135
Cssp: Sacred Returns, Bulletin, 21 (1889-1901)
136C.S.Sp., Generall Bulletin, Vol.29. pp. 643-645, Ibid., p.16
two marked, though unequal, periods: the period of aggressive expansion (1905-1919) and the reorganization and incipient process of consolidation (1920-1931). Early in 1932, he left Nigeria for good to return to Ireland except for a brief visit to consecrate the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Onitsha in 1935.138 He quickly left again to Ireland and in 1938; he retired to Nairobi and died on Christmas day in 1943.
Contemporary Period
This is an era of indigenous evangelization made up of indigenous clergy and the laity. With the repatriation of almost all the foreign missionaries especially during the Nigeria Civil War, the indigenous clergy and the laity took over the leadership of the church in Igboland. When the war began, a good number of the missionaries freely left Nigeria, either for another African country or back to Europe. In fact, over 200 expatriate priests left the Catholic dioceses of Igboland before the war ended.139 There are also cases of those who were captured during the war and sent home. According to an entry made by an Irish missionary in the Mission Journal at Maku in July, 1967; “Some of our missionaries were, during the early stages of the war, captured and sent home, namely, Fathers MacGlade, Hannan, White and Heerey.140 Also after the war, some missionaries who remained in the country either because of the love they had for their flock or for their own selfish interest were deported from the country, after having been charged with and found “guilty” of illegal entry into Nigeria.141
Those who were deported include priests and Sisters plus a few lay workers.
This forceful repatriation of Catholic missionaries hitherto working in Igboland before and during the war was one of the saddest episodes of the war so far as the Catholic Church was
138 Ibid 168
139
In Ozigboh, Ikenga R.A, Igbo Catholicism, op. cit., p.26
140 A History of the Catholic Church in Enugu Diocese, In Obi C.A etc. (ed.), op. cit., p.363
concerned.142 But the last straw that broke the Carmel’s back was the Federal Government promulgation of her edict which eventually tied all private agencies’ hands from school management and this culminated in the arbitrary taking over of all schools by the Military Government of Nigeria. Nwosu succinctly puts it thus: “The end of Nigeria’s civil war (1970) was followed almost immediately by the compulsory take-over of all primary schools, including the voluntary agency schools, by the Government of the former East-Central State of Nigeria, headed by Ukpabi Asika.”143
The immediate effect of this was that the Church for the first time could no longer lay hold legally of thousands of Catholic Teachers teaching in her former schools.144 This ugly phenomenon also translated into acute shortage of manpower for the propagation of the Catholic faith in Igboland. Similarly, since the Church used the schools as a vital means of evangelization, their seizure was therefore, a major hinderance to effective and continuous evangelization. Hence the negative effect of the war on the Catholic Church in Igboland was so enormous. Almost all the dioceses were suddenly deprived of their services, especially at the post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation.145 To add salt to injury, after the seizure of schools, the chapels were converted into classrooms.
The Rise of Indigenous Clergy and Religious
Incidentally, the civil war fought in Nigeria against the Igbo has been described by some of the authors like Ozigboh as a Felix culpa (a blessing in disguise);146 because of the opportunity it offered the indigeneous clergy and religious for indigenous evangelization. It seems that without
142
Ibid 375
143Nwosu, V.A, The Laity and the Growth of Catholic Church in Nigeria: The Onitsha Story 1903-1983, Onitsha:
Rex Charles and Patrick Ltd., Religious publications, 1990, p.117
144
Ibid; By 1964, out of the 5, 986 primary schools in Eastern Nigeria the Catholic Church owned 2,406. See also Eastern Nigeria Ministry of Education: Directory of Elementary Schools 1964, Enugu: Government Printer, 1965
145 Obi C.A etc (ed.), op. cit., p.375
the war, indigenous evangelization might not have been realized. This view is defensible because despite the extraordinary movement towards the Catholic religion in Igboland by 1917, there were still hardly any Igbo in the Church hierarchy. Neither the Roman Catholics nor the Protestants trained Igbos to become priests or pastors. The first Igbo Catholic Priest, Father Paul Emecheta (SMA) from Asaba, was ordained in 1921. By the time of the Nigerian Civil war, the number of the indigenous clergy and religious were unfortunately very limited owing to the extreme reluctance of the missionaries to admit the natives into the hierarchy of the church. Few as the indigenous clergy were, the mantle of church leadership fell on them with the sudden departure of most of the missionaries during the war. Consequently, in so many areas, the administration of the parishes fell more and more to the Igbo priests. The same was true of the main functions of the central administration-the Archbishop’s secretary, the Chancellor, the Diocesan Secretary etc.147 Thus, one of the great consequences of the civil war was that the indigenous priests and religious took over the administration of the church affairs.
Another remarkable development within this period was the boom of indigenous Religious Congregations. Before this period, the only indigenous congregation was the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M) founded in October 1937 by Bishop C. Heerey. This contemporary period witnessed the existence of other indigenous religious congregations in Igbo dioceses like the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (1961), and the Society of the Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy (1970), both Umuahia dioceses. Others include, the Daughters of Divine Love (1969), for Enugu diocese, and the Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Stephen, founded in 1975 by Archbishop Francis Arinze (now a cardinal) for Onitsha Archdiocese. These congregations have continued to grow impressively.