The Catechist Corner

14/10/2025

“Is Divorce a Sin?” A Question from an 8-Year-Old Girl

On Sunday, during our Sunday School class (St. Gerald's Paris), an 8-year-old girl raised her hand and asked me,

Is divorce a sin?

It’s one of those innocent yet deeply profound questions that remind us how children see truth with pure eyes. I wanted to answer her through simple Catholic theology, philosophy, and a touch of our Zimbabwean culture.

God’s Love and the Family

I told her, “That’s a very good question. God loves families very much. When two people get married, they promise to love and take care of each other, just like Jesus loves us. Marriage, in its deepest sense, is a reflection of divine love meant to last, to nurture, and to build life.

What the Church Teaches

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1649–1651, 2382–2386) explains that marriage is meant to be forever. But sometimes, life becomes very painful or unsafe, and people separate for serious reasons. While divorce goes against God’s original plan, the Church also teaches compassion God never stops loving those who go through such pain.

In our Church, we believe marriage is a promise made before God that should last forever. But when love breaks down, we still pray for healing because God’s mercy is greater than our mistakes.

If staying together causes more harm, abuse, or a complete loss of peace in the family, then remaining together may do more damage to everyone involved especially the children. In such cases, divorce can become a necessary solution to protect life, dignity, and peace. The Church recognizes this painful reality and calls us to approach it with understanding, not condemnation.

A Simple Philosophical View

Philosophically, every choice carries meaning. Marriage is a choice to unite and grow together. When that unity breaks, pain follows but forgiveness and understanding remain paths toward goodness.

God made marriage so people can help each other become good and happy. When that fails, it hurts but love and healing are still possible.”

A Zimbabwean Cultural Lens

In our culture, marriage is not just about two people it’s about ukama (kinship) and kugarisana (living in harmony). Families and elders traditionally help couples restore peace and understanding. Even when separation happens, our culture teaches us to choose peace, forgiveness, and love for the sake of the children, the community, and the heart.

What I Told Her in the End

Divorce is not what God wants for us, but God never stops loving anyone. We must always pray for families, for love to grow, and for forgiveness to heal what is broken.

09/10/2025

"I have loved you..." Jesus' words provide the title for Pope Leo XIV's first Apostolic Exhortation, "Dilexi te", on love for the poor.

You can read the full text of "Dilexi te" here: https://loom.ly/UrCiwO4

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION DILEXI TE OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV TO ALL CHRISTIANS ON LOVE FOR THE POOR [ Multimedia ] _____________________

02/10/2025

✨ Yesterday, I had the blessing of joining our Small Christian Community – St. Michael’s, from St. Gerard's Catholic Church, Zimbabwe. We were also graced by a special visit from our priests, and Brother Themba blessed us with his presence. 🙏

In the Catholic Church, Small Christian Communities (SCCs) are not just social gatherings; they are deeply rooted in the tradition of the early Church. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that the first Christians met in homes, broke bread together, shared their joys and struggles, and strengthened one another in faith (Acts 2:42–47). This spirit of gathering “house to house” is what keeps the Church alive at its most intimate level.

🌿 Tradition reminds us that faith is lived not only in the parish at large but in smaller circles of fellowship, prayer, and mutual care. These communities become places where the Word of God is shared and lived out in daily life.

📖 Theologically, SCCs reflect the Church as the “Body of Christ.” St. Paul teaches that every member is important and interconnected (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). In our small groups, we learn to live this truth each voice matters, each person belongs, and together we grow holier and stronger.

💡 In today’s busy and often isolating world, SCCs give us what the early Christians had: a family of faith within the wider family of the Church. They become schools of love, prayer, and service.

May we continue to cherish and strengthen our Small Christian Communities because it is in these small circles of faith that the Church breathes with the warmth of family. ❤️

For the love and Greater Glory of God. Proudly Catholic 💓 ⛪📿

29/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CTE3QR1ng/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Christians need to realize that there is no scapegoat on this earth that can be sacrificed to bring us a peaceful end to the evils we encounter.

10/05/2025

Habemus Papam! We have a Pope!

The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.

