African Culture Is Not to Blame

By P.E. Aligwekwe

"This newly published book, "AFRICAN CULTURE IS NOT TO BLAME (Western Culture Is To Blame) written by Dr. P.E. Aligwekwe has a very important message both for the West and for Africa; but most particularly for the West. The book is a very audacious speaking out of a biting truth avoided or minimized by the guilty, sidetracked by the nonchalant, purposely misrepresented by the addict, or distorted by the agnostic and arrogant. The book´s realism is an asset to knowing for certain where the source of our contemporary sexual moral decadence and the very much needed solution really lie. Learn in it something about the main causes and bases of priest/clergy sexual abuse that is nowadays the general topic of the day. Learn more about the origin and main causes of homosexuality in humans, and also about prostitution, abortion and other the main social topics of our day. Surely you will want to read this exiting book, and pass it on to whomever you care for – family, friend or colleague. Besides, you will bring its substance to the knowledge of as many members of the society as possible.
        The author’s previous book titled "THE CONTINUITY OF TRADITIONAL VALUES IN THE AFRICAN SOCIETY (The Igbo of Nigeria)- a book rightly qualified as a valuable tertiary institution anthropology text or reference book, published 2008, is equally available in the bookstore of the same publishers".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453518083

P.E. Aligwekwe

Her previous publication, The Continuity of Traditional Values in the African Society, confirmed Pauline Aligwekwe's thoroughness and down-to-earth approach to reality. This present book pins down readers and researchers to view Africa in its reality and not as has been exploitatively imagined, fabricated and taught. Aligwekwe refutes the viewpoint of Maura O'Donohue (expatriate physician and missionary at a corner of Black Africa) who rightly stated the scandal of clergy sexual abuse as a global problem affecting many countries; but then committed the anthropological and historical blunder to single out and refer to the African situation as "culture bound". A Missionary of many years experience Aligwekwe denounces ethnocentrism and self-conceited colonial/neo-colonial mentality- the root of O'Donohue's oversight and rashness. Over simplification and ethnocentrism in global world issues, do not make the world a better place. Transparency and objectivity are paramount regarding the true cause of the contemporary alarming sexual moral decadence. Advance in science and technology should not mean advancement in evil, and insensitivity to guilt. Retracing of steps towards genuine Christian sexual morals is essential. Dr Aligwekwe is author of three preceding books and many journal articles. After B.A. English, French and Philosophy (Ethics), National University of Ireland, and B.A. Comparative Literature, University of Dijon, France, she studied and got her doctorate degree, Social Anthropology and Ethnolinguistics at Sorbonne, University of Paris, France. She is a well known university professor of Anthropology in Nigeria and is presently residing a while in the USA, preoccupied with intensive interdisciplinary research work.

Book preview

AFRICAN CULTURE IS NOT TO BLAME

P.E. Aligwekwe

Copyright © 2010 by P.E. Aligwekwe.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2010904184

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4500-6821-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4500-6820-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4535-1808-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

39879

Contents

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CHAPTER 1

PART I

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

PART II

CHAPTER 5

PART III

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

PART IV

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

PART V

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

EPILOGUE

ENDNOTE

REFERENCES, BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

The Bible says in the first chapter of its first book - the Book of Genesis¹:

God created Man² in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it."

But we also know that they are some among God’s people - men and women - who have deliberately undertaken not to increase and multiply in the biological sense of the word, by voluntarily choosing not to procreate but to live a life of priestly celibacy and Religious Vows of Chastity and Virginity. Are they disobeying God? Not at all, of course! We must remember that elsewhere in the Bible Christ, the Son of God, equal to the Father and One with Him in all Perfection, and the Founder of the Christian Religion, equally said:

There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this that can.³

He, Christ, is not contradicting the Father’s command here but further explicating and bringing it to completion, to assure its total fulfillment. He did not forget to reassure us He was in accord with it when He warned against any misunderstanding presaging:

Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the law until its purpose is achieved⁴

The interpretation given to this verse of the Bible in the Jerusalem Bible edition, Standard Edition, 1966 is plausibly accurate and clarifying:

Jesus is speaking not of carrying into effect each single injunction of the old Law but of bestowing on that Law a new and definitive firm by raising it to a higher place through the spirit of the gospel. It is in this sense that no detail of the law is to be neglected . . . Each has its part to play in the unfolding of the divine plan.

