ABSTRACT
Human development is one of the Catholic post Vatican II vision in modern times. Co-incidentally, traditional Idoma society epitomized this vision in the paradigm of Inyilowo. Unfortunately owing to their negative attitudes to traditional Idoma society, the early missionaries did not reckon with the entrenched influence of Inyilowo figure in meaningful talk of human development. The thesis is an effort in integrating the rich meanings of traditional Inyilowo into the central Christian vision of Christ as the new Inyilowo of Idoma, for proper inculturation of Catholic human development in the area. Data for this thesis are sourced from primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include oral interviews from randomly selected individuals in (six) selected circumscriptions of the Diocese, observations and casual discussions with experienced people within and outside the Diocese. Secondary sources consist in consulting library and archival materials, books and journal’s articles, newspaper publications and magazine articles. Data are gained and presented through descriptive method. The over all findings of this thesis are that the missionaries bequeathed to us a distorted image of Christ. But the Catholic Church in this diocese can, through the inception of this new programme on human development carry the masses along on a positive attitude to their traditional culture using Christ as the Inyilowo of the people. Secondly, both the elite and educated illiterates of Idoma avidly desire an integration of the best in their traditional culture with the current programme of the Catholic Church in their area. It is therefore envisaged that the content of this thesis will serve the desired need: genuine human development based on the model of Christ the Inyilowo in the light of the findings and suggestions of this thesis.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
There is no doubt that the rise and spread of the socialist movement has largely contributed, directly or indirectly, to the retrieval and sharpening of the social consciousness in Christianity in general and in the Roman Catholic Church in particular. Papal Encyclicals –Rerum Novarum (1990), Centesimus Annus(1989), Redemptoris Missio(1990), Evangelii Nuntiandi(1975), Populorum Progressio(1990), Ad Gentes(1965) to name some important ones as well as Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes(1965) have been quite instructive in this regard. Theological currents include some of the indications and fruits of this heightened sense of social responsibility. The social consciousness belongs to the very essence of Christianity since the salvation it proclaims affects not only the individual but also the whole human society, indeed, the whole universe itself, in its sociological, economic and political dimensions. Consequent upon this, the 1971 Synod of Bishops says that “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other words, of the Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”
The Triune God is a God in mission, who, acting through his Church reveals his universal plan for the world- with the intention that all of creation be freed from its slavery to corruption and to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom.
8:21). Hence, the Church, established by God in order to take the world into her, is in extension “a church-in-mission”.
The Church always did and still does teach to order the human society in the light of the Gospel and right reason. The synod of Bishops (1971) posits:
The Catholic Church possesses a corpus or social doctrine, although this corpus is not a closed treaty complete once and for all. This social
teaching grounded in Scripture and rational study is enriched by a long tradition, but it remains open to a world in evolution.
According to Dorr (1984:77), the official teaching of the Church aims at “a defense of the poor and the powerless in society and an encouragement to them in the struggle for justice”. The term “option for the poor” is not so old in Catholic theology. He clarifies that:
To make an option for the poor is not to opt for poverty but to opt for people. It is to commit oneself to acting and living in a way that respects people, especially those who are not treated with respect in our society. It is to proclaim by one’s actions that people are more important than the systems that deprive them of their basic rights – the right to eat, the right to work, the right to participate in decision-making, the right to worship according to their conscience, and even the right to life itself.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include the reduction of poverty in all nations by 50% on or before the year 2015. At the rate incomes are tumbling as inflation soars, it is estimated that poverty in Nigeria may grow by 50% instead of dwindling by that date. When the abundance of natural resources in Nigeria is viewed against the situation in other developing countries, it becomes a paradox that a nation so richly endowed should remain poor and undeveloped. Since most Nigerians are energetic and hardworking, the poverty in the polity must be attributed to poor governance, non utilization or relegation of talents, lack of selfless, inspired and visionary political leadership and widespread corruption and avarice. Conflict scenarios are emerging on several fronts in response to unjust, unfair and dishonest governance. All these are the consequence of man’s unfaithfulness to his maker.
