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Religious discuss their visions for Africa
Witness, advocacy, embracing the spiritual are roles for religious
Oct. 12, 2009
Bishops and a nun talk as they leave a session of the Synod of Bishops for Africa at the Vatican Oct. 8. (CNS/Paul Haring)
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As it happens, Oct. 10 is the anniversary of the death of St. Daniel Comboni, a 19th century Italian missionary who spent much of his life in Sudan. Among other claims to fame, Comboni was probably the source of more epigrammatic one-liners about the church's mission in Africa than any other single Catholic figure, living or dead.
Memorable Comboni-isms include, "Either Africa or death," a classic expression of his missionary drive; "Save Africa through Africa," an early formula for the transition to self-reliance; and his famous sentiment upon approaching his death in 1881, "I wish I had a thousand lives to give for Africa."
The coincidence that Comboni's dying day falls smack in the middle of the Synod for Africa offers a reminder that no force within the Catholic church, either historically or in the present, has invested a greater share of its own blood, toil, tears and sweat on behalf of Africa than the church's missionary orders. That legacy makes this morning's seminar on the Synod for Africa organized by Sedos, an acronym for "Service of Documentation and Study for Global Mission," a consortium of religious orders in Rome, well worth noting.
The Synod of Bishops for Africa is meeting Oct. 4-25 in Rome.
Saturday morning's event took place at the headquarters of the Christian Brothers on Rome's Via Aurelia, where roughly 100 religious men and women braved an early thunderstorm to hear two of their own speak about the prophetic role of the Catholic church in Africa:
- Fr. Kieran O'Reilly, an Irishman and superior general of the Society of African Missions, who has spent decades in and out of Africa, and who is currently a member of the synod;
- Sr. Anne Béatrice Faye of Senegal, general councilor of the Sisters of Notre Dame of the Immaculate Conception, who is among the experts appointed to the Synod for Africa.
Both urged the Catholic church to play a more "prophetic" role in Africa, though they offered slightly different perspectives on what that role might look like.
O'Reilly distinguished two kinds of "prophetic witness," the first being willingness to suffer and, if necessary, to die on behalf of the faith and the local community. He cited the example of Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis of Liberia, now almost 74.
"He's the one who, since the beginning of Liberia's trouble in 1980, has been the voice of those who refused to be put down by the various dictators," O'Reilly said, noting that Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has referred to Francis as "the voice of the nation."
In a cruel twist of fate, O'Reilly said, Francis suffered a stroke just as Liberia was on the verge of achieving peace. The stroke left him effectively paralyzed and unable to speak, so that now he simply mutters "yes" and "no."
"He boldly proclaimed the gospel right up until peace came, and then no more," O'Reilly said. In a quite literal sense, Francis "gave everything he had for Africa."
The other sense of "prophetic witness" O'Reilly underscored was what he called the "ministry of advocacy," meaning the engagement of religious orders and the wider church with burning social, political and economic issues – in particular, trying to press Europe and the United States towards more just policies regarding Africa.
"Decisions made in the 'one-third world,' in the northern hemisphere, have an enormous and long-lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of Africans," O'Reilly said. "It's important that the voice of Africa be heard in these policy centers."
Echoing comments he made inside the synod hall, O'Reilly drew attention to the "Africa Faith and Justice Network," a group largely composed of Catholic religious orders that lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of African causes. (The executive director, an American member of the Xavierian Missionaries named Rocco Puopolo, is in Rome for the Synod for Africa, and was at the SEDOS event this morning.)
The AFJN web site can be found at www.afjn.org.
O'Reilly described a visit he made to Benin a few years ago, witnessing the vast cotton belt that also stretches into Togo and Nigeria.
"The conditions faced by the cotton growers are appalling," O'Reilly said. "The children are little more than indentured slaves because of money borrowed by their parents."
O'Reilly said those conditions are at least partly created by the fact that cotton is also grown in the United States and other parts of the developed world, where subsidies and tariffs make it difficult for African crops to compete on a level playing field.
"Our world in Africa is no longer enclosed where we live and work," O'Reilly told his fellow religious. "It's completely touched by the global economic realities around us. We must give prophetic witness to what we know, what we believe to be true and right, because of the wrongs we see with our own eyes."
O'Reilly also called upon religious to promote a more positive image of Africa internationally, as opposed to the near-exclusive focus on poverty, disease and misery that tends to dominate the media. Even the "aid industry" and well-intentioned Western do-gooders sometimes perpetuate those stereotypes, he said – to the degree that "you sometimes wonder whose interests are being served."
"Being prophetic doesn't just mean denouncing things all the time," O'Reilly said. "It can also mean building up."
For her part, Faye argued that the whole concept of prophecy has to be "de-sacralized" in Africa, in part in order to distinguish it from what she called "a religious environment strongly oriented to the supernatural, miracles ... and strong currents of enthusiasm and emotional participation."