In other words, Christ came to earth not to abrogate the law but to perfect it. St. Paul, noted down the situation very well:

Not at all, we (Christians) are giving the Law its true value.

(Romans 3:31).

We could see Christ’s words as a ‘perfection’ of the practical obedience to that directive in the Book of Genesis: ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it", when He sought to shed more light on it by stating examples of some actual life situations where some people cannot procreate due to some mishap in the human-made level of existence - a physical deformity occurring at birth, for example; or the case of those who are rendered fruitless as a result of castration inflicted on them by some cultural practices such as existed in the Middle East, Chinese and Byzantine antiquities, including the Ottoman empire of the later ages, and the 16th through 18th century Europe.

Then it becomes clearer enough to understand that the third category - those who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven stands for the deliberate invitation of Christ to those disciples of his who would forbear to commit themselves to perpetual practice of continence - total abstinence from sexual activity, as they consecrate themselves entirely to His work of Evangelization for the Kingdom of His Father. They are ‘eunuchs’ - men and women who are free from deformity from birth. They are free from disease, sexual mal-orientation or man-inflicted deformity. They naturally have wholesome sexual functionality. They have the potentialities and freedom to procreate. But they have deliberately accepted the invitation of Christ as He has stipulated it; that is, to live solely for the sake of the Kingdom.

St. Paul distinctly elucidated the point once more in his admonition on marriage and virginity:

Yes, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman I should like everyone to be like me, but everybody has his own particular gifts from God, one with a gift for one thing and another with gift for the opposite. There is something I want to add for the sake of the widows and for those who are not married: it is a good thing for them to stay as they are, like me, but if they cannot control the sexual urges, they should get married, since it is better to be married than to be tortured. 1 Co 7:1; 7-9:

Further down in the same Chapter, St Paul went on to explain why the work for the Kingdom needed some disciples to answer this special call of perpetual abstinence spoken of earlier:

I would like to see you free from all worry. An unmarried man can devote himself to the Lord’s affair, all he needs worry about is pleasing the Lord; but a married man has to bother about the world’s affairs and devote himself to pleasing his wife: he is torn two ways. In the same way an unmarried woman, like a young girl, can devote herself to the Lord’s affairs; all she needs worry about is being holy in body and spirit. The married woman, on the other hand has to worry about the world’s affairs and devote herself to pleasing her husband. (1 Corinthians 7: 32-34).

The point is that for the practicing Christian, Evangelical Celibacy and Vows of Chastity and Vows of Virginity are not in disaccord with the state of existence of Man commanded by God at the time of the creation of Man. To answer the call to Evangelical Celibacy, Chastity and Virginity, state of life, is a way of accepting to undertake in a special manner the obligations towards the promotion of the type of human growth and development desired by the Creator - the growth of not only the physical but also the spiritual welfare of Man, which is the essential way mankind would maintain its relationship with God and could ‘conquer’ the earth - the material world and subdue it; in all its complexities and implication. Man cannot prove his total superiority over the rest of creation without developing adequately that property of his the rest of creation does not possess namely the mental and spiritual powers. It is Man’s mental and spiritual powers that conquer the earth. After all, with regard to physical reality, Man is among the very small sized ‘objects’ in creation. But he is meant to emerge a conqueror because he is the only creature among them that possesses intelligence and spiritual powers.

Because he is the thinking being, he is capable of producing tools for conquering the rest of creation. He has the power of thought and abstraction with which to make implements specially devised for a purpose in accordance with preconceived plans. The mechanism of the human hand is highly linked up in the working of the human brain. That is why, unlike the non-humans, Man has succeeded in making his hand act as a universal organ for the making of tools - performing millions and billions of operations that require superlative degree of mental capability. Technology is necessarily an inventive enterprise and needs the power of visualization which implies active thought and mental state of being. And only humans possess that property.