In the case of Otukpo Diocese, our culture area, the Idoma person is religious by nature, even his religious disposition served as a source for his primordial development. This religious disposition can be utilized today in the light of Christian truth to advance his spiritual development.
1.1 Background to the study
Human Development has been the focal point of the Churches mission. However, the approach of the early missionaries was tilted towards the material rather than the spiritual. They were engrossed in structural and institutional development to the detriment of the spiritual and human development of the Idoma person. The missionaries’ materialistic drive destroys the communal cohesion of our socio- cultural formation and systematically implants capitalism.
With the introduction of capitalism come individualism, property accumulation and the development of repressive institutions to protect the new system. Consequently, the missionaries materialistic style of human development redefines (in the understanding of the idoma) the worth of a person based on his/her material possession. This materialist tendency breed vices like: corruption, nepotism, tribalism and violent political tussles of betterness. This, ultimately is against the letter and spirit of the gospel.
Moreso, with the colonial and missionary incursion into Idoma land, the colonial government created a system of indirect rule. This system, according to Erim, (1981:15) showed more concern for administrative tidiness and efficiency than for cultural identity. The Colonial and Missionary activities attacked the rich cultural tradition of Idoma. Rather than promote our cultural identity, they facilitated its disintegration through the outright and total condemnation of the Idoma tradition. They engender a system of rapacious capital flight from the land, and promoted the establishment of institutions that serve to enhance their interest. They left the land disarticulated; and the people vacillating between their cultural values and European cultural values and belief. This double minded tendency breeds conflict and contradiction in the society. This tendency is the antitheses of human development in the diocese. This is because a double minded person can not grow but stagnate. And stagnation breeds inferiority complex and dependency; the loss of self confidence in our culture.
One of the avowed policies of Roman Catholic missionaries in Africa in the pre- vatican II is the development of the people. But the conceptual framework on which this development is based is a univocal structure without a cultural base. It is a well known fact that Idoma never really benefited adequately in the colonial regime. However the missionaries erected structures like schools, hospitals and churches of foreign models where candidates will be groomed in western technical ways of thinking and behaving, completely emasculated from their traditional culture. These tendencies persist till today even though Vatican II and Papal encyclicals guaranties inculturation. Thus in the words of Ekwunife (1995:24):
The missionaries in the execution of their tasks did not shade off the concomitant colonial mentality of their time. Rather they mixed it up with the good news of Jesus Christ and bequeathed a distorted image of Christ to their teeming followers who in turn are perpetuating it today.
Thus in the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, mission schools, hospitals and churches are still based on foreign models emasculated from traditional culture (that is, without any concrete church effort towards inculturation). For instance, the inclusion of traditional culture in school curriculum; using traditional medicine or herbs in hospitals, as proposed by Adodo, (2000) would help promote our tradition and culture. The unserious approach towards catecheses constitutes an important Otukpo Diocesan shortcoming for human development.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Before the advent of Colonial and Missionary apostles in Idoma/Otukpo area, there was a traditional and cultural way of life of the people. This traditional cum cultural way of life had its world-view, had religious undertones on the Idoma. The entire life of the people, including their moral, value system and development was regulated by their world-view and belief. In the words of Apochi (1999:5-6); “their religiosity permeated every aspect of their life”. Therefore the incursion of missionaries marks the beginning of conflict and contradictions in the land.
The colonialists came with their ideals and beliefs which they claim was superior to our tradition and culture; tagging our tradition and culture as “barbaric”, “uncivilized” and “primitive”. These created a sharp contradiction in the life of the people leading to inferiority complex on their part. Thus the Idoma became enslaved ideologically, politically, educationally, socially and religiously.
In the wake of the contradiction, the missionaries presented a distorted image of
Christ to the people. Ekwunife (1995:25) puts it more aptly:
The image of Christ presented to Africans was that of victor, a conqueror, a suppressor of African traditional heritages; and not necessarily the prophetic good shepherd who came, not to abolish the good values of any society but rather, to bring them to perfection.
