How Have We Received Ecclesia in Africa

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HOW HAVE WE RECEIVED ECCLESIA IN AFRICA?

Fr. Anthony A. Akinwale, O.P.

Professor of Theology

Dominican Institute

Ibadan

My objective in this paper is to attempt to answer a simple but pertinent question: how have we received Ecclesia in Africa, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II? The pertinence and opportunity of the question can be easily discerned

Fourteen years after the 1st Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, at the threshold of a 2nd Special Assembly convoked in the twilight of the pontificate Pope John Paul II, and now being prepared for during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, this is an opportuned moment to inquire: what have we in the Church in Nigeria made of Ecclesia in Africa? To inquire into how we received Ecclesia in Africa is to inquire into how we have received the Synod itself. Ecclesia in Africa would not have seen the light of day without the African Synod. Ecclesia in Africa collects the fruits of the Synod for us. Like every Post-Synodal Exhortation, it is an echo of the Synod. If we as a Church must find our bearing, if we are to secure what the Holy Spirit has enabled us to achieve, and if we are to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the future, then we must allow the past to interrogate our present. That is why, as we prepare for a second Synod, it becomes imperative to allow the first Synod to question us allowing the Post-Synodal Exhortation to question us through a re-reading of Ecclesia in Africa. What have we made of the fruits of the first Synod? What have we made of the lights and shadows, the challenges and future prospects of evangelization in Africa? But it is not only the time that calls for the question. The very nature of a synod cannot but lead us to raise it.

Every synod is milestone. It is, at the same time, a finishing point and a starting point because the conclusion of a synod or council is the starting point of further reflection. The further reflection is integral to the process which theologians call “reception”. Reception is a process through which the Church in a given place discusses, interprets and finally makes part of its own life the teachings, key idea, practices or decisions of the synod or council. A Church can be said to have received the teachings or decisions of a council or synod when the Church in question has retrieved the teachings of the council, interpreted it in a way that is consistent with the key idea of the council or synod, and prudently applied it to its own ecclesial experience. There is reception in a local Church of the teachings and decisions of a council when the local Church in question makes those teachings and decisions of the synod part and parcel of her life.

A synod is not only a forum where ideas are exchanged. A synod is itself an idea, and John Henry Newman’s theory of the development of ideas helps us to explain what this process of reception is. An idea, according to the 19th century English ecclesiastic, is like a seed. When a seed is thrown into the soil, it germinates and bears fruits as a result of its interaction with the surrounding soil. In the same way, when an idea is introduced into the minds of its recipient it interacts with the previously received ideas in the minds of such recipients and, in the ensuing warfare of ideas, the newly-introduced idea modifies and is modified.

The Post-Synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa

Sequel to the 1st Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops which had taken place in Rome in 1994, Pope John Paul II traveled to Yaounde, Cameroon on the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, September 14, 1995, to sign his Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa. Let it be recalled that the Synod, which had taken place at the dawn of the Third Millennium of the Christian faith, had as its theme: “The Church in Africa and her evangelizing mission towards the Year 2000: ‘You shall be my witnesses’”. In the words of Pope John Paul II, the Synod “subjected to a detailed and realistic study the lights and shadows, the challenges and future prospects of evangelization in Africa” (Ecclesia in Africa, 1). The exhortation, for its part, contains the results of the prayerful reflections of the Synod fathers, of their discussions and exchanges. Pope John Paul II gave its outline. It begins by taking note of

i)  the historic moment (kairos) in which the Synod was held, its objectives, preparation and celebration;

ii)  it goes on to provide an analysis of the current situation of the Church in Africa while recalling the different phases of the effort to evangelize her;

iii)  it examines the various aspects of evangelization in our time, namely, evangelization, inculturation, dialogue, justice and peace, and the means of social communication;

iv)  it identifies the urgent tasks and challenges facing the Church in Africa as she fulfills her evangelizing mission of witnessing to Christ in Africa with the aim of “a more effective contribution to the building up of God’s Kingdom”;

v)  it ends by describing the responsibilities of the Church in Africa as “a Church of mission which itself becomes missionary” in response to the injunction of Christ, “you shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The Synod took place at a historic moment of grace for Africa. This “hour of Africa”, to use the words of Pope John Paul II, was manifested in solemn profession of faith in the Triune God by the Synod Fathers gathered about the Tomb of Peter.

The Bishops of Africa, in whom the Catholic Church during those days found herself expressed in a special way at the Tomb of the Apostle, confirmed their steadfast belief that the greatness and mercy of the one God were manifested above all in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, the Son who is consubstantial with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit and who, in this Trinitarian unity, receive the fullness of honor and glory. This—the Father affirmed—is our faith, this is the faith of all the local Churches which everywhere in Africa are on pilgrimage towards the House of God (Ecclesia in Africa, 10).

Also publicly proclaimed by the Bishops of Africa was their faith in the unique Church of Christ—the Church that is one, holy, catholic and apostolic (Ecclesia in Africa, 11; Lumen Gentium, 8). The Synod was a moment to show the whole world that

the local Churches of Africa hold a rightful place in the communion of the Church, that they are entitled to preserve and to develop “their own traditions, without in any way lessening the primacy of the Chair of Peter. This Chair presides over the whole assembly of charity and protects legitimate differences, while at the same time it sees that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it” (Ecclesia in Africa, 11; Lumen Gentium, 13).

