Catholic priest defends polygamy in Africa, criticizes ‘Western family model’

(LifeSiteNews) — An African priest and theologian who teaches in Germany has defended the widespread practice of polygamy in Africa while criticizing “the imported Western family model.”

Father Égide Muziazia, who teaches theology at the University of Münster, Germany, wrote an essay in the theological magazine feinschwarz defending polygamy in Africa.

He argued that when applying theological or moral norms to individual situations, one has to use “contextual theology.”

“This provision has far-reaching implications for pastoral practice: it cannot be transferred unchanged from one continent to another,” Muziazia stated. “Rather, it continually seeks answers to pastoral challenges that are tied to the respective local contexts in which each local church is able to fulfill its mission.”

“In this sense, contextuality lies between what is permitted and what is not permitted,” he stated.

Muziazia argued in his essay that while absolute moral norms, like the Church’s teaching that marriage is solely between one man and one woman, are valid, the context of a person’s situation determines whether something is immoral.

He said that topics like polygamy in Africa – or, in the Western church, the debate around blessings for homosexual unions and female priests – “are often discussed in legal terms – ‘Is it permitted or not?’ – whereas in reality they are pastoral, context-dependent questions.”

Muziazia appears to espouse the heterodox view throughout the essay that pastoral considerations trump absolute moral doctrines, such as the Church’s teaching on marriage, creating a relativistic moral framework.

He spoke about the supposedly positive elements of polygamy without clearly condemning the practice, giving the impression that the Church should tolerate or even endorse the practice in certain situations.

“In Africa, polygamy is neither a mere moral transgression nor an indication of moral backwardness. Rather, it is a social institution embedded in a comprehensive framework of kinship, alliance-building, and the transmission of life,” he wrote. “African marriage primarily unites not two individuals, but two families or lineage groups, and is sealed by the payment of bridewealth.”

“Historically, polygamy thus fulfilled several functions and obligations: it ensured the continuation of the lineage, provided agricultural labor, guaranteed the care of widows and orphans through levirate marriage, forged alliances between clans, and conferred social status,” the African theologian continued.

“The encounter with Christian missionaries led to a head-on cultural clash,” he stated. “Monogamy was demanded as a prerequisite for baptism. Thus, monogamous marriage became the hallmark of the exemplary Christian – with the result that ‘surplus’ wives were often cast out – an injustice committed in the name of the Gospel.”

He cited African theologian Bénézet Bujo, who criticized “the individualism of the imported Western family model, the disregard for the communal and tradition-bound dimensions, and the reduction of marriage – as a long-term commitment – to a specific point in time and of the sacrament to a single act.”

Muziazia applied his framework of analysis to “the debates within the Western Church” such as “sermons delivered by laypeople, the blessing of couples in so-called ‘irregular’ situations, the opening of church offices to women” and the heterodox German Synodal Way.

“In both cases, the argument is the same, and it applies in both directions: neither in Africa nor in Europe can the churches unconditionally generalize their own context-specific responses,” he stated.

“Between what is permitted and what is not lies the context – not as an excuse, but as a theological space where the Word becomes the answer,” Muziazia concluded.

German journalist and commentator Anna Diouf, who herself has African roots, commented on the article by Muziazia X by stating: “That’s so transparent. Obviously. They’re trying to do away with monogamy by proxy in the name of postcolonialism, and then it’s ‘free love for everyone.’ How stupid do they think we are? They really had to dig deep to find that one African Catholic who plays into their talking points.”

According to the traditional teaching of the Church, as laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, polygamy is considered one of the “offenses against the dignity of marriage.” The Catechism goes on to explain that “polygamy is not in accord with the moral law,” teaching that it “directly negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive.”

Indeed, the 24th session of the Council of Trent definitively declares in Canon II on the Sacrament of Matrimony: “If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema.”