VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholics in Asia and Africa are already leading the way on synodality, two members of the Bishops’ Conference on Synodality said.
Archbishop Andrew Nkea Juanya of Bamenda, Cameroon, told reporters at a Vatican conference on October 22 that the synod’s more than 360 members “not only serve as passive recipients of the synod, but also as active ambassadors.” He said he hopes to return to Japan as a “person.” It is a step forward for the church and society.
“This church-related journey is not new to many parts of Asia,” Father Clarence Davedasan of Malaysia told reporters.
“Dialogue is not new. Dialogue is necessary” in countries where people of many different cultures and religions coexist, he said. In order for people to coexist, it is necessary to strive for harmony, and synodality is the foundation that makes this possible.
“Interfaith marriages and intercultural marriages are on the rise, and children born into these families learn how to listen to each other, how to respect each other, and how to speak to each other in a very respectful way. “We’re already close to the base,” he said.
Archbishop Juanya said: “Synodality for us in Africa, and especially for the communities I come from, is a complete rejection of individualism. It is also a call to live and walk together in community.”
The life of faith, he said, is based on small Christian communities active at all levels of the Church, starting from the family, from missions to parishes and dioceses, to national, continental and global levels. spoke.
“Africa is a special land, a fertile ground for sindharity,” he said. “These small Christian communities can solve problems and help keep the peace.”
Archbishop Juanya said he is telling people that synods are the way to realize what the prophet Isaiah foresaw when he wrote that the lion and the lamb would coexist in peace.
“We are experiencing a Catholic boom moment. Our churches are full,” he said. However, the bishops’ biggest concern is “how to keep churches full into the future.” And the only way we can achieve this is through synodality. ”
“Synodality is very much alive in small Christian communities because as Catholics you don’t live in anonymity,” he says. “Everyone knows each other within a small Christian community, and this is a huge treasure for Africa.”
Catechists play a very important role on the African continent, he said. “This is what has kept our church alive for now, because we have catechists at every level, for small Christian communities, missions and parishes.”
He said it was “a little strange” to hear people at synods discussing the issue of finding ways for women to participate more fully in church life, adding: “It’s a little strange to hear people at church conferences discussing the issue of finding ways for women to participate more fully in church life. Because there are African women.”
“More than 50% of catechists in small Christian communities and missions are women,” he added.
With so many missions, some of which take hours to reach, it would be “absolutely impossible” for priests to be at each mission every Sunday, Archbishop Juanya said.
Catechists prepare children and adults for the sacraments, preside over Sunday services, and bury the dead.
Regarding the sacraments, he said, “with the exception of baptizing when there is a risk of death,” catechists “do whatever the law requires and wait for the priest.” Ta.
“But for the rest, catechists are in charge of the Christian community,” he said.
Bishop Franz Josef Overbeck of Essen said Germany is strengthening the role of women in dioceses and the pastoral work they can do because of a shortage of Catholic priests.
Particularly in parishes where foreign priests do not speak their native German, women are said to be in charge of religious education and “preaching.”
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