By Olivia Obijiaku
Church Life Africa (CLA), held her fifth and 2026 Conference at the Catholic Secretariat, Durumi, Abuja, between Thursday, 30th July and Saturday, 1st August, 2026. The conference themed “The New Evangelization and the Future of Global Catholicism’ had sponsored participants from over forty dioceses within Nigeria, as well as visitors from the United States of America. It featured daily Masses, paper presentations, panel discussions, visit to the Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp; Pilgrimage to Papal Ground, coming to a close with a dinner night, during which Sir Jude Nnam was given award of recognition for his outstanding contribution to liturgical music.
Resource persons and special guests were drawn from within and outside the country among whom are, the Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; Dr Sean Innesrt; Rev. Fr. (Prof) Paulinus Odozor C.S,Sp; Rev. Fr. George Ehusani; Rev. Fr. William Orbih; Rev. Sr. Francesca Ngozi Uti, HHCJ; Dr. Kimberly Belcher; Dr John Sehorn; and Mr Jordan Pachero.
Disclosing how CLA was founded, the Director, Rev. Fr. Kenneth Amadi detailed that, he was partly inspired by the active involvement of lay theologians, who taught him Theology when he arrived at the Notre Dame University, in 2017 to begin Graduate Studies there, something that led him to find ways of forming and equipping lay faithful in Africa with the much needed theological knowledge, in order to contribute more effectively to the mission of the Church.
His words, “And so, I quickly read some websites on my university, University of Notre Dame and found out that, eighty percent of Theology Formators there are lay people. Only twenty percent are priests and religious. Even more fascinating was the fact that those lay theologians served the Church at different levels, many of them advising Popes and Pontifical Council in Rome; some of them advising Bishops Conferences; some of them serving the Church at different international commissions and diocesan commissions. As highly educated as they were, many of them also taught catechism in their local parishes.”
Fr. Amadi was also motivated by ‘‘The Future of the Church is in Africa; which he heard often from many excited bishops, priests and lay faithful in the US. “And so, putting these two experiences together: ‘The future of the Church is in Africa’ and seeing all these lay people studying Theology, it struck me that the Lord was calling us to a special mission. It also struck me that while the Church is so vibrant in Africa, with the priests being formed at the highest level, lay people are not formed at the same level. In my reflection, I thought about the Church in the West and I asked myself, ‘Why is the Church in the West the way it is today?’”
”Europe used to be called the center of Christendom. But today, Europe has been struck by the wave of secularism. Who said that history cannot repeat itself?
Our prognosis was that at least, to some extent, a good dose of emphasis was based on the formation of priests but not so much on the formation of the laity. No responsible army goes to war using its officer ranks. The lay people are the foot soldiers. We need to intentionally form the foot soldiers – the lay people.”
Fr. Amadi acknowledged the great roles that priests need to play in that regard, summing that, “What we do is to help form lay Catholics, especially those who are not disconnected from their own parishes or diocesan lives.”
