Revered novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, who was raised Catholic has revealed why she doesn’t attend Catholic churches in Nigeria.
In a candid interview with media personality, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on black box radio, the novelist discusses her agnostic approach to religion.
Although Adichie attends masses outside the country whenever she finds a “progressive” Catholic community that “upholds humanity, Nigerian Catholicism, according to her “is way too much about money, fundraising, and thanksgiving.”
Best known for her 2013 novel Americanah, she went on to praise Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church for his “attempt to reform” the system.
“I grew up Catholic. Catholicism was very important to me. It‘s almost like a culture, not just a religion. So even if you leave the Catholic Church, it’s in you. Today, I don’t like to talk about religion because I don’t know,” she said.
“I think of myself as agnostic and questioning. Catholicism holds you tight. There are many other protestant denominations that are not so. It’s all-inclusive. ‘You cannot eat before mass. You have to go to confession.’
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“There are so many rules. It teaches you guilt in a way that I don’t think so many protestant denominations do. I’m Catholic, nominally. I still feel protective of some things about the Catholic Church. But I don’t attend it in Nigeria.
“Nigerian Catholicism is way too much about money, fundraising, and thanksgiving. Some in the east even look at who’s wearing gold. I think the focus of religion should be things Nigerian Catholicism doesn’t focus on.”
She continued: “Culturally, I call myself a catholic. But if being religious means performing and going to confession, I’m not. I don’t go to church in Nigeria. Outside the country? Certainly not often. When I find a progressive Catholic Church, I go.
“There’s still something beautiful about the mass. I find Latin beautiful, the priests sweeping up in their dresses, and the sense of community. But there’s also a lot that I quarrel with. It’s the pope I love because he’s so human.
“Hyper-conservative Catholics don’t like him. But if they read Catholic history, they should know there have been people like him; who have reformed the church. I respect religion in general while questioning some of its excesses.”
Watch the full interview below.
