African Catholic: Decolonization and the Transformation of the Church

Abstract

African Catholic is, at once, a historical, religious, political, and social treatise on French Catholic evangelization of Africa within the crucible of the obnoxious colonial project. This is a fantastic book, and so captivating that putting it down is difficult. It is a thoroughly well-researched, integrated bricolage of competing religious and social forces, woven beautifully together with the dexterity of an author possessing a mastery of navigating both the African and European terrains, as well as the ecclesiastical and sociopolitical climate of the day.Set at the height of French colonization of West and Central African countries between the 1940s and 1960s, this important book describes French activities in the colonies, with Catholic missionaries as its fulcrum. Positioned against this is the agitation of African Catholic intellectuals (laity and priests), with the support of liberal French clerics, to decolonize the Church, thereby exerting enormous influence on and making an invaluable contribution to Vatican II.What the author describes as the “Franco-African Catholic World” (6) at mid-century was characterized by competing powers and ideologies (colonization versus decolonization, imperialism versus independence, assimilation versus Africanization, racism versus negritude) and the pivotal role of religion, Catholicism to be precise, in the thick of it all. The question that loomed large on the minds of those at the center of the Church (the Vatican) was, how could the Church extricate itself from the trappings of colonialism under whose patronage it evangelized the world? This question was particularly important during the said period of increasing African rejection of European political and cultural control, impelled by the wave of independence sweeping across the African continent.French Catholic missionary activity in West Africa, as espoused by the book, was perceived as an arm of the colonial project. By means of its education to eradicate Africa’s “backward culture,” the Church would be said to be that instrument of change, par excellence. Consequently, some missionaries would paint a negative picture of Africa to promote the image of a dark continent in order to garner financial support from France in aid of missionary work upon which the so-called French civilizing mission depended. Perhaps some comparative analysis, in the book, with missionary activity in the neighboring British colonies in which members of the same missionary societies worked, albeit of different nationalities, would have substantiated the author’s argument even further regarding the agency of French missionaries in pursuing that goal.The ensuing tensions between the French state and the Vatican were inevitable. While the former sought to assimilate people in its colonial territories, profiting from the agency of missionaries to execute this task, the latter endeavored to insert such missionary territories into the one Catholic (universal) Church. This contestation would feed into Vatican II. Notable architects of French mission activities and cultural colonization, like Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, “the most powerful French prelate in Africa for most of the postwar period” (7), would see Vatican II “as a betrayal and self-destruction of the church” (264). Whereas African Catholic intellectuals, such as Alioune Diop, saw in the Council a unique opportunity to infuse “African culture, values, and spirituality” (71) into the Church as a means to redeem both Africa and Europe. The quest of the latter group, and later Vatican II, was to see Christianity “incarnate itself in the cultures and civilizations of all peoples if it was going to be true to itself” (83). Herein lies what these Africans professed to be their “duty”: “to be the conscience of the church and confront its colonial hypocrisy, along with colonialism itself” (88).The reader gets the impression that the scramble for Africa was not the one-time episode of a well-executed partition in Berlin in 1884/85, but rather an incessant process sequestering the continent, with missionaries entrenching the political weal of Western powers. This is exemplified in the struggle between French Catholic missionaries and American Protestants that rendered Africa a playground of the West. The complex relations between Catholicism and Islam also receive a prominent place in the discussion, whether to build bridges or foment animosity between them.Noteworthy is the progress achieved through this struggle to the point of Vatican II emphasizing the recognition of the dignity of all peoples. Amidst the dwindling numbers in the Church in France, a touted reverse mission involving African migrants and clergy contributing to its vitality pays lip service to a total inclusion of Africans in the Church. The paternalism and blatant racism exhibited at both the mission and metropole are far from over.