06/05/2025

26/04/2025

"A Hindu man, Vinod Sekar, has written one of THE most moving and beautiful tributes every written for anyone... for the late Pope Francis." Shared by Shalini Tuscano.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HqSuZMQTx/

The Loss of a Good Man: A Tribute to Pope Francis and the Power of Universal Faith

I only met Pope Francis once. It was brief. Just a few moments in a crowded room filled with dignitaries and seekers, some there out of duty, others out of belief. I was neither Catholic nor there on some divine pilgrimage. I was just a man in need of a little hope. And somehow, in that fleeting encounter, I received it.

It’s hard to explain without sounding overly romantic, but when you’re in the presence of someone truly good — not performatively good, not “publicly moral” or selectively kind — but genuinely, deeply, relentlessly good… something shifts in you. You feel lighter. You feel braver. You feel like humanity, for all its wounds and wickedness, is still worth fighting for.

That was the gift Pope Francis gave me. And I imagine, from the tears I’ve seen today and the aching silences of millions across faiths, races, and borders, that he gave that same gift to many.

Today, we mourn not just the passing of a Pope. We mourn the loss of one of the strongest chess pieces humanity had on this plain of existence.

He was a man who made kindness radical again. Who reminded the powerful that humility was not weakness. Who spoke of love not as doctrine but as duty. He was not just a religious man. He was something far more rare — he was universally spiritual.

I am a Hindu. My God wears different names. My prayers come in different rhythms. But I would have followed this man through fire. Because in his belief in God, he carried a belief in all of us. His eyes didn’t see denominations — they saw dignity. His voice, always soft but never weak, carried the weight of truth even when it unsettled the comfortable. Especially when it unsettled the comfortable.

This world has a way of chipping away at your soul. The noise, the greed, the hate, the empty rituals that masquerade as faith or patriotism or family values. It’s easy to go numb. It’s easy to give in to cynicism. But once in a while, someone comes along who reminds us that the better angels of our nature are still within reach. That goodness is still possible. That we don’t need to be perfect to do good — we just need to be brave.

Pope Francis was that man.

He chose love over doctrine. He chose compassion over judgment. And most remarkably, he chose action over applause. He walked with the poor. He knelt before the discarded. He challenged the powerful not with anger, but with moral courage. And he did all of this with a smile that felt like a prayer.

He understood something many religious leaders forget: that God doesn’t reside only in temples or churches or mosques. That holiness isn’t a place — it’s a way of living. A way of seeing others. A way of choosing kindness, over and over, even when it hurts.

So yes, today we mourn. I mourn. Not just for the Catholic world, but for all of us. Because when a man like this leaves, it feels like a light has been dimmed.

But maybe — just maybe — the way we honour him is by becoming the light ourselves.

Let us remember his faith in humanity, and let it fuel our own. Let us keep making the right chess moves in this complicated, brutal, beautiful game of life. Let us speak truth with grace. Let us protect the vulnerable, question the powerful, and lift each other up not because of who we are, but because we are here — together.

Pope Francis believed in a world where dignity wasn’t conditional. Where faith was lived, not just preached. That world can still exist — if we build it.

And maybe that’s the final gift he’s given us. A call not to despair, but to duty.

Because as long as we carry his belief in each other, then truly, he has not left us at all.

Vinod Sekhar

20/04/2025

Happy Easter! Alleluia, He is risen! 🙏🤍

24/02/2025

💚❤️

Pope Francis had a restful tenth night in the hospital, according to a statement published on Monday morning by the Holy See Press Office.

"The night went well; the Pope slept and is resting," read the statement.

The Pope is receiving treatment for double pneumonia at Rome's Gemelli Hospital.

On Sunday evening, the Holy See Press Office said his condition remains critical, though he has not experienced any respiratory crises since Saturday morning.

Pope Francis had received blood transfusions to bring up his hemoglobin levels.

"The thrombocytopenia remains stable; however, some blood tests show early, mild renal insufficiency, which is currently under control," said the Sunday press statement, adding that "high-flow oxygen therapy continues through nasal cannulas."

Earlier on Sunday, the Pope attended Mass in his apartment in Gemelli Hospital with the doctors and nurses who are overseeing his treatment.