Interviewed by Fr Antoine de Padoue Chonang
Our tradition has positive elements that should be exploited. Do ancestral customs blend well with the Christian faith? The Bishop of Nkongsamba, Mgr Dieudonné Watio, answers this pertinent question in this interview which he accorded L'Effort camerounais, as well as in his book, titled, "ANCESTOR WORSHIP AMONG THE NGYEMBA AND THE PASTORAL CONSEQUENCES".
Here are excerpts from an interview on that book:
My Lord, how do you evaluate the rout that the Diocese of Nkongsamba has trod during the 50 years of its existence?
Evangelisation has made enormous progress with the help of catechists, some of whom were real apostles. There are those who gave their lives so that the Gospel may be well implanted. We take the example of Raphaël Nintcheu who was assassinated, and also Aloys Tapiemene who was assassinated in Bangang and whose beatification cause we are thinking of initiating.
There were also committed Christians who stopped at nothing to help implant this Church, so that it is what we are today.
Let us underline the very positive role of religious Congregations, male as well as female: Brothers of Christian Schools who founded such colleges as St John and St Paul. We think of the Sisters of the Holy Union, founders of St Joanne of the Ark College of Nkongsamba and St Mary College of Bafang.
There are many others, diocesan as well as foreign, and a host of faithful who worked to give a Cameroonian face to this Church which is in Nkongsamba.
So, everyone at his or her level, did what they could to bring their original touch to the construction of this Church, which according to the wishes of Pope Paul VI in Kampala, should revert to an African image.
Precisely. You have just put your finger on an extremely sensitive problem; Inculturation. Christians who originate from West Cameroon are generally reproached for being "skull worshippers". But you made a thesis on ancestral worship. First of all, how are such things in your diocese, and what are you doing in favour of this inculturation, so that Christains may no longer live their faith in a situation of false pretences?
Indeed, I wrote a thesis on the region from where I originate which have pastoral consequences. What pushed me to carry out this work was when I was a student and I realised that this was a veritable problem, for despite publicly admitting that one was a Christian and even going as far as declaring that one had abandoned ancestral customs, it was evident in certain situations, that ancestral beliefs returned in full force.
It became obvious to me that such situations arose from the fact that the Christian no longer knew anything about his tradition nor of the new religion - what or whom to have confidence in.
But in tradition, ancestors are the central element while in Christianity it is Christ.
So I set out to find out what was so evil in this ancestral worship, and that if it is bad we should be able to denounce it as idolatory. But, having taken the path I realised that there were many points of convergence, and a comparative study made it possible for me to highlight these points of convergence.
From there, I realised that if we really set to work we could remedy those situations where many Christians can be found with one foot in Church and the other in tradition.
How did Rome receive this study?
You will recall that in 1974, during the Special Assembly for Africa, this question was broadly debated. The Church in Africa was asked to get into this problematic worship and study it exhaustively to bring out the positive elements so as to entrench the Christian faith.
We discovered that everything had been rejected in block without having taken the time to look into it.
You must admit that the first evangelisation was carried out by people who were of their era, and who said; "You are going to a wild country and their customs, like them, their customs are also wild and they had not taken the time to really verify if truly there were positive elements in that country.
They were even tempted to replace everything with their own culture, but unfortunately, like someone said: "No matter how long a piece of wood drifts in the river, it can never become a crocodile or a fish". At the Synod then, it was demanded that the issue be delved into deeply.
And if you study the different propositions that have been made at this level you will see that certain aspects have been taken into consideration.
But it would seem that we are always at the work stage. When shall we finally move to the application phase?
Here and there are tentative, or I should say timid moves. You know that in the name of prudence which the Church has always exhorted, care should be taken not to move too fast. But this is not to say that nothing will be done, and you know better than myself, that time waits for no one.
Given that this is not some superficial affair, but something which goes quite deep, a lot of investigation and involvement of many partners such as ethnologists, sociologists, philosophers, theologians etc, is required.
My Lord, given that this revolutionary study did not stop you becoming bishop, it implicitly means that Rome has given its canonical anointing, albeit tacit. From there on, as the one in charge of a diocese where you encounter such problems daily, is it not possible to use it in resolving certain specific cases?
