The Necessity of the Church Imbibing a local culture

MORAL SEXUAL TEACHING

6.1 Catholic Theology Of Human Sexuality

6.1.1 The Necessity of the Church Imbibing a local culture

After looking at the teachings of the Church, both locally and universally, and looking at the way the rural Zulu people, both traditional and modem, celebrate and live their sexuality, it is clear that human sexuality plays a very important role in human life and, in particular, in human relationships. Human sexuality is at the centre of human activity and it defines a man as distinct from a woman. Itis also a deep human dimension that can hurt and can also be a vehicle for healing. One of the deepest hurts occurs in the form of rape and child abuse. The healing of such wounds would need a person to get involved in a mature, loving and mutually supportive relationship. In this level of a relationship the soul can be lifted up and redeemed. This delicate and intimate aspect of the human person demands of the Church an approach that is positive, caring and compassionate, an approach that highlights respect of self and of others. The Second Vatican Council 8, talking

5Matthew 19: 3.

6!Corinthians 6:12-7 :39.

7IPeter 3:1-7.

8Gravissimum Educationis no 1.

about the Christian education of the youth, states that"Asthey grow older they should receive apositive⁹and prudent education in matters relating to sex.

Moreover, they should be so prepared to take their part in the life of society that, having been duly trained in the necessary and useful skills, they may be able to participate actively in the life of society in its various aspects" (1981 :727). A positive education, with regard to sexual matters, would have a profound implication for the person, the family and society at large.

A big challenge for the Church is to identifY teachings that no longer speak

adequately to people in our present context. The Church should be able to identifY what needs to be taught with new and different emphasis. This means that while the Church holds on to its tradition, it is important to rethink: deeply the implication of its traditional teachings. Ecclesia in Africa ¹⁰has called on Africans to rediscover their roots. This would enable them to become good Christians and, yet, remain authentically Africail. This exhortation points to the necessity of the church imbibing a local culture, so as to be more effective in the lives of the people it serves. The unity that should exist between the teachings of the Church and the lives of the local people is necessary for the holistic development of the human person. In African society all the important moments in human life were marked by rites of passage. These are important rites for the individual and for society, as they serve for the progressive incorporation of the individual into the life of the

community. Lots of time and efforts went into preparing for these rites. Such rites, coupled with their particular celebrations, create a sense of belonging and

responsibility in the individual. Such celebrations would be very important for the individual, as a sense of belonging is key in the life of an African. The importance of such a sense of belonging is illustrated by the concept ofubuntu. This concept of conveys the idea that a person becomes a person through the contributions of others in his life. Itis, therefore, imperative that one should treat other people well as they belong together. To belong to a particular stage in the life of a community means that an individualhaspeople aroundhimor her to share on issues of life. The effect

9Myown emphasis.

10A Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II to the Church in Africa 1995.

and importance of culture in the life of an African is highlighted by Bishop de long at the 1995 African Synod^ll. He points out that:

The African Churchhasnot integrated traditional rites of marriage with Christian rites and, since many young people today no longer pass through the traditional rites of initiation, couples often act out of ignorance and enter marriage without any real preparation. .. Through traditional preparation in stages and rites young people used to be prepared and introduced into the marital state with mind and heart disposed." (1995 :68).

Bishop de long makes a crucial observation which points to the need to marry Christian and traditional rites. If these two canbe married successfully the African Christian would not lose the wealth of information and experience that is found in the traditional rites of passage. Couples would enter marriage better prepared and ready for marriage's life-long commitment. Ecclesia in Africa states that:

The challenge of inculturation in Africa consists in ensuring that the followers of Christ

will

ever more fully assimilate the Gospel message, while remaining faithful to all authentic African values. Inculturation of the faith in every area of Christian and human life is an arduous task which can only be carried out with the help of the Spirit of the Lord who leads the church to the whole truth:"(cf ln 16:13) (1995:36).

