Abstract/Overview
Infertility in marriage is generally viewed as something unfortunate. Each community desires to have itself perpetuated through the birth of children. The traditional Luo society strived toward its perpetuation and in cases of infecundity, solutions such as polygamy and sororate marriages were employed. Such solutions are however incompatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church. This incompatibility of cultures leaves the childless Catholic Luo couples in a dilemma since the Church condemns cultural practices such as polygamy. The general objective of this study was to explore the difference that exists in the understanding of childlessness between the Luo Community and the Catholic Church in Kisumu diocese. The study intended to: establish the contextual meaning of childlessness and its causes among the Luo; assess how the teachings of the Catholic Church on childlessness differ with the traditional Luo worldview; examine the socio-religious challenges that the Luo childless couples face and how they affect their lives; and, investigate the influence of childlessness to the pastoral work of the Catholic Church in Kisumu diocese. This study was guided by the theory of Functionalism of Emile Durkheim (1915) which propounds on the role of religion in the society. A cross sectional research design was adopted which provided a snapshot of the cases in Kisumu diocese. The study was carried out within the Catholic Church in Kisumu diocese since it is a mainstream Church that stands its ground on the views about most traditional cultural practices. The study targeted the childless couples from the 36 parishes of Kisumu diocese. Four parishes were purposively sampled. Four Parish Priests and four Chief Catechists were expertly sampled. 271 Small Christian Community leaders were purposively sampled. The childless couples were sampled using snowball up to a point of saturation. Through this, a total of 28 couples were interviewed. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. The primary data was collected using in-depth oral interviews, Focus Group Discussions and observation. The secondary data was obtained from the published articles, textbooks, Church records, diocesan archives, pastoral letters and papal encyclicals. The data was coded and analyzed thematically and presented in a descriptive form using narratives. The findings of this study were that: First, involuntary childlessness among the Luo is more than lack of children in a marriage. It could mean having only female children or only one male child. Secondly, the teachings of the Catholic Church differ with the traditional Luo worldview on involuntary childlessness. Whereas the Catholic Church does not see any problem with involuntary childlessness, the Luo cannot withstand this since children are important for the cementing of the marriage. Thirdly, the childless couples face many socio-religious challenges like social alienation, stigmatization, loneliness, being despised among others; such challenges may interfere with their participation in the Church. Fourthly, childlessness influence the pastoral work of the Church as some members will join NRMs and others will avoid Church marriages. Through the findings of this research, the Church theologians could find an avenue to undertake more research on Luo values necessary for inculturation. The study could help scholars to understand the challenges of integrating Luo beliefs and practices into the Church’s worldview and the way forward for enhanced evangelization.