“CHURCH AS FAMILY”: SOCIAL CONTEXT
Central to the message of the African Synod (1994) was the model of the “Church as Family.” A very creative and powerful analysis of the model is contained in a new book by a young Nigerian Jesuit theologian. We offer here excerpts from a comprehensive review of the book done by Rev. Uba John Ofei, former director of Justice and Peace for the Nigerian Catholic Bishops Conference
The poet T.S. Eliot cautions that “humanity cannot bear too much truth.” But A.E. Orobator, S.J., insists that the truth must be told, in his recent The Church as Family: African Ecclesiology in Its Social Context (Paulines, 2000). Needless to add, the book is a real challenge!
This book of 184 pages and five chapters is written with a passion that is at the same time characterised by patriotism and humanism. The author speaks for the impoverished Africans who have been reduced to mere bystanders and passive observers by a totally clericalised church and by a minority elite that are in power in governments.
Africa is truly a troubled continent. What is to be done to change things to a brighter today and tomorrow? This is the big question that this book attempts to answer. The author’s position is clear. He wholeheartedly endorses the adoption of the Synodal Fathers’ phrase: “Church-as-family-of-God” -- a family model with all that the image conjures up. The title of the book with its subtitle fully expresses the author’s stance.
This book has launched Orobator into the pantheon of ecclesiologists who are proud enough to be active members of the church and courageous enough to challenge that church to higher grounds. Right from the Preface and Introduction, a constant refrain that is unequivocal is the author’s insistence that the church must always be socially relevant to the ever changing realities taking place with rapid regularity in the African social context.
The entire book can rightly be said to be an answer given to the piercing and timely question of Cardinal Hyacinth Thiandoum of Senegal at the start of the African Synod: “Church of Africa, what must you now become so that your message may be relevant and credible?” Having accepted the model of Church-as-family-of-God, a new ecclesiology must be developed so that this fitting image/model would be far from an abstraction or mere rhetoric.
Chapter One chronicles the state of the church in Africa, mostly from the perspective of African theologians from across the continent who have made known their opinions in writings. Though expressed in different ways, their verdict is similar: for the Church to be authentic, especially in the light of the Church-as-family-of-God, the Church must look critically at itself and embrace a restructuring.
Adrian Hastings, theologian and long-time missionary in Africa, puts forth the sentiments of these theologians on the state of the Church in Africa by calling for a people-oriented Church: “To save the Church in Africa today, we have, more than anything else, to declericalise her. We have to declericalise the liturgy. We have to declericalise the Scripture….We have to declericalise marriage, finally, and most difficult of all, we have to declericalise the ministry.” This declericalisation, Orobator believes, would better handle issues in African ecclesiology, like ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, African women in Church ministry, authority and leadership, and mission.
Just as Thomas Aquinas made exhaustive use of the philosophy of Aristotle in his theological exposition, Orobator in Chapter Two relies “primarily on the findings of the social sciences in order to generate a comprehensive picture of Africa’s social panorama.” The newness and innovation of the author is amply demonstrated in this chapter. He paints a comprehensive picture of the African landscape: a troubled continent in all respects, from the “complex emergencies,” socio-economic crises, SAP, external debt, political crises, wars/civil strife, and the psychological effects of these.
Reading this chapter, someone unfamiliar with the approach of social analysis might wonder what all these issues have to do with a theology book! Orobator presents a scholarly, graphic and telling overview, leaving nothing unattended to and overlooking no detail. Indeed, there is no doubt that the socio-economic and political problems that have enveloped Africa cannot leave the faith of the African and the Church in Africa untouched. This chapter is a good demonstration of the good homilist who holds the Gospel with one hand and the newspaper with the other.
The author, in Chapter Three, leaves the reader in no doubt that he means to be concrete and pragmatic by an analysis and evaluation of three distinct models of Church: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa. Comparing and contrasting these models is very instructive to all women and men of good will who want the Church to truly be a Church!
