“Synodality is a new word for an old idea in Africa”: Cardinal Onaiyekan

The 1994 synod in which he participated as newly appointed Archbishop of Abuja was realized under the theme, “The Consecrated Life and its Role in the Church and in the World”. At the synod, the African family was applauded.

Cardinal Onaiyekan said that the experience of listening, which is key to the Synod on Synodality, has been the very fabric of the Church in Africa.

“The synodal process has highlighted the important aspect of listening. And it is not like we haven’t been listening, especially for the Church here in Africa,” the 80-year-old Cardinal, who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 1983 as Auxiliary Bishop of Nigeria’s Ilorin Catholic Diocese said. 

He added, “We must however decide what we do with what we are listening to, know who is talking, and to whom.”

“It is clear that the Holy Spirit has been blowing as He wills in our local churches in Africa. It is our duty to let the World Church hear from us what the Holy Spirit has been saying through us,” the Cardinal since his elevation in November 2012 said.

PACTPAN’s 13th palaver was held under the theme, “Co-Responsibility in Pastoral Ministries and Leadership in a Missionary and Synodal Church.”

Organizers of the palaver said co-responsibility is one of the keys for interpreting the fruits of the Spirit that they said “is moving the Church and its members to embrace synodality.”

Cardinal Onaiyekan gave the theme’s allocution, focusing on ways through which the people of God in Africa can share the gifts of everyone in the Church. He said co-responsibility has to do with working together towards the common objectives of the mission of the Church.

He explained, “The Holy Spirit has many gifts, as Saint Paul explains. There is one body and many parts, and Jesus is the head. We are one family with many members; one people of God, one Church, but in hierarchical order. It is all about one and many at the same time.”

“Each of us has a responsibility in the Church but we do not have the same status,” the Cardinal said, adding that co-responsibility in the ministries of the Church should not be confined to pastoral activities, most of which he said have already been made the duty of ordained ministers.

He said that service in the Catholic Church should not be looked at as the responsibility of ordained ministers alone.

“If we talk of ministries in plural, we must find the place for the ministry of the lay faithful in the world,” he said, and added, “Ministry means service, and shouldn’t be restricted to the ordained ministers.”

“It is important that the lay faithful embrace their activities in the world as service of the kingdom here on earth,” the Nigerian Cardinal said.

Other participants at the 13th session of the palavers that Catholic Theologians in Africa have organized to deepen the understanding of the Synthesis Report that came out of the October 2023 session of the Synod on Synodality agreed that the synodal Church by nature, such as the one in Africa, is a family of God.

In his presentation at the palaver, Fr. Francis Appiah Kubi, who serves as Head of the Department of Religious Studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology  reiterated Cardinal Onaiyekan’s sentiments, noting that the African paradigm of the “Church family of God” promotes the idea of paternity, filiation and fraternity.

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This way, the Ghanaian Catholic Priest, who serves as the first regional President of Regional Union of Priests of West Africa (RUPWA) said, no one is superior in the Church in Africa.

“The recognition of God as father overthrows any relationship of superiority and competition in the Church,” Fr. Appiah said.

He continued, “The only attitude which corresponds to the will of God is that of sons and daughters, children born from God participating in the divine filiation of the only son, Christ. It not only transcends differences, ethnic and tribal, but particularly unites us as one family in the Church working together.”

Fr. Appiah spoke extensively on the forms of leadership and exercise of authority that Africa needs to enhance a synodal Church where everyone is listened to.

In his address, the Secretary General of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA), Fr. Vitalis Anaehobi, noted that synodality is not a new experience in the African Church, and that local churches have always embraced co-responsibility.

The member of the Clergy of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Nnewi, who was among the delegates of the October 2023 Synod on Synodality session in Rome, said that it is through co-responsibility that local churches across Africa have made immense progress.

“In Nigeria, for instance, every Parish has a pastoral council where all decisions are made. The parish Priest does not make the overall decision. If he has any project, he must go to the council and have the project listened to before any decision is made,” Fr. Anaehobi said, adding that the similar structures are manifest at the Diocesan level where Bishops work together with representatives of all parishes to come up with decisions.

Fr. Bede Ukwuije, a Professor at Duquesne University where he also serves as Vice Chair underlined the need to reflect on the collaboration among various groups of the local Churches in Africa, especially the participation of the Laity.

He said that Catechists are key in evangelization in his native country of Nigeria and are some of the “most respected” people in the Church in the West African country.

The member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans/Holy Ghost Fathers/CSSp.) said that the Church in Nigeria is enriched by numerous groups that take charge of animating various projects.

“The Catholic Men Association in Nigeria, for instance, is very key in leadership. They just concluded their meeting in August where they came up with big plans for Church construction projects, the feeding of priests, and other projects. The Church in Africa relies on these groups to grow,” he said.

Acknowledging the existence of what he described as “the temptation for Priests to act as the sole authority”, Fr. Ukwuije said ordained ministers cannot do without lay people.