African Religious Orders Challenged to Meet Local Needs Before Sending Priests Abroad

Abuja, 13 August, 2025 / 11:20 AM

“A Church that fails to care for its own cannot credibly claim to care for others.” This is what the Secretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, believes.

In his address at the III Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society, and Pastoral Life held in Ivory Coast’s city, Abidjan, Archbishop Nwachukwu challenged Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) and Dioceses in Africa to ensure that “neglected” regions on the continent receive pastoral care before expanding their mission abroad.

The Catholic Archbishop’s presentation at the congress that the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) organized was titled, “The Church of the Sheaves: Africa’s Mission to itself and to the World in a Synodal Church”.

In his presentation at the August 5-10 event, the Vatican official noted that the African Church had attained maturity, a concept that he said meant “responsibility for one’s own margins.”

“African Religious Congregations and Dioceses must look first to local needs before expanding their efforts abroad. This internal mission strategy is not a retreat from universality but its necessary foundation,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said.

He added, “Mission must include the neglected regions within the continent; areas with few priests, under resourced parishes, and weak catechetical structures.”

The Nigerian-born Vatican official explained that for Africa, the image of the sheaf reflects the reality of a continent that once received the Christian Gospel through the self-giving mission of others, and that is now emerging as a rapidly growing Church.

“Having received the Gospel through perseverance and faith, this Church now ministers with increasing confidence to her own people and reaches outward in service to the wider world,” he said in his August 7 presentation.

He however clarified that service must start from home, with ICLSAL and Dioceses first reaching out to underserved communities so that all the people in Africa receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“The Church of the Sheaves must sow within her own field,” the Secretary for the Dicastery for Evangelization said, and explained, “Like the ancient gleaners who left grain for the poor and the stranger, Dioceses in Africa must channel resources, personnel, and pastoral energy into the forgotten corners of the continent.”

“An internal missionary consciousness must be embedded in episcopal planning, Seminary formation, and Religious Life,” he said. 

Archbishop Nwachukwu also spoke about the need to ensure local support for African Missionaries serving abroad.

The former Vatican diplomat, who had been serving as Apostolic Nuncio from November 2012 till he was appointed Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in March 2023 said that with Africa’s ecclesial maturity, the sending of African missionaries abroad must be accompanied by a clear commitment to supporting and sustaining them in their service. 

According to the Archbishop, the growing presence of African Priests and Religious in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Caribbean marks a significant shift in the global mission landscape.

However, this movement must not be reduced to “economic migration” he said, adding that there should be no reason for some to perceive that African Priests are moving abroad to seek financial stability or external aid.

“These missionaries are not beggars or employees but servants of the Gospel,” he said, and explained, “When the Church in Africa sends labourers into the vineyard of the wider world, she must also assume the pastoral and institutional responsibility of sustaining them in their mission, so that they may remain focused on the sacred duties entrusted to them.”

He proposed that Catholic Bishops’ Conferences and Religious Superiors establish dedicated funds and systems of support for Fidei Donum personnel and missionary workers abroad, adding, “Such provision is not merely administrative prudence but an expression of ecclesial communion and spiritual solidarity.”

“Mission is not an exchange of services but a sacrificial offering. It must be protected from the temptations of dependency and reduced expectation,” he said.

“The Church of the Sheaves cannot remain a rhetorical vision,” he said, and explained that the Church in Africa must be embodied through deliberate structures that enable Africa’s sons and daughters to serve with freedom, dignity, and unwavering commitment.

“In this way,” he said, “the missionary presence of Africa will be received not as a request for aid, but as a witness to Christ’s self-giving love and the fruitfulness of the Gospel sown in African soil.”

In his presentation, Archbishop Nwachukwu also underscored the need to end what he described as “the crib mentality” within the Church in Africa, and called for a shift in ecclesial consciousness from dependence to maturity.

“Too often, Africa’s voice in the global Church is treated as a cry from the crib: well-meaning but not yet mature, not yet serious,” he said.

According to the Archbishop, Africa’s “baby-syndrome” is sustained by a receiving mentality shaped by decades of foreign aid, subsidies, and subventions from the Churches in the West.

He warned that as long as the Church in Africa presents herself as “a permanent recipient”, her voice will be interpreted as that of one still being fed, not feeding others, a typical “voice of the baby in the crib.” 

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“The image of the crib should strike us,” he said, and explained, “This crib mentality and its accompanying dependency have tended to become habitual, even when the conditions that necessitated them have long changed.”

He said that a century after the establishment of many local Churches, the Church in Africa must give credible signs of her own maturity. “This does not mean the rejection of help or solidarity. Rather, it means showing initiative, sustainability, and a readiness to stand on her own ecclesial feet,” he clarified, and added, “Maturity is marked not by isolation, but by the capacity to give, sustain, and serve. The Church of the Sheaves cannot remain in the crib.” 

Archbishop Nwachukwu challenged Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in Africa to create mission-oriented funds and endowments for supporting missionaries of the local Church, especially those working elsewhere.

“Africa has the capacity. It only needs the will and the structures to harness it,” he said, and added, “Africa cannot continue to plead incapacity while others have planted, watered, and waited.”

“The time of sowing in tears has passed. The sheaves are ready,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said.