African Pastors - Christs New Homeland - Africa: Contribution to the Synod on the Family by African Pastors

CHRISTS NEW HOMELANDAFRICA

Contribution to the Synod on the Family
by African Pastors

Translated by
Michael J. Miller

IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

Cover art:

Detail of column capital depicting the Flight into Egypt
Cathedral St. Lazare, Autun, France
Foto Marburg / Art Resource, New York

Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum

2015 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-62164-088-2 (PB)

ISBN 978-1-68149-679-5 (EB)
Library of Congress Control Number 2015948275
Printed in the United States of America

The SYNOD ON THE FAMILY:

FROM ONE ASSEMBLY TO ANOTHER

THE GOSPEL OF THE FAMILY

PASTORAL CARE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE HURTING

AN APPEAL FROM THE CHURCH
IN AFRICA TO THE STATE

Francis Cardinal Arinze

The XIV General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will sit in Vatican City from October 4 to 25, 2015, on the theme: The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World. It is fitting and beautiful that some distinguished African cardinals and bishops have put together their reflections on different aspects of this vital apostolate. The essays offered to the public in this present volume seem to me to be an excellent preparation for the forthcoming synod for the following reasons:

The African prelates make a concise presentation of the attitude of Africans toward marriage and the family. Africans see the family as a community of love between a man and a woman, with a loving opening to children. Marriage is the entry. It comes from the creating hands of God, and so no human being has the authority to try to reinvent it. A marriage in Africa establishes a link between the families of the man and the woman, with each side ready to help to make it a success. Appreciation of the complementarity of man and woman and of the divine origin of marriage and the family cuts across cultural, linguistic, and religious frontiers. To ignore the order established by the Creator in marriage and the family is to invite problems and sufferings on people and on society as a whole. The African prelates see the family in Africa as a place where the elders are highly respected, the link with the ancestors is appreciated, and the virtue of filial piety is extolled.

The authors of the articles in this book draw attention to the rich and beautiful teaching of the Magisterium of the Church on marriage and the family. Already Gaudium et spes (47) defines the family as a community of love. Lumen gentium (11) calls it the domestic church, while Apostolicam actuositatem (11) sees it as the first and vital cell of society. Blessed Paul VI in Humanae vitae presents Church teaching on responsible parenthood and defends conjugal morality. Pope Saint John Paul II in Familiaris consortio, Letter to Families , and Evangelium vitae goes into greater detail: The future of humanity passes by way of the family, he says in Familiaris consortio 86. And in Ecclesia in Africa 43, he observes: The African loves children, who are joyfully welcomed as gifts of God. The sons and daughters of Africa love life. Pope Benedict XVI, in Africae munus 43, insists that The family needs to be protected and defended, so that it may offer society the service expected of it, that of providing men and women capable of building a social fabric of peace and harmony. Pope Francis at the solemn Mass in Manila on January 16, 2015, stoutly defended the family.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the home is the first school of Christian life and a school for human enrichment. Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generouseven repeatedforgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of ones life (1657). Moreover, this Catechism allows no ambiguity on the purpose of marriage and the family: Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children (2201).

The reader of this book will notice that the prelates are not unaware of the forces that militate against marriage and the family in the world. Following the leadership of Pope Francis in Manila on January 16, 2015, they mention the new ideological colonization trends that seek to destroy the family and to introduce themselves also into the developing countries. The mass media are also used to banalize, secularize, and even commercialize marriage and the family. The prelates defend the unity and indissolubility of marriage and also the necessity of fidelity and openness to procreation.

In view of the fact that society in Africa, too, is made up of people of many religions, mixed marriages between a Catholic and a Christian of another denomination and interreligious marriages between a Christian and a person of another religious persuasion are current challenges on the African continent. Where the ideal of a Catholic man marrying a Catholic woman is not realized, the bishop and the parish priest have to assess the wisdom of permitting a mixed marriage or an interreligious one, after weighing the challenges involved. Under certain circumstances, such marriages may be able to promote ecumenism and inter-religious collaboration, although this should not always be presumed.

The writings in this book see the task of the forthcoming synod of bishops as the promotion of good marriages. This calls for multiple actions on the part of Church personnel and, indeed, of all the faithful. There should be clear teaching on what the Church tells us about marriage and the family. Homilies, diocesan publications, and radio and television programs should bring sound Christian doctrine to the people. The writers have also stressed the importance of proper preparation for marriage, which should include not only catechetical instruction but also information on natural family planning. Engaged couples should be given adequate answers to contemporary errors regarding marriage and the family and sound teaching on chastity and its demands. The synod should insist that parishes and dioceses arrange courses for newly married couples to be given by well-chosen experienced couples. The importance of family prayers and frequent reception of the sacraments of penance and the Holy Eucharist also needs to be emphasized. The family as an active agent of evangelization, within itself and with other families, is also underlined by the writers.

Not all families are calm, happy, and peaceful. Some are wounded. The African prelates who have written this book did not forget such families. Some families have such wounds as divorce, single parenthood, childlessness, one spouse incurably sick or addicted to drugs, violence, infidelity, economic problems of a couple living together because of the pressures of work, war, or imprisonment, or sheer poverty and unemployment. Toward all such wounded families, the Church must, like Christ, be compassionate. It is Jesus who said: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (Mt 9:12). He is the merciful and faithful high priest (Heb 2:17). The prelates discuss how the Church can show mercy toward the divorced and remarried and toward people involved in polygamous marriages.