BETWEEN A MEUSUM CHURCH AND A LABORATORY CHURCH

For the interest demonstrated by some members of this group in knowing what a museum church is and in contradistinction with a laboratory church, I have decided to write this short piece not as an exhaustive treatment of the subject but as a way of providing the opportunity for appreciation of the topic for those who would like to make further researches. Before we go into the catechetical application of the terms let us first of all understand the basic terminologies in their original linguistic form.

MUSEUM: it is “a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic or cultural interest are stored and exhibited”

LABORATORY: It is “a room or building equipped for scientific experiments, research, or teaching or for manufacturing of goods”

A museum church is therefore a church during whose erection no one cares about the fact that learning, researches and practice are important for the formation of faith. It is a type of church that is hurriedly built to be “dedicated to God” and maybe called ‘coban’ since all effort from thenceforth will be to make sure that no one desecrates the holy place. This could be likened to a newly married man who does not allow his little children to play in his sitting room for the fear that they could deface or mess up the beautiful decorations he made in house during his years as a bachelor. The children of such young man grow up not to have that boldness, confidence and assertiveness that could lead them into further adventures and discoveries. Meanwhile by the time the children grow up most of the items their father was trying to protect would have been outmoded and outdated and can only serve for the purpose of sightseeing (museum). They turn into a museum because there was in the first place no effort made by their installers in growing people who could update them. That is the sorry state of a lot of church building in Europe today. Today while touring around the churches in Europe especially during the summer vacation one could notice a lot of people, young and old alike visiting historical churches for sightseeing with only very few people caring about the spiritual benefit of prayer that those churches were originally meant for. At the same time, you notice some guards who are placed at strategic places in the churches to make sure that the tourists do not make noise or do other things that could desecrate the holy place. What then is a museum if not this? Instead of building museum churches, young churches in Africa and especially in Nigeria could build laboratory churches. A laboratory church is not a church that is meant to be hurriedly dedicated. While it may be necessary to have a chapel of perpetual adoration where people can pray in silence, the main building should take the form of a multi-purpose hall where there will be no effort to ask anyone to stop making noise. A laboratory church from the day of its construction has the training of the young people in Christian life as its main objective. It could have something like music room where all sorts of musical instruments are to be made available for the young people to learn how to use at liturgies. Catechists and animators could be trained to provide the necessary guidance needed in this area. Priests themselves have to be trained as catechists to able to appreciate and promote catechetical programs in their parishes. Children should be allowed to exercise their freedom. Holiday programs in which different aspects of the Christian life are learnt not as a transmission of doctrine but in form of miniature practice of what he growing person would face in adult life should be organized. Children should not only learn to memorize catechism and prayers. They should be led into practical experiences (for instance the life in the spirit seminar that the charismatics do). Beyond mere transmission of doctrines coded in catechism, to teach the growing person onyinye nke ifunananya (what is love?) for instance, programs could be organized for them during holidays and weekends to visit the sick, the prison, the old people’s homes. Catechism satisfies only one of the domains of educational objectives of Benjamin Bloom- the cognitive aspect. It has nothing to do with the effective and the psycho-motor domains. Therefore, it cannot form an integral personality not can it produce a practical Christian. The programs of a laboratory church are to help the children practically learn the act of love instead of mere recitation of catechism. Programs like cultural festivals could be organized for them to learn the values of indigenous cultures for the purpose of inculturation. Christianity is not a body of doctrine. It is an experience. Instead of being a body of doctrine Christianity is a practical way of life that is proclaimed in the word, lived out in communion and charity, uttered in prayer and celebrated in liturgy. It is a life experience. The experience starts in the form of a laboratory where people in a miniature way get the basic foundation for further research, exploration and practice in adult life. We do not need to teach our children to respect the poor just verbally. An experience of visiting the prison, for instance, in the company of peers accompanied by the priest or a trained animator will not only deter the young from criminal actions but could go a long way to give him that human sympathy to remember those in prison. He may become a governor or president tomorrow. Who knows? Over dependence on catechism method of catechesis has led to a situation whereby the life of Christians especially Catholics suffer a dichotomy between life in the church and life in the society. The programs done in a laboratory church are capital intensive. However, 10 percent of what we appropriate for the building of museum churches could do more than enough. It depends on prioritization of values. Let us think of a laboratory church instead of a museum church.

Most of the museum style of churches we copy from Europe are medieval monuments. Some of them are more than 600 hundred years old. If the Westerners were to be building churches today, there would not be building museum churches. We cannot copy their mistakes. They made the mistakes in the first place because the anthropological, pedogeological and psychological disciplines of social sciences that aid human formation today were not discovered in those days. Theology was speculative and abstract. While they now have to contend with the disadvantage of a declined church population, the African churches are still booming and effort should be made by the leaders to incorporate every scientific method to make sure that the church remain relevant to our society. We need a generative church. We have the greatest opportunity to lead the cause of evangelization in this century. We need to look inward. We don’t need to copy everything. A stitch in time saves nine.

Rev. Fr. Amobi Omeayo