Contemporary Challenges For Vatican II’s Theology Of The Laity: The Nigerian Church Experience

Vatican II stipulates that the laity by virtue of their baptism are constitutive members of the Church and should play their role in the mission of the whole Christian faithful in the Church and the world. More than fifty years since the beginning of the Council, the Church in Nigeria is still struggling to understand itself as well as to discern the identity, the role and participation of the lay Christian faithful in the mission of the Church. This thesis explores and analyzes the strengths and limitations of the current dominant ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria, and constructively suggests various means of overcoming some of these deficiencies. It will proffer and argue that the contemporary challenges which Vatican II’s theology of the laity faces today in the Nigerian Roman Catholic Church call for a Church that is not only participatory, but also prophetic as well as a Church that engages and is constantly in solidarity with the people of God. As a foundation to this reflection, communion ecclesiology is the central and fundamental concept of all the documents of the Second Vatican Council. It provides the basis on which the revolutionary shift in the articulation of the theology of the laity was inaugurated. This shift expresses itself in its call for co-responsibility and participation of all in the life and work of the Church and underscores the priority of the vocation of the whole community of the people of God over all diversities of functions and of charisms. Placed in the context of the Nigerian Church, Christianity seems to be flourishing. However, there is evidence to show that the extent to which the presence of the laity is being felt in other aspects of the ministries of the Church as well as in the Nigerian social order is still very debatable. While acknowledging the outstanding contribution of all the people of God in regard to the proper understanding of the ecclesiology that encourages the active involvement of the laity in the mission of the Nigerian Church and society, the Nigerian Church is still rooted in a juridical ecclesiology, which does not foster the spirit of ecclesial communion and solidarity as forms of Christian witness and ministry. This thesis therefore proposes an inculturated response to the challenges posed by the non-reception of Vatican II’s theology of the laity in Nigeria, based on some key principles from Vatican II’s ecclesiology and African culture.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD