A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CONCEPT OF PRIESTHOOD IN IGBO TRADITIONAL RELIGION AND CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

INTRODUCTION

The term Priesthood is one of the oldest institutions of mankind all over the world. The reason is certainly associated with the religious propensities of man. Man is however religious by nature, “Homo Religiosus”. Man’s preoccupation with Sacred, which Rudolf Otto described as… “A mystery inexpressible and above creatures”1.  Mysterium tremendium. – a mystery which attract and repels, must have accelerated the growth of priesthood in human society.  So many social scientists are not deluded in classifying religion as one of the five social institutions of mankind2.

By social institutions is meant…. “a complex or cluster of roles, which are knit together for accomplishment of given ends…”3  In religious sphere, communication with the sacred is often through sacred rites and the maintenance of the sacred order within the various spheres of human activities become an essential aspects of any society.

Emil Durkheim4 certainly exaggerated in equating religion with divinized-society.  However, on its function in any society, he scored a pass mark. Since religion is endemic to any human society – ancient and modern, those tools which prop it up and fan the embers of religion in the hearts of its votaries worth giving attention.  One of these tools is the institution of the priesthood. And we shall discuss it from Catholic and Igbo traditionalist perspectives. Therefore, in African traditional set up, religion is almost synonymous with culture.  Africans who are notoriously religious who “eat religiously, drink religiously, bath religiously, dress religiously and sin religiously.”5  Cherish, nourish and sustain the institution of the priesthood as part and parcel of their culture.  Priesthood and sacrifice are relatively interwoven.  Sacrifice is an act of public worship offered in the name of the community.  However, sacrifice could never be carried out without the intermediary performance of the priests, hence the importance of priesthood in religion.  Man has always been longing for the need of a special mediator between himself and the object of his worship.  “It is on this note that Aristotle supports the importance of having a priest in every community,”6 this issue of priesthood in religions is what we are set to discuss in this long essay, laying more emphasis on the Igbo traditional Priesthood and the Catholic priesthood. This long essay, apart from buttressing the unequivocal importance of priesthood in these two religions, will also try to make a comparative study of the concept of this office (priesthood) in the two religions.