8

The ElusiveChristianFamily:Mission-

ary Attemptsto DefineWomen's

Roles.CaseStudiesfrom Cameroon
Fiona

Bowie

Introduction
The monogamousfamily unit has for nearly 2000 yearsbeenregarded
as the basisof WesternChristiansociety,sanctionedby both Church
and State.The desirability and sanctityof a single lifelong partnership
hasbeentakenasaxiomatic,regardedasboth the norm andasthe ideal,
evenif an imperfectreflectionof actualsocialrelations.ChurchFathers
such as Augustine might have soughtto justify the polygynous marpatriarchs,but biblical exegesisdid not present
riagesof Old Testament
the samechallengeto churchteachingasthe engounterwith contemporary polygynistsin the mission field. In Tropical Africa the insistence
on monogamyhas been a major stumbling-block to the widespread
acceptance
andpracticeofChristianity throughoutthe periodofmodern
missionaryendeavour.Among African Christianswho havebeenbaptised into one of the mission churches,church marriageremains the
exceptionratherthanthe rule.l
WhenChristianmissionaries
werefirst confrontedwith polygynous
societiesin Africa, they assumedthat conversionandmonogamywould
go hand in hand.Polygyny,and almostevery facet of social life bound
up with it, was regardedas morally inferior or downright pernicious,
contraveningChristiandoctrineandethicsandoffensiveto the moresof
a civilised society.To the Victorian mind polygyny wasa symbolof the
l. The reasonsfor this have been discussedat length in Hastings(1973).
Shorter(1978)alsohassomeinterestingobservationson the lack of fit between
Christian (missionary)and African marriagepatterns(seeesp. Ch. 6). For a
brief historical survey of Christian attitudesto monogamy,particularly in the
WesternChurch,seeDowell,(1990).

145

146

Fiona Bowie

lascivious,debauchednatureof the African. Few missionariesfollowed

the exampleof Albert Schweitzer(1875-1965),who questionedthe
wisdom of doing away with an institution so deeply embeddedin
African social life.2 A notable exception was John Wiltiam Colenso
(1814-83),AnglicanBishopof Natal, who sanctionedthe baptismof
polygynists without requiring them to divorce their secondor subsequentwives.Colenso'sleniencyin this matter,togetherwith his publications on the Old Testament(in which he questionedthe historical
validity of the Pentateuch),so shockedhis contemporariesthat he was
accusedof heresy and excommunicatedby the Archbishop of Cape
Town. He remainedin Natal as the Judicial Committeeof the British
hivy Council ruled that he be permittedto retain the cathedraland the
Themajorityof missionaries,
however,wereas
assetsof Nataldiocese.3
arrogantin their enforcementof monogamyas they were blind to the
polygyny(seeEkechi, 1970;Hurbenefitsofferedby institutionalised
bon,1969).
The associationof polygyny with social,economicand moral values has lent it a strengthwhich 150 yearsof missionaryactivity in
countriessuch as Cameroonhas failed to eradicate.The missionary
churcheshave, of necessity,moved from a hard-line authoritarian
approachto polygyny to a more pragmatic'softly softly' stance,reasoningthat fundamentalstructuralchangesin societywill not happen
overnight,and that time and economicforces may well be on their
side.However,as the title of the papersuggests,the Christianfamily
has proved an elusive concept.Much missionar5Tefforthas been
expendedin definingthe roles of convertsin relationto marriageand
in controllingtheir sexualbehaviour,in an attemptto encourageconformity with churchteaching.The interplayof ideologicalandpractical factors that have shapedmissionarypraxis becomeapparentat
'groundlevel', making it easierto identify specificattitudestowards
womenandthe impactof missionactivity upontheir lives.This paper
thereforeusescasestudiesasa meansof determiningthe dynamicsof

(1961-3).
2.Schweitzer
3. Reflectingon the Natal experience,the 1888LambethConference(the collective voice of the Anglican Communion)ruled that 'polygamy is inconsistent
with the law of Christiansconcerningmarriage'.A hundrcdyearswere to pass
beforethe 1988LambethConfercncerevisedthis decisionandallowedpolyg5inists to receive baptism, provided they promise to take no more wives. The
compulsion to divorce existing secondarywives was removed (see Shorter,
1988:173;Pobee,1991:803;Bowden,1969).

Missionary Attempts to Define Women's Roles

147

mission policy and its effects on the lives of individuals within the
mission sphere of influence.a

The Mill Hill Missionariesand the Christian Family

ln 1922the Societyof St Josephfrom Mill Hill in North London,commonly known as the Mill Hill Missionaries,were requestedby the
SacredCongregationfor the Propagationof the Faith in Rometo undertake missionarywork in the CameroonsunderBritish Mandate,and so
fill the vacuumleft in 19165by the allied forcesexpulsionof GermanspeakingRomanCatholic missionaries.
The Mill Hill Missionaries,undera Scotsman,
BishopJosephCampling, andhis successor,the energeticand hard-headedIrishman,Bishop (later Monsignor) Paul Rogan, made their headquartersat Small
Soppo near Buea on the side of the CameroonMountain. From here
other permanentstations,both new and on the site of earlier missions
abandonedduring the war, were graduallyopenedthroughoutthe territory. Eachmissionstationhad two or threeEuropeanpriestsor brothers
who would take it in turns to tek through the villages of the interior,
instructing Christiansand catechumens,administeringthe sacraments
andsettlingdisputesbetweenchurchmemben.The catechistsandlocal
Christianswereresponsiblefor building andmaintaininga housewhere
a visiting priestcould stay,andfor providing carriersfor eachleg of the
journey. The Mill Hill Missionariesaimedto cover a wide area,rather
than concentratetheir efforts on one or two sites, ulth the result that
eachoutstation,left in the handsof a native catechist,was visited only
two or threetimesa ysar,dependingon its distancefrom the cenftal station with its residentEuropeanmissionaries.
The catechist,almost invariably male and often a native of the villagein which he wasposted,wasfrequentlyrecruitedwhile working on
4. Thecasestudiesonwhichthispaperis basedcomefromtheBangwa/Ivlbo
areasof SouthWestProvincein the formerterritoryof British Cameroons.
UnderBritishMandatethe Cameroons
wasadministered
aspartof Nigeria's
SouthemProvince,electingto join the Francophone
Cameroons
at [ndependence.Thecountryis nowknownastheRepublicofCameroon.
5. TheMill Hill Missionaries
werefoundedby HerbertVaughan
in 1866,asa
missionarysocietyof priestsandbrothers,to carry the RomanCatholic faith to
the landsbeingopenedup by colonial expansion.Their work in Africa startedin
1895in Uganda followed by missionsin Keny4 the Congo,Cameroonand the
Sudan.Memben of the Society are recruitedfrom the Netherlands,the Tyrol
(Italian andAusfian), Ireland,ScotlandandEngland.

