Introduction:
It is a great honour for me to be invited to address your annual convention taking place here in the famous St Gregory’s College Lagos. I thank you for the invitation and I pray that your convocation will give you an opportunity to deepen your commitment to the Church and to the world as Catholic Men. It is well known for a long time that the Catholic Women Organisation, (CWO) has been very active and well organised in the Nigerian Church. In fact, we are always proud to report wherever we go abroad that there is nowhere in the Catholic world where the Catholic women are as well organised as they are in Nigeria. We thank God that as time developed, the men have also decided to organise themselves as Catholic Men Organization (CMO). The previous assumption that the Church organisation was largely a male affair is no longer valid. We need to focus both on men and on women. And I congratulate you that here in Lagos the Catholic Men Organisation is making a great impact and giving a great example to other dioceses and archdioceses in Nigeria. May God continue to inspire you to do greater things.
When I was invited to this event, no particular topic was given to me to talk about. All I was told was that your convention has a theme and the theme is from the 2nd letter of St Paul to Timothy, 1:67, a text that is well known to all of us. The text goes as follows:
“Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you’’
This is the theme of your convention and that is the topic on which I intend to share some reflections with you on this occasion. The text as it is in the Bible is a much longer sentence that goes as follows:
“Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.”
This was an exhortation of St Paul to Timothy. St Paul met Timothy during his 1st missionary journey at Lystra and from that point on Timothy became a close disciple of Paul with whom he went on much of his apostolic works. The relationship of Paul with Timothy was such that St Paul once called him “my most beloved son.” 2 Tim. 1:2.
Timothy was a product of a mixed marriage between a pagan father and a Jewish mother. We know from St Paul that the name of the mother is Eunice. Paul also refers to the grandmother of Timothy whose name was Loise. Both Loise and Eunice gave Timothy a very strong religious upbringing, first in the Jewish faith and later on when both ladies became Christians, their firm faith was handed over and shared with their son Timothy. But all along, Timothy did not lose his Jewish origin.
In the course of Paul’s missionary journeys, at some point St Paul had Timothy circumcised, in order to avoid issues with fanatical Jews who already knew that Timothy had a Jewish mother. We should note that even today, it is the mother who determines whether someone is a Jew or not. Anybody born of a Jewish father and a pagan mother could not claim to be a Jew. It is said that this is due to a very simple common-sense reasoning namely; we can be sure of whom a person’s mother is but we cannot be sure of who his father is.
Timothy accompanied Paul on most of his journeys and ran many errands on his behalf to different churches as a trusted disciple. The 2nd letter of St Paul to Timothy was written in Rome, when St Paul was in captivity, close to his death. By that time, Paul had installed Timothy as bishop of the great city of Ephesus, one of the most important Christian communities in the early church. This was where Paul spent 3 years preaching and establishing the church during his 2nd missionary journey. It was in this mood of an old man seeing his death approaching and addressing his dear son that Paul gave Timothy the pressing exhortation in the quotation of today.
“Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you by the laying on of my hands.” For Timothy, this was to remind him of his episcopal office and duties. For us today gathered in this convention, our text is in an abridged form namely; “Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.” By presenting this abridged text, missing out the last part about the imposition of hands, the application of the text of the theme is now open to all Christians, not necessarily to bishops like Timothy, as its original destination was.
We should however not forget that the laying on of hands is not only for bishops. It has now become a regular practice on other occasions like baptism, confirmation and priestly ordination. We can therefore apply the complete sentence to all Christians, and not only to bishops.
I will now invite you to join me in reflecting on what every part of your theme is telling us. I have also found it a convenient structure on which to hang the various items of my conversation with you on this occasion of your convocation. My intention is to talk generally about the demands of the Christian faith on Catholic Men in the church today.
Faith, The Gift of God.
What is the gift of God that is to be fanned into flame? The very idea of fanning into flame, means that the gift itself is like a fire that burns and spreads, but can also die if it is not kept fanning. We do know from the whole epistle that the gift of God of which we are talking is that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which burns and consumes like fire. Faith in Jesus is definitely a gift from God that cannot leave us indifferent. In the early Church and for all those to whom St Paul was speaking, this is the greatest gift that we can get from God; to know our Lord Jesus Christ and what he means in our lives. This was the gift that the mother and grandmother of Timothy gave to their child as he grew up.
