This is part 1 of a two part series. For part 2, see The
African Synod: You Had to Be There.
Although Africa is a continent of wide diversity, explained Cardinal
Hyacinthe Thiandoum of Senegal at the opening of the Synod on the Church
in Africa, "One common situation, without doubt, is that Africa is full
of problems."
That truth was borne out in the synod's first two weeks that were devoted
to a long series of eight-minute speeches by bishops representing a hierarchy
that is now 90 percent indigenous. The addresses touched on numerous topics
vital to the life of the church in Africa: justice and peace, dialogue
with Moslems, the rights of women, formation of priests and catechists,
and the inculturation of Christianity in African liturgy, theology and
family life.
This synod was far from being a "churchy" event devoted only to internal
church issues. Rather the bishops voiced their concern that, as Cardinal
Thiandoum put it, "In almost all our nations, there is abject poverty,
tragic mismanagement of available resources, political instability and
social disorientation." Africa has the lowest per capita income of any
continent, 8 million AIDS victims, 7 million refugees plus another 16
million internally displaced persons, and an external debt that makes
development impossible for many nations. The 1980's are referred to as
the lost decade when things got worse rather than better.
The African bishops lay the principal blame for this situation on bad
government, economic mismanagement, and corruption. "Most African political
leaders have failed to understand that true leadership means service,"
accused Bishop Julius Babatunde Adelakun of Nigeria. "Instead they are
power hungry, greedy, corrupt, having enriched themselves at the expense
of the people they are suppose to serve." The distinction between a person
and his or her office is not acknowledged, explains Bishop Michael Kpakala
Francis of Liberia. Therefore arbitrary power and corruption by the ruling
elite "becomes endemic and it seems as if there were no remedy at hand
except a violent overthrow of the existing junta, only to have the same
pattern continue under the new leaders." Tribalism and ethnic hatreds
are used by these politicians for their own ends.
In response the bishops see great value in the church's social teaching
that every person belongs to the same family of God. The bishops see themselves
as the voice of the powerless and mediators in conflicts. "Christ, the
liberator, came not only to free mankind from sin but also from the consequences
of sin, namely: ignorance, poverty, disease and all forms of injustice
and oppression," said Bishop Adelakun. In many countries the churches
are the only organizations that remain credible, and the people turn to
them for help. But, notes Bishop Benedict Dotu Sekey of Liberia, "When
church leaders speak up, they are threatened with public flogging" and
told to confine themselves to the pulpit.
The bishops see Europe and North America as the source of "the good of
the assistance which guarantees our spiritual and material progress and
the bad of the weapons and of the bombs which cause our destruction,"
according to Cardinal Alexander Jose Maria dos Santos of Mozambique. "Bombs
and weapons are sent to us to destroy our people and to create insoluble
debts." The international debts of Subsahara Africa amount to $185 billion,
or 110 percent of their combined GNP.
The bishops thanked the churches of the North for their financial and
political support and asked them to pressure their governments to stop
selling arms to Africa. "Stop resupplying the Africans with weapons because
they are killing each other," implored Archbishop Manuel Franklin da Costa
of Angola. "You are guilty of the atrocity of fratricidal wars: Africans
do not make modern sophisticated weapons."
The rapid growth of Christianity in Subsahara Africa in the last 100
years has been the most successful missionary effort in history. Although
acknowledging that some missionaries were used by colonial governments,
the bishops expressed gratitude to those who at great sacrifice brought
the faith to Africa, fought their own governments to establish schools
for Africans, and stayed when other Europeans fled.
But as Bishop Bonifatius Haushiku explained, "Our Namibian African people
have accepted Christ. But this Christ walks too much among them in a European
garment." The result, according to Bishop Francis Mugadzi of Zimbabwe,
is that Christians lead "double lives, one foot in African tradition,
another one in the church" or as another bishop said, "rosary in the morning
and witchcraft in the afternoon." Thus the great urgency among the bishops
to inculturate Christianity in Africa, especially in the areas of liturgy,
marriage, and reverence for ancestors.
"Inculturation is the irruption and epiphany of the Lord which provokes
destabilization," explained Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Zaire.
"Inculturation, even in liturgy, is a right not a concession. All must
therefore be inculturated: theology, especially sacramental theology,
the liturgy, ecclesial law, the structures of ecclesial life." "Inculturation
must be carried deeper than just music, drums and clapping of hands,"
added Bishop Haushiku. "It must be based on a sound foundation of an inculturated
theology, African theology, a theology which will take into account the
religious African people."
Marriage is a special problem facing the African church because many
Christians are in irregular marriages that keep them from Communion. "In
Botswana, food is a symbol of welcome, of togetherness, of sharing, of
celebration, of solidarity," explains Bishop Boniface Tshosa Setlalekgosi.