The missionary mentality of Christ as the conqueror of the tradition and culture of the people portrays our traditional heritage as evil or demonic.
The crux here is that the missionaries’ ideas of Christ as a conqueror of the people’s tradition became a clog in their spiritual development. But Christ is the developer par excellence; the star guide for development and the alpha and omega of man’s cherished aspirations. The problem therefore is how to present Christ to the Idoma nation as the defender of the good cultural values and the veritable sources of true development.
The problem of presenting Christ as the defender of the good cultural value can be better appreciated when one considers the impunity with which some of the modern day Idoma treat their tradition and culture. They rather prefer the western way than uphold their cultural heritage. For them adherence to traditional custom constitutes sin. Thus today, the modern Idoma seems to appreciate less the culture and tradition of his father land.
Similarly, the missionaries establish schools where their values, world-views and beliefs were thought with disdain disregard for the culture and tradition of Idoma.
Hospitals were also built. But like the schools, many hospital staffs were less professional and underpaid as they were employed not on merit but charity. The end result of such training is the creation of Idoma elites without solid cultural base. Ekwunife (2007) observed that, Nigerians were working with the framework established by their former colonial masters or probably, they were ignorant of how to handle the issue of development in the African context.
The need therefore arises for an in-depth study on the consequences of the drastic intrusion of the missionaries on our tradition and culture. Firstly, the new western ideals and religious teachings engender the disarticulation of the morality and values of the people. “Morality”, according to Okwueze, (2003:67): “Involves a more or less clearly articulated set of beliefs about the nature of man, ideals about what is good or merely desirable or worthy of pursuit for the sake of orderly coexistence.”
In the light of the above, the researcher speaks of the disarticulated moral base of the people. When we speak of a disarticulated morality, we mean the morality of a people that is systematically severed over time, from the culture and tradition of the people. It means imbibing western values which are dialectically opposed to ones cultural heritage. As a result of the disarticulation, the Oche, for instance, who was seen as both the political and religious head gradually began to loose relevance in the people who now see him as the custodian of the religion Christ conquered. In the words of Elaigwu (1975:19),
The Christian religion … challenges the authority of the king whose source of legitimacy emanated mainly from traditional religion among others. Hence the advent of Christian religion marks the beginning of a new centre for the challenge of kingly authority, especially by those whom the new faith provided excuse for evading certain traditional obligations.
The Och’Idoma IV, Elias Ikoyi Obekpa, the Idoma paramount chief also identifies some political interference; loss of cultural values, moral decadence, foreign
influence and adulteration, poor conditions of services of our traditional rulers and unwholesome proliferation of traditional institution and titles. He lamented that the traditional ruler-ship is threatened with outright extinction or a diminution of its high profile status.
Therefore what Ozigbo (1999:129), said of the Igbo society is equally applicable in the Idoma society: that Christianity, hopelessly divided and ridden with disunity and rivalry, has infected the Igbo society with its viruses of hatred and division. Western education and the monetized economy have helped to fan the embers of dishonesty. The spoken native language, which forms one of the major identity through which one is known and the means by which he learns to communicate and educate is being neglected by Idoma. Especially the Idoma dialect has become a barrier right from the pupils at home who may not want to speak the mother tongue among his peer for fear he would create the impression that he is not “learned”, up to the adults out in the office who would prefer to answer your greeting in English rather than the Idoma you greeted him with. The Idoma language faces the risk of going into extinction because of the decline of the number using it now.
Thus the inferiority complex often faced by youths when speaking the language and the fact that the adults are not using it for Education makes the use of native language for education and better understanding impossible. Yet indigenous language helps to facilitate understanding and performance in the English language.
Another great concern of the church deals with the socio-political aspect of the Idoma. In Otukpo Diocese there is the absence of companies and other establishments both public and private where Idoma people can be gainfully employed, yet there are well known Idoma politicians, business moguls and technical professionals, like engineers, doctors, lawyers, bankers and academicians who are members of the Diocese. The church has a moral duty and right to gather them to attract investors into the area. But how effective will their response be?
