CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Ecumenism is no longer a new idea in Christendom. Its modern form is usually traced to the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, which aimed to secure cooperation and unity among the Christian denominations (Kii, n.d.; Konye, 2024). The ecumenical vision arose because the Church of Jesus Christ, founded on unity and love, has been subjected from earliest times to schism, proliferation and disintegration. Even as this study was being completed, new churches were being founded and registered somewhere, a development that runs against the unity Christianity stands for. It was this fragmentation that prompted the call for church unity, a situation in which Christians from different denominational backgrounds work together for unity in the essentials of the faith. Ecumenical efforts are a means of fulfilling the Lord’s prayer for unity in John 17:21, and the modern ecumenical movement is an attempt to restore that unity against the background of the divisions that followed the sixteenth-century Reformation (Konye, 2024).

The Edinburgh conference marked the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement, but it was largely a Protestant affair, since the Roman Catholic Church stayed away. Catholic involvement was not entirely absent, however. Unofficial contacts took place, and in the decades after Edinburgh, Catholic theologians prepared the ground for the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio (Konye, 2024). Considerable progress has been made since then, and the movement gained fresh momentum when Roman Catholics joined the ecumenical effort after the historic Second Vatican Council, convened by John XXIII in 1962 and continued by Paul VI until 1965.

In Nigeria, the early ecumenical initiatives came from Protestant missionaries. They were shaped by the rivalry between missionary societies, and in several respects they were directed against Catholic missionary influence. The Christian Council of Nigeria, formed in 1929, was motivated partly by a desire to counter Catholic influence in the mission field (Konye, 2024). Protestant missionaries met at Calabar in 1911, at Aba in 1917 and again at Calabar in 1919 to deal with questions of church order and the demarcation of spheres of influence, and these conferences led to the Evangelical Union of Southern Nigeria in 1924 and to the Christian Council. Catholics took no significant part in these early initiatives. A lack of ideological insight and interdenominational prejudice are among the reasons offered for the failure of these first efforts to produce lasting unity (Asue, 2016; Eke, 2016).

Renewed zeal for ecumenism in Nigeria began in earnest from about 1970, with enhanced theological and liturgical dialogue between Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians (Adetunmbi, 2024). This renewal reached the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the national umbrella body of Christians in the country. CAN was not conceived as an ecumenical body from the start, but its formation in 1976, at a meeting of church leaders with the then Head of State at Lagos followed by a meeting at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, gave it an ecumenical character in concept, context and nature (Konye, 2024). As a facilitator, the Roman Catholic Church, the focus of this study, has been at the forefront of this struggle in Nigeria. Its headquarters hosted CAN’s administrative office for its first 28 years (1976–2004), and it has continued to play a significant role in CAN’s formation and sustenance, as its “facilitator and conscience” (Konye, 2024). Equipped with the Vatican II decree Unitatis Redintegratio, the Church has continued to encourage and enhance the movement for Christian unity in Nigeria, including through bilateral structures such as the Nigerian Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission, inaugurated in 2003 (Konye, 2024; Okpaleke, 2023).

Even so, the Roman Catholic Church, despite spearheading the ecumenical endeavour in the country, has yet to record a decisive landmark achievement, and CAN itself has not fully achieved its goal of promoting unity among the denominations (Asue, 2016). This is a puzzle for the Church to solve. The researcher nevertheless believes that, with globalisation and growing interdenominational relationships, the Church of Jesus Christ will eventually rise above these anomalies and emerge as one faith under one shepherd.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

A careful look at the state of Christendom today shows that all is not well with the Church of Jesus Christ. The unity and love among brethren that marked the early church have given way to persistent schisms, divisions and fragmentation. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council captured this situation when they observed that Christ founded one Church only, that the divisions among Christian communities scandalise the world and hinder the spread of the gospel, and that many communions present themselves as the true heirs of Jesus Christ, so that they differ in mind and go different ways as though Christ himself were divided (Vatican II Fathers, 1964).