Because the Church in Nigeria, according to the author, is very much hierarchical and understands itself as such, its mission in society operates equally from that understanding. The result in such a contraption would at best be mere lip service. Hence the Nigerian Church goes beyond hierarchical pronouncements and exhortations only to mere prayers. For Orobator, Nigeria is not an example to follow. The efforts of the Church in Kenya and South Africa receive an endorsement of different degrees from the author.
Chapter Four is undoubtedly the most important chapter, as the author asks, “…given the state of African ecclesiology, the social context of the continent, and current examples of Church praxis, in what practical ways can the church in Africa become an agent of social transformation and renewal?”
He paints a clear picture of the role of the church, and more importantly, gives a concrete recipe or set of tools to implement this role. In a scholarly and practical way, he offers the reader a clear and challenging role for the church if it is to be socially relevant at all times, responding to the signs of the times.
Quoting extensively from Vatican II’s Church in the Modern World, and placing this side by side with the statements of well-known ecclesiastics like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the author endorses Pope Paul VI’s phrase of the church as an “expert in humanity.” Nothing human can ever be alien or foreign to that church.
Orobator approvingly quotes Archbishop Tutu: “Faith is a highly political thing. At the centre of all that we believe is the incarnation – the participation of God in the affairs of this world. As followers of that God we too must be politically engaged. We need inner resources in order to face the political demands of our time.”
To develop practical means to be Church-as-family at the service of society, the author suggests social analysis. “Given the fact that people who hold ecclesiastical or clerical office do not enjoy the monopoly, or in some cases, even possess the needed expertise regarding solutions to certain social issues, social analysis provides the church with a practical means of collaborating fruitfully with other groups and social institutions who are equally committed to the transformation and renewal of Africa.”
A theology of reconstruction as a sequel to a theology of liberation is the second means given by the author. A third option is prophetic witnessing whereby the church recognises, names and condemns structures of sin. Orobator sees poverty, oppression, violence and hopelessness as knowing no religious denomination as exclusive homes. He therefore calls for ecumenical action, citing examples of Uganda and Zimbabwe where religious bodies in coalition with government and NGOs combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
Finally in this chapter, under the broad heading “Structures of Initiatives,” effective strategies for the church are described: Justice, Peace and Development Commission, Mediation Programmes, Dialogue/Policy Debates, Election Monitoring, Formation, Think-Tank, Conscientisation, and Mobilisation Programmes.
Chapter Five, the final chapter of the book, is devoted to highlighting the theological ground for the concept of the Church-as-family at the service of society. The task of developing this theological ground was entrusted to African theologians by the Synodal Fathers in 1994. While giving thanks to God that many Africans have become Christians, the author is very skeptical about an image based on a triumphant attitude toward mere numbers. “To insist on numerical considerations as the basis for the church’s social role amounts to a ‘fetishism’ of numbers.” In other words, it is not how many, but how well.
The image of the church as a flock led by a shepherd, a “Pastoralist Church,” receives hard knocks from the author on the basis that this amounts to “monopolistic clericalism and episcopalism.” The “Good Samaritan Church” is another popular image that the author is uncomfortable with, since it “characteristically evades the challenge of active participation in the social arena. It prefers to indulge in ‘assistential’ or caritative endeavours rather than uncover and confront the structural and root causes of social malaise.”
LIFE, SOLIDARITY, SERVICE
In the face of all this, Orobator opts for three images. First, “a church for life,” using a concept most suited for Africans who see life as a gift of God and therefore sacred. “I have come that they many have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)
Second, “a church in solidarity” emphasises social relevance. “I am because we are, and we are because I am,” says the African proverb. Thirdly, “a church of service” is a non-negotiable if the church is to be authentic and relevant. “A community of solidarity at the service of life”: this is the apt summary of the theological foundation for the church-as-family-of-God.
Everyone must read this book, I believe.
Rev. Uba
John Ofei
Abuja, Nigeria
Table of Contents | Next Article
Home | Information | Activities | Updates | Networking | Discussions | Cost of Living | Publications | Jubilee 2000