Embracing tradition

Because we share a religion, doesn’t mean that the way in which our faith is celebrated need be the same. The spirit of Vatican II encourages us to embrace our faith while celebrating our unique and individual cultures. The Church allows us to celebrate our faith in a way that respects the religion and enhances our own experience of it.

Celebrating the Catholic faith is also a way of reinforcing the tradition of the Church. Fr Peter-Chungu Shitima of St Jude’s parish in King William’s Town, Port Elizabeth, says it is the family’s responsibility to pass on traditions of heritage and culture and those of the Church. “The Tradition of the Church should not just be well explained in the families but it should be the anchor of their faith. In this way it will be much easier when passing it on,” Fr Shitima says.

The western norm is not the only way to be Catholic. Pope John Paul II said in 1995 during the Post-synodal Apostolic exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa, when an ecclesial community can integrate the positive values of a specific culture, “inculturation becomes an instrument by which the community opens itself to the riches of Christian holiness. An inculturation wisely carried out purifies and elevates the cultures of the various peoples.” And in South Africa, this adaptation of traditions and cultures is present countrywide.

Ken Hanna, a third generation South African born Lebanese Catholic says Maronite Catholics believe “we are different for our Church, not from our Church”. Mr Hanna says there are a variety of traditions practised in the Lebanese Maronite community that enhance not only one’s faith but also the culture.

Mr Hanna, author of People of the Cedars which honours South Africa’s Lebanese history, says the basic unit of Maronity is the family, and culture and faith are pillars of family life. From Maronite wedding traditions to praying the rosary, Mr Hanna says his Catholic faith and culture are intertwined and they celebrate each other.

“Old Lebanese men dressed in traditional attire and suit with collar and tie recite the rosary. The bride and groom are crowned at wedding ceremonies—the crowning of the groom representing Christ and the crowning of the bride is representative of the Church, and the ritual of the blessing of the grandfather and grandmother at the end of their holy lives is profound.” These traditions enhance Mr Hanna’s Catholic life.

Even the way Catholic school goers and teachers are educated contributes to their faith through traditions learnt and adopted. For Holy Cross Maitland learners in Cape Town celebrating the school’s patron saints is an important part of being Catholic. Grade 12 learner Jessica Makanga says learning about St Francis of Assisi and St Clare “helps me look at the world differently”.

The Holy Cross learners say the Angelus prayer each day at noon and the staff spend a moment in prayer every morning even when meetings are unnecessary.

Fr Shitima believes traditions need to be passed on for they help us to belong. “I am because we are,” he says. Traditions, African or other, “define us and give us the impetus in our relationship with God and our neighbours.”

The King Williams Town priest says African traditions teach that all important ingredients of life are contained in the way the family functions. “Tradition acts as the hinge in our life,” he says.

Fr Victor Phalana of Pretoria’s Cathedral of the Sacred Heart says Vatican II encourages the world’s Catholics to celebrate the liturgy in a way that includes their individual histories. “Inculturation is an attempt to bring the Roman liturgy closer to the cultural experiences of African believers.”

Birth rites and baptisms; marriages and funerals; ordinations and religious professions; blessing of churches and houses—“we honour the rich Christian heritage found specifically in the liturgy while at the same time acknowledging that liturgy must embody the riches of different nations,” says Fr Phalana.

Life sciences teacher at Holy Cross Maitland, Lindley Francis said his appreciation for the school’s patron saints was reaffirmed when he visited Assisi on pilgrimage. “The school’s ethos was strengthened for me on the visit and it was a life changing experience.” The very fact that this pilgrimage site was chosen was based on the school’s tradition. But while the school is influenced by the Holy Cross order, the school adapts to its local context and, while it admires the order, it also respects local traditions and the learners are encouraged to be proud of where they are and who they are today — South Africans.

St Patrick’s Missionary Society provincial Fr Michael Murphy believes it’s important that the faith is expressed in the culture in which people are living. However, he says it’s also important to not be entirely exclusive. “While it’s important to embrace one’s culture and traditions, we must be open to South African culture too.”

Fr Murphy says being Catholic means being universal, so while the Church encourages us to celebrate differently, we must not become enclosed communities. “We need to accommodate South African culture.”

Considering new traditions and finding the beauty in every culture is optimal. “Even St Paul believed that we should take what’s best and good for us and leave behind what is not.” Fr Murphy says parishes need to look at the various cultures within the pews and let each “teach us something wonderful”.

“Celebrating St Patrick’s Day need not be exclusively for the Irish. We could lean towards the Irish to teach the rest of the parish about why the feast is so important. But we must not become exclusive. Our celebrations can be multi-cultural and accommodate various parts of the heritage of all the different cultures found in the parish.”

Fr Phalana believes the fundamental celebration of faith does not change. Despite African liturgical celebrations being joyful and lively, “these must not disengage us from the needs and problems of our time”. He says African inculturation is not a matter of blindly following laws and rubrics, “but of creating a life-giving event, a moment of personal and communal encounter with the living God. This is to be done in the spirit of Vatican II and the African Synod”.

“Culture must be purified and transformed by the Gospel. In the process of inculturation, one can easily find out the richness and the beauty of a culture and the richness of Christian faith,” he adds.

Fr Phalana says the best of our cultures must be integrated into our liturgies but in the spirit of Vatican II, and in the case of South Africa, in the spirit of the African Synod. The way we celebrate our faith, he says, is with the knowledge and approval of the local ordinary or of the bishops’ conference.

Fr Phalana believes the one faith one billion people share can be celebrated in diversity. “Jesus embraces human nature and belongs to every culture. Inculturation is the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes us one. This is unity in diversity which should be seen in the way Catholics, all over the world, are able to celebrate the one faith in diversity.”

From praying the rosary, to how we sing and dance during Mass to revering specific saints, the way in which we celebrate our faith is vitally important to our Catholicism. Following Vatican II, Catholics were encouraged to celebrate the faith in a way that honours our diversity but it also reminds us to be mindful not to exclude others’ traditions and to practise our faith together thereby enhancing it.