148

Fiona Bowie

the coastal plantations to the south. His task was to teach Christian doctrine, according to his own understanding of it, prepare candidates for
baptism and conduct church services. He saw to the upkeep of the mission buildings and liaised with the central mission station, trekking
there each frst Friday of the month to receive his small salary and
report to the priest-in-charge. The catechists also acted as teachers,
which involved giving elementary lessonsin Christian doctrine, numeracy and literacy to small boys, a role which afforded the catechist, often
the only semi-literate person in the village, considerableprestige. The
medium of instruction was either the local language or, if the catechist
came from a different linguistic group, pidgin English. English (or pidgin, which was widely spoken by men who Faded or travelled for work
across linguistic boundaries) had pre-dated and subsequently replaced
German as the dominant European language in this part of the
Cameroons.
The missionaries were well aware that a poorly instructed catechist,
with only a basic primary education, working alone in the bush, was
incapable of creating and sustaining a Christian community. They therefore sought to supplement the efforts of the isolated village catechists by
removing some Christians and potential converts from their communities, encouragingthem to establishChristian enclavesaround the central
mission station. For a period some priests even tried to encourage all
Christians to form separatecommunities, cut offfrom the life of the village. Christian settlements were the source of much antagonism
betweenthe native Christians and the local chiefs, yho considered,with
somejustification, that their authority had been undermined by the missions. This policy also brought the mission authorities into conflict with
the British Mandate Govrnment, whose adminishative system, based
on indirect rule, depended upon the authority of the traditional rulers
being upheld (cf. Githige, 1982). The notion of self-containedChristian
enclaves failed to take root, but separate settlements did become common for two groups of people whom the missions consideredparticularly susceptible to negative influences in their native villages. These were
small boys attending school, who were kept under the eye of the mission until they could be baptised and admitted to the sacraments, and
women.

'SisterMammy' Settlements
In orderto preventChristiangirls from living with their husbands
before a church marriage could take place, the missionaries established
'sister mammy' settlements in or near the mission compound. Here

MissionaryAttempts to Define Women's Roles

149

women were obliged to spend some weeks or months receiving 'doctrine' and providing unpaid labour for the mission under the eye of a
priest or catechist. By 1940 these sister mammy settlementsexisted at
all the larger mission stations. There were continual reports and complaints of the catechistsresponsiblefor thesesettlementsexercising sexual rights over the women under their care, sometimeswith the knowledge of the European clergy.6Father Nabben, a Mill Hill priest writing
in about 1940 from Mbetta, the chief mission station among the Mbo,
commentedthat 'Getting mammies on the mission with belly [i.e. pregnantl is getting worse.'7All too often the women who had been brought
to the mission to prevent them from living with their husbands,or husbandsto be, until they were deemedready for a church wedding became
concubinesof the catechist.
In a memorandum of 16 October 1930, addressedto the Resident,
Buea (the senior British official in the territory), the District Officer
(D.O.) of Mamfe, J. S. Smith, describedthe function of a sister mammy
settlement at Baseng Mission in the following terms.8The settlement
was on native land near the mission, technically under the control of the
local chief, but in effect under the aegis of the priest-in-charge,Father
Ham. The women, usually 6G-70 in number, came and went at Fr.
Ham's discretion staying in the settlementfrom a few weeks to a year or
more. The women living in the settlementincluded those who wanted to
learn 'doctrine' from a village with no teacher, women married to a
'pagan' who wished to remarry a Christian, and baptised women who
were living with their husbands, to whom they ha5} been married
according to traditional custom, but who had not married in church. The
concern of the missionarieswas to prevent, as far as was in their power,
any sexual contact between a-woman and her husbandor intended husband until both partners were baptised and married according to the
rites of the Roman Catholic Church.
Marriage was, according to Bangwa and Mbo custom, a long process
from betrothal at birth (for a woman) to the birth of her first child, with
exchangeof bridewealth forming an important element. The traditional
procedureswere regardedwith suspicion by the missionarieswho were
troubled by the discrepanciesbetween a Western Christian notion of
marrige, based on a legal contract and enacted over a short period of
6. Illustratedgraphicallyin Mongo Beti's novel ThePoor Christof Bomba,
1977,whichis setin Fracophone
Cameroon.
7. FatherNabbento BishopRogan,MbettaDiocesanand VicarateGeneral
InformationFiles.
8. Filesd(1930)1.

