The tribal priesthood

The formation of priests is one way in which the African Church might risk overlooking its local aspect. On the other hand, a well balanced and integrated formation of priests could just be a significant means of shaping the faithful in their awareness of being a universal Church that is at the same time truly local.

Proposition 40 of the African Synod on the candidates for priesthood calls for a solid intellectual formation, for moral, spiritual and pastoral, human growth of the candidates. It thus calls on formators to help candidates attain a spiritual renewal that enables them to conform their lives in Christ and beyond the their tribal affiliation in order to be effective ministers of reconciliation, justice and peace.

This inspired me and triggered another thought. In the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, the Church, especially in the West, has acted quickly to re-examine the question of formation to try and prevent similar cases. Here we have what I want to call an inculturated formation that takes the form and the content sensitive to the issues in the area where those  preparing for the ministry will serve.

My concern, and indeed my question, is this: has the African Church not encountered issues surrounding the formation of priests pressing and critical enough to send our hierarchy to the drawing board so as to come up with a programme to propose (to the relevant Vatican dicastery) for the formation of the priests working in Africa? Or are we waiting to see how the seminaries in the West are going so that we can borrow what they are doing?

The Kenyan theologian Fr Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator SJ has observed in reference to the 2009 Synod for Africa: “Wherever we look, Africa yearns for reconciliation, justice, and peace,” seen in the multitudes victims of injustice and people end up being refugees. He added: “Examples abound of how Africa has been torn asunder by tribalism and ethnicity.”

How much has the African Church responded to these aspects in training priests whose ministry is coloured by issues of reconciliation, justice and peace? Has it been enough to organise seminars for one or two weeks during eight years of formation?

The first African Synod was in April 1994, around the same time as the genocide in Rwanda. How much, did that awake the African Church to see how tribalism can be an important aspect in formation of priests who often are to minster among tribes that suspect one another and are ever in conflict?

If that is not serious enough, are there not cases where both religious and priests in Africa are implicated in fanning tribalism and conflict? At the 2009 synod, Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, was quoted saying: “It is sad to have to state that there are allegations against some of us pastors being involved either through our omissions or even by direct commissions in these conflicts.”

Fr Agbonkhianmeghe refers the violence in Kenya of 2008 following the election: “The veil of tranquillity covering religious life was torn to shreds by tribal and ethnic sentiments as sisters turned against sisters and brothers against brothers. Professing the same vows and promoting the same charism did not shield some religious communities from the atrocious strife and divisive sentiments that assailed the rest of the Kenyan society.” And I fully agree with him when he says: “What happened in Kenya gives an indication of the larger continental profile.” Here we come face to face with one of the many problems of Africa.

A  participant spoke of the recurring remark in the Synod Hall that went like this: “Tribal or ethnic blood was still much thicker than the blood of Christ.” Tribalism is a serious issue not only for civil society but also very much present in and suffered by the Church—so much so that, in some cases, the nominations of bishops, parish priests or other important diocesan offices have not escaped this mess.

What are we waiting for? Don’t these cases deserve urgent and practical action to influence the structure and the content of the ministry? The synod’s Proposition 32 called for a manner of evangelisation well adapted to the pressing needs of local churches. But how is that possible if a minister’s training is so lightly connected with the real needs on the ground?

I think here is just one area where the African Church needs to rise and take up her mat and walk. She needs to be creatively and responsibly bold to propose a formation programme of her priests that surely takes care of a priest formed for the universal Church, but at the same taking seriously his role as pastor of a specific flock.

This would require not so much specialised formation but simply the type that accommodates fields pertinent and relevant to the local Church.