KENYA: Statement of Eastern African Bishop-Delagates to Africa SynodStatement from bishops of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) who are delegates to the Synod of Bishops’ Second Special Assembly for Africa
A. NEW CONTEXT FOR CHURCH IN AMECEA
As we gather for the Synod of Bishops’ Second Special Assembly for Africa in Rome in October 2009, we Bishop Representatives from the AMECEA region express our thanks to God and appreciation to our Christian faithful for the positive movements experienced in implementing the directions of the First African Synod of 1994. We know, however, that much more needs to be done, especially if we are truly to be the “Salt of the Earth and the Light of World” in today’s world in order to be a “Church in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.”
To begin with, we are keenly aware that there are many elements that are new in our AMECEA region, compared to the context of our evangelization at the time of the First African Synod fifteen years ago. Some of the important new elements to pay attention to in our context of today include:
1. Impact of global economic crisis: the serious recession in the developed world has meant less trading opportunities, fewer new investments, lowered aid levels (for both government and church), increased impoverishment and doubt about reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
2. Governance dynamics: the hope that was raised by the birth of multi-party democracies in 1990s has been tempered by poor leadership, chaotic electoral politics and weak shared power arrangements. Corruption at every level undercuts service for the people.
3. Environmental crisis: our countries are experiencing the ecological disasters of global warming (with consequent floods and draughts) widespread deforestation, extractive industry pollution, with consequences for food security and displacement of people.
4. Intensive violent conflicts: armed conflicts continue to threaten people in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda, and of late we have experienced post election violence in Kenya and in our neighbouring countries: zenophobic attacks in South Africa and instability in Zimbabwe.
5. Assertive violent presence: global Islam’s increased position of power influences aggressive demands in many of our countries for more recognition, adoption of Kadhi Courts, introduction of Sharia legislation.
6. HIV and AIDS: the pandemic continues to ravage our populations while in many instances it has slipped from a prominent place of concern and response on the agenda of governments, civil society and even the churches.
7. Quantity and quality dilemma: membership in our Church continues to increase in numbers each year but this has not always been accompanied by deepened faith and spirituality with solid inculturation efforts.
8. Growth of strong institutions: our regional and national bodies have matured, such as CUEA, AMECEA office, conference secretariat, specific pastoral networks, justice and peace commissions, etc. There is need though for capacity building of the personnel and evaluation of our institutions.
9. Self-sustainability: hopes of increased self-reliance have been dampened by both widespread poverty and insufficient training of our faithful, with the result of serious economic problems in many areas of Church life.
10.. Broken Body of Christ: our Church has experienced a new growth of internal sects (e.g. “Churches” of married priests) and a rising dissatisfaction of women and youth.
B. OUR SERIOUS PASTORAL CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES
Through our pastoral consultations and visitations, AMECEA conferences, and reflection on the Instrumentum Laboris, we Bishops in AMECEA bring to the Second African Synod a number of serious concerns and challenges that we have often heard and prayed over. These are not discreet elements facing us but are all significantly interrelated in our pursuit of a Church in service of reconciliation, justice and peace. Some of these include:
1. Deeper evangelization: we know that as our Church in Africa grows in numbers we face the call to move to a more mature catechesis promoting a true Christian identity and a profound conversion of hearts. That Catholics could participate in political and ethnic clashes and that Catholic politicians could be involved in serious corruption of public resources tells us that we still have a long ways to go to promote a faith that does justice. There is need at every level for more serious formation in the Church Social Teaching (CST) and deeper implementation of an inculturation in our theology and not only in our ritual.
2. Spirituality of reconciliation: we need to strengthen the Body of Christ through efforts to advance a prayer life and a celebration of the Eucharist that puts reconciliation at the centre. This must include reconciliation with self, with neighbour, with our ancestors, with the earth and with God in whom we move, live and have our being. A renewed celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, often in the context of a communal penitential service, will greatly advance personal and social reconciliation.