rl[lr,

<ulu Lus f1.lrlualr Pruucssual

lllamge

wrln

lts comprex

soclal ano

economic ramifications. Whether they were regarded as more compliant, more in need of protection from family influence or more inherently sinful becauseof their gender,it was on women that the missionarie
focused their efforts to reform African marriage.
The missionaries' desire to see marriages 'regularised' was nol
shared by the Native Authorities (that is the chiefs, the main organ ol
indirect rule) nor by the British District Officers. In the case of Baseng
mission J. S. Smith consideredit undesirableto have a community on
village land which regardeditselfas separatefrom village authority, and
suggestedthat any woman wishing to join the settlementshouldperson
ally ask permissionof the chief, as any other 'stranger' who wished to
settleon Basengland would be obliged to do. The women would then
be liable for communal labour along with the rest of the inhabitants of
the village, and shouldnot confine their activitiesto the mission.Fathe
Ham, however, was anxious that the settlementshould not be moved to
the village a mile away.As J. S. Smith put it: 'he is awarethat inegularities occur even when the women are living near the Mission, but the
purposeof the Mission would be altogetherstultified if the women were
to live at a distance.'e
Apparently not all the women were there willingly, and there are
reportsof nativewomen being 'roundedup' by the Fatherswith the help
of Yaundenatives,who actedas a kind of police force. In one casethe
priest responsiblefor such a round up, a young Dutchman named van
Dal, was takento court and charged,amongother things,with 'deprivation of liberty', for taking a numberof women andgirls from Illoani village to Basengagainst their wishes. It appearsthat the town elders consented to the girls going to Baseng, but that the girls themselveswere
not consulted and were taken under guard, to the extent of being escorted 'for the relief of nature'.r0The Resident,Buea, describedthesesettlements as 'a source of scandal and offence' and insisted that the
women remain subject to the Native Authority and not under the
absolutecontrol of the Mission.rrThe British Administration,it must be
said, was chiefly concernedwith upholding the authority of the Native
Courts, rather than with protecting the rights of individual women held
againsttheir will.

9. Ibid,para.6.
10.Confidentialmemorandum
from the Resident,Buea,to the Secretaryof
the Southernhovinces,Enugu,Nigeria,no.c6l1931,
14 May 1931,para.19
file sd (1931)5.Seealso file sd(1930)5,
RomanCatholicMission,Baseng
Complaints
Against.
I l. Ibid.

Missionary
Aftemptsto DefineWomen'sRoles |

151

The Authority of the ChiefversusMissionAuthority

In a report of mission activity amongthe Mbo, Bangwaand Mundani
ribes in l930rz the District Officer of Mamfe outlined the attitude of
local chiefsto the work of the LutheranBaselMission andthe Mill Hill
(RomanCatholic) Mission. The popularity of the respectivemissions
dependedlargely on the degreeto which they respectednaditional attitudestowardswomen.The chiefsreportedthemselvessatisfiedwith the
Basel Mission and the work that it did. No woman was taken for religious instructionwithout the consentof her father or husband,and vernacularschoolsfor small boys were well attendedand popular.Education for girls was consideredby the chiefs to be unnecessary,and in
their view led to trouble.The District Officer concludedthat therehad
neverbeenany but cordial relationsbetweenthe chiefs and BaselMission,asthemissionauthoritiesdid not go contraryto nativecustoms.
Relationsbetweenthe RomanCatholic Mission and the chiefs were
not running so smoothly,and the District Offrcer suggestedsomeof the
factors responsible,in particular differencesover infant betrothal and
marriage,and the sanctityof the chief's wives. The mission and 'animists' startedwith diametricallyopposedideas,accordingto the Disrict
Officer. The missiondemandedthat everyonewho soughtrefuge with
them,including women,or who wishedto attendtheir religiousclasses,
to womenwho
shouldbe free to do so. They also gaveencouragement
wished to marry Christians,even if alreadymarried to someoneelse,
providedthat the new husbandrepaythe bridewealth;ohis predecessor.
Thecustomofinfant betrothalensuredthateverygul alreadyhada 'husband' and was not thereforefree to choosea partnerfor herself if she
becamea Christian.The Bangwaand Mbo insistedthat unlesstheir old
customsandlaws wereobeyed, theadministrationof thecountrywould
becomeimpossible.The District Officer notedthat interestin theRoman
CatholicMission in northernMbo (Nkinkwa) andBangwahad actually
declined,althoughthe missionauthoritiesdeniedthat their own actions
in alienatingthe chiefs were in any way responsible,putting the blame
insteadon the Adminisfiationfor its 'prejudiceandlack of support'.
Anotherfrequentcomplaintwasthat the Fathersandtheir nativecatechists'inveigled children and young girls undermarriageableageinto
without the knowledgeor conbaptismandinto becomingcatechumens
Despitetheoppositionof thechiefs,the
sentof theirlawful guardians'.r3
District Officer,reportingon the missionsin MamfeDivision, did defend
12.ReportfromtheD. O.Mamfec2l30l2,ll June1930.Filesd(1928)2.
Buea,to theSecretary
of
13.Confidentialmemorandum
fromtheResident,
para.18.Filesd(1931)5.
theSouthern
Provinces,
no.c6l1931,

