At Sunday Mass

On Sunday I went to my second mass at the church on campus. (I also attended an interdenominational program where a colleague was preaching a few Sundays ago.) DRC is a Catholic country and the church is a very important part of life here. Notre Dame de Sagesse (Our Lady of Wisdom) is a very large cathedral from the time of the original Louvanium, which dates it to the mid-1950s. As on my visit last month, this Sunday, it filled up. I would estimate that there were more than 500 people there.

Though I am a definite outsider to Catholicism and Christianity, I have attended Catholic masses and other Protestant services over the years. The mass was largely traditional, with a few things standing out. There were few staid hymns; the music seemed very lively. There were several rhythmic praisesongs, often accented by a soul clap. The altar boys had some choreography that looked more like Soul Train than Catholic Mass. In addition to the music, I was struck by the preponderance of young people (20s and 30s) in attendance. By themselves mainly, not with families. I was surprised that this seemingly traditional church attracted a young crowd. Well, I was a bit slow to remember that I was attending mass on a college campus, but from conversations with people here, the youth would not be unusual at other churches in the city.

More than 50% of the people in DRC are Catholic. Christianity and Catholicism here predate the Belgians, going back at least to fifteenth century Portuguese traders. The established Roman Catholic church is a product of the Belgian colonial period. There are various Protestant denominations throughout the country; perhaps the most popular and interesting is Kimbanguism, which is a church for the followers of the prophet Simon Kimbangu, who was imprisoned for three decades by the Belgian authorities, dying in prison in 1951. (After my Lire en Fête presentation which included comments on Du Bois’s Pan-Africanism, one of the conversations at the reception was about the influence of Marcus Garvey on Kimbangu.) There are Kimbanguist churches in Brazil, and I have heard that there is also one in Atlanta (which has one of the largest Congolese communities in the US--along with Charlotte, North Carolina).

The Catholic Church is an established force, and a significant political player here. The church considered fielding the current Archbishop as their Presidential candidate. As I understand it, they have decided against it. They have officially decided not to field any candidates or make any endorsements, but will fully support and promote the election process.