However, it goes beyond faith in Jesus Christ. This is a gift from God which has to do with faith in God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Creator, Almighty and Merciful God. If we are Christians because we believe in Jesus as Christ, the Son God, we must not forget that the foundation of our faith in Christ is in the Lord God Himself. After all, the first article of faith in the creed is “I believe in one God”. It is important that we continue to keep this in mind. This is particularly important in our relationship with others who are not Christians but who believe in God. We are often so much taken up by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which distinguishes us from other people especially from Muslims. We are so much concerned with this distinguishing aspect of our faith that we tend to forget that there is also faith in the One God, which we share with others. In our country Nigeria, we have Christianity, Islam and our African Traditional Religions. We should never forget that we share faith in God the almighty creator of human race with every body else in our nation mentioned above. Indeed, if we take this aspect seriously, we will be able to also recognise the very many other common grounds that we have with people who have faith in God in our country. Our faith in God the Almighty also spills over into our moral ethical values. We cannot forget that whether we are Christians, Muslims or adherents of the African Traditional Religions, (ATR) we have some common values as far as moral life is concerned. Among these are for example; to be truthful, not to cheat, to avoid corruption, even to be kind to one another and to have a sense of sympathy to those who are in need. These are common elements of moral and ethical values of our people. In our nation, where religion has been turned into a weapon for attacking and killing one another, it is important to acknowledge that, in fact religion has a potential that should be used to give us a common mind, that we can find unity of conviction in tackling the major problems of our nation. It is often said that in our country we are very religious. But if this being religious is not to become a liability, we must recover a strong conviction about those values which we have in common. When we do, then our being religious becomes a great asset for the development, peace and prosperity of our nation. Fan into flame the gift of faith in Jesus and faith in God the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Enkindling the Flame of Faith.
St Paul says that Timothy should fan into flame the gift of faith which is in him. When did he get this faith? First of all, as a Christian our faith is a gift of God which leads us to the sacrament of baptism. In baptism we become a child of God and a member of the Church. We become a child of God because by the pouring of the water of baptism on us in the name of the Holy Trinity, we become adopted as children of God. Most of us here do not remember when this fire was first kindled in us since we were baptised as children. But we should not because of this take for granted the fact that at some point, after we were born, we were reborn in Christ Jesus as a child of God. Those of us who became Christians as adults remember very well that when we were baptised, we were asked if we believe in the essential elements of the Christian Faith. And we were baptised after we had said “yes”. Even when we baptise an infant, the same question is asked of the parents and the god-parent of the infant child who is being baptised. This is not a mere ritual; it is supposed to be a strong reality that the parents and god-parent of the child accept full responsibility to make sure that the faith that is given to their child is kept burning and developing into full flame, as the child grows to be an adult. This is very clearly expressed when we give a lighted candle to the parents and god-parents after the child has been baptised in the celebration of baptism.
In baptism we become not only the special children of God but we are also brothers of Jesus Christ. Indeed, if we call ourselves the children of God it is because Jesus has made us adopted children with him. When we say the Our Father during Mass, we remind ourselves that we are doing so because Jesus Christ has taught us to say so. “Formed by divine teaching we dare to say, Our father who art in heaven.” It means that if not that Jesus Christ has made us his brothers, we would not be able to call God “our Father”. It is very important: that we can actually call God “Our Father”. We should not forget that on this point, our Muslim neighbours find it difficult to understand us. For them, God is the Almighty, totally different, and cannot be called a father to anybody. But we can call God Our Father because God has an only begotten Son Jesus Christ who has made us co-heirs with him.
And on the next level, baptism makes us members of the church. All of us who call God our Father and Jesus our Lord , Master and Brother, find ourselves together in the Family of God which is the Church. The first synod of Bishops for Africa, 1994, came out very powerfully on this idea that the Church of God is a family in which we are all brothers and sisters. The same synod remarked that this idea of Church as family resonates well with our strong conviction about family in Africa. Even in today’s world, when our ancient cultures are no longer so strong, we still retain a strong attachment to our family. We want to be close to our brothers and our sisters, we respect our fathers and our mothers and we go beyond father and mother, brothers and sisters. We respect uncles and aunties just like our parents, and value all cousins and the so-called extended family. When we take this issue of Church as family of God seriously, then it will have an impact on how we live our lives as members of the church. Everything that concerns the church becomes important to us, and every member of the church is someone to be taken care of. So, the fire of faith is kindled in us in baptism.
