Oral Theology and the Liturgical Life of Nigerian Catholic Parishes: An Original Contribution to Liturgical Theology

This doctoral study makes an original contribution to liturgical theology by analysing the oral theological dimensions of liturgical life in Nigerian Catholic parishes, demonstrating that the prayers, songs, homilies, and ritualistic verbal expressions of Nigerian Catholic communities constitute a distinctive theological tradition that merits systematic scholarly engagement. While official Catholic liturgical theology draws on the Roman rite and magisterial teaching, the lived liturgical experience of Nigerian Catholics is shaped by a complex interaction between official rite, indigenous Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa cultural forms, and Pentecostal influence, producing a rich oral theological corpus largely invisible to official Catholic theological discourse. Using a liturgical ethnography methodology, the study involves twelve months of observation and recording in fifteen parishes across Lagos, Enugu, and Kaduna archdioceses, gathering 300 hours of liturgical material including eucharistic prayers, healing services, benediction rites, and devotional practices. Oral theological themes extracted are subjected to systematic theological analysis and compared with official liturgical texts and patristic sources. The study identifies original Nigerian Catholic liturgical theological contributions in areas of healing ecclesiology, Marian devotion, communal eschatology, and eucharistic participation. An original methodology for liturgical oral theology is proposed, along with recommendations for its integration into Catholic seminary education in Nigeria. Keywords: oral theology, liturgical theology, Nigerian Catholicism, inculturation, liturgical ethnography