Having equipped him with this unique gift and power, the Creator - the Supreme Spiritual Being - enjoined Man to be the conqueror of the gigantic physical world, including even his own physical being, that is his own ‘flesh’, to be able to claim and maintain that superiority over all material aspects of creation and subdue them, in obedience to the His command.

Evangelical celibacy, chastity and virginity, are meant to help those bound by them to use up the energy, capabilities, education and facilities they would have used to procreate and raise up children and family of their own, to spread their hands out to take care of the generality of the children of God, first and foremost spiritually, to assure the material preoccupations of life do not stifle the well being of those unique human properties namely the intelligence and the spiritual powers, or clog their way towards living up to their potentialities, as the Creator has envisaged.

As St. Paul realistically stated, the married man and woman are meant to devote themselves first and foremost to the love of each other and to their family, which activities involve them inevitably directly in the affairs of the world and in pleasing each other. In the same way, says St Paul, the men and women who freely and voluntarily bind themselves to priestly celibacy, Evangelical chastity and virginity, undertake to devote themselves to the Lord’s affair - the caring of the children of God in general in the vineyard of the Lord. All they need worry about is being holy in body and spirit; that is, totally and directly dedicated to the love of the Divine Master and His interests.

This special love the consecrated persons owe to the Lord is expressed in fidelity to the vows and promises and their implicit obligations. Just as much as the married man and woman are to be faithful in loving each other in a special way, in accordance with their marriage vow, so also are the persons evangelically tied to observe the priestly celibate life and/or religious vow of chastity/virginity, bound to this special love of the Divine Spouse through fidelity to the vow.

Such celibate men or women are fulfilling a vital function in the work of procreation commanded by the Creator at the initial existence of mankind. As already said, Man is not only body but also spirit. The concern about the spiritual ‘procreation’ (if we may use such expression) is as important as about the biological procreation. It is geared towards protecting, guiding and maintaining the Divine purpose of creation. To put stress on the importance of one without adequate stress on the advantages of the other would have jeopardized the promotion of the full meaning of the Divine injunction.

Should they then not be meritless those quarrels, debates and doubts over the usefulness and necessity of the continuity of the observance, both in theory and practice, of perpetual priestly celibacy, evangelical chastity and virginity in the Church? A more elaborate answer to this question is a part of the main theme of this book.

We indicate forthright that Evangelical celibacy is of great benefit not only to the Church per se, but to mankind and society. It is among other things, a living sign of the power of the human spirit over the body. We are speaking of that power and gift that separate humans from the animal species and the inanimate objects of creation.

The spirit is the image and likeness of God in us and is the greatest gift of our creation. Without the power of the spirit and Man’s mental capabilities which direct his bodily behavior, Man would have been at the level of animals. That is why a person who indulges in inordinate sensual acts is degrading the human person in him or her to the level of animal behavior. The culprit is not guided by the Manlike properties related to the uplifting mental and spiritual powers that separate him/her from the animal world. He or she has allowed them to be obstructed, in order to selfishly please only one part of the person - the animal part namely, the flesh.

As a free and intelligent being, Man, unlike animals which act by instinct, can curb or control his sexual instincts and urges, just as much as he is capable of controlling and curbing some other appetites in the human person. He can arouse his sexual appetite, curtail it or even suppress it. He can manipulate it for better or for worse. He can be master of it as much as he can let himself be a slave to it, all based on his personal choice or some unwanted ailment he or she has. That is one of the reasons behind Man’s establishment of social laws and norms to guide sexual life and practice in society. Then Christ came on earth to perfect those laws and norms, giving us such corresponding injunction as:

I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw in away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.