"To exclude someone from the Eucharist in Botswana, is interpreted as
being excluded from God's company, and God's love." Bishop Raphael Mwana'a
Nzeki Ndingi of Kenya asked that the traditional marriage be recognized
as a valid form of marriage among Christians.
The African traditional marriage is not simply an exchange of vows between
two individuals. It is a process that takes place over months and involves
both families and the clan. The bishops would like to integrate the Christian
sacrament into this process, but there is uncertainty on how to do this
especially if there is opposition from one or both families. In addition,
in many African cultures the marriage does not take until the woman has
born a child. If the woman is infertile, she can be rejected by the man.
Reverence for ancestors is another important part of African culture.
"Everything in life is connected with the ancestors," explains Bishop
Haushiku. "Birth of a child, sickness, luck, fortune, wealth, marriage,
recreation, etc. In all these the intervention of the ancestors is invoked."
The ancestors are seen as still living with the community and able to
influence one's life for good or evil. Most bishops agree that this is
a ripe area for inculturation; even the pope referred to it as a preparation
for understanding the communion of saints.
But there is also fear of embracing superstitions. For example, when
a child is sick, the medicine man will tell the parents that the ancestors
are angry and must be appeased by a ceremony overseen by the medicine
man for a price. "The African Christian is fearful: fear of the environment,
fear of the neighbors, fear of sorcerers," explains Bishop Victor Tonye
Bakot of Cameroon. "Only Jesus Christ can free him."
But the African church is not just a collection of problems, there is
also great hope and vitality. "I come from people who know how to laugh,
and dance, and sing, and celebrate," Bishop Setlalekgosi. Central to this
hope and joy is the Small Christian Communities which often are lead by
catechists. Unlike some bishops in Latin America, no African bishop criticized
these communities as being Marxist, divisive, or out of control. Rather
the bishops want them more involved in evangelization. "They must become
not just praying communities, but also caring and preaching communities,"
said Bishop Francis Mugadzi of Zimbabwe. Others asked that seminarians
live in these communities rather than in impersonal institutions so that
their training will reflect reality and so that the communities can be
involved in their evaluation.
The experience of small Christian communities indicates the difficulties
of inculturation when African culture is itself changing in the face of
modernity and urbanization. The impact is especially felt on young people
who often compose 70 percent of the population. They lose their village
roots when moving to cities to look for jobs. Here they meet Western technology
but also the worst of Western values: individualism, greed, pornography.
Among the affluent, "polygamy is being replaced by the acquisition of
mistresses," reports Bishop Joseph Edra Ukpo of Nigeria.
The condition of African women was decried by a number of bishops. In
some traditional areas there is still female circumcision, the dispossession
of widows and her children by her husband's family, widowhood rites requiring
intercourse between the widow and her husband's brother, and the treatment
of girl children as inferior. "Childlessness, the fear of evil spirits,
witchcraft are real concerns which are very often laughed at, dismissed
as imaginary and nonexistent in our church circle," says Mrs. Kathryn
Hauwa Hoomkwap of Nigeria who spoke to the assembled bishops. "But to
the suffering African woman, these problems are real."
And "social change has often benefited men at the expense of women,"
reports Bishop Dennis De Jong of Zambia. "This has contributed to the
emergence of the apartheid of gender in which the status of women has
become inferior to that of men." New forms of abuse and oppression are
occurring that were not typical in traditional societies: prostitution,
concubinate, abandoned mothers, forced abortion, and sexual abuse of girls
in schools by their teachers.
How the synod will deal with all these issues is uncertain. Since Africa
has 53 countries and numerous tribes and cultures, specific solutions
must be found at the local level. Research and theological reflection
are needed, the bishops say. Many also want the bishops conferences to
have the right to judge local adaptations rather than have everything
decided in Rome. Experiments must be permitted and mistakes will be made,
but from mistakes will come knowledge.
The inculturation of Christianity in Europe, started by St. Paul, took
centuries. Practices, such as statues, were adopted that would have been
abominations to the first century Christians. The African churches too
must find their way but in a rapidly changing context which makes inculturation
more difficult. Africa cannot afford a disaster like that which struck
the Chinese rites in 1704 when Rome stopped the Jesuits who were inculturating
Christianity in China. Rather Europe and North American can learn from
the Africans that inculturation is an ongoing process. Perhaps the churches
of Europe are empty because the church remains frozen in the Baroque period
rather than continuing to inculturate itself to changing situations. The
North can learn a lot from the African synod.
This is part 1 of a two part series. For part 2, see The
African Synod: You Had to Be There.
By Thomas J. Reese, S.J., senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center
America, May 14, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by America
Press
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