When the Catholic Church Names You

“Very generous of you, Dr. Mandi.” I spoke too brightly.

“Ah, there’s the issue of nomenclature to iron out. I’m quite happy with my initials. You must call me S. P. J. C.”

“That would be presumptuous. Besides, it’s such a mouthful! Ess Pee Jay Cee.”
“Well, that's what you get when the Catholic Church names you. Simon Peter came with baptism. Jude with confirmation. My parents threw in Chika to appease the ancestors. For years I didn’t know how to hold the names together. You don’t walk up to people and introduce yourself as Simon Peter Jude Chika Mandi. Somebody might fall asleep while you’re at it. But my chemistry teacher in secondary school solved the problem. He strung together the initials I have used ever since. Saved me a lot of headache, that wise fellow.”

Okey Ndibe
Arrows of Rain, 2015, p. 81-82.

Raised Catholic, Inspired by Pope Francis

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Onitsha, Nigeria; source: Reuters

(Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)--As a child, I loved Mass, its swirl of music and rituals. My family went every Sunday to St. Peter’s, the Catholic chapel at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. It was full of perfumed people: gold pendants at women’s throats, their headscarves flared out like the wings of giant butterflies; men’s caftans crisply starched; children in frilly socks and uncomfortable clothes. Mass was as much social as spiritual—an occasion to greet and gossip, to see and be seen, and to leave consoled. I loved watching the priests sweep past, all certainty and majestic robes, behind the sober Mass-servers holding candles. The choir sang in Igbo and English, each song a little plot of joy. I loved the smoky smells, the standing and sitting and kneeling, the shiny metal chalice raised high in air charged with magic and ringing bells. The words of the liturgy were poetry.

Clashing for Foreign Gods on Home Soil

Source: tuesdaywithmorris

"Nnobi has three major institutions--the Catholic Church as represented by Madonna Catholic Church, the Anglican Church as represented by St. Simon's Church, and Chief Zebrudaya Okolo Igwe Nwogbo, alias '4:30.' The Catholic and Anglican Churches are our own Muslim and Christian divide. The Catholic Church would excommunicate a member who allowed his or her daughter to marry an Anglican.

Merely walking into an Anglican church would bar a Catholic from receiving communion until he or she undergoes opipia (atonement). The Catholics run the Boys Scout while the Anglican run the Boys Brigade. Catholic mothers join the M'ambo dance while the Anglican mothers join the Awelenma dance."

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo (2006: 34-35)

Children of a Retired God: Notes from An African Exile