Another voice

Prisoner of the Vatican

Auberon Waugh

It is nearly a year since Monsignor Emmanuel Milingo, Catholic Arch- bishop of Lusaka, was summoned to the Vatican to explain his conduct of the ar- chdiocese. He is said to be distressed by ac- cusations of witchcraft, and Vatican spokesmen deny that any such accusations have been made, but a pastoral letter issued by the eight remaining Zambian bishops last November showed what Mr Peter Nichols, a man of progressive sympathies, described as 'remarkable understanding' of Rome's position. They pointed out that a 'healing ministry' which largely relied for its efficacy on the exorcism of evil spirits was generally thought to be fairly con- troversial nowadays: 'If the Holy See advis- ed the archbishop to discontinue it, this was in line with the attitude taken towards it all over the Church.'

European missionaries, who originally supported moves to 'africanise' the liturgy in order to make it more meaningful to Johnny African — with limbo dancing at the Gloria and Offertory, the blessing or consecration (one can never be sure which) of fruit and vegetables to the sound of bongo drums — are now the main victims of their own doctrines. So far as I know, there have been no cases as yet of European missionaries being eaten at their own People's Masses, but there have certainly been threats of violence and of deportation. Forged letters which disparage the African clergy and purport to come from mis- sionaries have appeared in the Times of Zambia, and big demonstrations have been planned by Monsignor Milingo's supporters in a group calling itself Catholic Action for the Laity.

Last week, Mr Christopher Howse reported exclusively in the Catholic Herald that there were no plans for Mgr Milingo to return to Lusaka soon. An Apostolic Pro- Nuncio who was appointed to administer the archdiocese in his place last April, Ar- chbishop Elias Mutale, has denied that Mgr Milingo is being held incommunicado in the Vatican against his will. He has suspended Lusaka Archdiocese's Council of the Laity and banned the Council for Catholic Women, as being implicated in the plot to cause dissension in Zambia's Catholic Church, and criticised the editor of the Times of Zambia, who replied that he saw himself as a conveyor belt for news: 'Who has ever heard of a conveyor belt that spits out venom as it carries its load along?'

No doubt stranger things than that have been seen in Africa. I remember the late Ar- chbishop David Mathew describing how, when he was Apostolic Visitor in Ethiopia,

he was asked to cut down a tree that was bewitched. All the stones rose up from the ground against him, he said. Spitting con- veyor belts may seem quite an ordinary phenomenon to those who have faith. But the underlying problem would appear to be tension between European or moderately conservative elements in the Zambian Church on the one hand, and African na- tionalist elements on the other. To explain what is happening one should perhaps point out that until fairly recently Africa was largely governed by the products of mission schools. To be a Christian was not only to be a member of what the new catechism describes as 'the community of God's love' (I suspect that this is a heresy, and that God's love embraces non-Christians too, but let it pass, let it pass.) It was also to be an educated, westernised and above all respectable member of society. What all the jargon about 'expressing Christianity in an African way' hides is the fact that the educated classes are losing their grip; animist traditions — and the great majority of Zambians remain animist — are creeping back as Africa slowly and inexorably returns to the bush. Monsignor Milingo aspires to lead the movement, but the Vatican judges that he has gone too far — a judgment, I should add, which was shared by the two Kenyan bishops who were sent on a visitation. Cardinal Maurice Otunga of Nairobi and Bishop Nicodemus Kirima of Mombasa arrived in Lusaka to invest- igate and report. They stayed six months.

Many readers who have followed me this far will have begun to suspect that all this is leading to an appeal for exactly such a visitation to the Catholic provinces of Westminster and Liverpool. Obviously, I do not claim that Cardinal Hume or Arch- bishop WOrlock has engaged in witch- craft or exorcism ceremonies. So far as I know, Mgr Worlock has not even tried to consecrate any pineapples or bananas, unless his pontifical blessing to the Socialist Workers Party marchers as they shuffled out of Liverpool comes under this heading. My charge against them is not that they are trying to africanise the Catholic Church in England but that they are trying to anglicise it, and that, like Mgr Milingo, they have chosen to embrace some of our least attrac- tive national characteristics for the purpose.

In evidence of this charge, I would pro- duce the new English catechism which I mentioned a few weeks ago, and which is now used throughout the country as the summary of Catholic doctrine. In fact it did not receive its nihil obstat from either Westminster or Liverpool, but from the diocese of Portsmouth. The Bishop of Portsmouth is a decent and respectable man called Anthony Emery, who inherited his diocese from Mgr Worlock. Under the Bishop's imprimatur there appears a curious disclaimer, such as the IBA used to require before John Pilger or, indeed, I ap- peared on the silver screen: 'It is not im- plied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the opi- nions and statements expressed.'

The Illustrated Catechism: Catholic Belief in Words and Pictures is a Redemp-

torist publication. It is written in standard welfare visitor's English and illustrated by kiddies' drawings which combine the worst

of the old Jesus-in-the-Bluebells tradition with more recent Blue Peter condescension. Let us turn, at random, to Question 57: How is married love fruitful?

'Love is always life-giving. Where there is love, there is always new life. There can

be no marriage, therefore, where the inten- tion of having children in the marriage as a whole is excluded.'

Students of welfare visitor's English will be fascinated to ponder the significance of the phrase 'as a whole' when applied to

marriage. For those who can spot no mean- ing whatever in the first two sentences, il- lustrations are provided. They show a tod- dler in a romper suit, a foetus in a womb, and a mother breast-feeding her baby. Let us pass to Question 58: Is the family the foundation of society? The answer is: 'The Church teaches that the family is the foun- dation of society: 'The activities of the family apostolate in- clude ... assistance in operation of schools,

help for the aged. In this way, parents and children mutually support and educate each other for the strengthening of society as a whole . .. The married couple speak to the world. In their love for eaeh other and their children, they are saying: "This is what the Church, the community of God's love, is all about".'

This sentiment is illustrated by a picture of Daddy playing football with his kiddies. Never mind, as Ferdinand Mount points

out in his excellent book The Subversive Family, that Christ actually said the op-

posite: those who wish to inherit everlasting life should forsake houses, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife and children (Matthew xix, 29) to join the Church. Perhaps this point is covered by a curious, apparently ir- relevant observation on the same page: 'The mutual support of parent and child is often particularly strong where there is only one parent.' My complaint against Mgr Worlock is not, as I say, one of witchcraft, but that he has reduced the Church to a whining and

largely unnecessary adjunct of the Welfare State. I do not see why it should be con-

sidered less reprehensible to anglicise the

Church than to africanise it, and would much prefer it, personally if he put on a

feathered hat and leopard-skin skirt to teach us a few rain dances. Surely it is time they were both summoned to the Holy See.