A video of Fr. Bekomson went viral recently and seems to have captured the religious imagination of many as a true and practical display of Charity. 

In summary, he asked members of his Church who could give him Five Thousand Naira only (N5000) to come forward. Many people came out. He then went on to ask those who need at least N5000 to also come out, and many came out.

Thereafter, he asked those willing to give him N5000, to pick one of the needy people and give them the N5000 they would have given him. The whole exercise was commended as salutary, inspiring, and worthy of emulation. But is the action truly salutary? Let us think about this case critically and religiously? 

To help us, let us answer some questions? Who performed the charity to the poor and the needy? The mass givers or Fr. Bekomson? The act of giving to the poor, was it really cheerful? While we can say the crowd that came out willingly to show their readiness to give to Fr. Bekomson could be said to be generous and cheerful, their giving to the poor may still be an act of generousity, but we cannot convincingly say that they were cheerful. True charity we know, must not be forced, it must be free and cheerful.

Would the people have given generously and cheerfully to the poor if Fr. Bekomson had not devised that strategy? His strategy is ingenuous, but does it score well on the Christian scale of values? Put differently, does the end justify the means? 

Pastors must educate their members to give to the poor because we have been blessed to bless others, and not just our Pastors and Religious leaders. In fact, we must not wait until we are told to take care of the poor and the needy. Whenever or wherever we see a needy, Christians must rise to the occasion and allow the loving face of Christ to be seen. It is quite possible that some of those who came out first were only willing to give to Fr. Bekomson, but quite unwilling to give to others, but they have come out and cannot allow themselves to be seen in bad light.

Hence, “they were subtly forced to do charity.” The giving will bless others, it may even change the life of the poor, but the giver may not derive any grace, because their giving had not been voluntary or cheerful. 

In Catholic theology, the end does not justify the means. In other words, a good end does not justify a bad means. Some may argue that the means is not bad. But that the group of givers may include those who may not be willing to give to the poor but only willing to give to Fr. Bekomson, shows that their act of giving is a forced one, therefore not good enough. God is not only interested in our result, but He is also interested in the ways we attain our results.

The Niccolo Machiavelli’s doctrine of the end justifies the means is always questionable because it could lead people to do anything by whatever means as long as their goals are accomplished. This will not contribute to the true flourishing of society or a just and ordered society. Let us examine another example.

My friend had been married for ten years and the couple has not been able to conceive. To help my friends, the couple, together with the wife, I volunteered myself to mate with the wife. She conceived and gave birth to a child. Now, both husband and wife are happy. Have I acted honourably? Have I done well, after all we have achieved a desirable good outcome? I want to believe that most people would see problems with the means used? So here again, the end does not justify the means. Can I steal food to feed my family? This is a complex situation that many may say yes, and of course some will say “No”. A good may be performed at the end of the day, but my action is still bad, the fact that must be taken away is that my culpability may be lessened because of the circumstances that led to the stealing. 

What Fr. Bekomson could have done includes but not limited to this only. He could take the gift of N5,000 from the voluntary givers and personally find ways to give to the poor. He is even obliged to do it discretely, that is, in such a way that he is not drawing any attention to himself. This is what Jesus asked of us (Mt. 6:3) As the saying goes, when you want to give to the poor, do not take the camera along.” Christians, especially Pastors must avoid sensationalism, we must avoid the air or ambience of forced action, we must school our people to see the need of people and meet to those needs freely and lovingly. 

In the final analysis, there is no doubt that Fr. Bekomson had a very good intention to alleviate the suffering of the poor. The seemingly good strategy is good only if we are moving from socialism to communism and capitalism. If we must move from socialism and communism to charity, we must act differently. How would Jesus do it?