Challenges Facing Religious Priests in Africa Today

Through ordination priests are anointed with the Holy Spirit, signed with a special character and are configured to Christ so that they can act in His name and in His person. Their status requires integrity of life and service which implies being one with Christ and like Him to be holy, innocent, without defilement, and set apart from sinners. However in Africa today there are various social and cultural challenges which are posing serious ethical challenges to the status of priesthood in Africa. Appreciation of worldly pleasures, consumerist attitude, sexually permissive culture, and negative ethnicity have got serious repercussions on commitment of some religious priests to live austerely and faithfully to their vows. This study argues that the quest to respond to the ethical challenges affecting religious priests in Africa cannot ignore the need for a serious ongoing formation for the priests, emphasis on the on the virtues of temperance, cultivation for the gift of the fear of Lord and transformative theological education especially for the candidates towards priesthood. Otherwise, there will be temptations for religious priests to grow into vocational mediocrity and fragility.