Over 90 percent of the Catholics in Nigeria are thought to go to Mass every Sunday, the highest proportion in the world.
Nigeria has a population of over 240 million people, almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Of the Christian population, over 35 million are Catholic.
While there are now over an estimated 9,500 Catholic priests in the country, that still means the Catholic population needs a lot of help in their religious life.
“While it was possible for priests, with the help of catechists and lay leaders, to manage basic catechesis of previous generations of Catholics, the exponential growth of Africa’s Catholic population and complex new challenges to the faith today have made this task more daunting,” said Father Ken Amadi, the Director of Church Life Africa, which was formed in 2022 to train and mobilize lay Catholics in Africa as theologians, catechists, and mission leaders for the New Evangelization.
“There were hardly any theologically-minded laity desiring to study God and the truths of divine revelation more deeply, but mainly because no one considered it critical enough to invest in the theological training of the laity,” he told Crux Now. “Therefore, most Africans have long conceded to the supposition that theology was reserved exclusively for priests.”
The U.S.-based Augustine Institute has recently announced a strategic, multi-year partnership with Church Life Africa to train lay catechists in Africa, beginning in Nigeria.
Amadi spoke to Crux Now about the initiative. Here are excerpts of that interview.
Crux Now: Why is lay theological training so necessary for the Church in Africa?
Father Amadi: I have been struck by two unique phenomena in the U.S. Church life: A palpable lay apostolate, marked by intentional investment in theological education and pastoral ministry; and a growing consciousness of Africa’s promise for the future of global Catholicism.
When I first started graduate studies at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 2017, I would, for the first time in my life, be taught theology by lay professors and sit in theology classes with lay students. I soon realized that 80 percent of the theology professors and graduate students at Notre Dame were lay men and women. This was not unique to Notre Dame, but was the reality across most U.S. graduate schools and departments of theology.
These lay graduates have become something of a vibrant theological workforce for American academic, pastoral, and public life. For instance, over one thousand graduates of the Augustine Institute are serving in various mission placements around the world, and over 500 are currently in formation.
Throughout my years of study in seminary, I never encountered nor was taught by a lay theologian. There were hardly any lay theologians in Nigeria – not simply because we lacked theologically-minded laity desiring to study God and the truths of divine revelation more deeply, but mainly because no one considered it critical enough to invest in the theological training of the laity. Therefore, most Africans have long conceded to the supposition that theology was reserved exclusively for priests.
While it was possible for priests, with the help of catechists and lay leaders, to manage basic catechesis of previous generations of Catholics, the exponential growth of Africa’s Catholic population and complex new challenges to the faith today have made this task more daunting. Radical Pentecostalism, information technology and digital media, and contemporary popular and permissive culture have unleashed new waves of pseudo doctrines and casuistry upon the African Christian landscape. Unlike previous generations, today’s African Catholics need more than basic catechesis to contend with these new challenges to the faith and culture.
The growth of African Catholics has outpaced human and material resources for effective faith formation of the laity. This is surely a good problem to have. Attentive to the signs of the time, and consistent with the call of the Second Vatican Council, Africa must be supported to invest in lay theological formation as a necessary safeguard for the future of the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition. A well-formed and saintly laity will be for the Church an indomitable force for the transformation of culture and transmission of the faith to the next generation.
What are some of the unique challenges facing Catholic education in Africa?
This varies from country to country, but there seems to be a general decline in the quality of education due to the failure of governments to invest intentionally in education or partner with/support the Church to run good schools. While the Church continues to do its best, it is always limited by a lack of access to finances and other resources. Good Catholic schools are very expensive to run; and therefore, they are not affordable to the poor.
A critical challenge is the poor welfare of teachers and religious educators in Africa at all levels, primary and secondary schools, universities and seminaries. Not only are they not compensated duly, but they are hardly well trained and equipped with the best pedagogical resources.
If you could think of only one thing Americans should know about the Church in Africa, what would it be?
The growth of the faith in Africa signals a new mission of evangelization to which the Lord invites the entire Church to invest in. No other Church in the world is better positioned and blessed to support and advance this mission than the Church in the United States.
I keep saying “Africa” – but of course, Africa is a continent made out of many countries and even more unique cultures. How does this affect the work of Church Life Africa?
With 54 sovereign and unique countries, Africa is a large and vast continent whose peoples are bound by a common history of struggle, resilience, cultural richness, and a strong sense of the transcendent, among other values.
Our logo signifies an image of the flames of the Holy Spirit burning across the entire continent to enlighten its peoples and lead them to deeper truths of the Gospel. Nigeria’s unique position as the most populous country of Africa, richly diverse and influential cultures, and largest anglophone Catholic population – 35 million – makes it a fitting home base from which CLA will develop and implement a five-year expansion plan to other countries of the continent.
In partnership with the Augustine Institute, CLA will promote rural evangelization, the creation of indigenous resources in local languages, and research on various aspects of Church life in the local churches.
Concretely, what role does the Augustine Institute play?
Dr. Tim Gray visited Nigeria in the summer of 2025, and delivered powerful talks to the 300 plus participants at the CLA annual summer conference in Abuja. He also visited with Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, who welcomed him warmly and expressed excitement and support for the CLA-Augustine Institute mission partnership.
Church Life Africa and the Augustine Institute are advancing their shared mission through several key initiatives, including the Theology for Service Leadership (TSL) program. TSL in particular seeks to deeply form future parish leaders in Nigeria by integrating Augustine Institute Short Courses with local pastoral internships.
Graduates of the program receive a certificate and — upon satisfying the Prior Learning Assessment requirement— earn nine transferable credits. Thus, they will not only be immediately prepared to better serve the Church where they are but also to pursue advanced theology degrees at the master’s and doctoral levels if they wish, nourishing the faith of their communities and equipping them for the New Evangelization.
The strategy of forming formators continues as the Theology for Service Leadership students begin internships in the spring of their first year, serving as Mission Leaders who provide ongoing formation and guidance to their peers.
The TSL interns become part of a broader community of “Mission Leaders” formed through the Exploring Catholicism and Rural Evangelization programs. These leaders are equipped with Augustine Institute resources, trained to share and teach the Faith effectively in their communities, and commissioned to strengthen formation in parishes and schools.
Many Mission Leaders come from rural dioceses facing extreme poverty or persecution. Nigeria ranks among the countries with the highest levels of Christian persecution, and according to the Archdiocese of New York, 90 percent of the more than 5,600 Christians killed for their faith last year lived in rural Nigeria. Church Life Africa seeks to support these courageous Catholics by deploying Mission Leaders to bring faith formation to communities most in need—especially where resources are scarce and English is not widely spoken.
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
