The President of the Nso Cultural and Development Association (NSO’DA), Tadze Mbiydzela, has strongly criticised the Catholic Church in Cameroon for ignoring inculturation concerns they raised against the Church last year.
In an open letter addressed to the Roman Catholic Bishops, Mr. Mbiydzela frowned at the bishops for ignoring the matter during their 48th annual seminar that took place in Buea early this month.
Some cultures in the North West Region have been agitating against the Church for desecrating their customs and traditions through its inculturation policy.
NSO’DA and the Wimbum Title Holders are among the cultural groups that petitioned the Catholic Church last year for encroaching into their traditions.
However, the 26 Catholic Bishops in Cameroon did not address this issue at their Buea seminar.
They rather voiced strong opposition to corruption, bad governance, and underdevelopment in Cameroon in a final communiqué after the seminar.
“I am, however, worried that despite wide agitations from local cultural backgrounds
In 2024, the bishops omitted the synodality of inculturation from their agenda,” NSO’DA president Mbiydzela said in his open letter.
He stressed that the church should pay attention to the lingering issue.
“I am strongly convinced that the leadership of the Catholic Church is aware of these agitations, which I strongly believe should be given equal attention as you have done to those agitations of Cameroonians against their government,” he said.
Inculturation has become part of the Catholic Church’s doctrine in Africa.
Clash Between Church and Culture
However, its implementation has caused clashes between the church and with culture enthusiasts in Cameroon’s North West Region.
The NSO’DA president is unhappy the church is not making the expected effort to build synodality between the local church and the cultural community.
At the close of the bishops’ conference in Buea, the President of the National Episcopal Conference, His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea, emphasised that dioceses should be models of synodality.
The NSO’DA president questioned the practicality of this statement.
“How will it be effective if the agitations on the modus operandi of inculturation at various diocesan levels have not been assigned to a commission, especially within the backdrop of the agitations that arose in 2024 against the Roman Catholic Church’s approach in the grass fields of Cameroon?”
He also expressed the need “for dialogue, especially on the issue of inculturation, and given that there is an Inculturation Commission in the Pastoral Organigram.”
“It should be a true act of engaging in authentic dialogue, beyond the sacramental bounds of the Church, and should include the indigenous communities over the various cultural elements and aspects that should constitute the inculturation process within the Roman Catholic Church,” he added.