Human sexual acts and activities, like every other act of Man, have their consequences - good or bad -. Christ came to teach Man to abide by the good and avoid or conquer the bad and harmful. He was very much aware of the fact that due to the very evident weaknesses of the human flesh to fight against inordinate sexual and sensual engagements, a person could yield to temptation and in fact go as far as getting himself/herself unduly convinced that discipline of the senses in order to suppress emotions and gain the upper hand against sexual urges, to avoid unlawful sexual acts, are impossible. But that is not in fact true. All human groups through all the ages have been persuaded to assume and in fact been convinced that discipline and strict guard against unlawful sexual behaviors, including control over sexual urges, are not impossible for Man.

Evangelical celibacy, chastity/virginity, known as total and perpetual abstinence for the sake of the Kingdom, are not impossible to practice; and so are a living witness to the truth of the matter. They are a living witness to the admirable power of the human mind and spirit over the human body; and that is among the ways priestly celibacy and Evangelical chastity are beneficial to mankind and society.

Did the words of Christ we cited above not indicate the same, confirming that it is possible for someone to do even perpetually without sex. Let anyone accept this who can (Mt 19:12), He said. In other words, it is possible; and it is honorable depending on the reason stated for doing so. We shall be expounding more on the fuller meaning and implication of this as we go along. We only need to note here and now that when the Church prescribed the life of priestly celibacy and Evangelical chastity and virginity, for the members of the faithful who would freely and voluntarily undertake them for the sake of the work of the Kingdom, it was threading in the path of the teaching of Christ as cited above.

We should equally be aware of the fact that God implicitly married Adam and Eve: He blessed them before He gave them that command: increase and multiply. That is, sex should be within marriage and not outside it.

Also, we should note that to disengage sexual relationship from the command of ‘increase and multiply’ or vice versa is to distort the wholistic meaning and value of the command. Anything outside the two inseparable dispositions of the command namely, marriage and procreation, is a diversion from and a distortion of the original intention of the Creator. The Biblical report states:

God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth . . . . (Gen. I: 26-29).

It should equally be understood that after He had firstly ‘blessed them’ (married them), before adding ‘increase and multiply’(that is, sex is after marriage) He at the same time specified what sex is for: It is for a specified purpose namely, procreation and foundation of the family, and all that it takes to sustain and perpetuate the marriage and raise up offspring that will join in conquering the earth and subdue it.

To be noted also is that He equally dictated the level of sexual pleasure they could engage in namely, that which would demonstrate the mastery of the spirit and intellect over the material - the physical, the carnalis, - that ‘animal part of Man that is the same with the rest of the animal and inanimate parts of creation. Man is to be conqueror and master by applying that unique gift from the Creator which the rest of creation has not got namely, the spiritus and the mens. By saying so we are not however intending to involve ourselves in the self motivated quarrels between totalistic rationalism and the winding empiricism of the philosophers. Nor would we wish to engage in the debate between emphasis on the biological and the unconscious, the volitional and the emotional, presented in arguments of existentialist philosophy.

The point is that God made Man the king of all living creatures. He is to live a higher plane of life than other living creatures and objects; which are to be forever subject to him. God said, fill the earth and conquer it. That includes the fact that Man should conquer himself by being a master of his lower nature - that ‘animal’ part of his being - to enable his whole being spiritus, animus and anima aspire towards Him the Ultimate end, the Absolute and Perfect Being, that keeps beckoning him to surpass himself and reach his utmost level. In other words, even within marriage, the sexual relationship should be intelligibly be within the range of what is understood as conjugal chastity which because of lack of space we cannot expound on in this book.

One of the points very much stressed in this book is that priestly celibacy, Evangelical chastity and virginity as a religious vocation in the Church or as a missionary tool, have proved to be one of the efficacious ways for the execution of this task. To assess their usefulness to mankind we should look from a particular angle namely, the fact that marital state of life obligatorily involves sex and sex has naturally its consequences and responsibilities to be catered for. Was St. Paul as already quoted above not very much aware of that?

