To describe the Church I was born and raised in, I need to start with the missionaries who risked their very lives to bring us the Gospel. In the earliest years of the 20th century we received this precious gift from young missionaries from Europe (mostly Ireland).
I am a third generation Catholic. My grandparents embraced the Catholic faith in September 1926, leaving behind the traditional religion they were born into.
They were very much in the minority as they crossed this threshold. But in the last century an overwhelming majority of our people (the Igbo tribe) became Christian and a large proportion of them are Catholic. From my earliest memories of faith and worship, I have always known the Church to be alive and vibrant. Our local church community was Christ the King, where Mass attendance on Sundays was always impressive. Our church had two Masses and they were constantly packed. This is quite common in most places that I’ve been to in Africa.