Faye said "new religious movements" are proliferating in Africa, "based on revelations that their founders claim to have had, all of whom are called prophets, evangelizers, preachers, or whatever." In that context, she said, "prophecy" can easily be misunderstood in a quasi-magical key.
"Christians are always looking for priest or a sister who can heal, who has the gift of prophecy or the ability to fight Satan," Faye said. "There's never been in Africa such a thirst for holy water, medals, and talismans." For example, she said, there's a thriving market for the oils of St. Simeon, St. Anthony, and St. Michael, which at times reminds one of the global demand for the oil resources of Nigeria and other African nations.
In that context, she said, it's important for the Catholic church not to play down the supernatural -- "if you tell them all this is psychological, they'll never come back to you," Faye said -- but also to ensure that it doesn't become a distraction from works of justice.
Faye offered four areas where she believes the church, beginning with its religious orders, should be engaged:
- Economic and environmental injustices, including the demand for more equitable rules and structures of trade (Faye claimed that the impact of structural readjustment programs imposed by international lending agencies is "really killing us");
- Good governance and anti-corruption efforts (including the capacity to "speak freely before political power," which Faye asserted is sometimes compromised by excessively cozy relations between church leaders and politicians);
- Healing and reconciliation;
- The fate of migrants and refugees.
On the issue of immigration, Faye noted the irony that some European nations are attempting to slow down, or to close off altogether, the flow of African migrants into Europe, at the same historical moment when a new wave of Chinese immigrants is washing across Africa – some to work, others to buy up African resources on the cheap.
Looking around, Faye said, she sometimes wonders "whether Africa will become a Chinese land."
Faye ended by expressing what she described as a "deep conviction": "The church in Africa will be influenced not only by what's said in the synod by the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, and other synod fathers," she said, "but also by what we [religious] will say right here and now, by what we've started."
That line was greeted by a strong volley of applause.
Check the NCR Today blog throughout the day for updates on the Synod for Africa from NCR senior correspondent, John L. Allen Jr.
Which of these approaches
Which of these approaches describe a church you would more like to be associated with? The one focused on issues like this:
-Economic and environmental injustices, including the demand for more equitable rules and structures of trade.
-Good governance and anti-corruption efforts.
-Healing and reconciliation;
-The fate of migrants and refugees.
Or one that seems focused on whether to say "And also with you" or "And with your spirit" in the liturgy?
Kevin
Both have their
Both have their place............. Yes, we should focus MORE on Economic and environmental injustices, Good governance and anti-corruption efforts, Healing and reconciliation, and The fate of migrants and refugees. It doesn't need to be either/or.
Agreed, as long as the latter
Agreed, as long as the latter doesn't cause one to ignore the former. If that were done, it would do great damage to implamenting Christian values in our lives. However if it was reverse and the latter was ignored, I don't see any consequences that would be damaging.
I would like to be associated
I would like to be associated with the one and only catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ and that places him at the centre of ALL it does, all the way from social justice to the liturgy that celebrates his passion and resurrection in the Eucharist which is the source and summit of our faith.
Definitely, a church focused
Definitely, a church focused on economic and environmental issues, good governance, healing and reconciliation, and the fate of migrants and refugees.
There are many organizations trying to move the church in the direction we would like to see, but there is a long way to go.
“The network that offers a
“The network that offers a new way of mission for Europe / Africa today”
Most probably the intention of Fr. Kieran O'Reilly, SMA was to include the AFRICA / EUROPE FAITH AND JUSTICE NETWORK (AEFJN), which works towards policies of the European Union.
Since 1988 the Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN), a faith-based international network mandated by 44 catholic religious and missionary institutes working in Africa and Europe, promotes equitable economic relations between Africa and Europe.
The aims of the AEFJN include:
* To gather and disseminate information about Justice issues in Africa and about European policies affecting Africa;
* To make recommendations for advocacy and action so as to influence in a positive way decisions taken in the European Union which affect people in Africa.
* To raise public awareness and co-ordinate urgent action in support of requests from members involved in crisis situations in Africa.
To achieve the above aims, a Secretariat was established in Brussels in order to have direct contact with the policy makers at the European level.
In order to enhance the work of the Secretariat and to create a forum where religious can lend their voices to having more just equitable relationships between Europe and Africa, Antennae have been established in different European and African countries. Their aim is to share information on the economical, political and social reality in Africa today and, through the light of faith, use their influence to lobby local politicians about what they believe are the best policies for a true, human and authentic development on the African Continent.
In the U.S.A. too there is a Faith and Justice Network with similar concerns and vision.
Frans Thoolen, SMA
Religious life cannot be
Religious life cannot be separated from prophesy. The challenge is how to express this concretely and/or how to put it into practice in our local Churches.
Thank you, Sister FAYE for
Thank you, Sister FAYE for identifying one of the upcoming economic megatrends of the future in Africa:
"...at the same historical moment when a new wave of Chinese immigrants is washing across Africa – some to work, others to buy up African resources on the cheap.