Sexual acts have natural results that are not just sensual pleasure but serious implications that should never be overlooked. They are so lasting and bear such outstanding responsibilities which may last even a whole life span that sex and its related sexual activities should not be fiddled with as one fiddles with a toy. Examples of the resultant serious implication could easily be seen in the perennial responsibilities of child bearing, child rearing and multiple family obligations which are indeed full-time indispensible life engagements, involving economic, social and spiritual preoccupations. The institutions which recommend and the persons who undertake priestly celibacy, Evangelical chastity and virginity are rightly aware of those serious responsibilities and all the other cares connected with them described by St Paul in the words, bother about the world’s affairs, and "worry about the world’s affairs . . . devote himself to pleasing his wife . . . her husband . . . as cited above. And that is why the Lord Himself has and is calling some of His disciples to that special vocation of priestly celibacy, Evangelical perpetual chastity and virginity so they could be free enough from such worries and bothering’ and such clinging to a husband or wife, that could compromise their total self-giving exclusively to the general continuance and promotion of His work and mission on earth.

In sum, Evangelical celibacy, chastity and virginity are of double benefit to mankind. They prove to be the most persuasive state of life for the apostolate that caters for the continuance and promotion of the teaching and work of Christ on earth. At the same time they are living example and encouragement to mankind as they show how possible it is to abstain totally from sexual activities and in that way encourage and enhance the values of moderation, self discipline and sound reasoning in the utilization of the human sexual properties and capabilities, even when done within the law.

By freely and voluntarily binding themselves to celibacy, or chastity and virginity, which consequently bind them to abstain totally from sexual relationships, those who have accepted that vocation, become a living model of the natural potentialities in Man to control sexual urges effectively, how to weaken them or even totally suppress them. They become the effective symbol for making lawfully married couples realize that though they have the license, they should exercise moderation and focus greater attention to the natural consequences of their acts than to mere carnal pleasure and ill motivated sexism and practice. That is, as much as they are a symbolic rebuke to prostitution and all forms of illicit sexual acts they are as well a clear cut exhortation on the necessity of conjugal chastity and its practicability and usefulness.

The actual acceptance of practical fidelity to that vocation proves that total natural control over ones body in such matters as sexual emotions or urges is possible. They persuade Man to realize that sexual acts are meant first and foremost for a purpose much higher than mere carnal pleasure. They urge him to accept that he should be guided by law, that is, guided within a restriction, and should act within the law for the good of Mankind. They encourage him to realize all the time that just as every other innate property and capability of Man, sexual properties are a gift of the Creator and should be used in a way only to please the Creator and his plan for his creation, and for nothing else.

Evangelical celibacy and vows of chastity and virginity are one of the symbols of God’s purity among us and a caution that directs us to where we should primarily place our values in the use of the gift of sex; that is, we should remain all the time within the boundary desired by the Creator. Any time that Man goes beyond that moral value boundary, he automatically degrades and demotes himself in that aspect to the level of animals - the lower grade of creation.

The usefulness of the Evangelical life of celibacy chastity and virginity to Man is implied in St. Paul’s admonitions in the text we cited earlier: The persons bound by them renounce voluntarily the pleasure of married life, of having a biological family of their own, in order to spread their hands directly, without distraction, to the care of the entirety of the family of God among all men. Free from the preoccupations of a small family of their own they adopt spiritually all the children of God, and as far as possible seize every opportunity available to help them in various areas of life in this sinful world.

The Evangelical life of celibacy, chastity or virginity is meant to be the practical symbol of Christ’s life and personality as He lived among us on earth - He was Evangelical Virginity, Celibacy, Chastity, etc. and their overall Virtue namely ‘Purity’ in all perfection, as He worked amidst his people on earth, caring for both big and small, rich and poor.

This state of life says to the world: it is possible for any healthy person to say no to himself/herself at any circumstance, at any point in time, and no matter what ideas or thoughts distract or beset the mind at any time. It is possible not to yield at all, when to act is against the rule of law imposed by God and society, for the greater good of all. Though we are created with a free will; and God respects our free will, we are equally blessed with the faculties to enable us limit the exercise of that free will to only the good desired by God in giving us sexual properties and capabilities.

In a word, it is possible for a person to defeat the devil, the enemy of mankind, who ceaselessly tempts Man to overlook his obligations and his commitments; or when acting within the law to go beyond the boundaries permitted by law and reason. Elaboration on such boundaries, obligations and commitments; are a part of the subjects treated in this book.