L52

Fiona Bowie

the mission's right to give shelter to married women who had deserted
their husbands for good reason, although the Native Courts and not the
missions retainedthe right to settle disputesarising from such actions.
One of the main obstacles in the way of a Christian monogamous
marriage was the bridewealth system, which involved a wide network
of kin and future affines, all of whom had financial interests in a girl's
marriage. As bridewealth payments started at birth, a woman who
becamea Christian could not be extricated from theseobligations without considerable difficulty. The Catholic mission was accused by the
chiefs and other male compound heads of converting their daughters to
Christianity without their prior approval and of marrying them under
the auspicesof the mission without parental consent.ra
Chief Fonwen and his Wves
These diffrculties are illustrated in the caseof an Mbo chief, Fonwen, and
his wives. threp of whom wished to becomeChristians.I\1924 the Chief
and sevenof his wives approachedthe catechist at Fonwen, a mission outstation ofBaseng, and asked to attend catechism classes.After a year the
Chief stopped going and forbade his wives to attend 'docfine' or to say
prayers in their houses.In I 928 three of thesewomen took out a summons
against their husband at Mamfe Native Court, complaining of cruel treatment. The court ruled that the women should return to their fathers who
were to repay the bridewealth they had received for them. The women's
fathers refused to take them back. One said that he would not take back a
'king's woman', one could not repay the bridewJalttr and it emerged that
the third had not actually received bridewealth for his daughter, who was
therefore living wittr the Chief voluntarily and not as a wife. The women
sought refuge in Fonw6n mission and were escorted to the main station at
Baseng by Father Ham when he next visited their area.
The Chief and the District Officer were extremely annoyed with
Father Ham, whom they accusedof undermining the ruling of the Native
Court. They ordered him to comply with the court ruling and to send the
women back to their fathers. The mission argued that as catechumensthe
women had a right to mission protection. The case was finally settled in
1929 when the Mamfe Appeal Court upheld the original ruling and the
women returned to their fathers who repaid the bridewealth.r5
14.Minutes andextractsfrom a text wrinen by the Residentandreadto Mgr
Rogan,27September
1931,para.8. File sd(1931)5.
15.Confidentialmemorandumno.c5ll929,
D. O. Mamfeto Resident,Buea.
27,?, 1929.File sd(1928X.

MissionaryAttempts to DefineWomen'sRoles

153

Another caseillustratesthe difficulties involved for womenmarried

to a polygynist who was convertedto Christianity. Polygynists who
becameChristianswere encouragedto chooseone wife (they usually
kept the youngestandprettiest)to marry in church,andto 'drive away'
the others.If one of the wives was already a Christian she should be
chosen,but if all wives of a polygynist werebaptisedChristians(a situation only arising in someProtestantchurches)only one shouldremain
with her husband,the rest being sent away from the compound(cf.
Strayer,1978: 79). The following case,concerningBuma, a native of
Illo, Balundu,highlightsthe dfficulties which facedall partiesin sucha
situation.
Buma and his Wives
The caseconcerneda man who on becominga Christianhad sentaway
a wife, by whom he hadhadthreechildren,so asto marry a secondwife
in church.In l93l a Mill Hill priest,Fathervan Dal, was chargedin
Kumba Provincial Court with assaultingthe man, Buma, for resuming
cohabitationwith his native('pagan')wife. Whencalledto witnesson
behalf of the Crown, Bumaexplainedhis situation:16
I am a nativeof lllo, Balunduin KumbaDivisionandI am a Christian.
About5 yeanagoI marrieda wifeby NativeCustomandhave3 childrenof
whichI hasdied.About2 yqus agoI marrieda wife in churchby theR.C.
Missionat Illo whichI believeis not licensedfor marriages.
The Father
Doeswyktoldmeto driveawaymy nativewife andchildgen
althoughI was
still fondof mywife.AfteraboutI yearI sentfor my wiffand wethreelived
mynativewife andChristianone....I knowit is againstChurchlaw
together
thata manhas2 wivesandI anticipated
somepalavawhenthe lst accused
[vanDal]came.
Potentiallyso distressingfor thosewives sentawaywithout any status or meansof support,andgenerallywithout their childrenwho, when
pastinfancy, would remain in their father's compound,such situations
wereresistedby converts.Polygynyretainedits pivotal role in the society andmonogamywasseldomacceptedasan essentialprerequisitefor
becominga Christian.

16. Caseat Kumba Provincial Court beforc D. S. Cook, D. O., on ?A Apnl

1931.Rex v. van Dal and 6 others.Seealso confidential memorandum,D. S.
Cook to Senior Resident"Buea, 294 1931, Kumba hovincial Court cases
4Wl3l. File sd(1931)5.

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Fiona Bowie

Traditional Custom and Church Teaching

A quarter of a century later a Mill Hill priest in Mbetta (which became
the central mission for the Bangwa and Mbo in 1936) was struggling
with these same problems, 0rying to come terms with the contradictions
inherent in the native and Christian views of marriage. He was anxious
to determine the extent of the mission's authority, and to this end
entered into a profacted correspondence with Bishop Rogan. Among
other issuesraised, Father Fitzsimons tackled the problem of marriage
and bridewealth payments.rTThe young people in Bangwa and Mbo
were often unable to marry quickly for various reasons.In some cases
the family were slow in providing the necessary bridewealth, or the
amount was too high (over f,100 in the 1950s), or there were family
quarrels preventing the exchange of bridewealth. In these casesthe couple lived together without a full exchange of bridewealth (or a church
wedding) and, if baptised, were therefore 'living in sin' and automatically excommunicated. Father Fitzsimons asked Bishop Rogan to clarify the regulations concerning bridewealth payments, and suggestedthat
he be allowed to ignore the bridewealth, marry couples in church, and
readmit them to the sacraments.Bishop Rogan's colourful reply to this
question, based on his long years of experiencein such matters, ran as
follows:lE
But with regardto youngcouples,living togetherunmarried!!! If we simply
marry them without dowry there is dangerof dozensof setsof bansbeing
calledeveryweek!!!Getparentsor guardiansof giy'sto agreeto marriagein
Churchon part-payment
to "witness"agreements
of dowry...havewitnesse's
andsignatures....
Part...of dowry mustbe paidor therewill be no "indissolubility": Parentswould simply take the girl back saying the man had not
beenpaid 'cargo'..."airdthelaststateof bothboy andgirl will be worsethan
the fimt" - for the man will take anotherwoman (althoughmarried to the
fint girl; andthe girl will be given to anotherman,althoughmarriedto chap
1...).And if we "ignorethe dowry altogether"you will get dozensof weddings in churchevery few months.
Local customs of cohabitation were not the only topic on which
Bishop Rogan held strong views. The missionariesthought it necessary
to determine the behaviour of women as mothers, as well as their conduct as wives. In a letter to Father Kerkvliet, dated August 18 1941,
Bishop Rogan responded to a comment of Father Kerkvliet's on the
17.Fitzsimonsto Rogan,14July 1954.DiocesanandVicarateGeneralInformationFiles. Mbetta.
18.Roganto Fitzsimons,7 August1954,ibid.

