MEMORY, LOVE, AND ONTOLOGICAL CONTINUITY: A CATHOLIC-IGBO THEOLOGICAL DEFENSE FOR RETAINING THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A DECEASED WIFE AFTER REMARRIAGE
MEMORY, LOVE, AND ONTOLOGICAL CONTINUITY: A CATHOLIC-IGBO THEOLOGICAL DEFENSE FOR RETAINING THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A DECEASED WIFE AFTER REMARRIAGE Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa utaziprince@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION The question of whether a widower who has remarried should retain the photograph of his deceased wife in the sitting room is oftern treated as a matter of emotional etiquette or marital sensitivity. However, this issue touches on profound theological, metaphysical, anthropological, and cultural concerns. In both Catholic theology and Igbo metaphysics, the dead are not simply absent; rather they are present in a transformed mode of existence. This article argues that retaining such a photograph is both theologically defensible and culturally coherent. It is an act rooted in truth, not nostalgia; in continuity, not confusion. The continued presence of the image of a deceased wife in the domestic space is not a violation of the new marital union but rather a theologi...