Award-winning author, Chimamanda Adichie, has revealed shocking events that unfolded at the church where her mother’s funeral thanksgiving Mass was held.
Grace, her mother, died in March last year, about eight months after James, her father, also passed away.
She was buried on May 1, 2021 while the funeral thanksgiving mass held the next day at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Njikoka LGA, Anambra state.
In a recent interview with TVC, the celebrated writer revealed what transpired at the thanksgiving mass.
According to the writer, the funeral mass had barely started when the priest called her out over comments she made about the Catholic church in an interview.
Chimamanda said his remark left her and her family who were still grappling with the loss of their mother further devastated.
“I have never been afraid of criticism. So, if this priest had written something to criticise me, or even shouted at me at some other venue but the Holy mass of my mother’s funeral, it would have been okay,” she said.
“I really would not have minded. But to do this at my mother’s funeral… This man did not think that my mother deserved the respect, the basic courtesy of having a funeral that would not turn into a raucous market.”
The author and feminist also recounted how the priest allegedly bullied her family when her father was about to be buried over money.
“I wanted to say a lot more about the priest that day but I held back. I only told the church that I gave money. I did not tell them other things such as how the priest bullied my family when my father was buried over money. How when we presented a cow to the church, he was upset because he wanted us to monetise it,” she added.
