AFRICAN JOURNAL OF CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY

The Catholic Church in Igboland was born from the missionary efforts of the Holy Ghost Fathers and Brothers (Spiritans) in the late 19th into the 20th centuries. This work was begun in Onitsha by the French Spiritans, who were later replaced by the Irish. The Catholic story of Enugu belongs to this later period, with St Paul’s, Eke, as its first local Church. The missionary harvest in this part of Igboland was abundant but not without its birth pangs and challenges, some of which are still part of our heritage today some of which include, nationalism, race relations, indigenization and competition. This article is of the view that addressing these challenges is important for the wellbeing and flourishing of the Catholic Church of the Old Enugu Diocese in particular and the Catholic Church in Igboland in general and suggests ways of achieving this.

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