The “distinct cultural, community forces” Africa’s Delegates to Synod on Synodality Want Integrated into Church Mission
The “distinct cultural, community forces” Africa’s Delegates to Synod on Synodality Want Integrated into Church Mission
Embracing the new way of being Church through Small Christian Communities (SCCs) and living out the spirit of “Ubuntu” are the two particular “cultural and community forces” that delegates representing the Church in Africa at the ongoing Synod on Synodality want integrated into the continental mission of the Church.
This was the consensus of some 50 delegates and experts from across Africa and its Islands, who concluded their four-day meeting on Friday, April 26 at Roussel House of Donum Dei Missionary Sisters in Karen in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).
Organized by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in collaboration with the African Synodality Initiative (ASI), the meeting aimed at having the Synod on Synodality delegates from Africa “deepen” their insights about Synodality ahead of the 2-29 October 2024 session in Rome.
In a statement he issued on Thursday, April 25, the President of SECAM provides key highlights of the meeting that was organized under the theme, “How can we be a Synodal Church on mission?”
“During our discussions on how to strengthen our synodal mission, there was consensus among delegates that Africa must embrace the experience of Small Christian Communities (SCCs); and the rich philosophical principles of Ubuntu,” Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo says.
The reality of SCCs and the principle of Ubuntu, Cardinal Ambongo adds, “highlight the values of family, fraternity and solidarity.”
The discussions during the April 23-26 meeting “highlighted the need to integrate these distinct cultural and community forces into the broader mission of our Church,” the President of SECAM, who is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) says.
Cardinal Ambongo describes the latest meeting of Africa’s delegates to the ongoing Synod on Synodality as “another important moment of grace, a true ‘Kairos’ for the Church in Africa to affirm its commitment to walk together as a united Church – a family of God in Africa, in the service of announcing the Gospel for the better future of the African continent.”
Full Story {HERE}
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