TO listen as Nigerian Bishop Lucius Ugorji speak of his country’s dynamic faith is to discover a form of Catholicism unfamiliar to many Australians.
The bishop, in Brisbane earlier this month to sign a new agreement to supply more Nigerian seminarians to the archdiocese and to celebrate its sesquicentenary, described an impoverished Church desperately in need of financial help to rebuild schools still not replaced after the savage civil war which ravaged the country in the late 1960s.
Yet with this poverty has come great spiritual riches and a moral authority unimaginable in Australia.
Even the country’s film industry (“Nollywood”) sends its scripts to the Nigerian Catholic Church’s Department of Social Communication for feedback.
Hearing Bishop Ugorji describe his country’s faith, built on the bedrock of strong family ties, the term “muscular Christianity” coined in 19th Century Victorian Britain came to mind.
For Brisbane archdiocese this profound wellspring of faith has yielded great riches in the form of the Nigerian seminarians and priests sent here from Umuahia diocese since an initial three-year agreement was signed between Bishop Ugorji and Archbishop John Bathersby in July 2006.
So far seven seminarians and two priests have arrived in the archdiocese under the agreement. Two other priests have recently received visas and are expected to arrive in the next couple of weeks.
When The Catholic Leader caught up with Bishop Ugorji at the archbishop’s New Farm residence “Wynberg”, word was he had been delayed by visa problems.
The bishop confirmed this, saying that he’d missed the Sesquicentenary Mass of Thanksgiving at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre several days earlier as a result.
A somewhat ponderous arrangement whereby all African visitors to Australia need visa endorsement through Pretoria in South Africa was to blame.
“The courier should take only 48 hours to get a visa from Nigeria to Pretoria,” the bishop said. “However, something went wrong and it took over a week.
“Anyway, I’m here now.”
Then, since this writer was curious that the bishop’s diocese of Umuahia was only just celebrating its 50th anniversary in the same year as Brisbane archdiocese’s sesquicentenary, the bishop gave a potted history of the Catholic faith in this region of Nigeria.
Salient points included the presence of Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican missionaries when Catholic evangelisation started in earnest in the region in the 1920s.
The Protestant churches had agreed on areas of influence but the Catholic Church, under the leadership of the legendary Bishop Joseph Shanahan, refused to follow this system.
“Bishop Shanahan saw the Catholic Church as having a universal mission of evangelisation so wouldn’t accede to this proposal,” Bishop Ugorji said.
The fruits of this approach can be seen today.
“Now the south is predominantly Catholic with relatively good concentrations of our faith within centres of Lagos and Ibadan and in the capital Abuja towards the north,” he explained.
“About 20 per cent of this country of 140 million people are now Catholic.”
But it’s certainly more about influence than mere numbers for the Bishop of Umuahia diocese.
“In our part of Nigeria we have a strong faith and a lot of vocations for the religious life and the priesthood,” he said.
“For example in our diocese alone we have more than 300 seminarians.
“The increasing number of Catholics and an active prayer life and faith are translating into the bringing of positive change into our political, social and community life.
“Which is how it supposed to be – as it grows, our Church should have more influence.
“After all it has a mission to be the salt of the earth and life of the world … to create ferment to change society.”
Bishop Ugorji said this ability to create positive change was a challenge not only for the Church in Nigeria but also throughout the world.
Secularism is a major obstacle although not to the same extent in Nigeria as in the more affluent West.
“Secularism: more of this world and less of the next,” is how the bishop defined the term.
“That’s the problem of the modern world although in Nigeria because we haven’t got quite so much of this world, the problem isn’t felt as strongly.
“However, modern Nigeria as an open society is also influenced by mass media which is a powerful teacher.
“The force of secularisation is being transmitted through this mass media which counters the traditional sources of knowledge that are Church, family and school.”
Yet it turns out that the strong family ties within Nigerian society in partnership with the Church are providing a strong base against what some would see as secularism’s corrupting influence.
An astounding example of this relates to the Nigerian film industry.
“It’s known as ‘Nollywood’,” the bishop said.
“The Department of Social Communications in the Church works in closely with ‘Nollywood’ to ensure positive themes are present in scripts which are sent for vetting and input.
“We are fortunate to have some very good Christian actors in the film industry.”
To my comments that there’s no way such a situation could occur in Australia, Bishop Ugorji asked why.
“There are many film industries in Australia,” he pointed out.
“I think the Church should be able to find ways to have some input in this regard.”
And so the fruit of this vigorous tree is taking root in Brisbane archdiocese.
Since the signing of the 2006 agreement, a strong relationship has grown from the friendship between Archbishop Bathersby and Bishop Ugorji, helped by visits to Umuahia diocese by Moderator Fr Peter Meneely and former Holy Spirit Provincial Seminary rector Fr Michael McCarthy and the dedication of the seminarians and priests who have come to the archdiocese from Nigeria.
A reception held for Bishop Ugorji later the same day at “Wynberg” celebrated this mutually beneficial relationship.
A chalice with a specially engraved message was presented to the bishop.
The message read: “On the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Umuahia – the prayers of the Archdiocese of Brisbane in its 150th year”.
Bishop Ujorgi for his part presented a framed acknowledgement offering “the prayerful best wishes of clergy, religious and laity” from his diocese.
Before leaving, I ask how can the Church in Australia give more support to a most generous Nigerian Church.
“What is happening in Brisbane – the training of seminarians – is already an assistance to Nigeria as these further studies we hope will improve these men’s pastoral skills when they eventually return after service in Australia,” Bishop Ugorji said.
“Education of our young is an area in which we need help.
“At the end of the 1967 to 1970 civil war a lot of Catholic schools were taken over by government.
“The authorities had used hunger as an instrument of war to defeat their opponents.
“However, they were often frustrated by Catholic Church activities through organisations such as Caritas International so, as punishment, the Church schools were taken over at the end of the war and many foreign missionaries were expelled.”
Bishop Ugorji said there were several ways in which immediate improvements could be made.
These include the development of education infrastructure and upgrading the library system.
“Here in Australia we see huge government spending allocations of millions of dollars to established schools,” he said.
“The goal in my diocese is simply to have at least one primary and secondary school per parish.
“At the moment we have 55 parishes but only 15 primary schools and four secondary schools in total.
“We are determined to persist in trying to build new Catholic schools.
“We see them as an important tool for evangelisation.
“Changing individuals in this way can bring positive social change.
“And surely that’s what the Church is all about.”
