Homily Opening Mass of CIWA Theology Week By Fr. Udoekpo

Homily @ the Opening Mass of the 30^th CIWA Theology Week Conference April 8-12 Ph, Nigeria by Udoekpo, Michael Ufok (Fr.)

Readings: Dan 13: 1-9, 15-17,19-30,33-62; Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5,6, John 8:12-20

Your Excellency (ies):

Most Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu (Papal Nuncio to West Indies),

Most Rev. Ignatius A. Kaigama (Archbishop of Jos, Chairman of RECOWA and Chancellor of CIWA),

Most Rev. Alfred Martins (Archbishop of Lagos, and Chairman CIWA’s governing Council),

Most Rev. Camillus A. Etokudoh (Bishop of PH),

Most Rev. John Okoye (Bishop of Agwu and CBCN Chairman of Theology and Ethics Commission),

Rt. Rev. Msgr. Prof. Sylvanus I. Udoidem (Rector of CIWA), Msgri,

Distinguished Vice Chancellors, Professors, Guests and Invited Speakers, Lecturers, Colleagues, Students, Friends of CIWA, My Brothers and Sisters,

If theology, in the words of St. Anselm is fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding, and it is concerned with our experience of God, as a community and family of faith, it is fitting to begin this year’s 30^th CIWA Theology Week Conference, on “Becoming the Church as the Family of God In Africa…,” with this Holy Mass, the summit of our worship, the summit of our prayer and faith!.  No wonder, Karl Rahner, a premier catholic theologian of the 20^th century sees this very theology as “the systematic reflection of the Church upon its faith.” In our own contexts, a systematic reflection of the Church in Africa upon its faith, prospect and challenges, as a family of God’s people.

In addition to the papers that will be presented at various sessions of this Theology Week, Christian faith, the content of theology, the mysteries of Christ and the Church, the Trinity and the Sacraments can be expressed in many ways, in prayer and worship, in music, architecture, and art, in Sacred Scripture, in the living Christian tradition, and in lives of compassion, dialogue, reason, hope, justice, fairness, honesty, forgiveness and service to others.

Our Lenten Readings this morning seem to be addressing some of these theological expressions especially, the theology of hope, justice, and mercy. Daniel 13, our first reading, a midrash, written originally in LXX Greek, probably for people suffering unrelenting persecution rejects every acts of unjust accusation like that of Susanna. Unlike the unjust 2 Jewish elders and judges who committed this act of perjury against her, Susanna’s hope and prayers were heard by her God, through the forensic wisdom of Daniel.

This Susanna’s God is revealed for us in Christ, the “Light” of the world (the to phōs tou kosmou) of John 8, today’s Gospel, which challenges us and the “darkness” of the world, as well as the opposition of the Pharisees and their erroneous judgment on the woman they said to have been caught in the very parallel act of committing adultery (John 8; 1-11, 12-20).

Is it not unfair, un-Christian, and un–theological to rush, under any circumstances of our modern times, and culture, to judge our neighbors falsely, without facts,  without compassion, and perhaps base on mere surface appearances like some of the characters in today’s Bible lessons?

Although this is my first appearance at CIWA’s Theology Week- I have no doubt that base on all relevant ecclesiastical documents such as Sapientia Christiana (April 15, 1979), Ex Corde Ecclesiae (August 15, 1990), Veritatis Gaudium (2018), Ecclesia in Africa, and Africae Munus, CIWA as an Ecclesiastical Institute is committed to cultivating and promoting theological discipline in order to deepen knowledge of the Christian Revelation and faith. She is committed to promoting truth, justice, peace, dialogue, reconciliation, and becoming a center of encounter, and research, where the various branches of theology dialogue with other relevant human sciences within the context of evangelization in the Church-Family in Africa, where people like the biblical Susanna and the woman in John 8 are treated with compassion and mercy as true family members.