This condition has almost crippled the ecumenical initiatives taken in Nigeria. The first ecumenical move in the country, by Protestant missionaries, failed because of interdenominational prejudice and rivalry, and recent studies confirm that tensions among Nigerian Christians persist and that the unity CAN was formed to promote remains elusive (Asue, 2016; Adetunmbi, 2024). It is regrettable that, despite the renewed efforts of the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II to refocus the ecumenical agenda in Nigeria, there is little to show for them.

Against this background, the task of this study is to examine the contributions made so far by the Roman Catholic Church to the ongoing ecumenism in Nigeria. Other Christian denominations have also contributed to ecumenical development in Nigeria, but the researcher considers that the role of the Roman Catholic Church should be studied together with the reasons why ecumenical efforts appear to be hindered. The study will also examine the prospects of ecumenism and offer solutions and recommendations aimed at repositioning the Church for lasting ecumenism in Nigeria.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The main purposes of this work are to:

1. Identify the factors that gave rise to the emergence of ecumenism in Nigeria.
2. Establish the level of Roman Catholic involvement (contribution) in the ongoing ecumenism in Nigeria.
3. Find out the likely reasons why the ecumenical endeavour has not been fully established in Nigeria.
4. Identify the prospects of ecumenism and, where possible, propose solutions or recommendations to address the problems discovered in the Nigerian ecumenical field.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This work will be significant in several ways:

1. It will stimulate serious discussion and interaction among students of ecumenism in Nigeria.
2. Its examination of the problems of ecumenism in the country will equip Christians with a right attitude that helps to pull down the interdenominational barriers that hinder Christian unity.
3. It will provide theologians and ecumenists currently involved in the ecumenical debate with the right issues to examine or negotiate.
4. It will enable the Roman Catholic Church to understand objectively the points of view of other denominations.
5. It will inform government about the latest trends in church and society and may influence its policy formulation toward the church as a whole.

1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Study

This research focuses on the Roman Catholic contributions to the ecumenical endeavour in Nigeria. It is therefore restricted to the Nigerian setting and to the Roman Catholic Church alone. To obtain adequate representation, five dioceses, namely Nsukka, Enugu, Awgu, Awka and Abuja, were chosen as samples for analysing ecumenical efforts within the churches.

Although the researcher tried to cover the designated areas, the work suffered some setbacks. First, inadequate finance prevented direct visits to some of the places under study and delayed completion of the work. Second, because the study relied heavily on oral interviews, the researcher was sometimes snubbed, avoided or repeatedly disappointed by respondents, or was not allowed to exhaust the questionnaire or conclude an interview. As a result, the researcher could not cover all the chosen places or obtain enough data from oral interviews, and therefore had to generalise from the data obtained from the available oral interviews and written works.

1.6 Research Methodology

Every research work adopts a specific procedure to arrive at empirically satisfactory conclusions. This study is both a historical and a sociological attempt to establish the level of commitment and contribution of the Roman Catholic Church to ecumenical work in Nigeria. It uses primary and secondary sources. The primary source is oral interviews. The secondary sources are textbooks, journals, periodicals, bulletins, articles from the library and some internet sources.

1.7 Definition of Key Terms

Ecumenism. The term has been defined in different ways by scholars from different backgrounds. It derives from the Greek oikoumene and the Latin oecumenicus, meaning the inhabited world, and it refers to the principle or aim of uniting the different branches of the Christian faith. It describes the modern movement toward Christian unity, whose Protestant origin lies in the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference of 1910 and whose Catholic principles were set out by the Second Vatican Council in 1964 (Kii, n.d.; Konye, 2024). It can also be defined as the movement of the church toward the visible union of all believers in Christ, and as the furthering of religious unity among the different Christian faiths. It begins with meeting other Christians and getting to know them, so that they arrive at a better understanding of one another’s religious positions. Ecumenism is therefore both a movement and an attitude of openness toward Christians of other traditions, in order to learn from their experiences and deepen one’s own commitment to the Gospel. It is the condition or practice of unifying the different denominations in Christendom, in fulfilment of the Lord’s prayer “that they may be one” (ut unum sint, John 17:21). The noun “ecumenism” was popularised in the twentieth century by the French Dominican Yves Congar and was adopted by Vatican II in the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.

