Studying
in Africa, North America, and Europe has given me a deep appreciation of the
intercultural dimensions of learning in a changing world and a grateful respect
for the beauty and differences in cultures and religious traditions. I was
ordained a Catholic priest in my home country of Nigeria, and in addition to my
native language, Igbo, I speak French, English, and Italian. My educational
background includes an MA in theology; an MA in educational leadership; an
ecclesiastical licentiate in sacred theology (with a concentration in the
Christological images in Luke-Acts and African theologies); and a PhD in
theology from the University of St Michael’s College at the University of
Toronto (with a concentration in African Christian history’s cross-cultural
currents); and a second PhD from the University of South Africa in the sociology of education, specializing in equity and multicultural education in faith-based schooling.
In
addition to teaching at DePaul, I am also a visiting professor at Tangaza
University College’s Institute of Social Ministry and Mission in Nairobi, and
the founder of the Canadian Samaritans for Africa, a nonprofit that works
directly with African women to help them alleviate poverty. I also am the editor of
the African Christian Studies Series for Pickwick Publications, Wipf and Stock
Publishers; a commentator on Africa, religion, and politics for Canada
Television (CTV) and Al-Jazeera; a columnist for CNN African Voices, Catholic Register and Premium Times; and a blogger for Huffington
Post’s World Affairs, Religion, and Black Voices sections.
Research
My areas of interest are cross-cultural studies, African
intellectual and political history, African Christianity and the world Church,
equity and diversity in faith-based education and ministry, religion and social
transformation, and religion and violence. I coordinate CWCIT’s
new African Catholicism Project, a network of established and
emerging African Christian scholars to promote mentorship and diverse research
in African Christianity and to make this scholarship more visible beyond Africa. Since 2017, of my research concern has been centered on reform and renewal in the Church, especially following Pope Francis' call for a missionary conversion amd the crisis of clerical sexual abuse. The fruit of my research is being developed in my forthcoming book: Rome and the Margins: Reform and the Renewal in the Catholic Church Beyond the West.
Teaching
I’m a
successful teacher only if I can bring out the best in my students, supporting
them as they draw their own personal graphs for success. For me, teaching is a
service of love that holds us together, as Parker Palmer says, in “the grace of
greater things.” I wish to help students embrace the liberating light of
knowledge and the beauty of truth that holds us all in care if we can look
beyond our limited horizons. My classroom is a “discovery channel” where
encounters with truth transform all of us as we accompany each other in the learning process with love and respect. In this way, everyone sees
the bigger picture and answers the call to participate in the search for
knowledge and the good of order. The courses I teach are “Introduction to
Catholicism,” “Introduction to African Catholicism, “Catholicism &
Slavery,” "Seminar in Race, Power, and Resistance," and “Catholic Experience III: French Revolution to Present.” I use the historical, experiential
pedagogy of case studies, problem-solving, and best practices in innovative
teaching and learning to help my students gain creative skills to navigate
uncharted waters and become architects of new ideas.