The church in civil society

The Church through her members, the lay faithful, is called to sanctify the temporal order by giving meaning to secular life as the light of the world and the salt of the earth. This makes the Church a sign of God’s presence in the world. The Church and State work in collaboration hence the Second Vatican Council imposed it as a rule for the Church to promote human dignity through the welfare of the citizens. While the hierarchy of the Church is the voice of the voiceless in a country where there exist poor governance and failure of government, the hierarchy of the Church through practical example in ecclesiastical leadership encourages the lay Christian to be involved in partisan politics. Given that the baptized Christians share in the common priesthood of Jesus Christ, they need to make the world a heaven by their prophetic and kingly mission. They should therefore take part actively in partisan politics with the sole aim of restructuring a corrupt political system. Their selflessness with the love of the common good should propel them to profess this manifesto of Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised” (Luke 4:18).  

This mandate given to Christians is so serious to a point that the Fathers of the Second Vatican Councils said: “The Christian who shirks his temporal duties shirks his duties towards his neighbour, neglects God himself and endangers his eternal life” (Vatican II, Gaudiuin et spes, 43). This reminds me of the statement of the great Philosopher, Plato when he said that, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors” (https://www.brainyquote.com). Socrates told the youths of Athens, that “The wise who refuse to rule should prepare to suffer the rule of idiots” (https://plush.ng). Eric Arthur Blair, whose pen name is George Orwell, an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic whose work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism and outspoken support of democratic socialism told the English people that, “A people who elect corrupt politicians, impostors, thieves and traitors are not victims but accomplices” (https://www.bing.com). The clergy is not advised to take part in partisan politics and active business in the worldly sense but has the obligation to support the laity in carrying out the mission of the Church in the civil society. The aim is to produce not just a Christian president but a good President whose aim is to be a saint like Saint Louis of France who was a secular leader.  

The Church is not enmeshed in the world but seek to sanctify the civil society with the involvement of her members in good governance. Apart from politics, the Second Vatican Council calls on all Christians to be involved in the work of saving souls and making this world a better place. According to the council, “let Christians follow the example of Christ who worked as a craftsman; let them be proud of the opportunity to carry out their earthly activity in such a way as to integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific and technical enterprises with religious values, under whose supreme direction all things are ordered to the glory of God” (Vatican II, Gaudiuin et spes, 43). To carry out this mission, the Church has been deeply involved in promoting education and running schools. In a radio message of Pope Pius XlI, on Christmas Eve in 1942, the Pontiff said that “The natural law also gives man the right to share in the benefits of culture, and therefore, the right to a basic education and to technical and professional training in keeping with the stage of educational development in the country which he belongs. Every effort should be made to ensure that persons be enabled, on the basis of merit, to go on to higher studies, so that, as far as possible, they may occupy posts and take on responsibilities in human society in accordance with their natural gifts and the skill they have acquired.”

The Church has always ensured qualitative education. In the schools that are owned and managed by the Church, teachers are employed not just on the basis of paper qualification but on the basis of merit, good moral conduct and dedication to service. Hence baptismal certificates were required for employment in the teaching profession. This was to adequately prepare the children for the future. “Until 1898 all education was under the direct control of missionaries. As late as 1942 they controlled 99 percent of the schools and more than 97 percent of the students in Nigeria were enrolled in mission schools. By 1945 there were comparatively few literate Nigerians who had not received all or part of their education in mission schools” (James S. Coleman; Nigeria: Back ground to Nationalism (Benin City: Ilepeju Press 1986), P.115). In the area of health, the Church recognizes  the use of orthodox medicine and invest in hospitals. It is sad that many of our incumbent rulers were beneficiaries of these institutions. In conscience, they should use the capacities they acquired from these institutions to develop the nation rather than looting and storing the national treasures in foreign countries to the disadvantage of the poor citizens.

The role of the Church in the civil society is not to promote only Christians to take over leadership at all levels. The Church seeks to rather encourage Christians to be good ambassadors of Jesus Christ when they have the opportunity to participate in civil governance and other professional duties that could enhance human dignity.  In our meetings of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), the Co-Chairman, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has repeatedly said that the political leaders in Nigeria belong to either of the major religions in Nigeria. This would mean for instance, that if the Christian in leadership position does not want to bring shame to Christianity and the Muslim in leadership position does not want to bring shame to Islam by promoting the values and virtues of their various religious, then, we shall have a society that is free of corruption and all forms of crime. It is expected that the Muslim leaders should encourage Muslims to participate actively in partisan politics to promote peace which is the core value in Islam. In the same way, the traditional rulers and their council of elders should encourage their people not to bring shame to their various traditional communities. 

In every establishment, there is a constitution that guides the workers in order to serve properly. It is with this manual and constitution the owner of the organization assesses the workers. Some religious adherents follow their scriptures as guide to live on earth in preparation for heaven. The Holy Bible and the teachings of the Church serve as manuals to guide the conduct of Christians. If human beings open up to obey and follow the teachings of their various religions in the context of the good traditional values, we can grow a better nation. According to the Sultan of Sokoto, in one of the NIREC meetings, “Nigerians must wake up and know that we must come together because our religions do not allow us to kill people, but preach peaceful co-existence. The religious teachings are guides to attain the vision of heaven after living a fulfilled life on earth. This is why this article is a clarion call on all Christians to make a difference in governance and in all aspects of life in the civil society. May we all respect God, the voice of true conscience, the sanctity of life and our various institutions to make our nation great and flourish again!

 Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja ([email protected]; www.omonokhua.blogspot.com)