Reflections on an African Theology of Healing

Over 20% of the Gospel verses are directly related to Jesus touching & healing persons. These actions were used by Jesus in proclaiming His Father's love, the "good news" for all peoples. These acts touched the hearts of people, including the Evangelists who deliberately included these events within their narrations.

Over the centuries, the church has continued to incorporate healing activities with in its evangelizing mission. Indeed, even within our own Maryknoll Society, the earliest missioners to China were involved in offering basic dispensary services as a part of their evangelizing efforts. Within a healing relationship, "heart speaks to heart" with a clarity beyond any verbal expression.

Each culture has its own concept of "healing", what causes illness, what restores wellness. These concepts go far deeper than the particular objective pathologic factors involved .African cultures, like any other, has rich cultural concepts regarding what constitutes illness, healing and wellness. Strong community and social dimensions characterize the uniqueness of African healing, and what a person in need of such "healing" will seek in their quest for restoration of wellness.

For over 50 years, the Catholic Church in East Africa has been involved in health work as part of its mission. In the early years, expatriate missionary sisters from Europe came and labored tirelessly to "give to" and "do for" the patients they served. Their medical efforts were however clearly delivered through European/Western concepts of how healing was effected. The sisters had a beautiful message to impart. However, in effect, the melody they used didn't carry or fit the lyrics of the song. The African symbols and concepts of healing, being alien and unfamiliar, were largely put aside by the early medical missionaries. People understood that the missionaries meant well and were accomplishing good, but after getting missionaries' pills or scalpel, they then went to the local village healer to obtain the "wellness" needed to complete the cure! By failing to recognize and respect the cultural concepts of what constitutes African "healing", the western medical efforts were left short of actually being woven into the tapestry of evangelizing ministry.

Although Catholicism has made tremendous advances in East Africa, it has also given rise to the splintering off of innumerable local indigenous independent churches which many Africans find more attractive. Almost all of these independent indigenous churches have a strong ritual of healing incorporated into their life which attracts followers. Each day the Kenyan newspapers carry several advertisements of "healing rallies" to be conducted by roving evangelists in the city parks and markets. These rallies, usually during the noon lunch hour, draw thousands of people. Clearly the need for healing is an integral part of the African faith journey and needs to be addressed by the church in a theologically sound, yet inculturated, African manner and system of liturgy.

St. Mary's Mission Hospital is being co-founded here in Nairobi by the Maryknoll Society and the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi. This medical mission is intended to be a Catholic Center of Health Care Ministry. In striving to fulfill this goal, the medical ministry conducted within its walls needs to be African in character, concept, and context. The objective methods of western treatment must be incorporated into the broader African context of healing if we are to be a center of evangelizing ministry as well as restore the sense of wellness to our patients.

Between the poles of medication vs. magic lies a theologically sound yet inculturated path of an African theology of healing ministry. We would like to invite known African theologians into the daily hospital ward treatment dynamics to help explore and define this path in greater clarity. The potential benefits are significant both for the church in Africa as well as for the hospital and its ability to better fulfill its role in African healing ministry.

Bill's Ministry             Bill's Biography

Maryknollers in Nairobi, Kenya