VoiceAfrique: Perspectives on Faith , Life and Politics from Africa and the Diaspora

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, you will listen to the conversation between the co-hosts, Sr Ebere Amakwe and Nnaemeka Ali, O.M.I, and Prof Susan Abraham. Prof Abraham is the first woman as well as the first lay Catholic president of the editorial board of Concilium the oldest Theological Journal in the Catholic Church founded in 1965. She is also the vice president of Academic Affairs and the d...

Send us Fan Mail Father Mbaka, a Charismatic Catholic priest of Enugu diocese in Eastern Nigeria who started the Adoration Ministry has been in the news in the last few years for many wrong reasons. His political prophecies have created a lot of problems and confusion in the church and the Nigerian state and undermined the credibility and reputation of the Catholic Church.  In this theological and...

Send us Fan Mail Fr Edward Obi, Nigerian priest, missionary, environmentalist,  scholar, and social justice advocate raises his prophetic voice against the destruction of the environment in Nigeria's Niger Delta. He calls for healing of the earth, ecological conversion, an end to violence and destruction of lives in Nigeria and the natural resources of Nigeria, and ecological justice in Niger...

Send us Fan Mail With deep pain, anguish and outrage, we dedicate this special episode to Nigerian Catholics who were massacred when they gathered to celebrate Pentecost Mass at St Francis Church, Owo, Ondo State. This is a time for lamentation for Nigeria, a blessed land that has been turned into a killing field and a vast graveyard by irresponsible, insensitive, corrupt, and wicked office holder...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we listen to Fr Luke Ijezie who is a professor of scripture and biblical languages at the Catholic Institute of West Africa and the newly elected President of the Catholic Theological Association of Nigeria (CATHAN). He speaks of his vision of theology as a service of reconciliation in Africa today amidst the many complementary, contrasting, and contested streams...

Send us Fan Mail Prof Francis Anekwe Oborji is the first African to hold the chair of contextual theology at the Pontifical Urban University, Rome. A renowned missiologist, consummate writer, and public intellectual, he speaks in this first part of our conversation of his dreams and hopes for the Church in Africa.  He argues that Africans must confront the burdens of our history and address comple...

Send us Fan Mail Ugandan priest, pilgrim,  and professor of theology and peace studies at Notre Dame University, Prof Emmanuel Katongole discusses his new book, Who are my People . He wrestles with the question of identity in this book,  and the meaning of the self-sacrificing love of Christ for celebrating our common baptismal identity as African Christians and addressing ecological violence, rel...

Send us Fan Mail Prof Dr. Isabel Apowo Phiri is an outstanding African theologian, writer, ecumenist, and global leader. She is a Presbyterian and currently the Deputy Secretary-General of the World Council of Churches.  In this episode, she speaks on the synodal process going on in the Catholic Church.  She calls on the churches in Africa to embrace life-affirming practices and reject all life-de...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we discuss the appointment of Cardinal Turkson as the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Science and the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences. We note that there are no African Cardinals currently heading any of the dicasteries and call for some African voices and presence in the Roman Curia. We commend the bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR...

Send us Fan Mail Prof Simon Aihiokhai makes a compelling case for the decolonization of Christianity in Africa. He proposes that the starting point for the Church in Africa during this synodal process is the recognition and reaffirmation of the rights of all of God's people to full participation in the life of the Church and in the mission of God by virtue of their baptism. He worries that ne...

Send us Fan Mail Four Steps for Healing our Families: Lessons from the prodigal Son: Homily for the  4th Sunday of Lent  I remember a CDC teacher who was preparing kids for First Holy Communion who asked the kids to tell her who suffered most in the story of the Prodigal Son. One little child said, “it was the fatted calf that suffered most because they killed him for the feast.” Beyond this joke...

Send us Fan Mail His 1996 book, A Listening Church , was a ground-breaking theological discourse on reform and renewal of the African Church in the spirit of Vatican II. Elochukwu Uzukwu in this podcast hails the reform project of Pope Francis and rejoices that the language of "a listening church' that he introduced in modern Catholicism nearly three decades ago has now been accepted as...

Send us Fan Mail Jesuit priest, conflict analyst, peace educator, and social justice exponent, Elias Omondi Opongo, addresses the root causes of conflict in the world. Drawing from years spent in the trenches and in the classroom educating young Africans on conflict resolution, transitional justice, and peace advocacy, he makes a strong case for dialogue, diplomacy, mediation, justice, and reconci...