MlsslonaryAttempts to DeflneWomen'sRoles

155

high infant mortality rate in the Bangwa/IVlboareawith the following

observations:le
Sorryof courseto hearthatpeoplearedyingoff but a greatdealof thatis
theirownfault.Theremedyis in theirownhands.Theywon'tbelievethat.
Youmentiononefactor,- intermarrying.
Thenmothersshouldleavetheir
pikinsat homeinsteadof tying themto theirbacksandhumpingthemall
to farm,to bush.Babiesneedasmuchsleepas
overthecountry,- to dances,
all dayby
theycanget.Theycannotgetit whilebeinghumpedandbounced
mothers
or by smallgirlstotingthem.Nativeshaveanideathatbabiesmust
'chopbobby'[breastfeed]everytenminutes.Do notlet peoplegetintothe
"we wantSisterfor country,- Sister,Sister,Sister".TheSistersat Kumbo
dowhattheytell
still haveenoughtroubletryingto makethenativemothers
anda DICTAthem.And Fr.Figl, whois prcttyfrankandquicktempered
TOR,hadto FORCEChristianmothersto adoptthecradleideafor babies.
Youwill haveto do the same.It will meanconstantdrilling in into them
everytrek;andin CentralMission...
Whateverthe accuracyor otherwiseof Bishop Rogan'stheoriesof
childcareandinfant health,it is clearthat religion andEuropeanculture
were regardedby the missionariesas part of the samepackage.There
was a tensionbetweenimpartingWesternpatternsof behaviour,uncritically acceptedas intrinsically 'Christian', andthe encounterwith local
culture, which was by definition 'unchristian'. Any adaptation to
African customswasregardedascompromise.
Questionsof bridewealthpayments('dowry' in mission parlance)
and Christianmariage were a sounceof much debay, highlighting the
critical lack of fit betweenchurchcanonlaw, missionaryconcemsand
the realities of the pastoralsituation.FatherFitzsimonsadvocated,for
instance,baning from thecacramentsChristianparcntswho had given
their daughterin marriageto a 'pagan' or lapsedChristian.If, as was
usually the case,the girl proved unwilling to deserther non-Christian
husband,the parents should at least, Fitzsimons argued,return the
bridewealthto the missionor Native Court asa sign of repentance.2o
He
alsonotedthat in oneinstancethe mission 'dowry book' at Mbettaindicatedthat 56 peoplehadreceivedbridewealthfor a particulargirl, 46 of
whom were Catholics.2lAs far as Fitzsimons was concernedthese
'shady deals' over bridewealthdues were 'country fashion' and contrary to God's law. Accommodationto local marriage custornswas
regardedas political expediencyand rejectedby the puristsas contrary
19.Roganto Kerkvliet,l8 August1941,ibid.
20.Fitzsimons
to Rogan,26September
1954,ibid.
2l.Ibid.

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FionaBowle

to Christianteaching.'Doesthe Catholic Churchtake African maniage

as such and sanctify it? Or does the Catholic Church first strip the
African marriagedown to the essentialsastaughtby the moralists?'was
the questionposedby Fr. Fitzsimons,with regard to bridewealth.In
practice the Church found that it was unable to ignore the role of
bridewealthin African marriage,althoughin theory marriageremained
a sacramentalact independentof bridewealthpayments.
Another questionraisedby FatherFitzsimonsin a letter to Bishop
Rogan22
was that of 'sacramentsin periculo rnortis'. A baptisedChristian with severalwives would, whendying, call for a priestto administer
the sacramentof anointing.A Christianpolygynistwasofficially barred
from the sacraments,unlesshe first rectified his marital situation by
sendingall but one wife away.Fr. Fitzsimonsarguedthat the only way
to be certain that the man had rid himseff of his surpluswives was to
ensurethat he had takenback the bridewealthhe had paid for them.As
it was impossibleto :urangesuchcomplicatedfinancial transactionsat
shortnotice,Fitzsimonsreasoned:
Theyshouldl6i* U" refused
thesacraments
evenin extrcmis,as
we are
tryingto buildupona solidfoundation
theChurch,andstrikehardblowsat
thepaganhabitof mindwhichmanyof ourChristians
still have.Theyconsider it automaticthat thesemen shouldbe fixed up at the end, as they are
importantpeopleusually,from the socialpoint of view. As much aspossible
should be done for these men beforehandin the way of visitation, and
instruction and waming while they arc in health. But when seriousillness
comes,as it comesto all sooneror later, the samersolutestandshouldbe
maintained....Iam not keento budgean inch in suchcasesof wilful sinnilg,
carriedon for years,
Another point at which canon law and missionary theory pafted company with the actual experience of life in Mbetta was over the question
of infant baptism. Catholics were encouraged to have their children baptised as soon as possible, ideally within twenty four hours of birth, but
did this hold in the case of those who, from a juridical Church perspective, were not validly maried? As Father Fitzsimons lamented in a letter to Bishop Rogan:23
I do not refer to the isolatedcase,but to MbettaandBangwawhereit is practically a local custom that all young people must have intercoursebefore
marriage.Christian parentsencouragethe young people, and then come
afterwardsto ask for Baptism.They deliberatelyprcventthem from marry-