We certainly do that! While I am receiving people on Mondays and Tuesdays, I encounter situations which take me in that direction, and to which I am forced, by the grace of God, to find a solution.
Could you be more specific?
For example, on many occasions, I have to tackle the problem of funerals. You know very well the importance of funerals in the traditions of the people of West Cameroon. When it is explained to people that the real sense of funerals has been sidetracked, some of them begin to understand.
At the beginning, funerals were to express our gratitude to our parents for what they have done: they brought us to the world, brought us up, and fed us…. Unfortunately, this gratitude has been exploited by malicious psychologists.
Normally, funerals correspond a little to the Fourth Commandment, which states: "Honour thy father and mother". But when we say honour your father and mother, it means giving them as the need may be, something to live on. Livelihood assistance is given to those alive, not to the dead.
I have realised that in my area of origin, a father or mother can become ill and nobody will come to them but when they die, there are enormous expenses made. Why? Because all these things are done not out of love but out of fear.
But you know that all that is inspired by fear is bad and all that is inspired by loved is good. In the same vein, there are those who are unable to send their children to hospital when they are sick but if this same child dies, they organise big feasts, because they've been told somewhere that if they don't do it, something bad will happen to them. These are the kind of little things we need to explain to people.
My Lord, surely you know that people who participate in this culture are not only limited to the diocese of Nkongsamba. What measures are you taking to ensure that what you are trying to execute here may also be used to help others elsewhere?
I ask only one thing: a mission is not given, it is received. If a brother bishop invites me to speak to the faithful in his diocese I shall not hesitate. Maybe I should also propose to be invited but I think that a request for a service is received. One does not ask to be of service. One does not just get up and go somewhere to say: "Here am I!" I am ready to go anywhere that I am called upon to make my humble contribution.
And the chiefs in the villages who are the keepers of our tradition, what is their position?
I have had occasion to speak with some traditional leaders and they proved to be very interested by this initiative. Some of them understand that our tradition should help us develop. So our tradition consists of very positive elements which need to be exploited, and others which are negative that need to be shed since they are dragging us behind.
Have you discussed with the intelligentsia?
I have organised conferences in Nkongsamba on this theme, and in some other places. Each time, it is quite clear that the people want to know and understand. There are many things that we reject simply because there has been no clarification on the matter. On the contrary, we attach importance to other things.
My Lord, in the face of the extreme caution recommended by Rome on this matter of African culture, what do you say about the fact that permission was promptly given to the Chinese to practise their funeral rites in the context of the Church?
I think the reticence is probably from the fact that there are people who wanted to move very fast in a disorderly manner. There are people who thought they had discovered in the phenomenon of Inculturation, the pure and simple rejection of the cultures of others, and of all that is from the Orient. But unfortunately, as the saying goes, if we are not careful, "we risk throwing away the baby with the bath water".
So, the hierarchy is not asking us to do nothing but that we should not rush into something we may regret later. But it should also be stated that we talk too much of Inculturation while we do not have the elements to put in place a respectful inculturation.
You speak of the "things we need to put in place", what are they?
We need for example, to put in place commissions made up on the one side, of sociologists, anthropologists, technocrats and euthanalogists (since we are talking about death), and on the other hand, theologians.
For in fact, we cannot practise true inculturation unless and until we have mastered the culture in which we wish to entrench the message. In other words, we need to first have a message to inculturate. If not, we risk making some kind of concordism.
Are you saying that the religion of the ancestors does not contain a message for those who practised or are still practising it?
I have never pretended such. I have already heard people say: "We are defending the religion of the ancestors!". That is speaking hastily. Even when this study will have been made, there will still be certain parameters to take into consideration. An ancestor has limits. There are ancestors who are only known in their ethnic group or tribe. But in the Church, when an African for example becomes saint, he is venerated the world over.
So we must force ourselves to understand that if we want to do something we must do it with seriousness.
Elsewhere, we should not be simply content in making claims without being ready to get down to work. As La Fontaine says: "When it is to deliberate, the entire courtyard is on the move, but when it is time for action nobody can be found!"
If you ask somebody today, "you want to stick to one or another aspect of tradition; what is its real significance to you?" They will answer you saying, "It has always been that way".
