A Catholic Priest has spoken out about some church doctrines which should be amended to suite the African culture.
Rev. Father Gabriel Ngbe of Akwangwa Catholic Church, in Nasarawa
State, Nigeria, has canvassed the need for the Church to incorporate
some good aspects of African culture in its Doctrine.
The Catholic priest said that polygamy should be accepted in the Church because of those that have more than one wife.
His words: “The Whiteman that brought Christianity to us mixed the
religion with his culture and Africans just accepted it like that at the
expense of our culture.”
The clergyman made the assertion on Sunday while celebrating Acculturation Mass at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Akwanga.
Ngbe insisted that the Catholic doctrine should be amended,
especially in African Catholic Churches in order to accommodate every
member of the Church.
“If we did not incorporate parts of our culture into the way we
worship God, our culture would in no distant time go into extinction,”
he said.
Rev. Father Ngbe explained that local foods should henceforth be used
for communion in Catholic Church instead of using products imported
from Europe.
The priest also said meaningful Nigerian names should be given to
people during the Baptism and Confirmation in Catholic Churches as
against using “English names”.
He urged Nigerians to imbibe the habit of wearing local dresses during weddings as well as using local languages for Mass.
He said that anybody who practiced polygamy before accepting Christ
should be given equal treatment in the Church with those that have only
one wife.
“It is better to have many wives at home than to have only one and
yet have many girl friends and lovers outside,” the priest stressed.
Father Ngbe commended the Yoruba people for incorporating their
culture in the way they practiced both Christianity and Islam and urged
others to emulate them.
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