USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: The Smoke That Must Be White

Chidi,

Pure-ly political?

It's still a nuclear winter over here, so all your talk about roasted
yam with palm oil - papa soup and fresh palm wine reminds me of good
old sunny days in Nigeria. Just the thought of moin-moin, makes my
mouth water.

For me life in Igboland – those Sam Mbakwe times - was evenly divided
between visiting friends, hectic weekends in Aba, hectic weekends with
the musical enticements of Sir Warrior and the Oriental Brothers at
the White House in Owerri, politics in Umuahia where our over-zealous
Igbo brothers and sisters of "the Assemblies of God"almost succeeded
in drowning me with their baptismal ritual of "full immersion" in the
river – and when I finally regained my breath they asked me how I was
feeling – even as I was gasping for air and when I said " OK" they all
shouted, "Hallelujah!" " The blood of Jesus! " "You are saved!"

The other time the pastor wanted everybody who wore glasses to step up
to him and deposit our glasses on the floor of his pulpit shouting
that "all sickness and disease is of the devil !" - so our glasses
were piled up in front of him after which he started to curse the
devil. He was about to smash the whole pile of spectacles in front of
him when I quickly withdrew mine from the pile after which he asked
me to step up to the pulpit - since I was first in line, and then
with his middle finger and thumb he squeezed my eyeballs hard for
about thirty second and then withdrew his hand shouting at me to open
my eyes after which he asked me if I could see anything (as if I had
been blind) - I replied " Yes " (In fact he had squeezed my eyeballs
so hard that all I could still see were the stars , blue yellow and
green stars – it was a kaleidoscope of colours but the main joy of the
moment was that I could see something, anything at all and the church
was filled with "Hallelujah ! Praise the Lord !" - the pastor's
reputation was now assured - had just been established – he had just
healed the blind – in Jesus name!!!!!

As his his fame spread through the pews. I quietly returned my glasses
back to safety and out of sight, into my pocket and then, without my
glasses I was as good as Blind Bartimaeus,but the congregation didn't
know this and continued singing their spiritual,

"He has done for me,
he has done for me,
what my mother could not do,
he has done for me"

Cornelius is glad that you raised the matters that you raised and that
you assert that "Chineke"and your Igbo religious traditions are close
to the teachings of Christianity. Very close? That in itself would
suggest that it must have been both unnecessary and a walkover - that
you therefore didn't put up much resistance to the Christian
missionaries who were and are still hell-bent on Christianizing
Igboland and that's probably why you would like Cardinal Arinze to be
the next pope - Chineke willing – so that he can extend the light of
Chineke and his only begotten son, Jesus of Nazareth ?

I guess that the idea of sacrifice – a white cock, a goat – a sheep
- for atonement - is the chief reason for Christian missionary
success in Africa South of the Sahara, with the hyperbolic idea that
not merely a goat or sheep or cow or white cock, but the son of god
himself as in the Roman Catholics Agnus Dei : " O lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us" is an unbeatable
idea for a mind that African religious culture has prepared to accept,
with just one more leap of the imagination.

You mistake me as one who would emigrate to Nigeria, after ten years
in Sweden, during which time I did not once set foot in a church, but
should spend the next four years of my life in your part of
Nigeria/"Biafra" only to preoccupy myself with acquiring a missionary
education at the hands of Igbo Christians. As I told you some time
ago, my only regret is that I did not join the Arochukwu when I was
invited to do so.

The Jesuits (badder than all branches of the CIAs, Mi6- a-z, Mosse,
KGB combined) are good at dealing with other cultures and have gained
a lot of experience over the centuries – so a few years ago I
attended what for me was a social event, an Igbo baptism in a
Catholic Church – here in Stockholm, and was surprised that the
liturgy and songs were in the Igbo language. But I should like to
point out to you, Chidi that of the many objections to Christianity
that I encountered , mostly from the secularists was that they thought
that Christian missionaries were free to preach peace and love and
turn the other cheek etc. but they objected most vehemently to any
interference with Igbo (and Kalabari) marriage customs, and the
practice of polygamy in particular. I guess that's where Islam wins
over Christianity, as being more down-to-earth.

