The Confluence of Communal-Individual-Societal Attitudes Towards Catholic Priesthood in The Nandi Community in Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

Celibacy in the Catholic Church was considered a matter of personal choice in the Apostolic Church but over time, priestly celibacy has gained legitimacy and mandates through canons, decretals, canon law and encyclicals. Priestly celibacy has generally gained societal and cultural acceptance among the European-centric and the American-centric cultures but save for an insignificant number of incontinent priests. The African Synod of 1994 held in Rome re-emphasized deepening sacerdotal celibacy among the ongoing priestly formation in the Catholic Church in Africa however, priestly celibacy is generating a debate and highlighting the challenges facing indigenous African priests. Despite the mandatory rule on priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church, and the dialectical cultural and philosophical thought on marriage by the indigenous African community, the Church still faces challenges in evangelizing the African communities because of the mandatory priestly celibacy. Due to the dearth of studies detailing the perspective and experiences of the African Catholic priest concerning ministerial Priesthood in the Catholic Church, the study seeks to unravel the convergence of communal, individual and societal attitudes towards ministerial priesthood from the eyes of the priests themselves. The study therefore critically assessed how the community and the society embraced Catholic priesthood and made it possible for the priest to be culturally and socially accepted by the Indigenous Nandi community in Nandi County, Kenya. The study took a qualitative exploratory cross-sectional design and purposively sampled 20 Catholic priests of different ages from the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret using interviews and a focus group discussion. The data were transcribed before being subjected to a content analysis tool (NVivo 8, QSR International). The findings indicated that the Indigenous Nandi community detested celibacy by all means and never consented to any long-term celibacy at any level. They still cannot accept one of their kindreds to become a celibate priest but would paradoxically celebrate an ordained Catholic Priest as one of their own. At an individual level, Catholic priests are respected and acclaimed but are still individually questioned on their choices on cultural, social and societal fronts. At the beckoning of the 21st century and as the number of converts increased, the Nandi community slowly began to accept a celibate priest but the cultural and social background of a Catholic faithful still shapes how they believe and practice their faith in that the community at large, still questions the celibacy choice made by their own. The gradual societal shift towards priestly celibacy at the community level has probably arisen because of the convergence of shared norms and values introduced into the community by the Catholic Church since its inception in the early 20th century. Thus, the study concludes that there still exist cultural and social rigidities among the Nandi Community concerning priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church. The study recommends that the celibacy requirement for the Catholic priesthood should be upheld based on the growing acceptance of priestly celibacy among the community