Secondly the fire of faith is kindled in us in the sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation is often related to what happened on the first day of Pentecost 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, at the upper room in Jerusalem. We were told that there came upon the 12 Apostles what appeared as tongues of fire and resting on each and every one of them. The Holy Spirit coming down as fire on the Apostles is related to what happens to us at confirmation. According to our Church tradition, while we can baptise infants, we normally wait for children to attain age of reason and able to understand before we confirm them. We even normally reserve the administration of the sacrament of confirmation to the bishop, so that the idea is highlighted that this is indeed very important event. The sacrament of confirmation fills us with the Holy Spirit and endows us with gifts of the same Holy Spirit. An important impact which the Holy Spirit has on us in confirmation is that we are strengthened to be able to live the Christian life with all authenticity, fidelity and peace. Among the special gifts of the Holy Spirit are the gifts of wisdom to be able to know how best to be a good Christian and the gift of courage to be able to stand up to the truth that we believe in. Therefore, confirmation is not just a ceremony that we go through, dressed in white as a young boy or girl at the age of 12 or 13. Rather, it is a permanent reality which emboldens us and empowers us to live the life of a Christian.
Dear brothers and sisters, living a Christian life in a coherent fashion is not a child’s play. As we go through our lives, we meet situations and conditions where it becomes quite challenging to really be a good Christian, to be a child of God and a good member of the church. In all these turbulent times, we should remind ourselves that we have been confirmed and our confirmation has given us the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we can indeed proclaim and live our faith with all sincerity and fidelity. It is a good thing that the now well known Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement in the Catholic Church has put a strong emphasis on the reality of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But we must know that this reality is not only for those who are called “charismatic” but for every Christian. That means that every baptised Christian should be “charismatic” namely; live with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Fire of Faith in our State of Life
The gift of faith that has been given to us, should accompany us all along life, as adult baptised and confirmed Christians, lay members of the church. In particular, this is relevant to the organisation that has brought us here together, the Catholic Men Organisation. Our CMO should not only be opportunity to gather, hold meetings and socialise. It must also give us the challenge to make sure that our lives as Christians are in order and as close as possible to what it should be. It should help us to support one another, so that when a brother is in difficulty, physical or spiritual, we should rally around him, so that he will not fall by the way side.
We expect also that the flame of the faith should be in everything that we do as Catholics. The CMO is not a voluntary organisation in the church for some men who are interested. According to the idea of the foundation of the Catholic Men Organisation, the CMO is for all men who are members of the church, just as the CWO is for all women. The fact that some men offer themselves to positions of leadership in service in the CMO, and occupy positions of officials, does not mean that the rest of the men in the church can relax or go about their lives without identifying with the CMO. One of the purposes of your convention is precisely to fan into flame the fire for enthusiasm for the CMO in your archdiocese. The large number of participants at this convention is a good proof that your efforts are yielding fruits.
However, this flame of faith is also particularly important in our states of life. And here the most important state of life is marriage. The married life is the normal way of life not only of every Catholic man and woman but indeed of every human being. For the church, marriage is very important. We all know that what happens when we marry in the Church is more than what we do in our traditional marriage or in the legal marriage in the courts. For the Catholic, marriage is a sacrament. It is also a vocation. Even though the majority of people are called to the marriage state, it is still a calling that God has made available to men and women. It is also clear that the demands of marriage for the Catholic is far more than what is required simply for any couple out there in the world. We must see this as God’s call for us and that when God calls, He also empowers with his grace. That is why the Catholic should consider his/her marriage as a very important state of his life.