Here's a more extended opinion about the matter in

Edward Wilmot Blyden's "Christianity, Islam and the Negro race" :

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Edward+Wilmot+Blyden+%3A+Christianity%2C++Islam+and+the+Negro+race&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ei=LIA0UajlGqLd4QT9i4HACA&ved=0CAwQ_AUoAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.bGE&fp=723ba42073ea76fe&biw=1024&bih=610

We've all had our fair share of missionary activities as dealt with
by Achebe, Bro. Jero, Ferdinand Oyono, Mongo Beti, Camara Laye,
Tchicaya U Tam'si. About the "purely political", in "The Vultures"
poet David Diop has this stinging criticism about, the proselytising
Christian missionary Mwalimu
"Who knew all the books but did not know love"

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=David+Diop+:+The+Vultures&oq=David+Diop+:+The+Vultures&gs_l=hp.12..0l2j0i30.51302.51302.0.53224.1.1.0.0.0.0.172.172.0j1.1.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.2.5.psy-ab.ZMb7h4cCbjk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.bGE&fp=1ff146335c2fd68a&biw=1024&bih=610

and the popular idiom about colonialism appearing on the horizon with
the "New Testament"in one hand and the gun in the other, and then,
gone was the land in e.g. South Africa...
In this regard the one book I should like to recommend above all
others, is Balachandra Raijan's "Under Western Eyes" - albeit with a
focus on the relationship between English Literature (Milton's
"Paradise Lost" etc. – such commentary and refection on contemporary
machinations in Imperial-ism and Empire building in India - also a
people of inspiration. ( I was most recently inspired by Anish
Kapoor)

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Under+Western+Eyes+-+India+from+Milton+to+Macaulay&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ei=Aok0UaCQLIz24QThgoH4Bw&ved=0CAwQ_AUoAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=723ba42073ea76fe&biw=1024&bih=610

Now, do I get you right, Chidi, that ambitious as you are, you would
like, "The Papacy,
with the huge political influence it commands" to be under the papal
presidency of someone like Cardinal Francis Arinze? What a very
challenging task!!!

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Nigerian+Cardinals&oq=Nigerian+Cardinals&gs_l=serp.12...0.0.1.8292.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les%3B..0.0...1c..5.psy-ab.otEZI5DZbiU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=1ff146335c2fd68a&biw=1024&bih=610

This is my understanding : that the Catholic Church has its
headquarters in Rome and power is then devolved down the line through
the Cardinals and bishops who are the local powers-that-be in their
bishoprics – so the Nigeria's catholic bishops are the local governors/
shepherds of their churches. In this respect the Catholic Church has
already come a long way, by replacing the Monsignori with local
clergy, nationals of whatever country, even replacing what the
Catholic Church believes is the Holy Tongue (one which Jesus himself
did not speak, Latin) by Igbo , although if my memory serves me right,
I remember that Latin is once again their holy tongue wherever they
are. For me that tongue is HEBREW.....

About sexual abuse in the Catholic church, there's a standard joke
that gained currency over the past century, about some not so virgin
mothers giving birth to Mulatto children in remote African villages
where the only White man in sight – for miles around, is the local
Irish or Italian Catholic priest..
..
Well,here's some genuine matter of local politics in the Catholic
Church in Africa, this time in Sierra Leone. Just as you have the
Yoruba and Igbo rivalries in Nigeria - in Kenya it's the Luo and the
Kikuyu, so too in Sierra Leone, generally speaking it's between the
Themne-speaking Temnes in the North and the Mende in the South.
Recently there has been a lot of palaver : The Vatican appointed a
Mende as Bishop of Makeni which is in the Temne heartland and the
Temnes of Makeni would have none of it ! They want a Temne Bishop.
Raise that local problem to a global level and as if the Catholic
Church is not sufficiently bedevilled by other pressing problems, you
want to inject racism into the church as a new dimension? A new (or
old?) Catholic Church reality .You would surely see that some people
would be reluctant to accept the idea of a " nigger pope" this twenty
first century...make no mistake about it....
Read on (you will notice of course some cowardly Mwalimu who lacks the
courage to attack me (his ad hominem) using his father's or mother's
name:

http://bintumani.forumchitchat.com/post/Makeni-has-declared-war-6127983

I have since left that forum - my livelihood or peace of mind does
not depend on it.

