I had just posted this on the other thread “Hypothetical new rite in Africa” when I saw your thread, so I’ll just reproduce it here for you:
From what I gather about Western Catholicism, Catholicism in Africa: our experience and even “fights”, are the typical western fights with Protestants as our religious rivals and political progressives as the others- The typical Catholic stances
No abortion, no condoms, Absolutely no homosexuality under any circumstances!! (this last one is a mixture of Catholic values and traditional African values which does not even allow room for discussing it!) Just like in the West, the no illicit sex and no artificial contraceptives teachings mostly fall on deaf ears
. But we have no strange church liberals running a political movement in the church- And I doubt that African Catholics would tolerate the idea of 'women priests"! We can tolerate women pastors (protestants) but Catholic Priests? That idea is like one of the most alien ones to us. They’ll just wonder why if you like it so much you don’t become a nun?
The Pope is the Pope is the Pope is St. Peter, is our beloved JPII, is B16 in Rome- the Catholic Mecca. Devotion to the Virgin is very strong, Oh yes, Fatima is practically an article of faith! As a child, the few times I went to mass I didn’t know much about the faith but I knew about Lucia, Fransisi na Yesinta (in Swahili) who saw Bikira Maria (Virgin Mary) or Mama Maria, and she said that we should pray the Rosary for ourselves and sinners! How? It was told in our songs sang at the end of mass. Only as a curious reading adult did I discover Lourdes, Guadalupe and all the others (There’s even a Church approved Apparition just near here in Rwanda that I discovered only recently!) but Fatima! That was practically in the Bible!
It’s very much like the Latin American experience, from what I gather but w/out the spanish flavor. Catholics here are very much involved with the parish, obey the Priest, have poor catechesis (most) and practice folk Catholicism (not at all excessive)- Devotion to our Lady, Novenas (sometimes pilgrimages) abound. Eucharistic Adoration is very much practiced. Along the big/main church where the mass is held on Sundays, there’s usually a small chapel where the Eucharist is adored and daily mass is held. It’s wholly carpeted and people leave shoes outside on a rail when they enter. If the Eucharist is in the monstrance exposed, people don’t just genuflect but prostrate all the way down before the Eucharist like the Muslims, for a few moments on the aisle before sitting/kneeling in the pews and again when they leave. It’s become practically law, as everyone does that when they enter the small chapel with the monstrance on the alter.
The ‘Our father’ is said with gestures of the hand held forward, kinda like how someone who receives in the hand holds the hands. The instruments are African, the songs are African as are the dances. Small children dress in African wear and dance in the different processions (and it is not at all disrespectful :nope
And our songs are distinctly Catholic- everyone immediately recognizes them from others. Though I once saw the Coptic church on TV singing them, but people from here can tell Catholic songs from others regardless of their own denomination.
And our grandparents also occasionally tell us stories from long ago when the white priests faced the same direction as the congregation and everyone spoke a strange Church language which they somehow all mustered but never understood, and women never went to church with uncovered heads, and there were some long processions accompanying the Eucharist and the girls dressed in pretty dresses and threw flowers before the procession
. But here, there’s no bitter fight/complaint about it because even then it was relatively new, totally western and had not yet become ingrained into the culture.
Peace!