Some people however are specially called to the special vocation of celibate, non-married life. This concerns especially the clergy and religious in the Church. We need not say much about this in this gathering of lay people. But it is perhaps not out of place to raise one aspect that is not often taken into consideration. Although marriage is the normal vocation for and state of life of the lay person, there may be some lay Catholics who may not be called to the marriage state but who are not called to be priests or religious. We must not forget that there is such a thing as a vocation to the single state of life. This may be meaningless in our society but the church takes it seriously, provided the choice is made not out of irresponsibility but out of sincere conviction that this is the state of life that God has given to the person. We have seen people, good Catholics who have decided to give up marriage because of a calling to public service or to some professions which take so much of their attention that they do not have time for marriage and family life. It is important that we recognise this and do more to organise such people, both men and women in our communities. Such people do need peculiar spiritual and pastoral attention, which the clergy will do well to provide.
There are of course many who are single not because they don’t want to marry, but because circumstances have left them single. Here we can mention widowers and widows and also spinsters and bachelors who, for one reason or the other, have not been able to marry. There is need to keep an eye on such people and help them build the necessary pastoral support, so that they can live a committed and good Christian life.
4. How can we fan into flame the gift of God in us?
Here I will simply make some general remarks.
First, we need an ongoing catechesis or spiritual formation to continually deepen our knowledge and conviction of God and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Normally we go a long way to do our catechesis in preparation for the sacraments like Baptism, Confirmation and sometime also holy matrimony. But we should never think that we don’t normally need to deepen our faith. This is very necessary and important. Is this not the main reason for our regular gathering in church not only on Sundays but even on weekdays. We know that every time we meet in church especially on Sundays, we hear at least two readings from the Scriptures. At every public Holy Mass, there should be a homily which is meant to break the bread of the word of God for the parishioners and the community to absorb and digest. The clergy knows that this is a serious duty that they have, to make sure that the people of God are well fed with the word of God during the celebration of the eucharist.
But beyond the Eucharist, we do well to have structures on ground whereby the lay faithful can continually increase their knowledge of the faith. I am aware that here in Lagos, some wonderful programs are already in place, where lay people can enrol for courses that are meant to offer them good knowledge of the Catholic faith. This would entail getting to understand better the holy scriptures both the old and the new testaments. It also means getting acquainted with the doctrines of the Catholic Church, especially as they relate to the daily lives of our people. Such programs should be patronised by as many Catholic men as possible, and not left to only a few who are interested.
The life of faith is also fanned into flame through the sacramental life. The celebration of the Sacraments in the church are meant to develop the faith that God has given us in baptism and confirmation. Here especially we must consider the sacrament of the holy eucharist and the sacrament of penance. We have spoken already about the eucharist. As for, penance we often neglect it, pretending that we don’t need it. It is important for us not to allow ourselves to be deceived thinking that we don’t need the sacrament of penance. There is nothing to be ashamed of about it. The scripture itself says that nobody is without sin. We all have to acknowledge that we are sinful. We all go to confession, whether we are priest, bishop, cardinal or even the pope. We should know that the Pope has a full-time confessor, who is kept busy every week. This sacrament is one of the distinguishing elements of the spiritual life of the Catholic. In fact, many non-Catholic Christians make fun of us saying: “why do you go to confess your sins to priests who are ordinary human beings?” We who do so should know why we do so. Those who criticize our habit do so out of ignorance. It is important that we constantly ask God for pardon, to cleanse us from our sins. In actual fact, every time we go for Mass, we do that. At the beginning of Mass, there is always the ritual of penitential service, as the priest says: “Before we celebrate these holy mysteries, let us call to mind our sins”, after which we recite the: ‘’l confess to Almighty God’’. We confess that we have sinned in what we have done and in what we have failed to do, through our fault, through our fault, through our most grievous fault, and we ask the Lord God almighty, the saints and even our fellow brothers and sisters, to pray for us to the Lord our God. This takes place before every Mass. We should not take it for granted. It means that we recognise that we need to constantly recognise how sinful we are and ask God to cleanse us.
