Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie has recounted her experience during her mother’s burial and how it has sustained her reservations about the church.
In her article on the latest edition of L’ Osservatore Romano, a newspaper of the Vatican City State, she claimed that the church did not treat her family with compassion as they should, especially as they were mourning.
She said the treatment meted out to her and her siblings renewed her reservations about the Nigerian church.
She also stated that so much could have been handled with compassion for the grieving but it wasn’t and opportunities to show dignity were left unused.
In the paper, she quoted that their communication with the Catholic church was more of a priestly power than anything else as they had to beg and negotiate for a suitable funeral date , with an exaggerated but insincere deference shown to the priest lest he change his mind and not agree to the funeral.
In the piece which she themed Dreaming as a Single family, she also said that she was shocked when the priest criticized her for an interview she granted months ago where she has spoken about the live of money in Nigerian churches , months before her mother’s burial.
She said she didn’t expect to be criticized for an interview she hasn’t given thought to in a while.
Adichie also said that she found the concept of a Thanksgiving Mass a strange concept as the last thing she felt like doing a day after the funeral was a thanksgiving, especially as they are still shocked to bury her mother so soon after her father.
