It is a thing of joy and celebration that the Catholic Church in Nigeria especially in Igboland has witnessed an exodus of members from the Traditional Religion to Christianity. Every now and then in Igboland, we are witnessing new parishes being created and more parishes are still in demand. Parish Churches are being rebuilt to accommodate the Christians coming to worship. More than one mass is celebrated on Sundays in other to accommodate Parish- worshippers. A visit to adoration grounds will convince anyone that Christianity has come to stay in Igboland. However, the Christian faith of these teeming crowds is easily exposed as either weak or little in the face of very little challenges of life. Hence, Chukwudum Okolo rightly observes that:
As a matter of fact, in many nations of Black Africa, for instance, in nearly all Christian denominations, there are no problems about the numbers who go to Church on Sunday and externally (for many of them, sincerely and seriously) profess the Christian faith but in reality their practical beliefs, lives, loyalties, fears, joys, sorrows, etc. are securely anchored in the ethic of their traditional religion. We find many African Christians who have apparently turned their backs on traditional religion, relapsing into it particularly at crisis periods, leading in practice lives of superstition, magic, charms, talisman, etc. prohibited by their new faith. It is simply a life of religious ambiguity for many African Christians, half Christians, and half traditional religionists.370
369 Uwaezuoke O. P., “Science, Religion and the Conflict in the Quest for Relevance”, in: West African Journal of
Philosophical Studies, December, 2005, Vol.8, p.35
Okolo's observation applies both to the first generation of Igbo converts, as well as the present generation. The first generation of Igbo converts to Christianity faced the very arduous challenge of completely abandoning elements of their culture which missionaries considered incompatible with the Christian faith. Elizabeth Isichei, one of the foremost historians to write on the history of Igboland, was right to maintain that the “first generation Igbo Christians were characterized by the great fervor with which they practiced their new religion and by a marked tendency to syncretism, that is, to practice elements of the old and the new simultaneously, with no apparent sense of inconsistency.”371 On this issue, V. Lanternari identifies the three motives of the tendency to syncretism among African converts to Christianity as (i) the need for self - reaffirmation, (ii) self-renewal and, (iii) the appropriation of the European spiritual forces. Correspondingly, there are advantages for the converts, which are (i) cultural continuation, (ii) expansion, and, (iii) empowerment.372
It is pathetic that after the Church in Igboland has celebrated her centenary anniversary, that syncretism still exists even among her active members. Indeed, after a hundred years, the planted seeds have begun to yield fruits. It is undeniable that in any part of Igboland there stand out in eloquent testimony, obvious monumental contributions of the missionaries in the field of Education, Hospitals, Maternity homes, Church Buildings, Orphanages, and other services.373 However one question left unanswered is: Can the Church in Igboland boast of solid faith of the adherents and good morals among the Christians within her evangelical life activities? In an answer to questions like this, Godfrey Onah writes:
371Isichei E., “Seven Varieties of Ambiguity: Some patterns of Igbo Response to Christian Missions,” in Korieh C. J
and Nwokeji G.U., eds., Religion, History, And Politics in Nigeria (Essays in Honor of Ogbu U. Kalu), Maryland: University Press of America, 2005, p. 21
372
Lanternari V., “Les Mouvements Religieux des Peuples Oppressi,” , in: Korieh C. J and Nwokeji G.U., ed.,
Religion, History, And Politics in Nigeria (Essays in Honor of Ogbu U. Kalu), Maryland: University Press of
America, 2005, p. 21
373 Onuh C.O., Christianity and the Igbo Rites of Passage: The Prospects of Inculturation, Frankfurt am Main: Peter
Nearly all our church buildings have become too small for the teeming population of Christians surging to them for worship and devotion day in, day out. Yet these same Christians are in the offices embezzling; in the markets cheating and swindling; on the highways robbing and killing; in the homes and brothels fornicating and desecrating the matrimonial beds; in the clinics aborting; in the law courts lying; at the boarders smuggling; at the ‘juju’ shrines apostatizing; in the secret societies syncretizing.374
The claims of Onah are further corroborated by an embarrassing encounter between a Catholic Priest and a native doctor as narrated by Rose Njoku:
A Priest told her [Rose Njoku] ... that one early morning, on his way to say Mass in his home station, he met a familiar “dibia” (juju Priest) with his usual miniature hand woven boat like basket, containing various items for traditional sacrifice and live chick as victim. Being an elder whom he knew very well, he greeted him familiarly and asked him where he was going. The dibia wittingly answered, “Nwam ejem ime ihie ahu ije imenu. Ndi nke gi ahu mechakwa ha abia na nkem.” (My son, I am going to do that same thing you are also going to do; when some of your followers (Christians) finish with you, they also come to mine).375
The claims of these writers are the explanation for the many, in Igboland, who are baptized Christians but not yet actually converted. We cannot deny the fact that Igbo people have really and truly embraced Christianity and in impressive numbers. But one crucial question remains: how faithful are the Christians especially in the time of crisis? The truth of the matter is that for so many Igbo Christians, it is risky to go out into the world "spiritually unprotected." Many of them lack both the knowledge and faith that what we do in Christianity is enough to guarantee us adequate protection, not only in this world, but even in the world to come. It is