22. I September1954.DiocesanandVicarateGeneralInformationFiles,Mbefta23. Fitzsimonsto Rogan,26 September1954,ibid.

Missionary Attempts to Define Women's Roles

157

ing in somecases,becauseof the dowry.The youngpeopletalk a lot of nonsenseabout keepingthe women in the house"to learn her fashion". When
they do have a child, they have the cheekto standup and say that God is
responsiblefor the birth of the child.
Father Fitzsimons advocated postponing baptism until the couple
had received a church wedding, a necessarycourseof action, he argued,
if the Church was to be built on sound Christian principles of family
life. In a similar vein, Fr. Fitzsimons offered his suggestionson how to
As nearly all marriageswere 'settackle irregular Christian marriages.2a
ding up cases', that is the couple had been living together (married
according to traditional custom) for some time, they were not permiaed
a sung nuptial mass 'with all the white and flowers and band'. This, he
concluded,would impress upon the people better than words 'that there
is such a thing as Christian marriage, a Sacramentwhich standson its
own independently of marriage dowry and the various other payments
which have to be made'. Fitzsimons had to admit that his policies had
not materially affected people) behaviour, but had at least made them
pause and think 'even if it is only that a queer chap has been put in
chargeof their mission' (ibid.).

lmpotence and the Annulment of Christian Marriages

Mbettaparishwas also troubled,it seems,by casesof impotenceand
consequentappealsfor divorce and the annulmentof Christian marriages.Throughthesecasestheprimaryimportanceof childrenemerges
asa sourceof tensionbetweentraditionalAfricanandWesternChristian
values.In one particularinstancethe fatherof a Bangwawomanmarriedto an impotentmanwroteto BishopRogan(in 1956)to furtherher
petitionfor a divorce,pointing out the difficulties facedby a single
womanin African societv.25
My dearLordship,
I sendheremy daughter,
Sophena
Nkeng,to seeyouabouttheabove
matter(a requestfor a divorce),the Rev.Fr. andI havefought the fight for
severalyearsandit is up to us to bring it to your decision.
My daughteris muchworried becausesince 1950,whenthey married,
they havenot lived ashusbandandwife. Therehasbeenan internal strife
betweenher and me andyour failure to makethingsright soonmay cause
1954.Ibid.
24.Fitzsimonsto Rogan,26 September
25. John[rke, RomanCatholicMission,ForekeMiddle, to BishopRogan,
15December1956.ibid.

158

Flona Bowle

her to take a wrong course.

I hopeyou will considerthis mattrvery seriouslybecauseshehasno
placein the African Societyif sheremainsin this state.It hasbeenfound
out that the husbandis unfit andwe would like you to takethe legal means.
I remain,
yours faithtully,
JohnLeke
Sophena and her mother visited Bishop Rogan in person several
times between 1956 and 1958 in an effort to obtain the required divorce,
but the bishop remained unmoved. What is striking, at a distance of over
thirty years, is the persistence and attempted faithfulness to church
teaching demonstrated by some Bangwa and Mbo Christians. It would
have been much easier for them, a minority in their villages and far
from a main mission s0ation,simply to ignore such inconvenient aspects
of church law, and return to the nied and tested customs and values of
their neighbours. Some Christians did indeed develop their own
unorthodox pracfces, based on taditional attitudes to women as property and the desire for children, regarded as one of life's greatest blessings. Referring to the case of Sopena Nkeng, Bishop Rogan expressed
his displeasure at the current state of affairs among the Bangwa and
Mbo, alluding to some of these practices, in the following letter to
Father Fitzsimons:26
Even "Christians" buying girls and hiring them out frte to poor men but
claiming the children and impotent Christians hiring out their Christian
wives in the samemannerso as to have children!!! And you can tell them
from me that if we get any more impotencecases(the manknowing beforehandthat he is impotent)I will makeit compulsoryfor all meno producea
medicalcertificatebefore they will be allowed to marry for Church!!! ...of
courseMbo- Bangwa-andKinkwa countriesarc "offthe beatentrack", days
awayfrom the road;hiddendeepin the bush:seldomin contactwith a higher type of humanbeing...BUT YOU CAN TELL TIIEM FROM ME THAI
ALL FATI{ERSAND SISTERSAND DECENT NATTVESARE SIMPLY
DISGUSTED WTTH TI{EIR VILE HABIT OF TRADING IN WOMEN
AND GIRLS... The Churchmust fight "pagancountry fashion" by constant
propaganda.Really good Christian men and really good Christian women
andgids will win out eventually.The old Christiansstill cling to manypagan
customs.Constantridicule of such 'unnatural' practiceswill stifle them
eventually.

26. Rogan to Fitzsimons,7 August 1954. See also Rogan to Altink, 18

August1958.

MissionaryAttempts to Define Women's Roles

159

Quite apart from Bishop Rogan's impatience with cases of impotence,church canon law did not favour a speedyresolution of Sophena's
problems. Apparently 'Rome' demanded the evidence of two doctors
before making a ruling in a case of impotence, and also stipulated that
the matrimonial tribunal should meet at the place of the husband and
wife, a condition totally impractical for a couple living in the isolated
village of Foreke Middle. Bishop Rogan (ibid.) recounted a story in
which a man was sent to the doctor at Mamfe, a town some two days'
walk from his home village. The doctor diagnosedimpotence. The man
was then obliged to go to a doctor in Dschang in French territory (two
days' walk in the opposite direction) only to be refused an appointment
becausehe had come from the Anglophone side of the border. He was
then sent him to Victoria (renamed Limbe) on the coast, where he disappearedwithout trace.

