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Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier of South Africa is calling on his colleagues in the Episcopacy, members of the Clergy, and women and men Religious to put in place strategies that will make them “effective agents of evangelization”.
Patriarchal structures that characterized the traditional African setting were introduced in the Church and have continued to affect the relationship between Local Ordinaries and those in Religious Life, a Kenyan theologian has said.
It is highly unlikely that the Catholic Church in Nigeria will cheer up to married men being ordained Deacons, a participant at the ongoing synodal conversations has said, noting that the West African nation is not ready for such a ministry.
A majority of victims of abuse in the Catholic Church are women, a Congolese Theologian has said, noting that ordination of more female deacons will see “women look after their fellow women.”
The proposed pastoral solution for the polygamous Catechumen seeking to convert to Catholicism presents a difficult situation for African families, a Catholic Theologian has said.
Giningakpio Justin Dapu is one of the most active members of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio (CDTY). He leads various groups that are focused on the development of the Diocese.
Major Seminarians in Africa are not allowed “to be themselves” but must find ways to get by, a Catholic priest from Nigeria has said, and challenged institutions of formation of future Priests to encourage open communication between Seminarians and their respective formators.
Some high school graduates in Tanzania are admitted to Major Seminaries to start their Priestly formation without basic Catechism knowledge, a Catholic Bishop in the East African country has said.
Seminarians in Africa have been urged to watch out for people who seek to distort the truth by introducing misleading information disguised as “well-researched” ideas in their institutions of formation.
Participants in the sixth session of the ongoing synodal conversations on the Synod on Synodality have proposed ways Catholic youths in Africa can effectively engage social media in their participation in the Church’s mission of evangelization.
Many African marriages are breaking because women are no longer comfortable with their roles in the family, a Nigerian Catholic expert on marriage and family has said.
The Church in Africa can tap from the experience of Eastern Churches on the continent on living the Synod on Synodlity, participants at a virtual conversation have said.
The spirit of the Synod on Synodality has been introduced in Africa and is spreading across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent, an African member of the Vatican Theological Commission of the Synod has said.
Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, the recently appointed Local Ordinary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan in Ivory Coast is proposing three approaches that he says are “effective” in facilitating a participative Synodal process in Africa.
At the core of the Synod on Synodality conversations in Africa is the African way of living that includes the wisdom and traditions elders on the continent dispense, an official at the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) has said.
A Togolese Catholic Priest has proposed the splitting of Bishops’ Conferences, Dioceses, Parishes, and other groups that are seen as too large into units where “everyone’s voice is heard”.
Catholic Bishops and religious communities in Africa have been urged to harness the potential of the diasporic communities in growing the continent.
Catholic Bishops in Africa have lauded the weekly conversations organized by African theologians on the Synod on Synodality, noting that the Friday engagements will deepen the understanding of the synod.
African theologians, priests, religious, and laity have embarked on a series of synodal conversations, describing their encounter ahead of the October session in Rome as a call to action for all the people of God in Africa to make their voices heard in the Synod on Synodality.
Plans are underway for a series of online conversations bringing together African theologians, priests and religious, as well as laity who seek to deepen the understanding of the Synthesis Report of the ongoing Synod on Synodality ahead of the October session in Rome.