Forms of Assigning Pastoral Care: Its Application in the Nigerian Context in the Light of the Instruction of the Congregation of the Clergy, “The Pastoral Conversion”

Abstract

On the 20th of July, 2020, the Congregation for the Clergy of the Roman Curia issued the Instruction “Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelizing Mission of the Church”. The aim of the document is to assist the parish structure to “read the signs of times while adapting both to the needs of the faithful and to historical changes”. On its release, the document has been greeted with various opinions. The aim of this article is to interpret the prescripts of the instruction in the light of the changing face of the African Parish, and the Nigerian Parish in particular. The author, using the analytical and comparative methods, has provided a Nigerian reception of the document with the conclusion that what the document has suggested, the collaboration between all cadre of ministry as available in the parish, is already fruitfully actualized in the Nigerian Church.