This book is meant to answer first and foremost one of the most crucial groups of questions concerning sexual morality, immorality and amorality in our present so-called ‘ultra-modern’ age: Why is it that sex and sensuality have become one of, if not, the greatest social pre-occupations and one of the greatest evil ways of life in our contemporary civilization? What part of the globe is the most saturated with this evil? What are the origins of the modern pandemic of immoral sexuality? Who or what are to blame for its penetration into even the most sacred sanctuary of our dwellings namely, the Church? Who or what are we to blame and for what reason? What is to be done about the situation?

Our treatise is to prove that the African culture is not to blame if this evil has reached its shores. Is there any culture at all to blame for the clergy sexual abuse in our age? Is there any salvation for us in this matter? We say there are, and this book searches to know more of where the evil trends are located and how they could be arrested or prevented.

P.E. Aligwekwe

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My first and greatest gratitude goes to God who has put me in the situation and position to write this book. He permitted I be born into a practicing Christian family and be given solid Christian education from childhood right up to well and above teenage age. He called me early enough which helped me to protect my childhood innocence till I was old enough to strive and cater to protect it myself. Additionally, He called me to dedicate myself wholly and entirely to Him in the Religious Life and thus brought to a maximal height the force of the protection and personal assiduity.

There, in the convent, I owe gratitude to my mentors and formators, Sr. Mary Josephine - the Mistress of Postulants, who one day called me and counseled me personally not to let myself ever be attached to anybody in a special way, in the sense technically described as particular friendship, except to Christ Jesus the Lord who had called me to Himself and to whom I came to espouse myself; to whom all my love and loyalty should belong.

I equally remember with thankfulness my Novice Mistress, Sr. Mary Emmanuel who carefully groomed me in the proper understanding of the Vow of Chastity including the implicit obligation of preserving virginity in the practice of the Vow and how to utilize the inherent virtues of the two to serve Christ - the Divine Spouse - maximally throughout my life. Thanks to Sr. Emmanuel I learned early enough not only about the Vow and Virtue of Chastity but also the values and virtue of Perpetual Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom.

My memory and thankful appreciation should as well go to the Holy Rosary Sisters of my High School days whose educational method, teaching content and moral discipline were ideal in bringing up respectable and morally well groomed young women for the Christian moral health of the future society. Presently, those groups of women they brought up are the pillars of the Christian Church wherever they are found, be they Christian mothers, grandmothers, or great grand mothers, or women consecrated totally to Christ and His Cause.

Thanks to God who permitted the means and gave me the opportunity and courage sometime ago to engage in an apostolate where I came in contact with victims of prostitution and so was able to have an insight into what hellish life such victims of inordinate and unlawful sexual state of life (especially professional prostitution) go through. Some people may erroneously think that sinful or unlawful sexual acts and activities are ‘pleasure’; but they are not ‘pleasure’, they are ‘killers’. How much the victims in our midst, be they women, men or children, ordinary folks or prostitutes, lay people or clergy, need salvation is how much those of us who by God’s Grace are spared from such a life situation ought to offer ourselves to be used as instruments in God’s hand for their repentance and salvation!

I thank God for permitting certain type of people and circumstances to come across my way in a manner that I came to be prepared, encouraged and motivated enough to embark on writing a daring book of this sort at this point in time. I thank both my Western and African friends who have encouraged me saying: Oh! We are a free society where people are left free to air their conviction and opinion as long as they are not ill-motivated to incite revolt or violent social unrest.

P.E. Aligwekwe

CHAPTER 1

PRESENTATION

Priest sexual abuse related especially to the abuse of women, including even nuns, has been one of the disturbing issues in our present day Church, the world over. But our attention here is drawn more particularly to any of such incidents in Africa. That is not to say that the abuse has been going on only in Africa, or with more intensity in Africa. It has been a scandal spread out in the church round the globe; as the research made by Maura O’Donohue in SNAP Linkup, Online Home Page 3, rightly confirmed.

