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Small Christian Communities (SCCs), the new way of being Church in Africa, are leading the way in uniting different Christian denominations, a non-Catholic Ecumenist has said.
Organizers of the weekly synodal palavers that ended on September 6 have announced a virtual “prayer session” for Africa’s delegates to the second session of the Synod on Synodality scheduled to start on October 2 and end on October 29 in Rome.
The Church in Africa is burdened by tribalism, among other challenges that are hindering co-responsibility in ministry, which the multi-year Synod on Synodality proposes, Catholic Theologians who are behind the ongoing weekly synodal conversations have said.
Africa’s experience of “Church as a family of God” makes Synodality, which invites the people of God to journey together in communion, participation and mission, “a new word for an old idea”, John Cardinal Onaiyekan of Nigeria has said.
The Synod on Synodality, which started off as a pastoral issue, bringing on board every baptized member of the Church, has now become a “theoretical” topic for intellectuals, the Archbishop of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has observed.
Childhood traumas are likely to lead one into sexual behaviours that a Nigerian American Catholic Sister has referred to as “inappropriate”.
The Archbishop of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has faulted claims that the Church in Africa is only influenced by culture when taking a position on controversial topics, especially those raised in the ongoing multi-year Synod on Synodality, which Pope Francis extended to 2024, with the first phase, 4-29 October 2023, having concluded with a 42-page summary report.
Theologians leading the ongoing weekly synodal conversations have urged Catholics in Africa to uphold the sacredness of marriage, and to say no to any ideologies that may distort the image of the family institution.
Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, the Nigerian-born Vatican-based Catholic Church leader, who previously served as the Apostolic Nuncio in Nicaragua has reflected on the days before the Central American nation started experiencing religious persecution.
To foster the good relations between Apostolic Nunciatures and the Church in Africa, representatives of the Holy Father on the continent must strive to acknowledge the diversity of the Church in Africa “as a gift” to the global Catholicism, an official at the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) has said.
Being a Catholic Bishop in Africa involves a lot of work that sometimes leaves Bishops exhausted, participants at a the10th session of the ongoing synodal palavers have been told, and urged to be more patient with their shepherds who sometimes appear not to be available for everyone.
Women Religious under the auspices of the Zambia Association of Sisterhoods (ZAS) have been urged to encourage members to be vocal on faith matters.