The fundermental problem therefore is how to effectively enhance inculturation in Otukpo Diocese. That is, how can the Diocese drive home the Churches mission using the good cultural values of the Idoma people?
In the light of the above, the researcher seeks to proffer the Inyilowo model as a paradigm for the new Catholic mission in Idoma land. This paradigm, in sum and substance, is the inculturation of the values of the magi star (Christ), into the traditional Idoma value for the Inyilowo (star). Therefore presenting Christ as the Inyilowo of the people would help to enhance the spiritual development of the people. Thus, the demand for inculturation in the church today must be intricately based on the integral development of the people; first spiritually, then morally and materially.
1.3 Purpose of the study
Idoma nation, like Nigeria, is today like a cracked pot which requires urgent mending. It is true that if we remake man we will remake his world. Therefore, the aims of the study are:
– To investigate the need for human development that is rooted in God through Christ (the Inyilowo). And to examine whether the development of the individual; spiritually, educationally, materially, is a sine qua non for the development of the community. This is because; structural development without human development is the corollary to systems and structural failure.
– To highlight some social and cultural identities between Inyilowo in Idoma traditional society and the Church approach to human development via Inculturation.
– To examine the role of the church in the enhancement of human development in
Otukpo Diocese.
– To suggest the most viable means for human development through Jesus the
(Inyilowo) universal star guide. and
– To critically examine, analyze and synthesize the need to form an integrated
Idoma/Otukpo personality on the model of Christ the new INYILOWO.
1.4 Significance of the study
The significance of this work, among other, is to create more awareness of the benefit which inculturation via the Inyilowo concept provides the Catholic Church in Otukpo Diocese. Through the contribution of this research better understanding and appreciation of Jesus Christ, the true developer par excellence will be establish.
Secondly, the role of the church in human development will be laid bare. This is important because man as a spirit being is religiously inclined. Thus the genesis of his development must be religion based.
Thirdly, this research work will certainly make some contributions for documentation in Idoma tradition and culture. It also opens challenging perspective for further investigation in human development. Ultimately this work is aimed at bringing solace, healing and hope to hearts; truth and enlightenment to minds; goodness, strength and conversional resolution to will. The method will be the application of eternal moral and spiritual principles to the basic problems of individual and social life today for the sake of full development. The spirit will be that of charity: love of God and love of neighbour, following the selflessness of Christ.
1.5 Scope of the study
This work is, based greatly on the role of the Catholic diocese of Otukpo in the human development process in Idoma area. Through a critically interdisciplinary blend of social, political, anthropological, missiological, pastoral and moral considerations, the work focuses on the role of:
– The church in development as it has to do with the vision of Christ who is described as the Starguide. The emphasis/bias would be on the youth and the vulnerable (poor).
– The search also focused on traditional ideal Idoma (Otukpo Diocesan) personality –
after the pattern of Christ the Star-guide (INYILOWO) who, now imbued with the spirit of Christ will embody the envisaged ideal of integrated person.
1.6 Research methodology
Data for this research are sourced from interviews, library documents, papal encyclicals, published and unpublished works, and archival materials. In addition, the writer as the son of the soil in the area under investigation gathered a lot through observations as an active missioner for twenty years. The gathered materials were organized and interpreted through descriptive, missiological and culture -area approaches. This means that the researcher examined current policies and practices in Otukpo Catholic Diocese and based his stated results on analysis of data collected. Where he agrees he makes little or no comment.
1.7 Definition of terms
Catholic
Hornby, etal [ed] (1995) defines Catholic as Roman Catholic Church. For Webster (1993:345) Catholic Church involves the faith, practice or system of Catholicism. Vatican II (1988:441) established that the holy Catholic Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is made up of the faithful who are organically united in the Holy Spirit by the same faith, the same sacraments and the same government. They combine into different groups, which are held together by their hierarchy, and so form particular churches or rites. Between those churches there is such a wonderful bond of union that this variety in the Universal Church, so far from diminishing its unity rather serves to emphasize it.
