Vatican II and the Situation of the Church in Africa.
In Africa today, among the bishops, liturgists, canonists, dogmaticians, sacramentologists, and other ecclesiastical experts, the number that has balanced access to and correct evaluation of these theologians is very minimal. And there seems to be a disposition of inexcusable aggression against theological experts, on the part of Church leadership in Africa, who seek to download, even with strictly orthodox lenses, the necessary implications of the Second Vatican Council for the Church in Africa. A manifest record of intimidation, guerrilla harassments, blackmail and betrayal - not excluding murder, have been the stock in trade of those who sit as judges for innocent but courageous theological researchers. The veracity of the saying in different theological circles today that the church has not lived half the riches of Vatican II cannot be correctly evaluated in isolation of the enormous influences which Yves Congar , Edward Schillebeekx, Joseph Ratzinger and Karl Rahner wielded during that historic council on the one hand, and the level of awareness and understanding on the other which Christian faithfuls have achieved as regards the thoughts of these great and influential theologians.
Beyond this, there exists the challenge to achieve a courageous conviction that effective pastoral ministry and the entire church life demand that these riches be consciously integrated into our already established traditions. To cast doubt over this position is to doubt also the sincerity that went into the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, for instance “the Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gadium et Spes) which is believed to have a dominant influence of Karl Rahner. The Church in Africa must learn to appreciate the practical implications of the Second Vatican Council, not only for effective ministry of prayer, but for the multiple theological issues that are struggling for attention.
Vatican II represents a bridge between the new and old, a meeting point between traditional cultures and ecclesial culture, between subjective experience and objective experience, between those on the extreme right (who regard everything except the incantation of past formulae as heresy) and those on extreme left (who evoke not diversity and variety, but hostility and division).
Do we need another Ecumenical Council for the Church, or have we exhausted all the riches that the Second Vatican Council has to offer for the upgrade of authentic Christian faith experience of God, for effective pastoral ministry and for faithful Christian witness in Africa?
During the First Aba Diocesan Synod on “True Christian Identity”, for instance,  the whole structures of subjective experience was provocatively dismantled and some untidy lumps of frenzied legislations were hurriedly put in place to serve as strong deterrents to any further accretion of the subject. Undeniably, the hierarchy of the diocese of Aba may have cogent reasons for adopting such a frigid position, but when the dormant forces at work are slightly stirred, it would not be surprising to observe that this position has deep trappings of malignant clericalism and pretentious collaboration. If eventually a profuse leakage occurs in the patch-up exercise achieved during that Synod, - and there is currently a profuse leakage -  the most obvious place to check is the pantry where whatever remained of subjective experience was officially locked up after having been frustrated and paraded as a residue of psychomosomatic disorder and the worst threat to the purity of Christian faith. I was personally present at the Diocesan Synod as a student of Systematic Theology then at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt. The Synod showcased the worst scandal on the politicization and subversion of the Catholic Faith in the Diocese of Aba. The seed of subversion of the faith sown in Aba during that Synod holds the explanation, in the most shameful way, for the inability of the Church in Nigeria to come to terms with the social-justice challenges that confront her today in reference to the ravaging menace of poverty, disease, corruption and terrorism.
With this historic Council and two Synods For Africa by the side, where is the Church in Africa heading to? Or do we need another Ecumenical Council that will have to write a new Constitution for the Church in Africa?
As the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council opens on October 11, 2012, may the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI help Africa reach a compromise with the Holy Spirit on the way forward for the Church in Africa. Visit<http://revfrkennethevurulobi.blogspot.com/2012/09/marysrose-organization-openning.html >