I love you to death my sister, am From NSUKKA and I live in CANADA. I always pray someday our Igbo brother's and sister's will learn how to appreciate you. I work at University of Alberta in Edmonton. One night I was just going round to end my shift and I saw a book on a chair and pickeditup only to see that it your book (Purple Hibiscus) I couldn't be happier. God will continue to bless you..
Thank you Chimuamanda for all you for all we Nigerian's mostly for the Igbos you make us proud in the whole world keep it up God will always be with you Amen.
Fantastic presentation. This talk should be shared in all Nigerian Christian circles because there seems to be no difference in how 'humanity' is now taking the place of spiritual and Godly values. Catholisism or Protestantism or Pentecostalism... Christ is our denominator. A movement shouldn't appal, be a threat, or talk down on other movements. We are all of Christ Jesus.
Honestly, the way Chimamanda beautifully pointed out the "LAW OVER LOVE" in the church today. Had me watching till the end. I must admit she said the minds of many. You are admired and loved God bless you Ma'am.
You are a wonderful writer and an orator. I didn’t want to listen to the end, but I found myself glued to my screen anticipating to hear more. Thanks for speaking the minds of Catholic members.
Wonderfully delivered piece. Had to watch till the end. The church should listen more to the faithful. Yes, the church can do better, the church should do better. The church should radiate love and kindness always. Big ups Chimamanda.
I am glad that you are slowly returning to the Church. Indeed the passing of your parents was not in vain. The unkindness you experienced during the burial thanksgiving mass of your mum, has aroused the need for you to start your journey back to the church. I am happy that you attended and delivered your speech at this conference. I am sure more of your questions will be answered. Indeed we all have different experiences in the church and I agree with you that many Catholic youth have unanswered questions. However, I must say that most Catholic youth are not curious enough to learn about the church. I was ones hungry to learn so much about the church and I was lucky enough to have a very patient Sunday school teacher. I think the church needs to ensure that those teaching cathchism should be well grounded so that they will pass on the right teachings which will give young Catholics to practice their faith anywhere they find themselves.
Let another adult find HER way. Because YOU've been wytewashed to choose wyteJesus doesn't automatically mean that EVERY Blaq woman will dismiss the GODDESS in herself.... Ancestors may be leading her to TRUTH. It would be wise not to interrupt that path. The kolonized entitlement of xtianity/kolonizers' orchestrated "religion" is really infuriating -- but I'm not in denial about the masses who have takenthebait. 🐑 I realize how many of you are convinced and fully convicted in your indokkktrination.
So brilliant she is. How she tells the truth to the Authorities, her choice of words, her composure, her...it's just second to none. The church leaders really needed to hear this. Thank You Chimamanda
It's so beautiful seeing you speak the minds of many young Catholics like myself, especially in Nigeria. I also get so worried about those 'money obsessed priests who are gradually turning the church into more of a Pentecostal realm than it used to be. I love the Catholic Church and I can only hope the church keeps being true to her principal mission of evangelising souls.
Great speech Chimamanda... May the good Lord comfort you and your siblings over the huge loss of your parents...I personally felt so much pain for you knowing how it feels to lose a parent and then the 2 at about the same time was too much...
Quintessential Chimanda...on point, again. Thanks for speaking this truth so boldly to the fathers of our Church. I particularly agree with wearing our Catholic faith boldly and refusing to "compete" with the Pentecostals 👍🏼
Kudos👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽, Finally, Chimamanda opens a RU-vid channel, been waiting for this Adadiorama, cos Social media has come to stay, and other RU-vid channels has been making money off your speeches, conversations and events.
Thanks Ada nne ya, for being in the main true to your conscience. Your words are intellectually, pastorally and morally timely And thanks for always remaining 'faithful' to your Catholic identity😘
Very well said and welcome back dear Chimamanda. Many of us have been silentpraying for you to return home to the Church. Now am sure that your parents are now doing thesame; praying for you from their heavenly place. We need voices like yours to proclaim the true gospel in fresh ways.
You're such a bold woman, thanks for hitting the nail on the head. The love of money have ruined the churches in Nigeria. Love all your speeches, new subbie, God bless you and sorry for your loss dear sis.
Thank you. I am very glad you were finally able to bring these issues that concern you before the bishops and that you got an audience. I hope a real effort is made to right the ways of the Nigerian church, particularly in the east.
Couldn't stop listening even though I struggled to hear the words because of the echoes in the room. However, I listened every step of the way. Keep speaking Chimamanda. Your emphasis on "Love over Laws" makes this piece human centric, I love you more
You are speaking out our mind here. Nothing wrong with the doctrine but teachers and parents have a lot of work to do concerning the Catholic faith. Thank you, Chi. God bless Nigeria and Africa.
