SEcond African Synod

AFRICA : Hopes for the Second African Synod by Peter Henriot, S.J., (The following article appears in the September 2009 issue of Hakimani, the e-newsletter of the Jesuit Hakimani Centre, a peace and justice center in East Africa. Fr. Peter Henriot, S.J., is the director of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Lusaka, Zambia.)

[When some 200-plus bishops and advisors from all over Africa gather in Rome in October, a special focus will be on how the Catholic Church can best serve the people of this continent.

The Second African Synod (officially called the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops) meets October 4-25, with the theme "The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace: ‘You are the Salt of the Earth…You are the Light of the World.’"(Matthew 5: 13-14)

Preparations - Preparations for the Synod have been going on for the past three years, with efforts of mixed success to involve a cross section of Catholics to explore the significance of the theme and its implications for theological reflection and pastoral practices. I say "mixed success" because in many dioceses and parishes much activity has gone on and in many others very little activity.

In 2006, a set of discussion guidelines (in Latin, Lineamenta) was circulated to prompt early conversations about the theme, inviting an "examination of conscience" about our life as "family of God."

The results of these conversations were then communicated to the Vatican for preparation of the agenda (Instrumentum Laboris) to focus the debates of the Synod. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Cameroon in May, he presented the agenda with a call for reflection and prayer to engage all of us in this important event.

Personally, I am struck by the relevance of the agenda topics to the life of the Church in Africa. There is an honest reflection on the difficulties of implementation of the First African Synod (1994), with clear recognition that many parts of Africa have in the past decade been severely wracked by armed conflicts and ineffective governance. The concrete experience of the Church in relating to this challenging situation is sketched with obvious questions regarding the effectiveness of our responses.

Challenges - Of many points that can be emphasized about the significance of Synod debates and decisions, here are three that seem to me to be very important:

First, is the necessary formation that needs to be done in the church social teaching (CST) across all of the Church – bishops, clergy, religious, laity. There still is too much ignorance of the content of the CST and/or reluctance to take seriously its call for prophetic stances by everyone in the Church.

Many lay people, including those in important positions of government and business; simply do not know about the CST because many priests and pastoral leaders have never communicated its content and challenge in homilies, workshops, catechetical programs, etc.

Second, priority is to put high emphasis upon promotion of the dignity of women in both Church and society. As the agenda clearly notes, "Women and the laity in general are not fully integrated in the Church’s structures of responsibility and the planning of her pastoral programs."

Anti-evangelical cultural and ecclesial attitudes, patterns and structures must be challenged head on by the Synod if any true reconciliation is to be possible.

Third, priority that Synod discussion and decision must address is something which is surprisingly absent from the agenda. This is the topic of environmental concern touching issues such as climate change (global warming), ecological integrity, life-style adjustments, and industrial pollution by new investors coming to the Continent (e.g., in the extractives sector).

Aside from one passing reference to multinational corporations’ not paying adequate attention to the environment, this topic that is so much in the forefront of problems in Africa is not explored. Surely, the actual Synod deliberations will take up the topic! - http://www.jesuithakimani.org/

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vmalpan@gmail.com

Experience -> The Great Teacher

Wounded God...> Healing wounded World

Victor Edwin SJ "Yesterday, I went to Chester, a little city close to Wales. I was walking around in the city centre. City centre was full of weekend visitors. There I found an Afro British man standing behind a small table with literature on Jesus was speaking about Jesus. Often I have seen Evangelical Christians and Muslims distributing reading materials for free in city centres.

Earlier, I have never shown any interest in listening to such preachers. However, some how I felt I should listen to this man who was giving witness to Christ. I went closer to him and listened. He was talking about compassionate God. I could not but think of Paul speaking to the audience on Athens about his faith! His message was simple.

He said God is good and loving. He gave his son out of love. Jesus, son of God through his woundedness heal the wounded world. Jesus is the face of wounded God. Only way to respond to this loving God is to love one another and forgive others. He repeated this in many beautiful ways.

There were many other, mostly teenagers were listening to him. First of all I was indeed surprised about his courage: to stand amidst a large number of week end visitors and speak about Christ. Secondly, he was saying something which I do feel the world need to hear. Indeed he set the tone for my whole day of reflection and prayer.

Thinking of his message I went to visit and pray at Chester Cathedral. The Cathedral has a rich and fascinating heritage. Chester Cathedral is a truly remarkable building, with a history spanning almost two thousand years.

According to legend, a prehistoric Druid temple existed on this site, which was succeeded by a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo. When Christianity became the state religion of Rome in the fourth century AD, the pagan temple may have become a Christian church. A picture and a statue of the Virgin and Child impressed me a lot.

