Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in an exclusive interview that aired recently on TVC News, revealed shocking and highly distressing events that unfolded at the church where her mother’s funeral mass was held.

In an emotional interview with TVC senior anchor, Mike Okwoche, the award-winning writer revealed that she was verbally attacked by her hometown parish priest at the funeral thanksgiving mass of her mother, Mrs. Grace Ifeoma Adichie held at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Abba, Njikoka LGA of Anambra State in May 2021.

According to her, during his message on that fateful Sunday, the parish priest whom she identified as Christopher Eze started speaking about her in a hostile manner and the content of his speech left her in shock. “I was really taken aback to hear my name.” She shared that the priest was referring to an interview she had done months ago.

“I have never been afraid of criticism. The fear of criticism is not something I have. If this priest had written something to criticise me or even shouted at me at any other venue but the holy mass at my mother’s funeral, it would have been okay. I really would not have minded,” Chimamanda said. And naturally, she and her family found it very upsetting that the priest was doing this in the same church where her mother, a devout Catholic, had gone to mass the very day before she died.

Chimamanda stated that she thought that she “needed to address” what the priest had said, so she asked for the microphone in order to speak, for which she had to wait for some time, before the priest allowed it. She said that she wanted to ensure that she was “very respectful”, despite his hostility. She explained to the congregation that the priest had misrepresented her, and that her point was not about not wanting to support the Church. Her point was that poor villagers who could barely feed themselves should not be pressured and ambushed into donating what little they had, “particularly in a church where there are people who can afford it, and who are very happy and willing to give”.

Chimamanda said “It’s not about me”. She continued by saying that it was even more upsetting for her family, because they felt that their mother deserved better; as their mother never did anything to the priest, was extremely devout and donated to the church. Even more relevantly, their mother gave money personally to the same priest, Father Eze; and was also always worrying about what things they could give to the priest, and would often say things like “we should take drinks” to the priest. Chimamanda pointed out that despite all this, the same priest “did not think that my mother deserved the basic respect and courtesy of having a funeral that would not turn into a raucous market”.

READ ALSO: Chimamanda holds Book Reading for latest work, ‘Notes on Grief’

After she spoke, two prominent men from her hometown, including a senior government official, also asked to speak, and said to the priest “this is wrong, we are here to mourn her mother”.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

However, despite their intervention, the priest took the microphone, and continued to verbally attack her, saying “Chimamanda should not be saying anything” and so on. At this point, the regular village parishioners in the church themselves got upset, shouting “Father, it is enough” – still, the priest would not stop attacking her.

Despite all these calls and requests to the priest to cease attacking Chimamanda and continue with the funeral mass, he refused. As such, her family, friends and guests were forced to get up and leave the church. “So that’s how my mother’s funeral thanksgiving mass ended”, said Chimamanda with tears welling up her eyes.

It is important to note that even after they left, the priest continued with his verbal attacks, clearly demonstrating personal venom for Chimamanda, quite apart from anything pertaining to the church. In the interview video, the TVC news anchor, Okwoche, was clearly shocked on hearing all of this.

She revealed that in the past, the said priest had done collections of 10 Naira from the church members who are villagers struggling to feed themselves. “Why do you need to ambush poor villagers who can hardly feed themselves?”.

She shared that the same priest had also harassed her family for money when it was time to bury her father who passed in 2020. A cow had been presented to the church and he was upset because he wanted a monetary offering instead. “When I gave money to the church for Bazaar, because I knew that he always wants cash, I made sure to go and get cash” because he rejects cheques and bank transfers.

When the interviewer asked how she’s been navigating the challenging period, Adichie revealed that the actions of the priest have made the grieving process more difficult.

 “I cannot help but think of one of the beatitudes, ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”. We were not comforted and the priest failed. He failed terribly at his duty. Instead of comforting us, he increased our pain.” she stated, still trying to come to terms with having to face such an incident while mourning. “I should be allowed to mourn my mother in peace but I haven’t been able to because of what this man did and I haven’t been able to because this man has not faced any consequences for his action”.

With this issue lingering since May 2021, Chimamanda Adichie and her siblings have had to deal with the emotional toll it has taken on them but for Adichie, this is bigger than her family. “One of the reasons that I want to talk about this publicly is I don’t want what happened to us to happen to any other person. I don’t want that for anybody”.

“Nobody has faced any consequence. We have not received any apology. The wrong that we suffered has not been righted so how much worse would it be for the people who do not have the platform that I have?” 

Chimamanda emphasised that she was not at all making a blanket condemnation of the Nigerian Catholic Church, contrary to the misrepresentation by the priest. She stated that furthermore, she has a lot of respect for many in the Church hierarchy and other priests. It should be noted that she was specifically referring to the actions of her hometown parish priest, Father Eze.

When praised for being strong through it all, Adichie was quick to admit “I am not strong in the face of grief. I don’t think anybody should be strong in the face of grief”