Disappointmento_rIndigenisation?

t
The Roman Catholic missionaries were trapped by a set of rules and
assumptions as to what the Church should be like and as to how Christians should behave. The concern of a celibate clergy (or of religious
sisters), and of the juridically minded hierarchy, to impose their control
over what could be seenas private sexual mores, has been criticised in
Europe as well as in the mission situation. Ttvo factors, however, aggravated and exaggerated the clash between private behaviour and its public manifestations on the one hand and mission teaching on the other. In
the African bush, particularly in a country such as Cameroon in which
Europeanpresencewas limited and communications poor, priests could
operatetheir missions as a kind of personal fiefdom, relatively isolated
from more liberal opinions developing at home. Secondly,the missionaries in the period describedwere still taught, in their theological training and by the societiesfrom which they came, to regard African culture
as intrinsically lacking in both its human and religious dimensions.
Cameroonian Christians were expected to think and behave according
to a Western model of Church which had little relevance to their own
societies.
By the time of the SecondVatican Council (1962-5), after nearly forty
years of missionary activity in the Mbo/Bangwa area, there were few
families or individuals who conformed to Western conceptions of Chrisr
ian morality. Pouring scorn on traditional practices, as Bishop Rogan had
suggested, did not change people's behaviour so much as harden their
attitudes towards the missionaries and towards the Christian faith. From
the many thousandsof boys, and handful of girls, baptised as children in

160 |

FlonaBowle

missionschools,very few becamethe standard-bearers

of (monogamous)
Christianfamily valueswhich the missionarieshadintended.u
Strayer(1976: 5) suggestedthat 'The history ofreligious encountr
mustalsoincludethethemeof disappoinfinent,eady expectationssubsequentlyunfulfilled'. This senseof disappoinnnentwasnot limited to the
missionaries.Eady convertsalsofelt that their expectationsof Christianity fell shortof what they hadhoped.The missionarieshadbeenseenas
heraldsof progressby those who welcomedthem. Their educational
to participate
effortsgenerallymet with success,enablingCameroonians
greater
to a far
extentin the dominantwhite society.Bangwaand Mbo
ideasof progress,however,involved the possessionof numerouswives
andchildren,who would indicatestatusandprovideeconomicandpolir
ical support.The missionnotion of progress,basedon Westemidealsof
the monogamousfamily unit and adaptationto a LatinisedChurch,was
antitheticalto the nativegoal of building apowerfrrl andpopulouscommunity.This dilemmais illustated in a Mbettacatechist'sdescriptionof
theffiering reactionsof theFontemandForekepeopleto Christianityin
generalandto nfonogamyin particular:28
At first therewasaFontemmanwhorefusedto allowthemissionto cometo
Bangwa.TheysawtheChurchasa barrierto havingmanywivesandasan
impedimentto progress- basedon the numberof children.The Forekepeople acceptedmonogamybut the Fontempeopledid not, which is why Christianity is reaching Fontem only now. The Foreke people question the
progressin Fontem.They rcasonthat we who marry only onewife haveless
children and so tbere is not much progrcss.This has led the peopleto go
back to taking many wives. There are very few peoplein Forekenow who
are practising Christians. They feel they have been cheated- their old
fathersacceptedthe new religron and depopulatedthe area.Thereare more
women aroundthan men as the men go to the towns. Womenwithout husbandsdrift to the townsso that the total populationis reduced.Therearenot
so many womento give bkth to children.
The accuracy of this assessmentof Fontem's rapid growth (it has had
a large, pennanent mission prcsence since 1965)2eand of Foreke's corresponding decline is less important than their perception of the situation. Monogamy is specifically blamed for depopulation and secondgeneration Christians are reclaiming a polygynous family structure
rejected by their parents.
27. For the BaselMission situationseeKeller (1969).
28. Penonal communicationfrom ChristopherBebetta,1981.
29. SeeF. Bowie, A Social and Historical Stttdyof ChristianMissing anang
theBangva of SouthWestCamercon,D.Phil Theses,Odord, 1985.

MissionaryAttempts to DefineWomen'sRoles

161

This returnto polygyny,which is widespreadamongsecond-generation Christians,a phenomenonby no meansconfinedto Foreke,is not

necessarilya rejection of Christianity as such.It has been arguedthat
this is part of a natural processof inculturation. This is the position
adoptedby Ekechi (1970:337), who arguesthat:
Tothemissions,
theretumto multiplemarriage
by theconvertswasnotonly
sadbut signifredthat Christianity had madeno appreciableimpact upon the
individuals involved. From the viewpoint of the Africans, however, the
move was certainly a reactionagairut Europeanacculturation.In looking at
the so-calledbackslidingof the converts,it is more usefulto look at it from
the perspectiveof indigenizingChristianity ratherthanechoingthe mission
cliche that the African was inherentlyincapableof conformingto the teachings of Christianity.
The debate on the validity of polygyny and meaning of Christian
inculturation has gathered momentum in the years following independence (and the Second Vatican Council), with both independent and historic Churches adopting differing views.3oIn the Bangwa area, however, Christian polygynists are often aware that through their compromise
they have failed to live up to the teachings of the Church. When in 1979
a Roman Catholic priest, Father Celso Corbioli, visited Nkong, an isolated village on the Bangwa/Ivlundani border which had had little Christian contact, he found a man who had been baptised as a child in the primary school at Fossungo Down. He told Father Celso that he had
'passed all the sacraments' (by which he meant baptilm, possibly confirmation, and Holy Communion) but had 'failed only in marriage' as
he had two wives. When Father Celso returned in 1981, one of this
man's wives had died and he asked to be manied to the remaining wife
in church. He was delighted that at last he had 'passed in all the sacraments' and he became Head Christian of his village (personal communication, 1981).

30. The Aladura Churchesof Nigeria and KimbanguistChurch in Zaire, for

instance,takeopposingstandsover the issueofpolygyny. The AladuraChurches sanctionpolygyny, while the Eglise de JdsusChist par le PropMte Simon
Khnbangu,as it is offrcially known, condemnsthe practice.The rclationship
betweenChristianity and taditional African culturc is discussedin severalof
the articlesin Fashol6-Lukeet al. (1978).

