Church, State and Colonialism in Southeastern Congo, 1890–1962 by Reuben A. Loffman

Author:Reuben A. Loffman
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783030173807
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The Extension of Catholic Authority

The failure of the ‘great’ chieftainships to materialize and/or consolidate the power of paramount chiefs left the Catholic Church as the dominant political force in Kongolo even if missionaries still steered clear of the Bùki chieftainship for fear of another Luba rebellion or chiefly power struggle breaking out. For a while, Catholic power in the Congo as a whole was welcomed—not least because of its capacity to train local African leaders. Louis Franck’s predecessor, Jules Renkin, had never been concerned about the relative weakness of chiefs vis-à-vis the out-stations because, as a Catholic himself, he was more than content to see the continued and widespread evangelization of the Congo. And, after having experienced a bruising and very public disagreement with Victor Roelens about the latter’s belief that too many top jobs in the colonial judiciary went to Freemasons, Renkin feared antagonizing the Church any further than was necessary.79 Yet Louis Franck, having never experienced such a public fall-out himself, wanted to reduce Catholic power over Belgium’s largest colony and extend chiefs’ powers at the same time. But in looking to scale back the Church’s influence, the newly appointed Minister of the Colonies found it in an increasingly strong position. The ‘republic’ that Victor Roelens had sought to construct was taking shape after the First World War. The lack of great chieftainships fashioned according to secular, colonial law had allowed missionaries to become even more influential under indirect rule in the Congo.80

The missionaries constantly used the maxim from Luke 21:19 that: ‘In patience possesses ye your souls’ in their reports and it seemed that by the end of the War their patience was finally paying off.81 The ending of wartime ‘privations’ had greatly intensified missionary activity.82 The formation of ‘native’ clergies was even given Canon Law approval after the publication of Benedict XV’s Apostolic Letter entitled Maximum Illud in 1919.83 ‘In this policy,’ the pontiff stated, ‘lies the greatest hope of the new churches.’84 By 1932, Roelens opened the first meeting of the Ordinaires ‘with a substantive report on how to build a clergé indigène.’ In so doing, he publically articulated a policy that he had begun when he had first ordered the construction of a minor seminary in 1898.85 As a result of the momentum that the idea of a local Catholic clergy had already accrued by the end of the War, as exemplified in the ordination of Stefano Kaoze, who became the first Congolese priest in 1917, a series of African catechists in Upper Congo carried the gospel ever further into the Congolese hinterland.86 By 1919, clerics in the Lubunda complex, in northern Kongolo, could even afford to think about building a new seminary to house the converts they were amassing to prepare them for priesthood.87 Lubunda was testament to the fact that the mission presence was unevenly spaced in Kongolo, though, not least given the travails that the White Fathers were experiencing in Sola. Lubunda excelled in a way that few other mission complexes

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