"Why Catholics Use Images" - Catholic Priest Artist Explains

An Online Interview With Rev. Fr. Vitus Nnadi Of The Diocesan Pilgrimage Centre Utuh, Nnewi South LGA, Anambra State, Nigeria

Introduction 

In case you are meeting Fr Vitus Nnadi for the first time, he is a Catholic priest who doubles as a professional artist - mainly a sculptor but also a fine artist since he personally paints many of the sculptural works he churns out with his team. We had him do a brief tour of his art studio in this recent video.

The video just cited generated some public reactions on social media. This interview is meant to give Fr Nnadi an opportunity to respond to some of the weightiest of those reactions.

To give him an opportunity to think his answers through and provide rich detail, we collaborated with him on this Google Doc…

Awake Digest: Father, our video of you showcasing your artwork while dressed in your priestly cassock went viral recently. A picture of you getting dirty at work also went viral with the video. Do you know this?

Fr. Nnadi: 

Yes, someone called me to tell me before you did. It was also shared on our old boys WhatsApp platform. I realize you put voiceover on one of the videos and you combined them into one, making it beautiful with additions of your own. That's good of you, although I'd rather have you not talk about the charity aspect as you did on one of the platforms where you shared the video. Charitable acts are not supposed to be made public based on the instructions the Lord gave at the Sermon on the Mountain.

Awake Digest: The video got a lot of reactions which we'd like you to address little by little. For example, in Exodus 20 verse 3, it is written that God instructed the ancient Israelites as follows: “Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth” (Today's English Version). You are a Catholic priest and the Catholic Church gave the world the Bible. So, people want to know, since you have made a career out of making sculptures that are mainly used as a part of worship in the Catholic Church, why do you do so apparently in disobedience of the Divine instructions on Exodus 20:3 as just quoted?

Fr. Nnadi: 

Thank you for using the word ‘apparently’ to modify ‘disobedience’. The truth is that there is no disobedience here, it all depends on how you understand it.

Let me start by referring to a source that we can all agree is neutral on the subject, that is, Wikipedia…

You can access that link to enable you to get a more balanced view of the First Commandment. Meanwhile, I hereby basically run a commentary on that Wikipedia entry. 

I think it's better to use such a neutral source because if I base my explanation on Catholic documents, non-Catholics out there might find it difficult to accept. And, if I use just the Bible, non-Christians out there might also not accept it. So, hoping you're okay with this explanation, I go ahead.

Here are excerpts from Wikipedia that we can dwell on shortly…

As you can see, the lines you quoted from Exodus 20 verse 3 is an “abbreviated form” of the full command. That is the unanimous understanding over the centuries that the Wikipedia authors convey to us so categorically. Based on this therefore, the verse you quoted is still a part of the full Divine instruction. You didn't include the last sentence of the remaining part as per the Wikipedia account.

Until you include the last sentence of the command, it hasn't made a comprehensive sense as clearly intended by God. And what's the last sentence I'm talking about here? It says that “thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them”.(see screenshot above)

So, in essence, what God is saying is not just that we shouldn't make images but rather that we shouldn't worship the images. And, it's not just images that God says we shouldn't worship but whatever or whoever else that isn't Himself, God Almighty Creator of the Universe.

The instruction about not making images may look isolated to you from the instruction on not worshipping the images because of a difference of writing or general language use between the era in which this was recorded and today. The style of writing then and now are not the same.

So, you need to look beyond the letters of the law and instead try to grasp the spirit of the law. The spirit is what God actually meant by what is recorded in human words.

Awake Digest: How can one be exactly sure that what you said is “the spirit’ of the Law, that is, what God actually meant? Like, is there any scriptural backing or a rational explanation?

Fr. Nnadi:

You can be sure that this is what God meant based on 4 counts:

1. In this world, it is not possible for us not to make images. For instance, every house we build is an image. Every 3D model created by an architect is an image of a house. So, God couldn't have told us to do something that he knows is impossible for us to do, like telling us not to make the image of a house or an image of a pen. Every manufacturer is making one image or another. Indeed the word translated as “graven” in many English versions of Exodus 20:3 can be translated as “manufactured” in today's use of English, even as the Wikipedia account explained… So, God couldn’t be telling us to do the impossible by abstaining from any form of manufacturing. Rather, what God clearly forbids is a situation where you begin to worship a 3D model, for example, after you have created it, not the actual making of the model.

2. If God meant that we shouldn't make images at all, then, he couldn't have contradicted himself within the same Law (Torah) because that's what He would have done when he asked Moses to make an image of a snake and hang on a pole (Numbers 21:8) or when he asked him to make the images of cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:18).

