, the schools in question are attended by very impressionable children some of then yet unable to differentiate between their right and left. Such children will be exposed to grave danger if the schools had been allowed business as usual. They are the intended beneficiaries of the shut-down. There is also no guarantee that
proprietors would have done the needful if the stark reality of the danger which school children face on account of the outbreak was not forced on them through the shut down.
Even then, the churches have also taken measures within the very limited time members congregate to reduce physical contacts among members. The Catholic Church which is not known to easily depart from its tradition has suspended the usual sharing of greetings during church services. It went further to introduce the receiving of Holy Communion by hand while giving those who prefer extant practice of receiving by mouth the option to continue. The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos which introduced these measures following the outbreak of the virus was responding to the reality of the emerging situation.
But just as the proprietors are opposed to the continued shutting down of schools, there are Catholics who find it hard to come to terms with the new reality. Whereas the school owners may have been influenced by the profit motive in demanding the reopening of the schools, those Catholics who oppose some of these changes are propelled by religious zeal and the reluctance to part ways with subsisting practices. Their position can be understood. There was also stiff opposition when the idea of conducting masses in English and vernacular as opposed to the Latin language was mooted. That has since come to stay and all is now history.
This writer was really touched by a recent article in a national daily by a former junior colleague of mine Ifeanyi Alia. He had in that article kicked against the changes within the Catholic Church. He saw them as succumbing to the will of the devil and would want all Catholics to repose hope in God as His will, definitely will triumph over all evil machinations. Hear him, receiving “Holy Communion by hand is sacrilegious and any serious lay Catholic that resorts to it perhaps is either an agent of the devil or doing so wittingly or unwittingly to imperil his or her salvation” He essentially sees the outbreak of the virus as the handiwork of the devil which Catholics must resist by not abandoning their observances during mass.
Though he reckoned that those practices have been prevalent in the advanced and developed countries of the world, but he rationalized it on the ground that such countries had fallen in the faith. He would therefore want African and Nigerian Catholics to remain the epitome of pristine observances and practices of the Catholic Church.
The pains and frustrations of my friend can be understood. As some one seriously attached to his faith, it is not difficult why he sees these interim changes in the manner he has chosen to. He is entitled to his views no matter how extreme they may seem in the present circumstance. Incidentally, those countries he now seeks to disparage for spearheading the reception of the Holy Communion by hand were the ones that brought the religion to our shores.
There is a limit beyond which this argument cannot be sustained because, it is essentially judgmental. And for all Christians, only God can judge on such issues. The salvation of Catholics has very little to do with the manner in which the Holy Communion is received especially when that practice has been modified by the same Catholic Church. If we do not take instructions from our Church leadership, who then should we rely for guidance? That is the contradiction in stretching this argument far.
The issue that has been brought to the fore by all these is the kind of resistance that now confronts efforts to stem the spread of the Ebola disease. If we pander to all these dissenting views, we may find ourselves in a situation where the Ebola virus may soon overwhelm us all. Then, the society will turn round to blame the government. Proactive preventive measures taken by governments and all places of worship to stamp out the spread of the Ebola disease must not only be reinvigorated but seriously enforced. It is only a sound and healthy mind that can meaningfully participate in religious and school activities. A dead person neither attends schools nor churches. So if the schools needed to be shut much longer for us to achieve that objective, the end would turn out to justify the means.
