The Language of Christianity’s Future

Cardinal Arinze with his longtime friend and ecclesial brother, Pope Benedict XVI.

The great Nigerian prelate Cardinal Arinze is not only one man every Catholic should know, he’s also from a country every American know. As Christianity becomes more and more a religion of the global south, the voice of Cardinal Arinze is the voice of the near Christian future. And as Nigeria is divided between the Islamic north and Christian south, its ongoing civilizational, religious, and cultural contest provides us with a microcosm of unfolding global events to come.

If you are not familiar with Cardinal Arinze – or with the voice of Christianity still shaped by authoritative masculine personalities – here are some Arinze quotes which should help:

On the Family: "In many parts of the world, the family is under siege. It is opposed by an anti-life mentality as is seen in contraception, abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. It is scorned and banalized by pornography, desecrated by fornication and adultery, mocked by homosexuality, sabotaged by irregular unions and cut in two by divorce."

On Atheists: "If a child refuses to accept its father or mother, that child is not a liberal, that child is a brat. And how much more important is God to us than a parent to a child?"

On Pro-Choice Politicians and the Eucharist: "You don't need a Cardinal to answer that question. You can ask a seven year old getting ready for First Communion and they will say no. Personally opposed! Ok, you tell them, I am personally opposed but if someone wants to come in here and shoot you all, well... It's pro choice."

On Female Servers: "Some bishops have asked about this and… we said, 'It's alright.' ... But if I had my way you know what I would do."

This is the language of Christianity’s future. It is a return not merely to “traditional Christianity” but rather a return to authoritative masculine speech (i.e. the kind of speaking we hear from foreign priests and very rarely from American-born priests). As Matthew says of Jesus, so too must we be able to say of a priest or bishop: “he taught [us] as one having authority” (Matthew 7:29). Moreover, the priestly vocation is not to speak with scholarly authority but with fatherly authority. Cardinal Arinze does just that – and that’s why he, as a celibate virgin, can truly be called “father”.