The code of Canon law (1983) defines the members of the Church as “those baptized (who) are fully in communion with the Catholic Church on earth, being joined with Christ in its visible structure by the bonds of profession of faith, of the sacraments and of ecclesiastical governance” (canon 205).
Rausch in (Apochi 2009) indicates that some of these marks that are widely acknowledged and are peculiar to the Catholic Church members include:
A reverence to tradition, a hierarchical ministry and teaching authority, an incarnational theology, sacramentality, a strong liturgical tradition centred on the Eucharist, Mariology and the veneration of the saints, a rich tradition of spirituality and contemplative prayer, monasticism , religious value of art, a deep sense for the complementarity of faith and person, a communal understanding of both sin and redemption, and thus, of the importance of community, a social doctrine based on dignity of missionary activities, and of course, prayer.
Church
What immediately comes to mind when the word Church is mentioned is Religious building; a building for public worship, especially in the Christian religion. Somehow, the physical buildings we see answer the nomenclature Church but that does not capture the whole meaning of the word Church. Another definition worth considering is: A church is all the followers of a religion, especially the Christian religion, considered collectively (Microsoft Encarta Premium Suit 2004). The Greek word that is translated “church” in the New Testament over and over is Ekklesia. This word was used of any public assembly of free citizens who gather in order to determine their own and their children’s communal, political and spiritual wellbeing. Its use in the Bible is however different. In the New Testament it refers to those whom God has called out of humanity (literally means “call out of”) into a personal relationship with himself. Having given us the Holy Spirit, he now calls us to live for him, not just as individuals, but as a community, a family. The word “Church” in the New Testament is usually used of all the Christians in a certain place. Thus Paul can write to “the Church of God in Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2)
Human development
Human
Elaigwu (1975) rightly gives a definition of what it means to be human. It is to belong to the whole community and to do so involves participating in the beliefs,
ceremonies, rituals and festivals of that community. He explained further, that a person cannot detach himself from the religion of his group, for to do so is to be severed from his roots, his foundation, his context of security, his kinship and the entire group of those who make him aware of his existence.
Development
The contention of Nnoli (1981) is that development is associated with changes in man and his energies and not in things. This means that development is human- oriented and human-generated. In other words, it is a continuous improvement in the capacity of the individual and society to control and manipulate the forces of nature as well as themselves and other individuals and societies for their own benefit and that of humanity at large. Nnoli further argues that development is the “process of actualizing man’s inherent capacity to live a better and more rewarding life and implies increasing skill and capacity to do things, greater freedom, self-confidence, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material well-being”.
According to Todaro (1977:62),
Development must, therefore, be conceived as a multi-dimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and national institutions as well as the acceleration of economic growth which give rise to reduction of inequality and the eradication of absolute poverty.
Thus development, as generally agreed, is a multi-dimensional problem which requires multi-disciplinary approach. It means the improvement of the total circumstance of man on this earth, thus satisfying his material, spiritual and social needs. It is a better quality of life for all human beings, irrespective of sex, status, age, religions or political inclination. It also has to do with the utilization of human talents and natural resources to improve the well being of the individual and the people.
For the United Nation, Human development is the measure of the total progress and achievement made in a country, which predisposes the people in that country to
better standard of living. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index for measuring average achievements in the three dimensions of human development, namely, a long and healthy life; knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
In the words of Okafor (2004:VII), a Long And Healthy Life (Longevity) is measured by the life expectancy at birth; access to health services and facilities; absence of the prevalence of global health crises like Tuberculosis and Measles; commitment of public funds to the provision of health services and many other ancillary factors in health services.
Human Development Report 2001 on Nigeria defines Human Development as:
Creating an environment in which people can develop their full potentials and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests… Development is much more than economic growth, which is only a means of enlarging people’s choices. Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities. The most basic capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, and to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living, and to be able to participate in the life of the community.