Send us Fan Mail For Jesus, the Transfiguration was a mini-revelation of what lies ahead for him. That is, in one short and beautiful moment, God affirms the mission of Jesus before his followers. The Transfiguration is a kind of prophetic sign of the Paschal Mystery of the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Transfiguration is a symbol of our Christian jou...

Send us Fan Mail Sr Teresia Wamuyu Wachira, a Kenyan Loretto sister,  Co-President of Pax Christi International, and peace and justice advocate makes a passionate call for peace in the world. She calls for an end to the wars in Ukraine, Ethiopia-Tigray, Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many other senseless wars going on in Africa and many parts of the world. She invites world leaders...

Send us Fan Mail In recent days, social media has been awash with an incident involving a priest verbally abusing the highly acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a memorial mass for her departed mother. Her case is not isolated and so we ask: How can pastors and pastoral agents in Africa bring comfort to families who are grieving the death of loved ones.  Fr Stan Chu Ilo and Sr Mumbi Kigut...

Send us Fan Mail Leocardie Lushombo, a Congolese nun, theological ethicist, peace advocate, grassroots social worker, and womanist decry the violence and wars in Africa. She praises the courageous witness of some  Church leaders in the Congo especially Archbishop Munzihirwa who was reportedly killed by the forces of the Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF) when the rebels captured Bukavu in 1996. S...

Send us Fan Mail Meet the first African Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries, Fr Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie. In this interview, he shares the story of his vocation and faith journey and the mission of the Comboni missionaries in Africa and in the World Church. He is joined in this conversation by Fr Ruffino Ezama, the North American Provincial of the Comboni Missionaries. Both of them of...

Send us Fan Mail Amainini Regina Matambanadzo, a Zimbabwean Catholic woman, nurse, and mother calls on Pope Francis and the Church in Africa and in the world to make common cause with the women and young people of Zimbabwe at this critical time in the nation's history.  Zimbabwe is currently emerging from many years of political, social, and economic challenges. She claims that the lay member...

Send us Fan Mail Sr Dr. Justin Nabushawo, a Ugandan nun and communication expert, and former editor of the African Ecclesial Review ,  invites the Church in Africa and in the world to listen to the cries of women today. Women are seeking respect, recognition, and greater inclusion in the Church.  Women's talents and gifts rather than their gender, she argues, should be the criteria for bringi...

Send us Fan Mail Sr Mbonu, Professor of New Testament Studies and Gender Studies, identifies the marginalization of women in the African Church as the number one issue for the Catholic Church in Africa in this ongoing synodal process. She reminds everyone that a bird cannot fly with one wing. Thus,  if the Church in Africa continues to fly with one male wing, it will not go far. She makes a passio...

Send us Fan Mail Prof Michael Onyebuchi Eze, an African political theorist of the Ubuntu philosophy and ethics of inter-subjectivity and global solidarity, demonstrates how the Ubuntu philosophy should be promoted today as a way of continuing the legacy of reconciliation, inclusiveness, and respect for the common good championed by the Late Archbishop Tutu. He argues that despite the present socia...

Send us Fan Mail Fr Bill O'Neill, S. J. shares the story of his journey from being a University professor in Santa Clara, California, to serving his brothers and sisters at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. He speaks of why we need the mysticism of open eyes to see our naked humanity in the conditions of the refugees. He makes a passionate appeal to all people of the need to accompany our bro...

Send us Fan Mail Often considered as cut from the same cloth as the late icon, Desmond Tutu, Nigerian public intellectual, and political and social activist, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto,  discusses the legacy of Tutu. He calls on the Church in Africa and African church leaders to get their hands dirty and their lives messy like Tutu by having their boots on the rough grounds of today&apo...

Send us Fan Mail Co-host, writer, and grassroots leader, Sr Mumbi Kigutha (Kenya), and humanitarian and Catholic educationist, Fr Alex Ojacor (Uganda) and Fr Stan Chu Ilo (Nigeria) reflect on God's dream for Africa in 2022. They give practical suggestions on how the local churches in Africa can meet the challenges and opportunities opening up to God's people in Africa in the New Year by...