By SimonMary Aihiokhai, C.S.Sp., Ph.D.
A few years ago, Oxford University Press asked my colleague and friend, Randall Woodard, of Saint Leo University in Florida, to write a piece on traditionalist Catholics in Africa for their blog page. I was coopted along to write the work; reason being that I am a Nigerian American and my research interest includes the expressions of Christianity in the global south. The final piece we co-wrote is titled, “Insights into Traditionalist Catholicism in Africa.”
I read the piece written by Matthew Schmitz in the New York Times, “The Latin Mass, Thriving in Southeastern Nigeria,” with great interest. However, what caught my attention is not his defense of the rightful place of the Latin Mass. His piece reminded me of fond memories while working in the region he wrote his piece on, southeastern Nigeria. To clear the air, I spent almost ten years working as a missionary in southeastern Nigeria. I knew the said Bishop Emeritus Gregory Ochiagha. My religious community has our novitiate in his diocese and helps pastor some parishes for the said diocese. I have also attended many masses celebrated by the said bishop.
Growing up in Nigeria, I had the privilege of attending the junior seminary of the Archdiocese of Benin City (it was a diocese then). My rector, Monsignor Stephen Ogbeide, taught us Latin as though it was the language of the angels. We learned to sing the entire Mass in Latin, including the readings. We had the pleasure of translating papal and curia documents from Latin to English. He was proud to showcase our talents to the bishop and the parishioners during diocesan celebrations. Each of us had our Liber Usualis. (I still have mine). However nostalgic these memories maybe, the truth has to be said, it was and is a nostalgia reserved for the very privileged few.
After reading Schmitz’s piece, I am forced to ask the question, what reality is he describing? This is far from the truth. Yes, he is correct to note that traditionalist Catholics are present in southeastern Nigeria. In fact, they are currently present in two dioceses, Umuahia and Orlu. He is also correct to state that Bishop Emeritus Ochiagha has received them warmly. This he did prior to his retiring as the bishop. He has continued to serve as their episcopal chaplain. The simple fact is that very few priests of that diocese were ever trained to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Most of them were ordained after the move to the use of vernacular for the liturgy.
On another note, Bishop Emeritus Ochiagha is retired, was ordained in 1960 and by then there were just a handful of priest in the entire region that were not expatriates. He is one of those trained to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. For pragmatic reasons, he is retired and ought to be active. Also, he has always been fond of the beauty of the classical Roman Liturgy. He was once the rector of one of the major seminaries in the country, prior to his being made a bishop. As is the practice in all seminaries in Nigeria, Latin is taught to seminarians. They are taught how to sing the Eucharistic Prayers and other parts of the Mass in Latin. The people of God also learn and know how to sing certain parts of the Mass in Latin. These are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, responses to the priestly greeting, and the Ite missa est.
When Schmitz speaks of traditionalist Catholicism flourishing in Nigeria and the people longing for a return to the old style of celebrating the Mass, a clear distinction must be made. There is no longing for the Tridentine Mass in southeastern Nigeria for very simple reasons.
First, most Catholics in Nigeria today are post-Vatican II Catholics who have only known the Mass in the vernacular and the parts of the Mass they are taught in Latin which was inherited from the pre-Vatican II liturgical practices.
Second, the civil war that was fought in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970 led to the expulsion of expatriate priests from Nigeria, forcing the local clergy to adopt the reform of the Second Vatican Council quicker and on their own. The success story can be found in how the vernacular became the norm in the entire southeastern Nigeria.
Third, most priests in Nigeria were ordained after the Second Vatican Council and were never exposed to celebrating Mass in the old way of the priest with back to the people. For example, in my home Archdiocese of Benin City, there were less than ten priests ordained prior to Vatican II Council. Vocations did not flourish much during colonial rule. In fact, stories abound about local vocations being discouraged by expatriate priests. All these changed when the expatriate priests were expelled by the then military government.
Here, I have to pose a question at Schmitz. Is he equating the above instances I mentioned where the laity respond to the priest in Latin as examples of a growing sign of embrace of the Tridentine Mass?
Fourth, Schmitz states that Bishop Emeritus Ochiagha said the laity in Nigeria felt ‘that the church was collapsing” when the shift was made from Latin to the vernacular. May I remind our readers that growth in Roman Catholicism in Nigeria really took hold after Vatican II. For example, Orlu Diocese was established in 1980. Prior to that time, it was part of the Diocese of Owerri. Bishop Emeritus Ochiagha was the first bishop of Orlu Diocese. The data on the growth of the Catholic Church in Nigeria shows that the growth occurred after Vatican II. How then can people be having nostalgia for something they never experienced?
One thing has to be stated clearly, the nostalgia of a few priests, bishop(s), religious and laity (I included) ought not be generalized to reflect the desires of the people. As I stated above, I was a missionary in southeastern Nigeria and belong to a religious community that has one of its provincial houses in southeastern Nigeria. I have met a good number of Catholics who lived through the era of the Tridentine Mass. Most of them only have vague memories of that era. I, on my part, am one of the few, in that I was educated by a priest who was trained in that era. I cannot allow my own nostalgia to cloud the space of worship for others who do not share that with me.
Finally, it is true that traditionalists are present in Nigeria. In fact, as at the time of my research, there was just one Nigerian ordained for the group and another was in training. Everyone knows that in southeastern Nigeria, vocation to the priesthood is flourishing. An average diocese has more than two hundred priests and hundreds of seminarians. I am not sure why this is not reflected among the traditionalists who are not experiencing the vocation boom as the other Catholic dioceses. There might be legitimate reasons for this.
I do not deny the place for diversity in the liturgy either in language or style. But it is fundamentally important that the liturgy is accessible. By accessible, I do not mean sitting down and observing the priest perform some strange gestures. No! Accessibility entails active participation that involves all of our human senses or faculties.
The Tridentine Mass does not do that for us in Nigeria. Latin is not our language. It is important that we encounter God in the ways we live and are. The wisdom of the conciliar document Sacrosanctum Concilum continues to bear fruit in the Nigerian church where the vernacular takes primacy of place in our worship. To deny this truth is to deny the gifts of the thousands of priests and religious as well as millions of Catholics who everyday grace our churches and gift the universal church with their wisdom, prayers and service.
Dr. SimonMary Aihiokhai is a member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, province of Nigeria North-West. He is an assistant professor of systematic theology at the University of Portland. His research explores issues dealing with religion and identity, interfaith dialogue, comparative theology, and expressions of Christianity in the global context.
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