THE IMPACT OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS IN THE CHURCH

THE IMPACT OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS IN NIGERIA

The impact of women religious in the church is a very visible one, because of the roles of men and women in the church are more clearly stipulated than in the Secular World. This is because the church seems to have more ideas than in the secular life where women are sometimes taken for granted. The role of the women religious in the church cannot be ignored. To this effect, the saintly Pope John Paul II in his post synodal apostolic exhortation Vita Consacrata says “the church fully reveals her varied spiritual richness when she overcomes all discrimination and welcomes as a true blessing the gifts lavished by God upon both men and women, considering them in their equal dignity.

The church is the home of communion. Each individual within the church is linked to the other, because its Gods will to make the faithful into one people according to Jesus’ prayer: ‘that they maybe one’. To this effect both the hierarchy of the church are co-responsible in building up the church and furthering her mission. However, the impacts of the women religious to the church cannot be undermined, even though they lack the clerical competence, there impact to the church is massive and unique. Women have been prominent in the church and the church in Nigeria is not an exception. The impact of the women religious can be considered in the light of their specific apostolate.

The women religious have impacted so much in Nigeria generally by being signs of God’s tender love towards the humanity and they have borne special witness to the mystery of the church. The impacts of the women religious in the different sectors of the society and the church in particular cannot be denied. The self-awareness of the women religious have impacted on the men by triggering them to reconsider their way of looking at things.

The women religious have worked so hard in impacting the basic human values to the system of Nigeria. These human values bother majorly on human dignity and the dignity of labour. In the areas of human dignity, they have been able to bring to the consciousness of the people, especially the ignorant one, that each individual person deserve and ought to be treated with dignity. The women religious have worked out this goal in a tangible way that goes sometimes unnoticed; some of the women religious congregations raise and manage motherless baby’s homes and a special care for the destitute, feeding and caring for them. Some of these religious women engage in prison apostolate too.

One of the greatest impacts of the women religious in Nigeria is in the field of education. Majority of the women religious in Nigeria had taken upon themselves the responsibility of improving the education standards from the grass roots. Many of the women religious groups in Nigeria instituted schools, ranging from primary to secondary school, and many more are managing already instituted schools. These women religious who institute or manage schools ensure that the standard and quality of education imparted on the pupils or students are the best. Some of these women religious also lecture in different tertiary institutions there by contributing to the improvement of the standard and quality of education in the country.

The women religious in Nigeria have impacted so much in the areas of health.  Many women religious run the apostolate of health caring, making health facilities available, especially to the remote places, where there is little or no hope of proper medical attention. The religious sisters provide standard hospitals for health maintenance, and they go to the extent of giving free medical care and check-ups to the ones that can’t afford it. Health is wealth, and the women religious in the country have made serious impacts on this area. Some of the women religious seriously working towards the improvement of health includes the daughters of divine love, handmaid sisters, ola etc when facilities for good and basic health care is provided and afforded to the people, mortality rate reduces.

The impact of the women religious to liturgy cannot be underestimated. Many of them many of them actively participate and help out in the liturgy. A good number of the religious in Nigeria have their little ways of making their contributions to the liturgy of the church. Some do some by their production of liturgical materials, like vestments for mass and production of host for while many others help out in different ways in the church; impacting the faith by way of teaching the children catechism and so many other ways.

With the establishment of their different apostolic centers, the women religious have massively provided job opportunity in the country. The apostolic centers established by some of the women religious include hospitals, schools, host making units, production of clerical wears etc. The sectors in these apostolic centers have individual working in them and earning their living there.

As a crown of their impact, the women religious have gone a long way in fostering ecumenism in the church in Nigerian with their individual and communal efforts in the apostolic and mission field. They impact morality and sensitivity within the youths, this is with special reference to the apostolate of the university sisters of assumption, who counsel the youths and guides them; helping them out with some difficulties of their daily lives.