Providentially and symbolically, the solemn inauguration of the Synod on the Second Sunday of Easter, that is, at the end of the Easter Octave, brought the awareness that the joy and the hope of the Church in Africa flowed from the same event that brought joy and hope to the Apostles’ hearts on Easter Day. This joy and hope were experienced at a difficult time in the history of the African continent—the genocide (fratricide) in Rwanda was taking place, the continent was bearing the burden of international debt and currency devaluation, Nigeria, in particular was within the painful grips of military dictatorship sustained by opportunistic civilian politicians.

At the Synod, the affective and effective communion of the Bishops of Africa among themselves, and between them and the Bishop of Rome strengthened the communion of the Church and showed a continent whose peoples were at war that people of diversity can live together in harmony and solidarity. This demonstration of ecclesial communion, strengthened by the communion of the Bishops themselves points to what Africa can achieve in terms of authentic development if her various peoples will seek the path of integration despite their diversity.

Echoing the Synod, Ecclesia in Africa looked to the past of Africa to recall the marvelous work of God in the evangelization of Africa. It began with the first phase, the first centuries of Christianity which saw the evangelization of Egypt and North Africa. Then came the second phase, the 15th and 16th centuries when sub-Saharan Africa was evangelized. And the third phase, which began in the 19th century, “marked by an extraordinary missionary effort” (Ecclesia in Africa, 30).

The first phase produced countless saints, martyrs, confessors and virgins, as well as great doctors and writers like St. Athanasius, St. Cyril, St. Cyprian and St. Augustine. Then Africa had great women saints like Perpetua and Felicitas, Monica and Thecla. Africa of the first phase of evangelization produced saintly popes like Victor I, Melchiades and Gelatius. Great Churches of noble heritage flourished and continue to exist today, such as the Greek Church of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Coptic Church of Egypt, and Church of Ethiopia (Ecclesia in Africa, 31).

The second phase, which took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, saw the exploration of the African coast by the Portuguese, an exploration accompanied by evangelization of regions of Africa south of the Sahara, giving birth to the Church in Angola and the Congo. Going down memory lane, Pope John Paul II wrote:

A certain number of Episcopal Sees were erected during this period, and one of the first fruits of that missionary endeavor was the consecration in Rome, by Pope Leo X in 1518, of Don Henrique, the son of Don Alfonso I, King of the Congo, as Titular Bishop of Utica. Don Henrique thus became the first native Bishop of Black Africa.

This period also saw the permanent erection of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 “for the purpose of better organizing and expanding the missions” (Ecclesia in Africa, 32). This second phase came to an end in the 18th century. Thus occurred the disappearance of almost all the missions in sub-Saharan Africa.

The third phase, which began in the 19th century, was marked by the heroic efforts of missionaries and rapid growth of the Church in Africa. We who make up the present generation of Catholics in Africa are direct beneficiaries of the monumental efforts of that third phase of evangelization. We live in an Africa of abject poverty, abuse of power, theft and mismanagement of public funds, military adventurism, political instability and social dislocation, youth unemployment, total infrastructural collapse, youth unemployment and its attendant non-actualization of potentials, rural neglect and urban crime in places of population explosion. The Church in Africa lives on a continent graphically described by many Church fathers in terms recalled by Pope John Paul II:

for many Synod Fathers contemporary Africa can be compared to the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, he fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Africa is a Continent where countless human beings—men and women, children and young people—are lying, as it were, on the edge of the road, sick, injured, disabled, marginalized and abandoned. They are in dire need of Good Samaritans who will come to their aid (Ecclesia in Africa, 41).

The Church in Africa is called to be the Good Samaritan to Africa. She is to do so by bearing witness to the Gospel in the concrete situation of Africa. She is already doing this, despite her meager resources, playing a leading role in bringing about integral human development in Africa, promoting peace and reconciliation in many theatres of war and arenas of political instability. The situation calls for more profound evangelization. The Church in Africa needs to begin by being evangelized herself so as to be able to meet the challenges of effective evangelization today. A more profound evangelization requires constant conversion and renewal. The various cultures and traditional religions on the continent call for inculturation. The many divisions and differences in Africa call for dialogue. The political instability and marginalization of the weak, the genocidal and fratricidal wars, violation of human rights, violation of the electoral process, states that disable rather than enable the people, governments that are more powerful than the people they are supposed to serve thus visiting untold persecution on the people, these call for justice and peace. The existence, use and abuse of the mass media, subtle but frequent imposition of a distorted and fragmented vision of life and of the human person by the same media, especially the powerful ones from the countries of the northern hemisphere, and their imitation by our local media, these call for the use of the mass media as a major agent of evangelization. Therein lies the origin of the five aspects of evangelization mentioned in Ecclesia in Africa.

In the theme of the Synod, in the speeches and interventions before, during and after the Synod, there is a clear unanimity in identifying the mission of the Church. It is evangelization—the proclamation of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ, not just by word, but also by witness of life of the disciples of Christ, a witness to faith, hope and love. The mission of the Church is to make the values of the Gospel present in the African mind and soil. This is a beautiful reiteration of the insights in the landmark Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI on Evangelization in the Modern World, Evangelii nuntiandi. Paul VI spelt out the nature and the task of evangelization.

The task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church ... Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize".(69) Born of the evangelizing mission of Jesus and the Twelve, she is in turn sent forth. “Depositary of the Good News to be proclaimed ... having been sent and evangelized, the Church herself sends out evangelizers. She puts on their lips the saving Word” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14; quoted in Ecclesia in Africa, 55).