John Paul II (2002) In the encyclical centesimus annos no. 55, admits that when the church proclaims God’s salvation to humanity, when she offers and communicates the life of God through the sacraments, when she gives direction to human life through the commandment of God and love of neighbour, she contributes to the enrichment of human dignity. But just as the church can never abandon her religious and transcendent mission on behalf of people, so too she is aware that today her activity meets with particular difficulties and obstacles. That is why she devotes herself with ever new energies and methods to an evangelization which promotes the whole human being.
Phan (1998:208-211) in Studial missionalia (volume 47) posits: The federation of
Asian Bishops conference stress that human development and progress in all its
aspects – political, social, economic ,technological and cultural- is an intrinsic and constitutive dimension of the churches evangelical mission. They stress that this total or integral nature of human development is understood in four senses: first, human development must embrace all the dimensions of the human person as a unity of body- psyche- spirit. Secondly, total human development means that all recourses and means, hence not only technological and material ones should be pressed into service. In particular, they single out prayer as an effective means to achieve integral human development. Thirdly, in other to be total and integral, the churches efforts for human development must go hand in hand with the other two components of its mission namely: inculturation and religious dialogue. Finally, human development, to be fruitful and integral, must go beyond the human family and be extended to the cosmos as such. Mere individual salvation is not enough; salvation must be for the whole person, all people and even for the cosmos.
For the purpose of this study therefore, human development here refers to the transformation of man by God who surpasses even the greatest possibilities of man’s self-realization; a realization of fullness through and in Christ. This work is inculturational.
Inculturation
To be able to evangelize effectively, especially in a context like Africa, the Church has employed the use of inculturation. inculturation, according to Arinze(1995:8)
”means the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human culture.” Inculturation of the Church is integration of the Christian experience of a local Church into the culture of its people, in such a way that this experience not only expresses itself in elements of this culture, but becomes a force that animates, orients and innovates this culture so as to create a new unity and communion, not only within the culture in question, but also as an enrichment of the universal church (Redemptoris missio 1990 no.53). It refers to the significant presence of the Christian
experience within the culture of the people in whose midst the Church takes root. This presence is realized in a process of dialogue, in which the Christian community takes on the values of local people, develops them in a truly Christian sense and leads them to a more universal communion. This entire process expresses the presence and the reality of which the Church is sign and presence.
As Crollius (2000:369) rightly stated, the following points are thus to be clarified. a. Inculturation is not a static situation but an evolving one, or a process.
b. The dynamics of acculturation, culture contact or incultural dialogue is a constitutive element of the process of inculturation. This has two grounds. On the one hand, the Gospel does not exist outside the context of contact with cultures. In other words it is always already inculturated. On the other hand, every culture finds itself in a situation of encounter with other cultures. This “interculturality” is a fact inherent to cultural reality today.
c. The principal agent of inculturation is the Holy Spirit, who operates in and animates the Christian community constituted as Church. Hence there follows the central role of the local Church in this process. This means that those who have to carry on the task of inculturation are not people from abroad, with another culture, but the people of the local Church, who share the culture of their co-citizens, often in all its complex pluriformity. Hence, it is not the encounter between cultures which has to be stressed in explaining the process of inculturation, but rather the sharing of a same cultural setting between Christians and non-Christians.
d. “Enculturation” remains a useful metaphor for the process of inculturation. As in “enculturation” the individual becomes inserted in his or her own culture and acquires the capability to express oneself and to communicate in this culture, so the local Church grows in the culture or cultures of the people who form this church.
In trying to explain inculturation there is often reference to an analogy between
Incarnation and inculturation. Crollius states that this argument is supported by a
sentence in the Vatican II decree Ad Gentes:
…if the Church is to be in a position to offer all women and men the mystery of salvation and the life brought by God, then it must implant “itself among all these groups in the same way that Christ by his incarnation commited himself to the particular social and cultural circumstances of the women and men among whom he lived.
When employing the analogy between inculturation and incarnation, the latter term refers to the entire “salvific economy of incarnation in itself” (Croullius,2000:369). All the foregone go to point to the same claim that inculturation is almost indispensable in evangelization generally but more so in Africa.
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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF OTUKPO
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