Cardinals show us Africa’s Church

TEN AFRICAN CARDINALS, by Sally Ninham. Connor Court Publishing, Australia. 2013. 367pp

Reviewed by Gunther Simmermacher
The Catholic Church has acknowledged its rapid growth in Africa by holding two Synods of Bishops for Africa, in 1994 and 2011, with a view to guiding the continent’s Church in its pastoral, social, political and economic challenges.

Arguably, the Church in Africa is still not well understood, perhaps not even by itself. Sally Ninham’s Ten African Cardinals is a helpful contribution in creating such an understanding through interviews with people who, by virtue of their position and the experiences that brought them there, have valuable insights.

One could question, of course, whether the terminology of an African Church is precise. Africa is a diverse continent; the pastoral challenges in South Africa are not the same as those in, say, Ghana or Tanzania.

While there is much that unites the Catholic Church in Africa, there is a lot that is specific to individual local or regional churches. We know this from our experience in South Africa, where the pastoral challenges differ even among dioceses. This book is a testament to that diversity.

Ninham, who lives in Australia, entered her project of interviewing African cardinals as a Western atheist with preconceived notions about Africa and the Catholic Church there. Her interviews with eight cardinals (the other two are by the Vatican correspondent Gerard Connell) are presented in chronological order, which serves well to chart her growing awareness and understanding of the Church on the continent.

However, it also means that the interview section of the book starts off weakly. The interview with Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, conducted in Melbourne in 2010, is lacking in direction, even as the cardinal provides some interesting insights, especially about himself and his evolving understanding of issues of race. It might have been advisable to re-interview him.

Ninham’s naivety is brutally exposed by Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, who in his initial treatment of the author comes across as a pompous bully. Still, his interview has fascinating moments, especially the cardinal’s experiences as a young bishop during Nigeria’s Biafra war.

Cardinals come in all shapes and sizes. Where Arinze gravely threatens Ninham with an army of lawyers in case he is misquoted, the modestly-living Ugandan Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala sends the author a letter of thanks for her interview.

Ninham presumably chose to focus on cardinals because of the special status of their rank. For an atheist (at least at the outset; later we encounter her saying a prayer), she is strangely intimidated by and deferential to the men in their red socks. She also seems to regard the cardinals as an episcopal species above their brother bishops, not as their equal collaborators.

As it happens, the best interview of the lot is the only one with a non-cardinal: the forthright and astute Bishop Raymond Ahoua of Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast, shakes some preconceived notions about Catholicism in Africa.

Much as the diversity of Africa’s Church is emphasised, there are common threads running throughout the book. One is the virtue of forgiveness, which is a necessity on a continent that has experienced so much violence. Another is the Church’s political and social engagement.

The chapter on Mozambique’s Cardinal Alexandre dos Santos, archbishop emeritus of Maputo, outlines the central role the Catholic Church, internally and externally, played in ending the country’s long civil war in 1992. And, of course, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, the giant of the African Church, served as interim head of state in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1990s.

Most interviewees are forthcoming on questions of politics, but the late Ivorian Cardinal Bernard Agre objected to Ninham’s question because he felt his answers on political issues might undermine his ability to mediate between factions (hence the interview with Bishop Ahoua).

Ninham prefaces her interviews with introductions to the respective cardinals countries, the events that led to the interview, and her impression of meeting the subject. These are mostly entertaining and insightful. Indeed, it might have served her book better had she used the narrative style throughout. Verbatim Q&As can result in meandering monologues which require a strong editorial hand, as well as context or comment

Indeed, the book might have benefited from more ruthless editing. That would also have prevented some avoidable errors. There is no good reason why the diocese of Kokstad should be rendered as “Coxford” or the Xhosa language as “Corsa”.

The benefits of this book, however, outweigh such vexations. Ten African Cardinals presents Africa’s Catholicism in its diversity through the words of some of its leading churchmen. This does not make for a comprehensive survey, but it is a good way of getting to know the issues which occupy the Church in different parts of the continent.

Especially as an introduction to these issues, this book is eminently helpful.