Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has called out the Catholic Church
over financial demands made during burial and other ceremonial rites,
especially in the eastern region of Nigeria.
In an interview with TVC, Chimamanda narrated how she and
her family were humiliated and extorted by a Catholic Priest at St Paul’s Abba,
Anambra State, during her mother’s funeral.
The renowned author said the Priest during her mother’s
Thanksgiving Mass called her out for an interview she granted months prior,
pointing out how the Church sometimes makes a lot of monetary demands on
members.
The Americanah writer said: “This Priest at the mass called
me out during my mother’s funeral with a hostile tone saying I’m against people
giving money to the Church, I don’t want Church to give to the widows who had
people upset and the place rowdy.
“I was shocked by his utterances and needed to address the
Church; I got the Microphone and told villagers that I’m not against supporting
the Church but priest ambushing/ forcing people to give and make them feel they
don’t get special blessings if they don’t give money. WHY ambush poor villagers
that can’t feed themselves.
“To do this at my mother’s funeral who devoted her life in
that Church, I was sad the Priest lacked compassion to give my mum the last
respect. My mother deserved better, that Priest failed at his duty to comfort
us but increase our pains. I’ve not been able to mourn my mother in peace
because this man has not faced any action for his irresponsibility nor
apologised.
“This Priest bullied my family about money when my father
died, he was upset I gave a cow, and didn’t monetize it, even for bazaar I had
to withdraw cash because he does not want cheques or transfers.
“I’m saying this publicly because I don’t want this to
happen to people anymore.
“There’s so much that happens during burials in Igbo land,
especially Catholic Church in the southeast which shows the Priest is lacking
in compassion, they make all sort of demands and may refuse to bury someone
because of rites that can’t be fulfilled.
“This needs to be addressed and stopped. So far no one has
faced any consequences and we have not received any apologies.
She added that she and her family never got justice or an
apology following the embarrassing incident, but she’s speaking up publicly to
prevent something of the sort from happening to other families.
She also set up a movement to end the issue on her
Instagram, encouraging those with similar experiences to share their stories.
“The wrong we suffered has not been corrected, there are
people who have experienced humiliation just to give their parents a befitting
Catholic funeral, and this is wrong.”
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