‘Africans going Dutch’: Part Thirteen – A black sheep

When I heard for the first time about the accusations of child sexual abuse in the Dutch Catholic Church I was shocked.

By Perets Nimpoza

I couldn’t believe that somebody who was bringing the gospel to the people could do things like that. In Africa we think very highly about church leaders. That said, you could also argue that a lot of Africans are a bit naïve.
Of course, sexual abuse of children is something different than adultery, but the sexual abuse in the Dutch Catholic Church did me remind of a story I heard in Burundi.
In a small village Father Peter had been working for a big European Catholic mission organisation for a number of years. Everyone in the village liked what he was doing. He seemed to be a kind man. Besides preaching in the church, he would visit people at home to talk with them about their life and their problems. Then he would pray for them. For some reason he visited more women than men. But Peter could explain why.
“The woman is a weak creature”, he said. “It’s very important to bring her comfort regularly. This is the will of God.” The people in the village thought this was a decent explanation.
But one day, one of the villagers was angry with the priest and came to see him. “Listen to me Father”, he said. “I have a problem. My wife has a son. And he is white. Because you are the only white man in the village, I don’t like you.”
“Ah my son”, Peter said, “the secrets of God are complicated. What happened is normal. You see, science tells us that….”
“No, my Father. I don’t care about science. What I know is that my son is white like you. And you are the only white in the village. How can you explain that?”
“Wait”, said Peter, “I’ll show you something and you will understand. Do you see that flock of sheep?”
“Yes.”
“They are all white, but one of them is black. That is the secret of God.”
When the people of the village heard the story they went to see the white child, a secret of God. But it was still difficult for the mother to explain why she was such a special person that she was given a white child.
But she also found an explanation: “I had a white child because I made fun of the strange things the priest says when he is preaching. So be careful and don’t make the same mistake I made, or you will have a child that looks like the man you have laughed at.”
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