VIDEO-CONFERENCE

 

Prof. Dr. Rodney L. Moss

Tuesday 27 June 2006.

 

Race and Culture: encounter or battle with society

 

4. How has the Church in Africa, through its history, confronted the question of race.  

  

The Church in Africa is the most dynamic and fastest growing regional Church at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In addressing its history and the question of race we need to be aware that this is the third period in the history of the Church on this continent. Christianity was first introduced in North Africa and flourished through intense missionary activity for several centuries. It disappeared as a result of internal division and strong external pressure from Islam. The second period of evangelisation in Africa was in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in sub-Saharan Africa and confined to areas along the west and east coasts.  The missionary thrust was a Portuguese initiative. Here, there was no strong effort to root the faith in the culture and life of the people. As a result the church here did not flourish. We are now in the third period of the history of the church in Africa. This began in the nineteenth century with thousands of missionaries coming from Europe and North America to establish Catholicism on the African continent. The period was one of tremendous expansion accompanied by the building of numerous churches, schools, hospitals and other development projects.

How has the Church in Africa, then, confronted the question of race? This is an extremely complex problem. Different policies were adopted toward the indigenous African people by the various colonial powers. In addition, Africa was evangelised by many different religious orders and congregations with differing missionary policies and methods. My assessment is, indeed, very general with many variations that cannot even be addressed here. So, while there have been examples of racism, especially in the South, the bigger problem has been that of Western cultural imperialism. In this brief and general treatment of the question of race, we will first look at how the Church has addressed the question of race at the more universal level and then specifically in Africa. In the second part of this presentation the attention will turn to the greater problem of Western cultural hegemony and the consequent need to address the inculturation of the Gospel in the soul of Africa.

Very soon after the discovery of the New World, the Holy See denounced those who held that “the inhabitants of the West Indies and the Southern continents … should be treated like irrational animals and used exclusively for our profit and our service”.[1] In our time John Paul ll ,strongly deplored the fact that people belonging to Christian nations have made a strong contribution to the black slave trade.[2] Moreover, there had, at times been a missionary compromise with the colonial state. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in some colonies African missionary activity had been hand in glove with political activity. Pope Paul VI noted that “[i]t must be recognised that colonising powers have often being furthering their own interests, power or glory”.[3] In fairness, Pope Paul does acknowledge, however, that the Church needs to “acknowledge the qualities and achievements of colonizers who brought science and technical knowledge and left beneficial results of their presence in so many underprivileged regimes”.[4] However, the colonial legacy had at times a negative effect on evangelisation. It must be noted that the European expansion of the nineteenth century coincided with the growth of the Church’s mission. Lukas Malishi notes:

 

         Christian communities, though multiplying, were beset with strife,

         intolerance between denominations, scrambling for territory to

         exclusion of others, bigotry and sectarianism … The African could

         not be blamed for concluding that the missionary, like the colonialist,

         was against the true interests of his race and country. It was difficult

         to distinguish between the message of the gospel and the imperial

         official.[5]

 

In Southern Africa until the mid twentieth century and, and, indeed beyond, the Church accommodated herself to the prevailing white attitude and colonial mentality. Thus she drifted into institutional and social segregation. This meant segregated parishes, schools and even seminaries. There was at this time a disproportionate allocation of personnel and funds to the more affluent white community. The reality of apartheid and racial segregation was taken for granted. Moves toward the integration of church facilities such as schools and seminaries gathered momentum only in the seventies. After the collapse of apartheid the Catholic Church in South Africa told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that it could have done more in the struggle against apartheid. The submission admits,

 

The complicity of the Catholic Church … is found in

 acts of omission rather than commission … Silence

in the face of ongoing and systematic oppression at

all levels of society is perhaps the church’s greatest

sin …With hindsight it can be said that the church

did contribute to the creation of a culture of human

                   rights, a culture of resistance, a culture of protest.

At the same time, she condemned gross violation of

human rights on all sides. However … we recognise

that more could have been done to protest the

ongoing and systematic violation of human rights

by the state apparatus.[6] 

 

Attention will focus next on the accusation that the church never took the African people and their culture seriously.    

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIDEO-CONFERENCE

 

Tuesday 27 June 2006.

 

Race and  Culture: encounter and battle with society.

 

4. How has the Church in Africa, through its history, confronted the question of race.  Part 2                Dr. R.L. Moss 

 

It was mentioned in the first part of this presentation that African Church history is extremely complicated and diverse. There is some substance in the allegation that missionary activity in some places in Africa and at various times was subservient to the aims of the colonial powers and even accommodated to some extent the bias of white settlers to the native peoples, it is, however, rather, in the area of a cultural imperialism, in the inability of some missionaries to appreciate the rich African cultural heritage that the larger problem lay. In suggesting that that which was African was “pagan” and “primitive” and encouraging the indigenous people to absorb Western culture as an essential part of the message of salvation was the larger problem in confronting the question of race.