Looking around, Faye said, she sometimes wonders "whether Africa will become a Chinese land."
China is cutting deals, financing or actually building infrastructure and sucking up GLOBAL resources "on the cheap" while first world religious institutions twiddle their thumbs arguing about CONDOMS and WITCHCRAFT...
And the numbers of Chinese
And the numbers of Chinese "no strings" investment money back Sister Faye's observations up:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7086777.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7086777.stm#map
Is Rome going to bury its
Is Rome going to bury its head in the sand again and ignore the CRY of the people of God in Africa and other parts of the world: we are CHRISTIANS ( cut out the ROMAN terminology);has Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome, the GUTS to accept the VOICE of the REST of the WORLD; is the CONFLICT between Peter in Jerusalem and Paul in Greece in the early years of the church still continuing in the 21st. century???? The CONTROL MANIA in Rome has to give in to SERVICE, LOVE, JUSTICE, SHARING and COMPASSION: a train of thought in the present AFRICAN SYNOD.
SammyTassie
13/10/09
White folks have always had
White folks have always had their "visions for Africa". They seldom turned out very well for Africa. The future of the African people and the African church must be left to the Africans. We've done enough harm already.
Wellsaid
Wellsaid
In this piece, which is soon
In this piece, which is soon appearing in the journal AFRICAN ECCLESIAL REVIEW, i argue for the primary understanding of the term church as the only means for the church in Africa to be a leaven of reconciliation and justice and peace in Africa!
I would like to emphasize that the Church on the African continent has taken a noteworthy part in the reconciliation process of conflicts. That tells why she also enjoys great credibility in many African societies. We apply the term Church as highlighted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church “to primarily and essentially designate the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. The Church is the people that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body.” To understand this in a simple language, the Church is “all the people of God, all the baptized people, women and men, youths and children, clergy and laity, who follow Christ and his teaching and have a mission to carry out in this world and in each society they live.” This primary meaning of Church, however, has been overtaken by the second one which “refers to church leaders and Church institutions under whom and under which the people of God are effectively served and administered to in the living of their vocation and calling. In the Catholic Church, these leaders include the Pope, Bishops, priests, Deacons, Religions Men and Women, Catechists and lay leaders of every type.” In discussing the questions related with the Church at the service of reconciliation our consideration here is particularly confined to the primary meaning. The Church, all the people of God, are required to proclaim the Good News to all, to bear witness before all, to worship as a community, to create, protect and promote unity, peace, justice among all, to serve the community, to evangelize all aspects of society and play their rightful role in all echelons of life: politics, economy, culture, science, development, human rights, education, health and environment. But above all, the church, that is all the people of God, must work to uphold the proper notion of the human person, his origin, dignity, position in the created order and final destiny. This would imply that all pastoral policies, programs and projects in the Church in Africa “should be ordained to the human person as to their centre and summit.”
All the above would facilitate to articulate a dynamic condition of the human person and his dignity that includes a state of well-being, completeness, soundness, harmony and wholeness. Such conditions would produce a healthy person whose body, mind and spirit function harmoniously together, one who is in a right relationship with God and others. As a consequence, this will be the beginning of a healthy society, that is, one in which the five spheres involved in living together are pulling with one another. These spheres are racial, political, economic, religious, and sexual, absence of which we have a sick society. To work for reconciliation, is to integrate the various elements of personality and to reconcile people in all their relationships including those with their environment. The church, therefore, is called to be a community in which the healing work of the spirit is not only taught but also, sought and experienced. The church with the twin resources of scripture and tradition is meant to be a healing and reconciling church. The healing ministry of the church involves going to the sources of ‘disease’ and trying to sort out the health problems at that level as well. When it does that, it finds itself involved in such activities as conflict management and reconciliation, agriculture, so as to ensure that people are properly nourished thereby boosting their immune system and maintaining good health, environmental work, that is, campaigning against all forms of pollution which can cause health problems and many other activities. Healing and human well-being formed the central thesis of Jesus’ mission which the church, as the body of Christ, must continue to carry out. We can say with certainty that healing in the mission of Jesus was part and parcel of the gospel he preached. That gospel was about the good news of God’s free offer of salvation to all humankind. Jesus’ threefold activity or mission of preaching, teaching and healing (Matt.4:23) went together and each was an integral part of his gospel. The preaching of the gospel in the African context where human dignity is at risk, would need to address the problems of economic justice, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, civil conflicts and wars poverty, ignorance, the HIV/AIDS crisis with its associated problems of stigmatisation, and psycho-social issues, human rights advocacy, gender and sex issues and care issues. Addressing such and related issues would contribute to healing of individuals, reconciling families and communities. The church that takes human dignity seriously will not avoid getting involved in these issues if it is to be a healing and reconciling church and this would mark the beginning of developing a fully-fledged reconciliation process
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