Ecumenical. This is an adjective that describes anything involving or uniting members of different branches of the Christian Church. The term became popular in the twentieth century when the Swedish bishop Nathan Söderblom (1866–1930) gave oikoumene and the adjective “ecumenical” the sense they carry in theology today. To be ecumenical is therefore to be related to, or involved in, ecumenism.

Roman Catholic Church. This is the Christian church whose leader is the Pope. It is characterised by an episcopal hierarchy with the Pope as its head, belief in seven sacraments and respect for the authority of tradition. It is the Christian denomination of believers in communion with the papacy and is the largest Christian church in existence. Its headquarters is in Vatican City, where the Pope resides, and it is found mostly in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Protestantism. The word can be understood in two senses. In the strict sense, it refers to the princes and imperial cities that signed a protestation at the Diet of Speyer in 1529 against the Edict of Worms, which had forbidden Lutheran teaching in the Holy Roman Empire. In the broad sense, it refers to any Christian group of Western European origin that broke with the Roman Catholic Church under the influence of Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran churches, and John Calvin, founder of the Calvinist movement. It also means adherence to the beliefs fostered by the Protestant movement. Protestantism is therefore the belief of those Christian denominations that protest against Roman Catholic teaching and doctrine.

Lutheran Church. This church group holds the doctrines and church order of Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century German theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation. Lutherans are found throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Eastern Orthodox Church. This is the second largest Christian communion in the world. Although it is identified as Eastern Orthodox, its official name is the Orthodox Church. It traces its lineage to the Apostles, in the same way as the Roman Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican churches, derives from the Byzantine Church and follows Byzantine rites. It was the first church to separate from the Roman Catholic Church, because of disputes over doctrine and rites, and it is found in Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Anglican Church. Also known as the Anglican Communion, this is the church professed by Christians who are in communion with, and acknowledge to some degree the leadership of, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It emerged in England after King Henry VIII separated the Church of England from papal authority in 1534 (Konye, 2024), and it spread across the former British Commonwealth. Its cardinal doctrines are the canonicity of the Old and New Testaments, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as the sufficient statement of Christian faith, the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the episcopacy, and the Church as God’s commissioned agent in the world.

Methodist Church. The Methodist Church began in England through John and Charles Wesley, who were clergymen in the Church of England. It is traceable to the eighteenth-century evangelical revival in England and is characterised by concern for social welfare and public morals.

Presbyterian Church. This church is based on the principles of church government by presbyters, or presbyteries, and the name also describes the various churches that adopt this form of government and profess more or less modified forms of Calvinism. It evolved mainly in Scotland, before the Act of Union in 1707, and is traceable to the Scottish Reformation under the influence of John Calvin.

Syncretism. This is the attempt to bring together beliefs from several different, and often contradictory, schools of thought. It also means the attempt to reconcile or unite different or opposing principles, practices, parties or denominations, and the combining of elements of many religions into one.

REFERENCES

Adetunmbi, M. A. (2024). Ecumenical movements in Nigeria and the role of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) in upholding unity. ACU Journal of Humanities, 7(2), 24–.

Asue, D. U. (2016). Ecumenical tensions among Nigerian Christians: Lessons from Vatican II. International Review of Mission, 105(2), 306–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/irom.12152

Eke, V. C. (2016). Development and challenges of ecumenical movement in Nigeria. Roczniki Teologiczne.

Kii, P. B. (n.d.). CAN and the ecumenical journey in Nigeria: A retrospective analysis.

Konye, M. (2024). Ecumenical footprints in Nigeria: Pathways and detours in search of Christian unity. Religions, 15(1), 106. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010106

Okpaleke, I. P. (2023). Sharing ecumenical wisdom: Lessons from Anglican–Roman Catholic communio ecclesiology. Nigerian Journal of Theology, 37(1), 15–33.

Vatican II Fathers. (1964). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.