Furthermore, before we receive the holy eucharist, we are also reminded that we should not receive holy eucharist in a careless fashion. We have to make sure that we are in good spiritual condition. The announcement made in our churches before communion is serious, that: “It is now time for communion, those who are not Catholics and those who are Catholics but are not prepared for it should stay back and pray and not go forward.” It is not a matter of being rude to non-Catholics. Rather, it means that the access to holy eucharist in the context of the holy Mass is for those who can, in all humility, present themselves for the consumption of the body and blood of Christ. Even then before the priest starts to distribute holy communion, he holds up the Body of Christ saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold he who takes away the sins of the world.” And we all answer: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” It means that right up to the last moment, we are really unworthy. Frankly speaking, no one is worthy to receive holy communion, except that we trust in the goodness and mercy of the Almighty and Merciful God. That does not mean that we simply say: “Oh Lord I am not worthy….” and then go forward with heavy sins on our souls. When we have serious sins on our hearts and minds and our soul is not at peace with God, we must find a way to seek reconciliation with God, before we approach the holy eucharist. It is only then that the sacrament of the church will enhance our life of faith. To habitually receive the sacrament under heavy sins will in fact cause serious damage on the soul. St Paul said it very bluntly that those who receive the body and blood of Christ unworthily “eat damnation unto themselves’’. It is not a joke.
So, to keep fanning our faith into flame, we must take note of ongoing catechesis, both in the sacred scripture and the doctrine of the Church, participate in the sacramental life of the church, especially in the holy eucharist and penance.
Then thirdly, we fan our life of faith into flame through an active participation as a member of the family of God which is the Church. Our participation in the life of the church should be all round, not only in the liturgy when we come for Mass, and we pray and sing with the community. We should also join fellow members of the church in other activities of the church, when the church witnesses to the goodness of God in charity to other people. We should form part and parcel of whatever the church is doing to reach out to the poor and to invite them to receive the grace of God. We have an organisation like the St Vincent de Paul Society. We cannot leave it to only those who are members. The work that St Vincent de Paul is doing is what each and every one of us should be doing, by gathering resources to look after those who are in need. If we cannot be a member of St Vincent de Paul, we must at least be seen to contribute as much as we can for the work that they are doing.
And that brings us to the last item of the fanning into flame the fire of the gift of God in us, namely the life of a good Christian witness. It is not enough to have faith in Jesus Christ. We should let the whole world know that by the way we live our lives. In fact, they will know we are Christians by our lives and not simply by saying it. In a country like Nigeria, where there are so many religious groups making a lot of religious noises, it is no longer so important what we say, how loudly we shout, how intensely we pray. What is more important is how we live our lives. Do we show in our daily lives the charity of Christ, the unity of the gospel? Do people look at us and say: “Wow, this is a Catholic, see how well he behaves!”? Or do people say: “And he calls himself a Catholic, see how he is misbehaving”? It is up to us to decide what we want to be. This is an important element in our Christian life.
That does not mean that we go around, as it were like the Pharisees advertising how good we are. No. Rather it is naturally being a Christian so that seeing the good work we are doing, people will give honour and glory to our Father who is in heaven. That is what Jesus asks of us. Whatever we do as Christian witness is not so that people may praise us, but so that people may give honour and glory to our father who is in heaven.
5. Fanning the Fire of Faith in Political Engagement
Finally, let me close this conversation with an important message with regard to political engagements. Political engagement is a Christian witness in public life. We live in a country now where there is a lot of confusion about what is political engagement. We are all dissatisfied with what our political structures have brought about for us, except perhaps the few who have been beneficiaries of the gross immorality. The last election is a typical demonstration of how dysfunctional our political system has been. After 8 years of terrible bad government of APC under Buhari, we were put through the game of an election process which ended up with the result that we want to continue with the same APC government for at least another 4 years, much to the surprise, I must say to the great sadness, of most Nigerians. Obviously, those who are now in charge of our nation have been congratulating themselves that the victory has been given to them. We might say, yes, according to the political rules of the game, they may have won the election. In a nation of over 200 million population, a total registered voters of over 90 million, a total of 24 million actually voted, and somebody with 8million votes has become a majority, with an absolute mandate to run the nation. This is following, but not necessarily conceding the figures of INEC. We take consolation in the fact that God can do everything. God can do wonders even using a dysfunctional system. After all, for about 40 years, our nation was ruled through the barrel of the gun and soldiers knocking one another in and out. We survived it, but at what price? After sometime, we agreed that it was not the right way for a decent nation to rule itself. Since 1999 we have started this new adventure of democracy. Theoretically we know what democracy is. It means the government of the people, for the people by the people. We know that there is no-where in the world where you have a perfect democracy. But certainly, there is a limit to how much “dysfunctionalism” a nation can tolerate. We are now faced with a very anomalous situation. It is not surprising that the so called victorious new government has not been able to perform well and has not been able to actually muster the trust and co-operation of the vast majority of the people of Nigeria. What it means is that prayer for Nigeria in distress must continue with all our hearts and minds. God has not abandoned us and He will “deliver us from the chaos, anarchy and doom”. We must not take for granted the relative peace we are presently enjoying in our nation. All is not well. Our peace is thanks to the immense patience of our people, the fervent prayers of many Nigerians of all faiths, and above all the mercy of our All Loving God and Father.
