The Inculturation of Religious Life in two Female Roman Catholic Congregations of Zambia: ‘A Sense of Feeling of being at Home’.

Abstract

When Pope Paul VI visited Africa in 1969 (the first pope to visit Africa) he directed the church in Africa to have an African Christianity. The Pope gave an opportunity for the African Christians to develop or domesticate Christianity and make it their own. Five years later, the Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life gave a directive to religious men and women to inculturate religious life so that it could be meaningful to them and the people they served. It was assumed that religious life was still foreign to the African religious men and women.It is against the above background that reasons for the inculturation of religious life were explored. The paper argues that without inculturating or domesticating religious, it would not survive and be meaningful to the religious persons. The religious men and women were being implored by the Church to Africanize religious life. Therefore, the paper seeks to explore reasons for the inculturation of religious life in Zambia. Although there are good reasons why religious life should be inculturated, there are several obstacles which has made it difficult to domesticate or inculturate religious life in Zambia as observed by Milingo (2013) who outlined the challenges to the implementation process of inculturation of religious life in Zambia. Related literature was reviewed to appreciate the efforts made by religious scholars in the area of inculturating religious life. The study was qualitative and used the case study design. The targeted population was the catholic community in four provinces of Zambia (Lusaka, Copperbelt, Central and Southern). A total number of eighty-nine respondents were used. Fifty-five were sisters, two bishops, ten priests, eight former sisters, eight former brothers and six practising Catholics. Data was mainly collected through interviews and focused group discussions with semi structured interviews with former brothers, former sisters, priests and practicing Catholics. Observations and document analysis were also used. The data was analysed using thematic approach and presented in a descriptive manner. The study revealed that the religious men and women were in favour of inculturating religious life and the following are the reasons: survival, meaning and relevancy of religious life, credibility, a sense of feeling of being at home and maintaining an African identity. The study recommended that Church leadership should be flexible and give freedom to the religious persons to implement integration of African values and religious life. Policy makers in the congregations should put a deliberate policy on inculturation of religious life.When Pope Paul VI visited Africa in 1969 (the first pope to visit Africa) he directed the church in Africa to have an African Christianity. The Pope gave an opportunity for the African Christians to develop or domesticate Christianity and make it their own. Five years later, the Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life gave a directive to religious men and women to inculturate religious life so that it could be meaningful to them and the people they served. It was assumed that religious life was still foreign to the African religious men and women.It is against the above background that reasons for the inculturation of religious life were explored. The paper argues that without inculturating or domesticating religious, it would not survive and be meaningful to the religious persons. The religious men and women were being implored by the Church to Africanize religious life. Therefore, the paper seeks to explore reasons for the inculturation of religious life in Zambia. Although there are good reasons why religious life should be inculturated, there are several obstacles which has made it difficult to domesticate or inculturate religious life in Zambia as observed by Milingo (2013) who outlined the challenges to the implementation process of inculturation of religious life in Zambia. Related literature was reviewed to appreciate the efforts made by religious scholars in the area of inculturating religious life. The study was qualitative and used the case study design. The targeted population was the catholic community in four provinces of Zambia (Lusaka, Copperbelt, Central and Southern). A total number of eighty-nine respondents were used. Fifty-five were sisters, two bishops, ten priests, eight former sisters, eight former brothers and six practising Catholics. Data was mainly collected through interviews and focused group discussions with semi structured interviews with former brothers, former sisters, priests and practicing Catholics. Observations and document analysis were also used. The data was analysed using thematic approach and presented in a descriptive manner. The study revealed that the religious men and women were in favour of inculturating religious life and the following are the reasons: survival, meaning and relevancy of religious life, credibility, a sense of feeling of being at home and maintaining an African identity. The study recommended that Church leadership should be flexible and give freedom to the religious persons to implement integration of African values and religious life. Policy makers in the congregations should put a deliberate policy on inculturation of religious life.