In other words, seek first to know why, before engaging in the 'how' … We must learn to do the things we understand. We must understand the deep significance of what we do so as to avoid building on sand...
Take for example the future generations, what do they know about our traditions and our culture? I think therefore on this also we should backtrack a bit to the source, to learn first to understand this culture in which we want to implant the faith.
My Lord, just now, on a taxi-bike, we took a route that was completely covered with rocky projections and the bikeman was saying: "Look at that! This is the street along which all the delegations of this town are situated…". There was a time when Nkongsamba was the third best town in Cameroon. Today, Nkongsamba: a town which lives or which is killing itself ?
Nkongsamba is a dead town… and everybody knows it, but nobody is doing anything about it. I think what we should even ask for is that they appoint people here who, even if they do not want to work, will at least let others do what they can …
One of your illustrious predecessors Mgr Ndongmo said that one cannot go to heaven as if the earth does not exist. What are you doing about that?
We have our diocesan Committee for Justice and Peace which is doing its best to fight the flagrant injustices. We do not only want to be as it is said, "the voice of the voiceless", but also to give voice to the voiceless. It is very easy to say: "I do not know how to speak, go and speak for me".
There are people whom, for example, you want to defend but when they pass behind and give them something to eat, are the very people who turn against you and say they don't even know what you're troubling yourself for …! We want to help people to be able defend their causes themselves.
Our duty, the duty of the Church, which is prophetic, is to help the people to be able to speak like prophets.
The Baptism that we received today makes us priests, prophets and kings. Knowing very well that his head can be cut off, one should not save one's head to ask the next person to go and have his own cut off ….
It is important that each one tries to do something that contributes in bringing change, and not simply sit back and say ; "they've really worked hard! Now we are fine… !" And you, what have you done so that others may be fine too ?
Any last word?
I wish simply that all the social strata of our diocese learn to look in the same direction, in helping one another. That if nothing is being done for them they should not abandon themselves as well.
There is an adage which says: "If someone calls you a pig, you should not precede him to a pigsty to tell him: 'I am really all what you said about me".
I think therefore, that each one of us should do something at his level, the little he can do might perhaps serve as grease to motivate those who do not want to do anything, if only through shame, to also get to work or to even pretend to be doing something.
If you are abandoned do not abandon yourself. If I were to add something it would be to say that each one of us should make an effort to be useful where we are. To have a full calabash you start from a single drop, then a second and a third until the calabash will be full. So everyone should be that drop in the calabash and one day it will be full. But there should be no hatred.
Despite everything we must learn to look one another in the eye and say the truth, and not speak about others. Because if you have something to say to someone, meet him and say it, because what they say about you to others does not concern you.
Unfortunately, in the Mungo, people like that a lot. They like to write and say whatever pleases them, but we need to get to work. It is not the pen that will build our diocese, neither will aimless talking, but worked accomplished in love and charity. That is what will help us to build unity in diversity, in the image of the diocese which an ethnic mosaic.
By the way, my motto is "May we all be one!". I am doing everything I can despite my limitations and with the help of others so that we may all look in the direction of this unity in diversity. That is what is pleasing to God who has created us all in numerous races and colours, numerous languages and ethnic groups, but we are all sons of the same Father.
Incidentally, what is your evaluation of the work that L'Effort camerounais is doing?
L'Effort has made enormous efforts in recent times to become an appreciable newspaper. It is widely read and what I would say is that when people feel involved in a paper nothing can stop them from buying it. That is why I'll like to cease this opportunity to say that if it is possible through correspondents or through the central news desk, you should make an effort to cover all the major Church events in the country.
When the faithful who were at any given event learn that they have been published in the paper, they become interested.
A parish which had a feast and sent a bulletin, when Christians of that parish see it in the paper, even if there are only 20 of them who buy it makes already for something, and they tell others about it, they will all become interested.
I believe that L'Effort is foremost a newspaper of the Church and it will indeed be a very good thing if the things happening in our local Church are published in it.
Of course we cannot be everywhere at the same time but more often we can try to report Church events across the country.
L'Effort is always announced in our Churches, with a quick summary of the contents. I believe that L'Effort has made great strides and I wish the paper to continue in this vein, and God willing, it will become the strongest newspaper in our country.
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