Had only the words of Cardinal Lavigerie, the founder of the Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the White Fathers, been heeded earlier:

 

             To succeed in transforming Africa, in their education the young

             Africans must not be turned into black-skinned Europeans who

             become misfits in their own society and country. Be like St. Paul

             who made himself Barbarian with the Barbarians just as he was

             Greek with the Greeks. St. Peter and St. Paul did not try to make

             Hebrews of the children of the first converts of Rome, nor did St.

             Irenaeus try to make Greeks of the children of Lyons. Do not

             commit the unpardonable mistake of bringing up African children

             in a French way. I forbid you to put them in French beds to sleep;

             I forbid you to give them French food to eat; I forbid you to teach

             them to read and write in French.[7]   

 

The Lineamenta, or outline document,  that was published prior to the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops mentioned the critical importance of inculturation. It noted how the North African Church disappeared because it

Failed to incarnate Christianity. On the other hand, the church in Egypt and Ethiopia survived because of the acceptance of their languages and culture in biblical translations and the liturgy.[8]  These observations are supported by the phenomenal growth of the African Independent Churches, otherwise known as the African Instituted Churches. These ecclesial bodies are a considerable force on the continent in terms of membership, distribution, and growth rate. They are a sign of rebellion against Western founded churches. Their challenge to the church means that inculturation is a vital priority in the process of evangelisation. Inculturation means nothing less than conversion of a culture by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This involves a re-expression of the Gospel by the culture that has been evangelised. This means that the one  Gospel takes a new cultural form. It becomes a matter of living life as a Catholic in Africa.

I would like to mention some areas that call for special attention if the Church is to be truly African:

·                         Healing. African societies link physical health to spiritual well-being. This means that physical illness  becomes a manifestation of disturbed relationships. Consequently, healing involves the defeat of adverse spiritual forces and the restoration of peace and reconciliation. This healing  would need to be accompanied by a form of religious ceremony. An adequate pastoral response to this conception of sickness and health needs to be found.

·                         Marriage. In many parts of the continent up to eighty per cent of the population are not in regular canonical marriages and are consequently deprived of the sacraments. Moreover, African societies see marriage more as a process that takes place over months and involves both families and the clan. Many bishops would like to integrate the Christian sacrament into this process but there is uncertainty as to how to do it. In addition, the consummation of marriage is not so much by sexual act as by proof of fertility.

·                         Liturgy. While it is true that much progress has been made, for example, the Zairean rite, the Mass of the Lagunes, and  the Swahili Mass, there is still need in other places of Africa for the liturgy to become a real celebration of African life in worship that mirrors more adequately the genius of the African people.

·                         Reverence for ancestors is another very important part of African culture. “Everything in life is connected with the ancestors … the birth of a child, sickness, luck, fortune, wealth, marriage, recreation etc. In all these the intervention of the ancestors is invoked”.[9] Thus the ancestors are still part of the living community and consequently exert an influence in one’s life. This is certainly an area ripe for inculturation. Even, Pope John Paul  referred to the ancestor cult as a preparation for understanding the communion of saints.[10] 

In order to counter the insensitivities of the past and further the process of inculturation, the traditional method in the early church of planting the Gospel, I would like to suggest that we return to the treasures of traditional African cultures. John Schumacher, an American Jesuit scholar offers four suggestions: first, a recognition of “the essential cultural plurality in unity which exists within the universal church”[11]; secondly, counter the demonisation and vilification of traditional religions and recognise that some of their values such as unity, solidarity, peace and rapprochement are implicitly Christian; thirdly, recognise that Africa has a contribution to make to the universal Church and fourthly that the sufferings of the Church in the South can lead the universal Church to  a  wholehearted engagement  in the struggle for peace and justice in the world as a whole.[12]  

In conclusion, then, race and culture are so closely linked that to work towards overcoming the legacy of the past means working to reconnect with the living indigenous traditions of Africa and cultivating a real interdependence with the universal church.  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 


[1] Pope Paul III, Bull Sublimis Deus, June 2, 1537  

[2] Pontifical Commission Justice and Peace, The Church and Racism:Toward a More Fraternal Society, No. 4

[3] Pope Paul V1, Populorum Progressio, March, 22, 1967, No.1

[4] ibid., No 7

[5] Malisha, L. Introduction to the History of Christianity in Africa, Taboro:Tanganyika Mission Press, p.131

[6] Catholic Church Submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, August 15th. 1997

[7] Kilaini, M. The Catholic Evangelisation of Kagera in North-West Tanzania: The Pioneer Period 1892- 1912,

Doctoral dissertation, Gregorian University, Rome, 1990, p.vii.

[8] Lineamenta- Synod for Africa. Historical introduction No. 4

[9] Bishop Haushiku cited in Reese, T.J. “The Synod on the Church in Africa”, America, 170( 1994).

[10] cited in ibid.

[11] Byamungu, G.T.M. “Construing newer ‘windows’ of ecumenism for Africa: A Catholic Perspective”, The Ecumenical Review, 53( 2001), p. 349

[12] Ibid.