Perhaps we can learn from them.

I f you are a priest in Nigeria, there’s a good chance that you might be kidnapped or martyred. You don’t have to pay close attention to the news from there to have come across reports such as, for example, that about a priest who was burned alive in a rectory. Christian persecution, however, often takes place in remote towns where state resources are slim, as is global media coverage of these events. And yet, Nigerian Christians display a real witness of hope — and this has a lot to offer the rest of us.

“Our nation may collapse if the current situation lingers.” That was the assessment of the Catholic bishops of Nigeria after their meeting this September. Nigeria gets the attention of U.S. media now and again — typically when something horrific happens — but currently, on the American right especially, there is a moment of deafening silence about the persecution of Nigerian Christians. In 2021, the Biden administration took Nigeria off the list of countries of concern under the International Religious Freedom Act. Righting this wrong now would be a matter of recognizing the truth.

That said, Nigerians tend to be skeptical of what good might come from such a redesignation by the U.S. State Department. It will of course take a lot more than this for Nigeria to find its way out of the road to collapse. It will take some of the things we all need: faith, family, opportunity, and the kind of hope that is rooted in the eternal. After all, we in the United States face some of the same pitfalls, and we have much fewer excuses.

“Hope Does Not Disappoint: Working Together for a Just Nation” is the title of the report produced by the Second Plenary Meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, and it should be required reading for anyone who is looking for more insight into what is going on in Nigeria today. It also contains some serious reminders for the West about how we might keep our culture safe from destruction and about what the world needs and expects from us. It is a plea for renewal on every front: “There is need for a radical change to where the common good drives our political, economic, social and cultural life. The government, the Church, the education sector, the media and indeed all citizens have their roles to play.”

The fact of the matter is that Nigeria is plagued not just by a hatred of Christians. There are tribal wars. There is widespread corruption. There is also — and this is a problem that is necessarily a priority for the bishops — a dabbling in the occult, which has much to do with the abysmal state of education in the country. A few years ago, after returning from Nigeria on a fact-finding mission of sorts, a friend who works with some of the dioceses there told me that they were looking for some modest financial support for catechesis: instruction in the basic doctrines of Christianity. This, too, is a major theme in the communiqué that came out of the bishops’ recent meeting.

“We believe that the Lay Faithful have a major and decisive role to play in politics,” the bishops write. And is this ever applicable throughout the world. “We are convinced that we have a formidable laity, who being the salt of the earth (Matt 5:13), the light of the world (Matt 5:14-16) and the leaven of the society (Matt. 13:33), can help to a large extent to transform the temporal order.” The bishops point to the importance of healthy family life and leadership “in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres of our life,” and the need to “infuse these areas with the values of the Gospel, fostering the common good, working for social justice and promoting human rights.” According to the bishops, “we encourage honest, qualified and God-fearing Lay Faithful to join political parties and persuade those with the talent for leadership to seek political office and be voted for as a way of advancing the common good in accordance with the social teaching of the Church, which is a common heritage of humanity.” A message for all humanity indeed. And an ecumenical reminder of why a flourishing society should welcome Christians.

Furthermore, for us all, they write: “Hope is one of the cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. It is not naïve optimism or wishful thinking. Hope is a confident expectation in the promises of God grounded in His character and faithfulness.” This is not mere positivity. “It is anchored in the certainty that God fulfils what He promises (Hebrews 11:1).” This is what Saint Paul talked about after his dramatic conversion from persecutor to great Christian evangelist and martyr: “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).” The African bishops urge perseverance in hope “and work towards justice in our nation in spite of our sufferings and afflictions.” Perhaps we can learn from the bishops and be more like them. They don’t have the luxury of distraction that we do. Don’t wait until it’s too late for us to right our path here, rooted in authentic faith, hope, and love. Don’t wait for moral collapse.

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.