According to this post-Synodal exhortation inculturation aims at facilitating the emergence of a holistic person. The African Christian is Christian and African at the same time. The issue of a divided personality is to besolved, where people proclaim their loyalty to Christ on a Sunday, while they practice values at home which they think are against their Christian faith. A Christian message that encompasses the whole person, his or her life and activity, brings about a well- integrated African Christian. The division between African and Christian values hasled the society of today undermining its traditional values. Such undermining of traditional African values is further complicated by modernisation. Modem life, which goes together with Westernisation and technology, hasmade some people to look down on their culture. They leave their own cultures and values to cling to the new and the modem. The role of theology, in this situation, is to highlight the importance of the cultural life of people. Theology should be convincing in

11 In Ecclesia in Africa.

showing that it does not happen in a vacuum. By taking the cultural life of people seriously theology

is

bridging the gap between Christian and African values.

Mwikamba, in_Mugamb~ states that:

Speculative moral theology

is

no longer sufficient. Theology must live in the concrete lives of people; it must be grounded in the reflection of the

experience of people as they seek to understand and explain the mysteries of life. (1999:85).

Our society

is

experiencing a moral decline. This

is

seen in the increase in child abuse, rape, corruption and other forms of crimes. There

is

a great need for the Church to respond to this situation so as to make this world a better place, especially for women and children. The moral fibre of society cannot be reconstructed unless such renaissance is firmly built on the values imbedded in the culture of society. It would be a futile exercise to try and revive old cultures in an effort to bring them to bear on the present day life of people. This would be romanticising the past. This would be like trying to go back to the past that would be impossible. The past also had its own problems that were not solved then. The moral fibre of society can be reconstructed by re-visiting the values that are found in cultures. These values need to be reclaimedifthe moral regeneration of society

is

to be built on a sure

foundational support. Taking a person in his or her totality means accepting that particular person as a cultural entity. Anything that a person does

is

deeply coloured by who he or she

is

as a cultural being. To overlook this aspect of the human person

will

lead to the evangelisation of one dimension of the human person, leaving their deeper dimension unaffected, thus treating the person as an object that can be divided at

will.

This

will

result in a person with two personalities, which can cause a lot of guilt and pain. Trying to bring about the moral regeneration of society, by building this reconstruction on the values of society,

will

enable the African to be a truly African Christian and

will

help

him

or her to respond to the challenges ofhis or her context relevantly. Mugambi echoes this when he says:

An African Christian

is

challenged to be truly African, and at the same time, truly Christian. The African Christian should surpass the traditionalist in commitment to the African heritage. Such a high standard of faith and practice

is

possible onlyifthe Christian seeks to thoroughly understand the meaning of African customs and practises, so that the positive values of those customs are retained to become the core of African Christian norms. This,

indeed,hasbeen done in all other cultures where Christianityhastaken root firmly over many centuries. The survival of Christianity in Africa

will

certainly depend on the degree to which African Christians

will

take seriously the essence of their own heritage, and express their faith in the context of that heritage. (1995:130).

The Second Vatican Council^l2tries to establish a link between culture and the good news of culture. Itstates that:

There are many links between the message of salvation and culture. In his self-revelation to his people culminating in the fullness of manifestation in his incarnate Son, God spoke according to the culture proper to each age.

Similarly the churchhasexisted through the centuries in varying circumstances andhasutilised the resources of different cultures in its preaching to spread and explain the message of Christ, to examine and understand it more deeply, and to express it more perfectly in the liturgy and in various aspects of the life of the faithful. (1981 :962).

Such a link that this document is trying to establish, between culture and the message of salvation, is a challenge to the Church to adapt to its different

circumstances, among different people. Itis only through such adaptation that the Church would take its roots firmly in the lives of the people and the message of Christ would find a place in their hearts. Such an approach to culture is also a reminder to the Church that theology is always in time. Ithappens within the context of a lived experience, and never in a vacuum. The role of moral theology is to read and to re-read the mind of Jesus and to attempt to thoughtfully apply it to the context of a people. Such a role becomes even more necessary for moral theology.

Jesus was also aware of the primacy of people's lives and situations. He was aware that sensitivity to people's lives and situations comes before rules and regulations.

One ofhis confrontations was the conflict he had with the Pharisees. The Pharisees wanted to maintain a system without regard to, or at the expense of people's lives.

In the gospel of Matthew Jesus declares that the gospel is fulfilment of the Hebrew heritage. Hisaimis to build on the Hebrew culture so as to produce a more perfect law "Do not think that I have to come to remove the Law and Prophets. I have come not to remove but to fulfil them." (5: 17).

/2Saerosanetum Coneiliumno. 58.