But there is one thing disturbing about Maura O’Donohue’s understanding and manner of presentation of the matter. She seemed to have singled out the African situation and then tied the scandal as if originated from what she understood as a particular nature of the ‘African tradition and culture’. In relation to Africa, she gave the evil some specific and localized designation and origin by making statements including such expressions as culture, developing countries, culturally conditioned, social conditioning, etc., all with obvious direct reference to the African situation; where, according to her report, the ‘greatest severity ‘of the problem was to be found.

No one would read through the length and breadth of the report without being struck by the repeated use of the word and allusions to culture or tradition, as conditions militating against constraint, self-discipline, or what one might normally describe as virtue, abstinence and decency. In that report there is, as it were, a wet blanket spread over the real traditional African human values with regard to male and female relationship, the sacredness of marriage and sexual relationship in marriage. She advertently or inadvertently failed to discover the abhorrence the authentic African tradition held against the practice of sexual relationship outside marriage, and against sexual promiscuity in society which further led emphasis on virginity and total sexual abstinence before marriage, and fidelity to the marriage covenant.

Clergy sexual abuse practices are the devaluation of those cultural values held so dear in the African world. So to present such abuse as being dependent on the African culture or tradition is to say that the values did not exist or were minimal in the African culture and tradition. It is a distortion of the truth and display of real ignorance of the original African culture and tradition; or, call it, the product of a researcher distracted and fatally obstructed by ethnocentrism and conceit.

Surely, the authentic African culture and tradition we have discovered were not ignorant of restraint, law and order, decency and discipline with regard to Man’s sexual life. There were strict laws, norms and customs guarding them in ways even much stricter than any of such civilizations as the Western civilization, would have had in the days past or at the present age.

If sexual abuse is seen to be becoming a trend in Africa, it should more justifiably be interpreted as a consequence of contact of cultures. But contact with which cultures; one would ask? Certainly, contact with the Western cultures. Elaboration on the answer to this question is one of the principal aims of this book as will be seen when we dig deeper into it in the progression of our discourse. It would be seen that the root cause must be traced to the infiltration, importation and stabilization of Western cultural practices into Africa over the centuries and then in our own age where they are presently intensified by the Western cultural domineering grip on the world through highly powerful and sophisticated advancement in communication technology.

Our research has been, grosso modo, split into four parts, with the classic orientation of thesis, antithesis synthesis and conclusion:

The first part is centered on some detailed and relevant African cultural and traditional materials as they were existent there before their contact with the external cultures - obviously contact with the Western cultures. This part one will spell out the realities of the African traditional and cultural human values regarding the sexual life of Man be they as individual human values or values of groups in society.

To make it possible for us to give our research and presentation a scientific orientation they demand, it has been necessary to adopt basically the ethnographic methodology. We have been obliged to choose a specific region in Africa which culture and tradition we have studied in detail in many years of fieldwork. As the author is personally African by birth and hence has not only academically but also personally acquired the knowledge and experience of her own native African cultures and their variations, the most appropriate choice has fallen on her own specific cultural group namely the Igbò cultural group of Nigeria on which she has previously even published a book. She has equally published a book on Nigeria as a whole. Besides, Nigeria was counted in Maura O’Donohue’s report as among the countries of the world the incidents of clergy sexual abuse of women including nuns have been openly noted down. The Igbò cultural group of Nigeria has the highest population of Christians in Nigeria if not in the entire sub-Saharan Africa cultural groups. So it is also a very suitable choice when treating any subject that relates to Christianity in Africa.

As we shall confirm in our next chapter, Africa is a vast continent - the second largest in the world, multiracial and multicultural. A serious scholar must strive to avoid falling into the pothole of the early ethnographers whose colonial interests and biased imperialistic orientation led to their amalgamating the African cultures and traditions and viewed them as one, under the deceptive title ‘African culture’; which depicted Africa as having a monolithic structure. To make a general statement about the African peoples without bearing in mind at the same time where the diversities and the convergences lie is unscientific and unscholarly.

Our choice of a