Everything is wrong with the catholic doctrine, from it's inception till now. It has trails of innocent blood and damaged souls throughout the entire world.
Inspiring. As A Catholic, I personally sought for answers from 'catechism of the Catholic Church' & the Bible! Young Catholic should have passion to learn about the doctrines!
How wonderful that God has called us to be Holy, such that out of our Holy living, Truth is substantiated in Love. May the Lord recover His called out assembly from that which is devoid of His Life and Spirit. Oh Lord, examine and weigh us all that we may Repent! and come back to You! Have mercy on us, Lord, and Save us!
Thanks Sister , now I appreciate what you ment when you said you are a Born again catholic.... indeed grief can be a very disturbing period. I see you managed the loss of your beloved parents well. lost my mother nearly 20 year now and the grieving period was indeed troubling. Thanks Again.
This is so beautiful, CNA. Thank you so much for lending a voice to the questions and worries other young Catholics like me have, about the Nigerian Church. Like you, I love the Church but it's unsettling many of the anomalies that go on unchecked. We hope the church changes and returns to the church we loved absolutely. Thank you for all you do and for being a part of the tribe.
I have watched quite a few of her speeches and come to see her as a feminist. Which is why I was so baffled to see a powerful woman, uplifting and supporting a spiritual organization that has and continues to be oppressive of women, continues to perpetuate patriarchy. I loved that she addressed how church modesty policy creates challenges for women and that men need to be held accountable for their own wandering eyes and behavior. However, nothing was said about the misogyny of not allowing women to be equal spiritual leaders. This is progress but I couldn’t imagine supporting any organization that denied my right to be a feminine spiritual leader. Still a lot of work to be done globally within Christian organizations that continue to hold on to 2,000 year old beliefs that are no longer relevant in 2022. I do appreciate that they invited her and listened respectfully, but wonder if anything will really change…
I have, on a different occasion, had cause to comment on the " real beauty" of this soul, not the obvious physical attributes but the ability she has to lift the spirit of her fellow human beings to a place where you can comfortably confront your sensibilities and emerge strengthened and reconstructured. This is the 2nd time I've heard her on grief at the personal level, and I say , at 70 I am still traumatised by the death of my parents, especially my mother whose strength, independence and interlectual ability has made it impossible to conceptualise a female of any age as being anything other than an equal of any male. When I came to know early in my life that in 1927 at age 10 , my mother was authorised by her father to conduct business on his behalf at the bank, I just grew up with a different perspective on the position and role of women, to the point today I don't understand and can't accept the restrictions placed on and accepted by women. I just admire and love Sis Chimamanda, a truly beautiful woman.
Wow I'm so struck by the picture you painted, how I'd love to hear about your mother and grandfather, it sure sounds like you have a rich family history. Whether son or daughter to put a 10 year old in charge of business shows and interesting character in your grandfather! I'm left with so much wonder and questions! I hope you had a change to enjoy and understand them both before they passed.
@@zimbafashion Thks, did have the chance to enjoy their parenting.What has shaped and influenced my perception of, and my attitude to women are her achievements in education, her sense of homour, and fairness and her refusal to be constrained by the then prevailing status quo.
This was a very inspiring speech. I can totally relate to everything spoken here and as an alumni of UNN, I have to agree that you did not say anything wrong. I loved every part of this speech. Thank you.
Bishop Barron of America, is a well known Catholic Bishop in America and all over RU-vid. Bishop Barron has very many RU-vid videos on questions about Catholic faith and confusion Catholics in Nigeria should access his you tube videos
Good morning my sister hopefully doing well today? Just stumbled upon your broadcast this morning. It's the absolute truth, the needs to re address many issues steering on us to the face like monster. We are indeed seating on a keg of gun powder
She's speaking my mind. A lot is going on in the church that needs to be addressed, but instead of addressing them, the church chooses to go over frivolities instead.
Church in eastern and south south Nigeria exposé, general reflection of youth of the faith migration. The ego priest and males are raised with,the component of priest training lacking gender balance. I remember my sister complaining seriously about how unilag nfcs students could not attend mass during a youth congress because of no trouser policy for undergraduate ladies in Abia. I have spent about 10years in the south east/south Nigeria, I hope this drives genuine conversations and actions not to water down the faith but deepen participation and strengthening faith
This is courage , intelligence and truth all mixed in one . I am happy she is finding her way back to the faith , I am not a catholic, but do not see anything wrong with the Catholic faith , unfortunately , there is a lot of drift from the orthodox churches to the Pentecostals , which to me ought not to be , we all are Christians and that should be emphasized . Her encounter with the Priest during her Parent's funeral made quite some news and not too pleasant at that , but interestingly the pain and hurt are being healed and it is important to let that go ,which she has done .
