“Sunday Mass attendance is over 90%” in some dioceses of southern Nigeria, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend said following a recent visit. “They’re very much in a growth mode, in terms of building new churches, and even opening new universities and other projects. And parish complexes are very interesting, because they usually include a school, a health clinic, sometimes even a hospital.”

“The Church in Nigeria has not lost its evangelical spirit,” he added. “So we all should be listening to the voices where the Church is growing, and filled with the Holy Spirit. So I would like to see a stronger voice of the Church in Africa” during the synod process.