Anyway, Chidi,

I remain,

Yours sincerely,

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/






On Mar 3, 3:26 pm, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "I don't know if you are an apostle of Chineke or a Catholic……….."
> -------Mazi Cornelius.
>
> Mazi,
> If you had taken time to discuss faith with adherents of Igbo
> traditional religion the way I think you did with Igbo Christians when
> you were enjoying roasted yam with palm oil and fresh palm wine(and
> maybe other things) in Igboland in the 1970s and 1980s, you would have
> found out that there is no difference between the messages of Jesus
> Christ and the injunctions of Chineke (God the creator). The
> difference (and sometimes the problem) lies in how the messages/
> injunctions are received and interpreted.
>
> My interest in the Papacy is however, purely political. The Papacy,
> with the huge political influence it commands, cannot be ignored by
> any serious person, religious leaning notwithstanding.
>
> Ndewo.
>
> CAO,
>
> On 2 Mar, 10:42, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Chidi,
>
> > Indeed, one man's meat is another man's poison.
>
> > Of course Holy Wood  had a black man play the role of Judas  - and
> > that's an image that must have got stuck on the popular imagination. I
> > hope that you have seen soul brother Carl Anderson's excellent
> > depiction of Judas in the movie musical  "Jesus Christ Super star":
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Carl+Anderson+as+Judas+&o...
>
> > You are being subjective, objective, whatever.
>
> > I am not qualified to judge the Conclave as a whole.
> > In Matthew 7 the still not crucified Jewish Jesus, advises about
> > making judgements:
>
> >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&biw=1024&bih=610&sclient=psy-ab&q=+Mat...
>
> > I am not talking about the flesh,blood and bone reality of whoever
> > occupies the papacy or your reality and that's why broadly speaking
> > and in the name of vagueness and generality I named it reality  - not
> > my reality or Hallaj's "anal haq" or the colour and texture or DNA of
> > his skin or his genetic ancestry. In the case of Jesus, according to
> > the genealogy presented in the Gospel according to St. Matthew (his
> > reality) Jesus was descended through King David whose grandmother Ruth
> > was a convert to the Hebrew Faith – and there too is a paradox (of
> > movement) that you are free to dilate on, that Jesus was born in
> > Bethlehem which is still a little town in Israel, that most probably
> > he and his twelve  disciples too were circumcised on the eighth day,
> > that he visited the Temple, is said to have been aware of the
> > importance of keeping the Commandments (613 of them) as evidenced in
> > what he is reported to have said to the rich young man who like him is
> > commanded by the Almighty to be holy  - the additional difference  -
> > an innovation by the Lord of the Last Supper, to wit, Jesus saying,
> > "But if it's perfection that you want, then go, sell your possessions
> > and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
> > follow me."  (Matthew 19:21)
>
> > As you yourself mentioned in one of your pithy observations, "While we
> > were being taught in the Roman Catholic Church children's Sunday
> > schools in the 1970s that it would be like the head of a camel passing
> > through the eye of a needle for a wealthy person to enter heaven, the
> > same Roman Catholic Church through the Vatican bank was busy acquiring
> > wealth."
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/msg/740b7a934b8ca10a
>
> > About the black or white smoke that will come billowing out of the
> > select Vatican chimney, there are several factors at play among the
> > 115 personalities that comprise the conclave. Did I say 115
> > personalities? Well, most importantly, among the 115  Cardinals who
> > are the electoral executives of the Papacy, so to speak, there's also
> > the third person of the Roman Catholic Church's so called
> > "Holy Trinity"  and according to Catholic doctrine, praxis and
> > belief , it is HE that will guide the conclave in deciding who the
> > next Pope will be.
>
> > You have heard about the Borgias?
>
> >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=The+Bor...
>
> > So there are always other commonplace realities that exist on the
> > ground and I'm sure that there are complex realities and perhaps even
> > political tensions between Cardinals representing their various
> > constituencies, peoples and tendencies in the body politic known as
> > the Conclave – and of course all kinds of  human expectations in far
> > away places, outside of that conclave – in some of these places colour
> > of skin is a spiritual quality (and perhaps a political definition
> > too). Kwame Anthony Appiah deals with that in one of his earliest