I love the way you speak out against these issues in the Catholic Church….it’s all Law vs. Love…Many Nigerian(Igbo especially )Catholic parents would rather pay allegiance to their “faith” than allow their adult children marry outside the Catholic Church…that among many issues I find funny and against what God really wants us to do.
Daalu Ada anyi nwanyi. The pursuit of money on the table of spirituality has not helped us a bit. 2nd offertory is normalised. Project Sunday every other day. Alusia, akutuo bidokwa n'isi. All because the full pews are reassuring. Parish councils should invest wisely and think long term when conceiving projects. We now have tithes collections yet bazaar/harvest Thanksgiving is still running side-by-side. On harvest Sundays, an "ogbonge" Priest is brought in for the homily. Ego anaghi eju afo. Let's take it easy. Only Love endures forever.
Such a magnificent contemporary manifesto of the christian nuances. These are some of the reasons why when you see the youngins are going against the church. So wake up priests and elders of the church and demonstrate more love in actions. I am vying for the response from the priest... were there any???
Ada keep moving. Ujo atula gi. I often tell them that the church is one and all those subdivisions will bring us all to our knees. Many more churches will still spring up causing both good and wrongs to happen. A 40 year old catholic gets a Pentecostal suitor and she is stopped by her family making her very unhappy. 20 years later, she is old , unhappy and unmarried and the church keeps quiet as if nothing happened. A great man with a number of businesses, assets and hundreds of workers is left childless because the wife is not capable of having a baby. He cannot remarry because of church doctrines. He is unhappy and a cycle of frustrations emerge. The church that instituted the doctrines keep quiet as if nothing happened. Churches should fund IVF centres, discuss the possibility of surrogacy ,if they must cancel the age old african tradition of one man to few necessary wives, which creates more marriage opportunities for women and more child bearing opportunities for childless men , especially those lacking male children. Of course many will argue that a female child is good enough but I stand to say that all gender matter. Males are a strong military defence for every race and african Christian communities are depleting with the church that instituted one man, one wife keeping quiet as if nothing is happening. So much more can be said but let me rest my case for now. Thank u chimamanda for being a brave voice amidst criticism.
Good but not critical enough. Started with flattery, moved in with sincerity and ended in flattery. You should've just kept calling that spade a spade without much sugar coating. There is the Institutional aspect of the Church (the Super Structure) which unfortunately has come to stand in dialectical opposition to the Charimatic/kerygmatic (unconditional love) aspect of the Church. You completely ignored this systemic injustice for moralizing hermeneutic (no one gets converted by this old song telling people to choose love over and against hate; they know - so tell us something new). The root illness in the Church is clericalism: forged within the defenses of the Institutional Structure and expressed in priests and clergy thinking themselves to possess more privileges and blessings than other Christians. This is an attitude that can no longer be tolerated and you said nothing about this superstition. Rather, you promoted it in reiterating the "persona Christi capitis" theology which has been very much revised in the 1950's... you also suggests that priests forgive sins (not Catholic teaching)... It is not very simplistic as you put it. If the theology and ecclesiology of the Super Structure is not addressed, then the ugly examples of the 'lovelessness' you expressed will always appear every now and then as symptoms of a deeper illness (clericalism). Furthermore, it's a very strange kind of apologetics to assume any 'rivalry' between Christian denominations and to openly express your bias towards 'Pentecostalism' in terms of 'winners' and 'losers'. It's the most ridiculous aspect of your speech. It is simply 'unchristian' and therefore intolerable; God does not need lawyers and magistrates to win a case for God on earth: God is not that weak or cheap. The Church does and you being a self proclaimed apologist for the Church (in Nigeria) is perhaps the apogee of your flattery. It questions your understanding of Christianity, of love and of charity itself. Christianity is not a fight for victory; it is an mystical journey towards The Incomprehensible Mystery: a journey initiated by the Father, fulfilled in Christ and will be ultimately accomplished by the Spirit in future times unknown as a 'sign of contradiction' (John 15:18-27; Mark 13:13). The victory of Christianity is not power and eloquence but the Cross. You undermine the role of the Holy Spirit who blows wherever She wills to bring about the Kingdom as a unity in diversed Christian traditions. You didn't take seriously the history of "Pentecostalism" (as a movement as opposed to a Church) and its relevance in reshaping Christianity worldwide in an ecumenical and inter confessional modern context. Someone like you could do better. Wish you the best for next time and don't get politicised again.
This writer must be a deep scholar. Keep it up. Chimamanda is playing safe. It takes a lot to.get into the hearts of those old bishops. "Commendation, constructive criticism, commendation " is the way to go. God bless this writer and chimamanda.
