Listening to the Cry of the Faithful: Fr Stan Responds to Chimamanda's Tears

In recent days, social media has been awash with an incident involving a priest verbally abusing the highly acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a memorial mass for her departed mother. Her case is not isolated and so we ask: How can pastors and pastoral agents in Africa bring comfort to families who are grieving the death of loved ones. 

Fr Stan Chu Ilo and Sr Mumbi Kigutha share their experiences from Nigeria and Kenya on the secularisation and distortion of Christian funerals and mourning rites, taking away from the essence and turning them into events that financially drain and emotionally wound grieving families and friends. 

Lent gives us an opportunity to draw closer to God through prayer, abstinence, penitence, and charity. We are invited in this episode to an examination of conscience, to listen to the cries of so many in our churches, and to repent, to seek forgiveness so that we may live out our Christian commitment more authentically.