3. Look at the presentation of the instructions on Exodus 20 verse 3. Let's assume that there are two separate instructions there as you seem to suggest. In that case, instruction 1 says “don't ever make an image of anything or anyone”. Next, instruction 2 says “do not worship the images”. Think about this: If God already asked us not to make images, it is expected that we're going to obey Him; isn't it? Therefore, why should God still tell us not to worship the images which he has already told us not to make? If we don't make it at all, there would be no ground to tell us not to worship it. You can see that “don't make images” and “don't worship images” are meant to be two parts of the same instruction meant to be taken together.

4. Finally, to prove to you that God's commandment against idolatry is far more about the disposition of your heart than just about making images, you see the New Testament Apostle Paul saying the exact same thing on two occasions (Colossians 3:5 and Ephesians 5:5) that “greed is a form of idolatry” (Today's English Version). So, that's for Bible-believing non-Catholic Christians to think about. If you don't make images as I do, but you are greedy, be sure that you are far more guilty of idolatry than someone who makes images but is not greedy. And, it's not just greed, instead, whatever mindset or heartset, for that matter, that denies God His existence or supremacy, amounts to idolatry.

Awake Digest: Ok, we can see that the use of sculptures is in the scriptures. But, visiting any Catholic parish around, or even the pilgrimage center where you are in-charge, one can see Catholics praying before sculpted images similar to the ones you make. Don't you think those people are in danger of having the disposition of their hearts directed to those images as gods or God which would amount to idolatry even in the spiritual sense as you just explained?

Fr. Nnadi:

Yes, the Church knows that that is possible. It's why it is repeated in the church's catecheses again and again that people should never direct their worship to images. Instead, the images are meant only to inspire piety and virtues among the faithful.

I tell you, if I should begin now to teach people that they should worship the artworks I create or any artworks whatsoever, you'll see how the church would sanction me. Or, even you, maybe you can try an experiment by going on air to teach people that it's what the Catholic Church is teaching, and see if you wouldn't be denied officially by the Catholic Church.

Awake Digest: Father, at the start of this interview, you showed a disapproval of our publication of your charity work on the basis that Jesus Christ instructed against making our charities public. But, the same Jesus Christ also said as follows at the same Sermon On the Mountain (Mathew 5:14-16) you quoted: “you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven” (NIV, emphasis ours)

Fr. Nnadi:

Okay, if your reason for publishing is “that they may see… and glorify my Father in Heaven”, I'm okay with it.

Awake Digest: Alright Father, we are grateful for that acceptance. We are therefore delighted to share with you our article entitled ‘A Catholic Priest Artist In Our Midst’ which gives a personal account of you by a member of our team. Now that you have permitted us to publish your charity work as long as we do so with the right motive, we are no longer afraid to share the article with you since your remarkable charity work is mentioned there. Now, what remains is for you to go through the article and confirm to the public if the account is true or not, or to what extent it is factual or not.

Fr. Nnadi:

Well, none of the things you said about God's work of charity through me is false. They all are true. But I insist that they were not done so that I might be praised, for such praise should go to God, who called me primarily, as a Catholic priest, and on the second level, blessed me in the area of arts. Let me use this means too to thank my good friend, my younger brother from a different father and a big son, whose name I wouldn't mention here for some good reasons, for his consistent and almost indispensable support in the charity journey. Perhaps, much would not have been done without his support. I thank God and I thank him too.

Awake Digest: Father, thank you especially for this answer. It took you days to answer but the wait was worth it. Meanwhile, we are sorry for all the troubles we are giving you. But, as we said earlier, it is for good. It's for God's glory not yours.

This answer you gave last is being celebrated in our team. It is particularly important to us because we feared that it would be difficult for the world to believe the story a member of our team told about you. So, thank you very much for confirming that “none of the things you said about God's work of charity through me is false”.

Alright, Father, one of the things said about you there is that you often go hungry in a bid to feed hungry people. That's as remarkable as it is incredible. But, thank you again for just confirming it true.

Now, we ask: Why not just start a charity organization so that more public-spirited people can help you to lift more people out of poverty? You see, going hungry to feed the hungry implies that you are not doing those charities because you're quite wealthy but because you feel called to do them. And what if you could do more by floating a charity organization of your own and have people contribute to the work?

Fr Nnadi: 

I don't need to float a charity organization to do the charity work nor do you need a charity organization to contribute to God's work. In my last answer, I told you about someone who is helping already and he didn't need a charity organization to do so. The money I could use to register a charity organization, pay for an office space, etc, can be used to lift more people out of poverty.