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Church leaders need to take deliberate steps to sustain associations of the Laity and other ecclesial movements, Archbishop Zolile Mpambani of South Africa’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bloemfontein has said.
The Secretary General of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has highlighted gaps in the functioning of associations of the Laity and other movements in the Church.
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.
Cardinal Mario Grech said the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is studying “the women’s diaconate” within the context of its in-depth study of ministries.
The Instrumentum Laboris, the guiding document for the October 2024 assembly, makes reference to these study groups throughout.
“Without tangible changes, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible,” the Instrumentum Laboris, or “working tool,” says.
The Instrumentum Laboris, or “working tool” for the upcoming 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, will be presented July 9.
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.
A female Theologian from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is advocating for formal education of women if they have to actively participate in the decision-making processes of the Church like their male counterparts in “higher positions in the Church”.
The first of the two-phase convention bringing together African professionals in the fields of theology and pastoral ministry to reflect on the outcomes of the first session of the multi-year Synod on Synodality that took place 4-29 October 2023 in Rome, concluding with a 42-page summary report, has been “very successful”, a participant has said.
Delegates representing the Church in Africa at the ongoing Synod on Synodality need to amplify their views and voices on issues relating to the growth of the Church on the continent, a Cameroonian member of the Society of Jesus (SJ) has said.
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.
The family is facing the “biggest and most serious crisis” in the world today, Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier has said, and warned that attacks against the family seek to decimate procreation.
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.
A group of 20 theologians concluded an evaluation of 107 synod reports from national bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches following meetings in Rome.
The Synod on Synodality is a call to move from one model of the Church to another, Archbishop Dabula Mpako of South Africa’s Pretoria Archdiocese who participated in the first session of the ongoing synod has observed.
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.