How a great idea can go wrong

Small Christian Communities (SCCs) are one way in which the Church is trying to assume an African face and touch. SCCs are groupings of Catholics in a neighbourhood, who meet regularly to pray, share and support one another as a way of living and witnessing their faith.

It’s impressive to see how this is working so well. But it is a pity that some SCCs in Africa, while successful and effective, fail to fulfil their proper purpose. This is what I refer to as hijacking SCCs. Let’s see how this happens.

In some parishes SCCs take turns to animate the Sunday Mass: take the readings, do the singing, and make the offering. When there is a need to raise money for some parish project, the best way to get everyone involved is to share out the amount to each SCC. Competing with one another, each SCC strives to be the best, and that becomes the engine that gets things done quickly and well.

For the parish priest and the parish pastoral council there is no better way than to have a reliable clench on the parishioners. Besides, the SCCs are also invested with much influence.

In many parishes, no one will have a marriage blessed in church without passing through their SCC, no Mass or official prayer will be said at the funeral of a Catholic, no matter how frequently they attended Mass, unless they participated in the activities of the SCC. Sometimes it’s not even enough to come to the meetings, but members must also have made a series of contributions.

Expediency obliges people to bow to the SCC as the key to any service at the parish church. There are devoted people who don’t bargain but take this just as an encouragement and a kind of pastoral discipline—and what they achieve is incredible.

At the same time, you just cannot fail to see the superficiality, the mediocrity in some members. What do you find?

Some people may be very devoted in the activities of the SCC but they never have time go to Mass at the parish church (as long as nobody checks on them). Others still, especially men, may even not be physically present at the gathering of the SCC but are represented by their children or wife. Often such people are good benefactors who not only give their contributions but also do so generously—and any criticism liable to them is hushed.

So the individual has the password to parish services, the SCC has the money to meet the assignments it receives from the parish, and the pastor and his council are happy as things go well on management level. Everyone is happy, so why disturb people?

What is strange is that in the midst of such apparent flourishing and effectiveness of the SCCs, in their neighbourhood there are orphans, the old and other needy people who are practically left to themselves. Once in a while they may receive some help, but they are not really the priority of the neighbourhood church.

SCCs operate differently in various places and I’m aware that there may be also a pastoral discipline or pedagogy that affects the concrete functions of a parish and its organs. But if that is going to get in the way of the true meaning of the SCCs, then there is something seriously wrong and requires attention.

It’s not wrong to make use of SCCs for better and effective management of a parish. However, if that compromises the inculturated spirit of solidarity and charity that they are supposed to radiate, then that becomes an abuse.

It’s here, I think, that the African Church needs to make serious evaluations of those initiatives of inculturation which externally may be effective and productive, but may profoundly fail to serve their true purpose.