The picture is painted on the web of a caterpillar. This famous painting is about 200 years old. A Tyrolean art form, there are apparently only 64 remaining in the world, and this is the only one in the UK.

However, the statue of our Lady with toddler Jesus struck me very deeply. I felt the statue somehow deepened the message of the preacher at the City Centre. The sculptor has used loose and uneven scrap copper sheets to make this beautiful statue. The statue powerfully highlight the poverty of Mother and Son.

The sculptor's note which is kept at the feet of the statue tells that the sculptor used scrap and broken sheets to convey the woundedness of God. The sculptor wanted to show that the wounded Lord is shown to be the healer of the wounded world. I was deeply moved by the words of the preacher at the City Centre and the words of the sculptor which came alive in the statue. The challenge is to forgive others, so that we can really talk about woundedness of God and bring about healing. " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Courtesy: Victor Edwin SJ

Email: victoredwinsj@gmail.com

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vmalpan@gmail.com

Why do we mess up our life?

MEETING GOD IN A MESS

"You must have had beautiful curls as a baby!"

My ... (Superior) was not paying me a compliment, but sarcastically telling me my hair was too long and looked a mess. Usually he didn't go in for such subtleties. But that day he did. In plain language he was telling me, "Get a hair cut!"

Most of us strive to create a good impression so that people will admire and respect us. We fear that we will be despised and rejected if we fail. Image making has developed into a sophisticated art. A politician is thought to stands a better chance of being elected if he looks like a film star. That's what Ronald Reagan actually was. It's been argued that one of the reasons why Kennedy beat Nixon was because on a TV debate Nixon was thought to look like a thug, while Kennedy appeared handsome and honest.

I must admit that I'm not very bothered about how I look. Perhaps I should be. But my prior certainly was right. My scruffy appearance let my community down, if not myself. But certainly a good impression goes way beyond how any of us looks. What people think of our behaviour is much more important. That's where the real problems begin. Before couples get married they strive to do their best not to reveal any defects, which may put off the one whose love they want to win.

But no one can keep up the appearance of being a paragon of all that is desirable. We all have faults. These will become apparent over years of marriage, or ...(of any religious) community life. At times we will behave badly. We will be moody, selfish and unforgiving. We will be petty and reveal irritating habits. We may be seen without our teeth and our normally well groomed hair may be a mess first thing in the morning. People only discover what we're really like by sharing our lives for a number of years. Hopefully we will still take them and ourselves by surprise.

These musings came to me during our community prayers. As we sang the Divine Office I realised that while some of the psalms expressed respectable sentiments of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, joy and repentance, other psalms reflected the ugly side of human nature -anger with God and with life, bitterness, revenge and self pity. Some people have wanted to remove these psalms from the Prayer of the Church. But wisely, the Church has retained them. Why? Certainly we are not meant to imitate these ignoble reactions, but to copy the psalmist in praying with absolute honesty. As he does so he brings before God what people actually feel. As we pray these ignoble thoughts we ask God not to confirm them but to heal them. Sometimes we will need God to heal what is wrong in the way we react or feel. And if the Prayer of the Church doesn't express our present sentiments it certainly sums up how other people are feeling. So, then we stop thinking about ourselves and turn our prayers towards our brothers and sisters who are going through a rough time.

With great honesty we exposed to God the side of us and them that is ugly. That takes great trust that he won't reject us. We are prepared to make ourselves vulnerable by stripping away the mask of pretence. We stop trying to create a false, good impression. Any way God already knows us better than we know ourselves, so there's no point in trying to deceive him.

And yet we are convinced that he will always love us, with all our faults and failings. His love for us is utterly unconditional. But he can only heal whatever is wrong in our lives if we are prepared to be absolutely honest with the Good Physician. As we bring our unworthy thoughts before God he is able to heal them and bring peace and order to our lives when they are in a mess. As he loves us as we are he helps us to become what we should be.

God's unconditional love for us is the model of how we should love each other. We will need great courage and trust to reveal our true selves, warts and all. We may well fear we will be vulnerable to contempt and rejection. So, too, will our loved ones as they make themselves equally vulnerable. But if we have the courage to welcome each other unconditionally we will not only grow in love, but also help each other to become better people. Loving mercy and compassion can help to heal the messy, ugly parts of our lives.

True. I do look more respectable and younger when shorn of my unruly grey locks. But far more important, God's love doesn't depend on the tidiness of my life, or even of my hair!

Posted by Peter Clarke O.P.

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vmalpan@gmail.com