Meanwhile all eyes are on the courts/judiciary. Immediately after the election results were announced, large protest erupted in this country and large numbers of political actors protested that the election results did not represent the free decisions of the people. Many election observers and monitors, not only our local ones, including our own Caritas Nigeria, but also foreign observers, including the big ones like the European Union, the African Union, US NDI and NRI, were all unanimous to say that the election of the president in February 2023 does not reflect the true wishes of Nigerians. Some of those declared losers have gone to court because they decided that rather than spill over onto the streets after the elections and create chaos, they should go by a peaceful means in the courts, as provided for in our Constitution. They have thus challenged the result of the election in court. It is sad that for almost 6 months now, the case has remained in the court. In the meantime, the declared winner has been sworn in as our president and has been operating legally as the president of the nation, despite the heavy burden of a highly disputed legitimacy. All eyes are on the courts. Will the courts decide that the election was correct and ok or will the courts arrive at the conclusion, which many people arrived at already even from the very beginning, that this election result as declared was not tenable. The delay in the courts giving judgement is itself a pity. As they say “justice delayed is justice denied”. But we will still wait until the courts pass their judgement. We have to accept whatever the Supreme court will decide, whether we like it or not. This is because there is no other human recourse after the supreme court. We will have to leave everything in the hands of God.
Talking of the court in the situation we are in now, we do well to remember the very wise statement of our Catholic brother, the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who said “The decision of the supreme court is final but it is not infallible.” It is final because there is nowhere else to go except appeal to God, but that is not part of our Constitution. But that it is not infallible means that it could be wrong, and you can justly retain your opinion if you disagree. But you will still have to admit that you are living in a nation where a wrong decision has been made as regards who should rule you. It is a sad situation that we hope God will deliver us from.
Now all this means that it is not enough to keep complaining. However the present confusion resolves itself, it is necessary that good people in Nigeria rise up and insist that there should be a better way of playing politics than what we have until now. That the political parties should no longer be properties of money bag godfathers. That lying and deception should not be the stock in trade of politics. That violence, killing and maiming should have no place in a civilised democratic context. It means that we need not only new players on the field but new rules to the game. That our electoral laws need to be not just improved upon but totally overhauled, is to me the main lesson of this last election. Fortunately, efforts have been made in the past to start such a general overhaul, as we saw in the now famous Uwais Commission report, delivered at the request of the late president Umaru Musa Ya’adua. Will the nation have the courage to undertake this necessary project? We are waiting’.
6. Wanted: Good Catholics for a decent good politics.
But now let us come back to our forum here. As CMO, we cannot all be active politicians. But if there are ever going to be good Catholic politicians in Nigeria, they will be from among this body, the Catholic laity. There is a Catholic social teaching which is available to all of us in a convenient publication. I strongly recommend the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church”, published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2004. Apart from that. I also strongly recommend documents of the 2nd Vatican Council, especially the document on the laity Apostolicam Actuositatem and the document on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes. The last document has a lot to say about public service and good governance for the common good. It says that politics is a difficult but sacred art and those who feel themselves competent to undertake these tasks should get into it not minding their personal interests and convenience, but for the sake of the common good to the greater glory of God. There is a passage that I believe we should hear in the very words of the Council, as follows:
“Those with a talent for the difficult yet noble art of politics, or whose talents in this matter can be developed, should prepare themselves for it, and, forgetting their own convenience and material interests, they should engage in political activity.” Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, no. 75.