3. Centrality of Small Christian Community (SCC): we have experienced that a properly trained and led SCC adds great value to the promotion of reconciliation. This is because deeper biblical reflection and more regular use of the pastoral circle empower or Christians to engage effectively in the social life around them. Here formation in Catholic Social Teaching (CST) at all levels must be a priority.
4. Ecumenical and Interfaith Dialogue: we know that endeavours to promote lasting reconciliation must include the strengths of religion. Hence we must be more effective in engaging other Christian churches in ecumenical exchanges at all levels. Moreover, cooperation wherever possible must be sought with Muslim persons and institutions, as well as persons and institutions of other faiths in Africa.
5. Family Ministry: we acknowledge that the First African Synod gave us the beautiful image of the Church as the “Family of God”. Thus we have all the more urgency to devise better pastoral responses to meet crises in family life such as HIV and AIDS, orphans, poverty and situations of refugees and displacement. The family is a central focus for the formation of conscience and the maturing of moral judgments about the good and the right, so essential for the promotion of reconciliation.
6. Women’s Role: we are mindful that more than 50% of the Family of God are women and that between 70% to 80% of our active Church collaborations are women. In African society, women are frequently not treated as equal to men, are left out of decision-making processes, are excluded from full educational opportunities and fair employment conditions, and are victims of shameful abuse (especially in the military conflicts in our region). Women have the prime responsibility of caring for those that are taken ill with HIV and AIDS and of orphans, while they themselves have the highest rates of infection from the pandemic. Within our Church in Africa we do not take advantage of God’s gifts in the talented and sensitive women in our midst. Yet it is very clear that neither our society nor our Church will do well unless we attitudinally and structurally recognize the role of women and reconcile with the unjust situations in which they are placed.
7. Youth Concerns: We often hear of the need to pay attention to youth because “they are the future of the Church.” But in fact, “they are the wealth of the present day.” As such they must be more effectively incorporated into the life of the Church, our SCCs and other organizations. Given responsibilities and formation, young women and men can and do play an important role in evangelization and in spiritual and social movements and are key actors in reconciliation efforts.
8. Holistic Approach to HIV/AIDS: we are mindful that our 2005 AMECEA Plenary addressed the issue of effective pastoral response to the pandemic of HIV and AIDS and that we launched an AMECEA theological study of HIV and AIDS during our 2008 Plenary. It is important that a holistic approach be taken to dealing with the pandemic, seeing it neither as primarily a medical-pharmaceutical problem nor a matter solely of behavioural change. It is profoundly a development and justice issue. At a time when some official concerns to the pandemic are receding, we must acknowledge that the Body of Christ has AIDS, and provide a priority response fitting to the Family of God.
9. Catholic Educational System: We recognize that too many of our youth in our AMECEA countries are out of school. We must find ways to strengthen the ministry of education that in earlier years so distinctively marked our Church’s apostolic endeavours, so that Catholic Schools at every level (including universities) are promoted. This should also include technical training. Our Catholic schools must not be seen as “exclusive” or commercial entities.
10. Sustainability and Accountability: we are aware that the strong desire expressed in the First African Synod for more self-sufficient African Church has in too many instances been frustrated by severe poverty situations in our dioceses and parishes. But it also has not been realized because we have failed to communicate to our people their responsibility to be generously supportive of the Church’s pastoral presence and activities. The practice of “tithing,” for instance, should be encouraged in variously appropriate forms. But central to sustainability must be greater accountability and openness in our reporting on Church finances and always a severely honest handling of all funds.
11. Church Relevance and Credibility: we remember with humility the call of the First African Synod to be a Church that relates closely to our people’s real needs and demonstrates an unquestionable integrity of lifestyle among all our Church ministers. There should be some form of “monitoring and evaluation” (M&E) that checks our relevance and credibility in ways that strengthens an effective pastoral approach. A Church that desires to be in service to reconciliation, justice and peace must be both sensitive and credible.
