Church Life Africa (CLA) Summer Conference, 2023; Abuja, Nigeria

Conference: Church Life Africa (CLA) Summer Conference, 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria
July 27 – July 29, 2023

Presentation: “Theological Critique of Narratives of Hopelessness in Africa”

REPORT:

“Go into the world, Theologize!”

The second edition of Church Life Africa, which took place between July 27th and 29th, 2023, ended with a mandate to the over 200 participants drawn from the length and breadth of Nigeria: Go into the world, theologize! The conference's lay participants learned that theology or theologizing is not the reserve of priests and religious. That even lay people can become academic theologians.

I can attest that most of the participants got the message. By the third day, most people had become more comfortable with being referred to as theologians. Many participants informed me of their desire to pursue graduate studies in theology. Interestingly, before attending Church Life Africa, most had never considered studying theology. One participant told me she never knew that lay people could study theology. According to her, she always thought that only priests and religious do theology.

Like so many others at the conference, it was very exciting for her to listen to the presentations of the many distinguished lay theologians. She was particularly amazed to learn that Professor John Cavadini, a lay theologian, is father to Cathy Cavadini, another lay theologian, both of whom presented papers at the conference. Another participant, a graduate of Computer Science, was particularly excited to learn that Kellogg Faculty Fellow Professor Kimberly Belcher, another lay theology professor at the conference, has a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

However, apart from being inspired by lay theologians at the conference, participants were taught what it means to theologize and what it takes to be a theologian. Of course, we can only talk about what it means to theologize or to be a theologian by first defining theology.

The classical definition of theology is from the Proslogion of Saint Anselm. According to the 11th-century bishop of Canterbury, theology is simply "faith seeking understanding." This means that the supernatural gift of faith is the starting point of theology. First, we believe. Then, we seek to understand our faith. Saint Anselm expresses it succinctly: "I believe that I may understand!" In other words, theology is essentially a reflection on what we can call articles of faith. We do theology whenever we talk about our faith, write about our faith, or celebrate our faith both within and outside the liturgy. Every thought, word, or action that proceeds from faith is theology.

At least two interrelated points can be inferred from this definition. Firstly, every baptized Christian who has reached the age of reason is a theologian, at least in the general sense of the word. We theologize, even when we are not conscious that we are theologizing. Secondly, we are all called to reflect on our faith constantly. From intentionally reflecting on the faith, many people receive' the call to become academic theologians.

The importance of academic theologians to the life and mission of the Church cannot be overemphasized. It is crucial that not just priests but lay people, too, embrace the vocation of the academic theologian.

The need to inspire more lay people in Nigeria to embrace this vocation led to the Church Life Africa project.

The CLA Vision

In 2017, Father Amadi, a priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja, began graduate studies in theology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. One of the things he immediately noticed was the many lay theology professors at Notre Dame. Whereas in Nigeria and Africa in general, nearly all seminary professors are either priests or religious, most theology professors in America are lay people. Father Amadi found it amazing that the faculty at the Department of Theology at Notre Dame was mostly lay people and not priests and religious. He soon realized it was the same situation in almost every other theology faculty across America.

Another thing Father Amadi did not miss was how this high involvement in theological studies by lay people has uniquely shaped the American Church. While we cannot necessarily say that the American Church is entirely free from the disease of clericalism, it is undeniable that the American laity is more involved in the leadership of the Church than the African laity.

Convinced that there is indeed a link between lay participation in academic theology and involvement in the leadership of the Church, Father Amadi envisioned a future African Church where lay people are more involved both in the leadership of their Church and in the "business" of doing theology. Very early on, he shared the vision with Father Joachim Ozonze, a priest of Nnewi diocese, and me, a priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja.

We brainstormed and strategized how to inspire the next generation of laypeople in Africa. Through the generous support of sponsors, we were able to host the first Church Life Africa conference last year and another edition this year. The aim of both Church Life Africa conferences, as embodied and echoed by the many facilitators and speakers at the two conferences, has been to inspire interest in theological studies among lay people in Africa and get the laity more involved in the leadership of the African Church.

At the closing Mass, Bishop Anselm described Church Life Africa as a seed. Very aptly, too, he noted that the seed is already beginning to bear very visible fruit.

My Participation in the CLA 2023 Conference

My participation at the CLA was primarily twofold. First, I presented a paper titled "Theological Critique of Narratives of Hopelessness.”

Using Emmanuel Katongole’s observation in his 2017 book, Born from Lament, about the surprising and unfortunate dearth of a dynamic conversation about hope in African theology (p.21) as a framework, my paper critically evaluates the "stories" of hope and hopelessness in select African fiction and films. In line with one of the primary objectives of Church Life Africa, which is inspiring theological interest in lay people in Africa, especially youth and young adult, I carefully selected fiction and movies that resonates with most young people across Africa. I engaged both Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (the most widely translated novel written by an African) and the 2023 movie Shanty Town (one of the most watched African movies on Netflix). The theme of hope (or perhaps hopelessness) is evident in both works. While tragedy is how Things Fall Apart ends, the story it tells is that of a people's hope. My argument was that if Things Fall Apart is to be seen as a tragedy, it is not just because of how its hero died but how it masterfully portrayed the tragic event of a people's hope falling apart in the wake of colonialism! Shanty Town, on the other hand, ends with abused women living in a Brothel located in a major town in Nigeria, reclaiming their lives and hopes from Scar, their brutal and abusive pimp.

Secondly, I was involved in the pre-conference planning in close collaboration with Kenneth Amadi, Joachim Ozonze (both Ph.D. fellows at the Kellogg Institute), and numerous other volunteers. This includes drawing out the program, contacting speakers, and, most importantly, the selection process of prospective participants at the conference. During the conference, I facilitated sessions, and I oversaw the group discussions.