162 |

FlonaBowie

Conclusion
ArchbishopDesmondT\rtuhaswritten that:3l
Men becamemissionariesfrom all kinds of motives. most of which were
undoubtedlybeyondreproach.But they would haveto be personsofheroic
sanctityhad they not beentainted by the arrogancewhich was the almost
invariableconcomitantof a dominantculture. Only the exceptionalamong
themwould realisethat Christianity andWesterncivilisation werc not coterminous;that the credalexpressionsand liturgical forms which the missionary broughtwith him werenot to be confusedwith the ete,malGospel.
The development of an African christology, tackling questions of
inculturation or contextualisation, is only just beginning.32Members of
historic mission Churches will operate under different consEaints from
members of African Independent Churches, and no doubt the answeni
which emerge from African theologians andlxactical linrgists or Church
officials will reflect the variety of historical and cultural experience
among Christians. Archbishop TUtu speals of the need for a 'radical spirinral decolonisatign' in African theology (ibid.: 396), claiming thac33
The worst crime tbat canbe laid at the door of the white man(who it mustbe
said,hasdonemany a worthwhile and praiseworthything for which we are
alwaysthankful) is not our economic,social andpolitical exploitation,howeverreprehensiblethat might be; no, it is that his policy succeeded
in filling
mostof us with a self-disgustand self-hatred.This hasbeenthe mostviolent
form of colonialism, our spiritual and mental enslavemen!when we have
sufferedfrom what canonly be calleda religious or spiritual schizophrenia.
Africanisation of church hierarchies or indigenisation of liturgies
will not of themselves correct the westernising impositions of past and
present missionary activity. In relation to women and issues such as
monogamous versus polygynous marriage a double form of colonisation has taken place. To European models imposed by the missions (and
taken over in many cases by indigenous secular and religious authorities) one must add the dominance of male culture. To aim at a model (or
models) of Church which takes account of women's experience is a ask
which has barely begun among the historical mission churches. African
Independent Churches have in some casesattempted to find a more genuinely indigenous expression of faith which might entail, as in the
31. 'WhitherAfricanTheology?'in Fashol6-Luke
et at. (1978:354).Seealso
article in Parratt(1987: 4G57).
32. See,for instance,Appiah-Kubi(1987).
33. Cited in Parrott(ibid: 47).

MlssionaryAttempts to DeflneWomen'sRoles

163

Aladura Churches,enablingwomen to play a more active role in line

with their prominencein traditional society.I Whether monogamous
Christianmarriagewill surviveasa norm for someor all of the churches in Africa remainsto be seen.African theologiansare still, according
to ArchbishopTutu (1987:55), 'too muchconcernedto play the game
accordingto the white man'sruleswhenhe is often the refereeaswell'.
He concludeswith the propheticstatement,relevantto practicalpastoral
problemssuchas Christian marriage,as well as to academictheology,
that 'It is only whenAfrican Theologyis true to itself that it will go on
to speakrelevantly to the contemporaryAfrican - surely its primary
task- and also, incidentally,makeits valuablecontribution to the rich
Christianheritagewhich belongsto all of us' (ibid.).35

34. There have been numerousstudiesof the Aladura Churches.See,for

instance,Omoyajowo,in Fashol6-Luke
et al. (1978).
35. Speakingof Asian inculdration (not a term he favours),Aloysius Pieris
(1988)pointsto the necessityof merginga cosmic(i.e. tribal) religion and a
metacosmicreligion (such as Christianity) if the latter is to put down institutional rootsin a culture.He also stressesthe necessityof fomfng baseChristian
communities,theologisingout of their praxisof involvementwith the societyof
which they arc a part, if indigenisationof Christianity is to becomea reality.
Theseprinciplesareequally valid in an African context.

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Chrisrtan Theolo gy,SFCK, London
Beidelman, T. O. (1982) Colonial Evangelism, Indiana University Press,
Bloomington
Beti, M. (1977) Tlrc Poor Christ of Bomba,Heinemann,Iondon
Bowie,F. (1985)A SocialandHistorical Sudy of ChristianMissionsamongthe
Bangwaof SouthWestCamercon,D.Phil thesis,University of Oxford
SCM,L,ondon
Bowden,J. (1969)Wlut AbouttheOld Testanunt?
Dowell, S. (1990) TheyTwo Slwll Be One:Monogamyin History and Religion,
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Ekechi, E. K. (1970) 'African Polygamy and WesternChristian Ethnocentricism', Journalof African Studies,3:32949
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Githige,R. M. (1982),'The MissionStateRelationshipin ColonialKenya:A

Summary',Joumal of Religionin Africa, 13, I lO-25
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sd (1928)2RomanCatholicMission,MamfeDivision
sd (1928)4RomanCatholicMission,Interference
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suondnradp)yolsry puDtn!0olodott17uy
luasard puP lsPd :suo!ss!l\lpuP uetuoM

cR oss-cuLruR A L

pE R spE crrvE s

oN w oME N

I vol uue

Womenand Missions:
Past
and Present
Anthropological
and HistoricolPerceptions

EDITED BY

Fiona Bowie, Debor ah Kir kwood

and Shir ley Ar dener

BERG
Providence/Oxford

I I

Fintpublishedin 1993by
Bcrg Publishers
Editorid offices:
221 WatermanStreet,hovidence, RI 02906,USA
150Cowley Road,Oxford, OX4 lJJ, UK
@Fiona Bowie, DeborahKirkwood, Shirley Ardener 1993
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may b reproducedin any form or by any means
without the written permissionof Berg PublishersLimited.
Library of Congrtss Cataloging-in-hrblication Ileta
Womenandmissions:pastandpresencanthropologicalandhistorical
perceptions
/editedby FionaBowie,DeborahKirtwoo4 andShirleyArdener.
J. ca. -- (Cross-culhualperspectiveson women)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. ) andindex.
ISBN G8549G738-9(Cloth) U85496872 5 (paper)
1. Womenin missionarywort. 2. Missions-Africa. Sub-satraran.
I. Bowie, Fiona.tr. Kirkwood, Deborah.Itr. Ardener,Shirley.
IV. Series.
BV26l0. W6l8 1993
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