Catholic Church Facing the Challenge of the African Traditional Religion and the Question of Salvation
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Date
2006-11
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
We see that many people in our home village and many other places in
Africa are very exited to become Catholic Christians. We even sometimes miss
teachers to instruct them. For the first year of catechumenate their numbers can
reach almost 800 people for the whole parish. After following the required
instruction, they receive the sacraments of initiation and become members of the
Catholic Church. They confess that Jesus is the Saviour and recite the creed: I
believe in the holy, Catholic Church...
But we noticed that the same Christians coming to the Church every Sunday,
are the very ones going to see diviners, witchdoctors and make sacrifices in order to
succeed in their work, or to help their children to pass exams, or to get good
health...
Facing these facts we ask ourselves for which reason do they go back to their
traditional practices though on the day of their baptism they confessed that Jesus is
their Saviour and he saved them. This situation led me to start thinking that maybe it
is because they do not experience the savific presence of Jesus by belonging to the
Church or the Church does not accommodate them, meaning that they do not see the
Church as the instrument established by Jesus for the salvation of the world. It looks
like people see the Church as a social association or the provider for the poor. If they
were totally convinced that the Church is the instrument of salvation, during the time
of crises they would have remained in the Church while praying more intensely
instead of going back to their former practices. So at the end of my theological studies, I tried to reflect on the main factors
which push those converted Christians to go back to their former practices. I
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discovered that though the Church is the instrument of salvation it does not respond
filly to the aspirations of the newly convened Christians: for example the element of
diviners who can read the future of people, the element of offering sacrifice to obtain
favour or the sacredness of the religion. People were trained to believe in what they
do not understand. When the traditional doctors speak in words they do not
understand they see the mystery and are easily drawn to believe in them.
As a first step towards this study I did first a general reading of many books
around the topic. I also discussed with some people about the topic. The fruit of that
research, study and reflection are expressed in three chapters in this essay.
The first Chapter will be the presentation of the notion of salvation and its
relationship with the Catholic Church. We shall also talk about the ways through
which God offers salvation to people.
The second Chapter will look at salvation and the mediation of salvation in
the African Traditional Religion. Wc shall also look at the position of the Catholic
Church towards the African Traditional Religion.
The third Chapter will look at the reason why people do go back to the
African Traditional religion, the elements the Church can get from the African
Traditional Religion in order to help the newly converted Christians (which aspects
of Jesus and of the Church to develop more) and finally I shall give my personal
point of view about African Traditional Religion and the Catholic Church.
I foresee some limitations for this work. Since I am not an expert in African
Traditional Religion, I will not be using a particular African Traditional Religion. Traditional Religion, I will not be using a particular African Traditional Religion. I
am using the books in general on African Traditional Religion. The notion of Salvation is not understood totally in the metaphysical sense meaning
we are not going to be discussing on sins and the mystical interventions.
This work is intended to create an awareness of what is happening. When I
will be writing a doctorate dissertation in the future, it will be more expanded and
will be more scientifically done.
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Keywords
Church, Catholic Church, African, Religion, Salvation, Traditional Religion