Great response but I think you undermine the act of demonstrating love by the priest when you say they know this. If they know this, for e.g then why didn't she feel it at her utmost vulnerable predicament? Actions speak louder than words... Furthermore, Chimanda is not a paragon of catholic purity. So you might be misconstruing her noble and humble nuances as apologizing for the church. Moreover how can you say her expressions are biased towards 'Pentecostalism' when she acknowledged them by saying she wishes them well and "We are all Christians"? In my opinion, you are committing the fallacy of Ad hominem. She was not agonistical between catholism and Pentecostalism. . We are made in God's image. An unbeliever/agnostic would have to see a believer defend his name in order to become one ( i.e God's "lawyers and magistrates"). As such is part of the christian duty. To recapitulate, you wrote it questions her understanding of "Christianity of love and of charity itself "... how? when clearly she yearns for more depiction/compassion/empathy from the so revered people of GOD (priests). One does not need a Ph.d to understand christian love and charity of all things! Last but not least, she does not have to highlight the " history of Pentecostalism" to this audience made up of predominantly priests as shown from the video. I think we should give them more credit than that. Neither does she have to relinquish to Pentecostalism in a catholic setting. I must confess that there are aspects of subjectivity in this anecdote. My hope is you discern Chimanda's desire for atonement rather than villainizing her.
@@quintabrownderiona702 Thanks for your revert. A discussion would only resort to a fallacy, precisely an 'ignoratio elenchi', when you try to interpret a writer via emotions. You've made what I called 'false analogies' not based on my text but on your understanding of it (e.g. that I do not take seriously her call for priests to express love [which I appreciated it as good but not critical enough], and that I think she is 'apologising' [a word I don't remember ever using] for the Church). This makes it difficult to respond to you because I don't get your point. Are you explaining Chidi or are you saying my critique of the Church is inadequate because Chidi meant something else? Sounds like a 'straw man' to me, since you are so good at fallacies🙂 A constructive discussion would flow better when you critique someone based on their texts or words, rather than inserting a 'red herring' and making your argument based on it. Idon't know Chidi but I know what she said and that is what I'm concerned with. So I picked points that needed a deeper reflection and dealt with it - expanding them where necessary. The write up wasn't about Chidi's person (which you think I'm 'miscontruing'), but for readers to see another perspective of critiquing the Church. My comment was that she is "good but not critical enough"... and I explained why I thought so. What exactly is your critique of me and what would you want to see improved about that? (don't tell me 'be polite' because that would be the real 'ad hominem') This is how contributions are made to a discussion. And I think you have a great potential to make one from the look of things. I'll be waiting.😊
@@philipshube1945 I appreciate your philosophical revert although is imbued with a plethora of line-drawing 😉. My critic of you are clearly stated and i do not wish to go back and forth. Chimanda 's speech (a great one i must add) can't satisfy everybody. So i rest on agreeing to disagreeing. Have a nice one! 🙂
So much wisdom but yet so much that frustrated me. I am not and have never been Catholic (although my maternal family once were). I am much more familiar with the Pentecostal church and know it has a lot to answer for. They/we haven't always been as kind about Catholics as we should either. But as CNA reminded us herself, generalisations are unhelpful. She speaks of 'wishing Pentecostals well...we are all Christians' but yet uses consistently disparaging terms and references. There are genuine charismatic/pentecostal Christians who don't subscribe to the prosperity Gospel or mere 'slick' talk...
CNA makes this about a competition between denominations and yet no mention of a personal relationship with Christ. That's what matters, not what your personal preference of worship is. I have never heard CNA engage with the Bible, wrestle with theology etc. I have the impression this is of little concern to her, or at least, scripture is not an authority for her on certain issues. The tribalism to which she admits is divisive and unhelpful. It's the problem I have with many (not all) Catholics; an emphasis to the point of idolatry on loyalty to the RC Church over everything else; be it Christian unity or direct relationship with God. Her intervention seems less to do with Faith than allegiance to a club. It's disappointing to hear this sort of partisanship from someone as measured and intelligent as she is. She makes great points about spiritual leadership that could apply in any church context, not just RC. Yet all this is undermined for me by her side-swipes at the Pentecostal church...
All denominations are flawed because humanity is. There's no need to single out one, even if Pentecostals are especially dominant in the Nigerian context. None of us has the monopoly on God's truth. We can learn from each other, as well as critique what could be improved but in a constructive and loving way. As she extends that grace to her own tradition, she should for others. There's much about Catholicism with which I disagree strongly and it would be easy to list all that's wrong with that confession. Yet I can still acknowledge I've been blessed by the words and insight by some devout Catholics, including the current Pope. I hope she's more circumspect in future around these issues.
Things of the church should be approached with faith not intellectualism. But yea as Chinua Achebe warned who the gods want to kill they would first ... Continue going around showing your bravado. Only a fool rushes in where the angels dread to tread. I lose my respect completely for this one.