374
Onah Godfrey, “Baptised but not converted”, An Address delivered at the Centenary Lectures in Enugu Diocese; in Onuh C.O, Christianity and the Igbo Rites of Passage, p. 2
375 Njoku R.A., The Advent of the Catholic Church in Nigeria: Its Growth in Owerri Diocese, Owerri: Assumpta,
therefore not really very surprising that amulets of various sizes and shapes, holy water, holy oil are simultaneously combined to serve as spiritual bullet proofs, as man struggles to withstand the onslaught of both seen and unseen enemies. Even where the Western diagnosis may help to identify the cause of a particular illness or misfortune, it does not explain the why or who. Causes of sickness or misfortune are not regarded as purely natural. It is not enough for example, to explain that a man was attacked by a swarm of bees because he passed closed to the hive. It is not a simple matter. The question is asked, why must the bees decide to attack that particular man when others have been passing by that place without encountering trouble? It was such attitude and way of reasoning among so many of our Igbo Christians that made Albert Obiefuna, the late Archbishop Emeritus of Onitsha, after many years of fighting such mentality without much success, to echo in desperation: “We have not started living the new life; we are still thinking and acting as we were before Christianity came.... Indeed, as was quoted in the Brochure of his Priestly Silver Jubilee Celebration, a few years ago, ‘he believes he is not pessimistic but realistic when he says that the faith of the people is very shallow despite the huge numbers in our churches.’ He is quite certain of ‘idolatry in a century-old faith.’"376
Our point here is that in Igboland and other parts of the world too, Christianity is in shamble. We have no problems with regards to the numbers of people looking for baptism, those who turn up for communion on Sundays, for their Christian duties, for ceremonies and the likes. Our problem according to Chukwudum Okolo is that: "What we seriously lack are Christians in deed and conviction, those whose lives are solely guided by, and anchored in, the ethic of Christ. Certainly, the most common phenomenon in Nigeria (Igboland) as in other countries of Africa is Christians whose faith is a mere outward garb, a religion of convenience, of social event but which has very little to do with the real transformation of the inner self."377 Okolo further bemoans the situation:
376 Obiefuna A.K., Idolatry in a Century-Old Faith, in: Okolo B., African Traditional Religion and Christianity: The
Neglected Dimension, pp. 16-17
He (the African Christian) plays a dual role. Christianity is outwardly practiced, and paganism in secret and more precautious, too. He puts on the mask of Christianity on top of paganism. The new Christian inwardly believes in ‘Osu’, ‘Ogwu’, ‘Ogbanje’, ‘Witchcraft’, ‘Charms’; and so forth. They do not prevent him at the same time from believing in the blessed Trinity, the Bible and the Dogmas of the Church ... But his actual faith comes to light when real temptation comes. Imagine he does not get a male child or is completely childless. What does he do?378
In fact, one can describe some of our Christians as "Christian-Attama"379 (i.e. Christian- Pagan). They are in the Church on Sundays and on weekdays with the native doctors looking for solution to their problems. They are in actual fact double-standard Christians. B.K. Nwazojie summarizes it all when he said: “A dual personality characterizes the African (Igbo) Christian: there is one foot in Christianity and one in traditional culture. This comes out more clearly in the major happenings of the African (Igbo) life, periods of joy, peace, illness, anxiety, distress, trial, bareness, etc."380 There is a crisis of faith among some of our Christians. This crisis testifies the relevance of the question Francis Cardinal Arinze put across during the Special Synod on Africa: “Is the church really at home in Africa [Igboland]? Or: are Africans at home in the Church?”381
The sad fact is that many of our brothers and sisters are "baptized, but insufficiently evangelized... The need for a new evangelization ..., must be valiantly reaffirmed, in the certainty that God’s word is effective."382
Thus today there are very large numbers of baptized people who
378 Ibid p. 18
379
“Attama” is a priest of a “god” mainly in Nsukka area-North of Igboland where the write comes from. However "Christian -Attama is used to cajole or make a mockery of Christians whose hypocrisy has become known to the public. In fact, it is a derogatory mark on a Christian who practices syncretism which is a combination of other religions e.g. African Traditional Religion with Christianity.
380 B.K Nwazojie., “Inculturation” , in Awka Diocesan Inculturation Seminar, Reports, in Okolo B., African
Traditional Religion and Christianity: The Neglected Dimension, p. 19
381 Gerald O’Connell, An Agenda for Africa, in Onwubiko O.O., Echoes from the African Synod, Enugu: Snaap
Press:1994, pp. 48 – 49
for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it.383
These situations place a very big catechetical challenge especially to the lay catechists in Igboland since they are responsible for preparing people for the reception of the various sacraments. It is pertinent to remind us that in the Church in Igboland, the lay catechists are directly or indirectly in charge of teaching catechism and preparing catechumens for the reception of baptism, confirmation and penance. They also teach marriage course especially, in the rural parishes. Hence, to talk about the baptized but not converted Catholics, is indirectly to accept the dismal failure of some lay catechists in the discharge their duties.