The text, dating back to 1965, almost sixty years ago, states clearly what the Catholic church means by politics. Any Catholic who wants to be in politics, according to the mind of the Church, should follow these guide lines. Unfortunately, we can see that what is happening in our nation’s politics is far away from this beautiful parameter that the church has given us. It means that, those who have this special talent for public life should go in as a form of apostolate, ready to sacrifice themselves, not to go and get rich and get powerful but to serve the people, so that the poor may be looked after, justice would be entrenched and then prosperity and peace will reign. It means that we should all be light of the world and salt of the earth wherever we are. Light of the world means making sure that we raise up the truth of our gospel so that all may see and admire what God is doing in his world. Salt of the earth means that we should be prepared to mingle with the society in which we live, not keeping aside and thinking that we do not want to get ourselves soiled. We should be the salt of the earth. But as Jesus said the salt must not lose its taste because if it loses its taste, it is worse than nothing and can only be trampled upon by men.
The Catholic must also avoid extreme positions. One is the position of Fuga Mundi, which means “escaping from the world”, abdicating one’s responsibility in and to the world. This is what happens when people say that politics is dirty, and not meant for any good Christian. So they keep away from politics, running away from the world. But the fact is that we are still in the world. Jesus Christ said so. Even though we are not of the world, we are in the world. Therefore, when we refuse to get involved, we are simply abdicating our responsibility to be light of the world and salt of the earth. That is one mistaken position.
The other mistaken position is to go the other direction, getting involved in this world according to the tenets and the rules of this world. Many Catholics have entered politics in this way. When you call them and ask them to explain why they are not showing any difference from other politicians in bad behaviour, corruption and other similar vices, they tell you that this is the game of politics; if you want to be there you must be like them. They say that the beautiful things we are saying in the church don’t work, that they are not practicable. I have seen many Catholics going into politics, got their noses bruised and have decided never to go again. But the challenge before the good Catholic is to go into the battle, continue upholding his principles and not fall into what I call “moral and political schizophrenia”. Schizophrenia is a disease which needs to be cured. It means somebody with a split personality. The same person acts sometimes as a Christian and sometimes as a pagan, and tries to combine both together. The result can only be confusion.
Therefore, just as we have to avoid the abdication of responsibility in Fuga Mundi, we must also avoid the other extreme position of political and moral schizophrenia, in a split personality. A Christian politician must remain a politician through and through and must work hard to be able to maintain his principles against all odds. This is what the church means when she say that the game of “politics is a difficult and yet a sacred art”, not meant for all. Those who have got the gift of being able to walk their way through such terrible situation will be blessed by God. They also will perform well, for the good of the poor people and to the greater glory of God.
Finally, the Church of God as a whole, the clergy, religious and lay faithful, as family of God, is supposed to be a “sacrament of salvation” in our society. This is the doctrine of the 2nd Vatican Council, as we read in Lumen Gentium, chapter 1. The church of God, and here let us be specific, the Catholic church, should be in Nigeria a sign and an instrument of Gods salvation. It should be a sign of what our society should be, as a community of brothers who love one another, who practice justice and charity. People should see us and say: “If everybody was like this, this nation would be much better”.
As sacrament, the church must be not only a sign but also an instrument of salvation. It must be actively involved in bringing about the kingdom of God. This is the motivation for our getting involved in politics or making sure that whatever we are doing, whether as civil servants, in business or as professionals, we continue to work for the kingdom of God, God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace.
Conclusion.
Let me conclude simply by wishing this convention God’s blessing. We have spoken about many things. You will probably forget many of them. But please remember, if you can, to take something home with you. We pray especially for our country Nigeria, that we may not continue to waste the blessings that God has given to us. We pray that we may do our part in building a nation in which we can live in peace and unity. We pray that we would find a way of linking up with all other men and women of goodwill, wherever they are, and there are many of them, so that our nation may emerge with the destiny of greatness that God has endowed it with.
Happy convention to all of you.
10TH LAGOS ARCHDIOCESE CATHOLIC MEN ORGANIZATION (LACMON) CONVENTION
St. Gregory’s College, Ikoyi – Lagos. 18-19 August 2023
Theme: Fan into Flame the gift of God which is in you. 2Tim 1:6-7.
CONVERSATION by:
+John Cardinal ONAIYEKAN, (CON)
Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja.