12. Church-State Relations: we know that we need both attitudinal change and structural tools to more effectively promote the reconciliation so much needed in our region. This is reconciliation not only in violent conflict situations but also in circumstances of political economic, social and cultural differences. In too many instances the Church is ridiculed or ignored when it speaks out on issues of social justice. We often fail to take advantage of opportunities to contribute to public discourse about priorities and policies. Programmes such as parliamentary liaison offices and representation at regional bodies (e.g AU) should be instituted and National and regional Justice and Peace Commissions should be strengthened.
13. Peace and Security: We appreciated that a more accurate historical understanding of how conflict situations have arisen in our region is necessary as we can only respond to the present if we know the past. Moreover we should see to the establishment of some permanent structures to respond to conflict crises so that there is not such a time-lag in reacting to something like electoral fraud.
14. Political Governance: We have experienced in some of our countries some improvements in democratic process (e.g. introduction of multi-partyism, constitutional reforms, human rights protection) but this has not been universal and sustained. Guided by our CST, our Church should be more active in advocacy efforts to improve governmental services, curb corruption, train politicians and public servants, form good citizenship, encourage responsible voting etc.
15. Poverty Eradication: we cannot help but be moved and shamed by the impoverishment of the majority of the people in all our AMECEA countries. The suffering and marginalization of these children of God is simple unacceptable. Advocacy efforts for better government policies and promotion of improved church social services must be a priority of pastoral response. The “preferential option for the poor” should provide a fundamental question to evaluate government, business, church and personal choices: “What does this decision mean for the poor?”
16. Environmental issues: we know that the challenges of climate change and global warming are particularly affecting our local people. Serious draughts are causing food security problems and promoting human migrations that are not always peaceful. In several of our countries, extractive industries are creating pollution troubles that foreign investors are not always responsive to. Forests are cut, but new trees are not planted. Pope Benedict XVI has cautioned us that if we want peace among ourselves, we must make peace with creation. Ecological reconciliation is very important for social reconciliation.
C. EXPECTATIONS OF RESULTS FROM THE SYNOD
We have heard many expectations voiced by our people in the course of our preparations for the Synod of Bishops’ Second Special Assembly for Africa. These are four major expectations we should keep before us in all our deliberations and recommendations:
1. We expect the conclusions and recommendations of the Synod to be very practical, very concrete, very realizable.
2. We call for a clear plan of strategic follow-up to be put in place for instructions about the results of the Synod and implementation of its recommendations. We must assure that this plan includes times lines and regular Monitoring and Evaluation review.
3. Within the universality and commonality of the Synod’ attention there must be due respect given to the particularities and diversities of the Church in the AMECEA region and more widely on the African continent. These will require careful discernment of specific pastoral situations.
4. The synod must be seen as a process and not simply as an event. That is, we should communicate to our people that the synod may have finished its task in Rome but that it continues its spirit and life in all the activities of our church institutions and gatherings.
D. CONCLUSION: THE AFRICAN PROMISE
We Bishop Representative of the AMECEA region come second Africa Synod with a mixed spirit of pride, humility and hope.
We are proud as we recall that we come from a region that has been called the “cradle of the civilization,” the place that was home to humanity’s earliest mothers and fathers. We come from a continent blessed to have received Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus as refugees. We come from a church that is growing with the promising vibrancy and a youthful vitality.
We are humble as we recognize that we come from a continent that has been marked by too much blood–shedding and corruption in recent years. Moreover, the Instrumentum Laboris reminded us that many of our problems are due to political leaders who show insensitivity to the needs of their people, a point raised also by Pope Benedict XVI during his first pastoral visit to Africa in March. Our humility obliges us to recognize that we did not always implement to fullest the good directions of the first African Synod.
We are hopeful because we know from experience that God’s loving and merciful care will provide the Holy Spirit to lead us into the future. We come to the Synod accompanied by the prayers and interest of millions of our fellow Christians. Our hope is real because it is founded on the promise of Jesus to be with us at all times. With that promise we can continue in the process of the Second African Synod with great confidence!
May Mary, the Queen of Africa intercede for us.
