Should polygamy be accepted by the Catholic Church in Africa?

African Catholic Voices

Prof Itumeleng Mothoagae, a South African biblical scholar and Head of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of South Africa addresses the contested questions around polygamy in Africa. He introduces what he calls 'biculturality and bireligiosity' in understanding why the churches in Africa are struggling with finding the right pastoral response to the prevalence of polygamy in Africa. In South Africa, polygamy is constitutional and many Zionist churches in Southern Africa embrace polygamy. Prof Mothoagae unpacks the colonial and racialized notions that led many churches in Africa, including the Catholic Church to condemn polygamy, while adopting pastoral and canonical approaches that he considers inadequate. While not endorsing polygamy or rejecting it, he invites church pastors and theologians in Africa to deepen an understanding of why polygamy persists in Africa, and how to accompany the polygamist who wishes to be baptized or to remain in the church as an already baptized Catholic who marries a second wife or a second husband.