> > books, " In My Father' House"  - you know the rest of the Jesus
> > saying,"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
> > would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." In a nutshell
> > thought in and of itself is not "racial" it can emanate from any
> > geographic location/ environment  - it can even propagate or reflect
> > self interest ...
>
> >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Kwame+Anthony+Appiah+...
>
> > So Chidi, as far as the politicization of  the appointment of the new
> > pope of the spiritual and temporal organisation known in history as
> > the very powerful Roman Catholic church is concerned,
> >  I don't know if you  are an apostle of Chineke or a Catholic or not
> > or if it's true that you didn't attend a Catholic school but
> > nonetheless were an alter boy like Sheikh Abdul or studied Latin,
> > Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine with some revered Cardinals or
> > Bishops in Rome which is in Italy, but whatever or wherever you are in
> > the watery presence, this is a time to have faith in the workings of
> > the Holy Spirit  - even if your limited human understanding and
> > expectations will be disappointed. I do not pray for the Judas-i-
> > zation of the Papacy or that anti-Semitism or the desire to convert
> > all the Jewish people to Roman Catholicism should be a quality that
> > should qualify the papal candidates for the Papacy.
>
> > I remain your good friend,
>
> >http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/
>
> > And here's a song about the way it is....
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgs76Fq3lEk
>
> > On Mar 2, 11:16 am, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > "Cheer up Chidi and face reality!"
> > > --------Mazi Cornelius.
>
> > > Mazi,
> > > What is the reality?
> > > Why should your reality be the reality?
> > > Why should I always face your reality?
> > > Is my own reality not important?
> > > Can't we face my own reality for a change?
>
> > > CAO.
>
> > > On 1 Mar, 06:09, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
>
> > > > Cheer up Chidi!
>
> > > > Who is best qualified to lead the Caholic Church here on earth ?
>
> > > > I intuit that you would like to see a Black Pope (Black Power in the
> > > > Holy Roman Catholic Church ) and perhaps, preferably some black smoke
> > > > curling out of the chimney, signalling his election or beatification?
>
> > > > You and your Afri-kan-ists kan still hope, but from the beginning I
> > > > have seriously doubted that the homophobic Islamophobe Turkson will
> > > > get it. The head of the Holy Roman Empire versus the Chief Mufti of
> > > > the Islamic Caliphate? We don't want a repeat of the Crusades. World
> > > > peace demands a Pope who will maintain good diplomatic relations with
> > > > the adherents of Prophet Isa (Jesus) albeit with the difference that
> > > > they do not believe in  Christianity's  foundation that he expired on
> > > > the cross.
>
> > > > Yesterday, I saw them all (the cardinals ) lined up in order of
> > > > seniority, shaking hands with His Holiness (on TV) and each of them
> > > > having a brief personal word with him, strained my ears to hear what
> > > > they had to say (long distance revolutionary eavesdropping) but they
> > > > were too far away.
>
> > > > You can be sure of one thing dear Chidi: the Holy Spirit is
> > > > Discernment itself and does not discriminate on a colour basis. So why
> > > > all this fascination with White ?
>
> > > > Remember Chinweizu's unholy ( petty) critique of Wole Soyinka's poem
> > > > "To my first white hairs "?
>
> > > >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Chinweizu%27s+critiqu...
>
> > > > An improbable rationale for expecting some revolutionary Black smoke
> > > > like some fire in Soweto making more black clouds in the sky.
>
> > > > Cheer up Chidi and face reality!
>
> > > > Sincerely,
>
> > > >http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/
>
> > > > On Mar 1, 9:15 am, ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes
>
> > > > <chidianthonyoparapoe...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > > (Poem By: Chidi Anthony Opara)
>
> > > > > Shhh.
> > > > > Silence.
> > > > > The red robed supplicants
> > > > > Are sequestered
> > > > > Inside the Sistine.
>
> > > > > They speak
> > > > > In silent supplications
> > > > > To the spirits
> > > > > To pronounce a Pontiff.
>
> > > > > The stewards are set
> > > > > To send the smoke.
> > > > > The smoke
> > > > > That must be white.
>
> > > > > Reproductions in part or in whole, in whatever forms, of ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes except for non-profit information and education purposes, without a written permission from PublicInformationProjects is not allowed.

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