Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
23 January 2007
Catholic Leaders, Meeting As the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa And Madagascar (secam), Examined a Wide Range of Issues - Proclamation of the Good News, the Means of Social Communications, Inculturation And Dialogue.
Other themes were justice, reconciliation and peace, self-reliance and development and preparations for the Second African Synod.
"Since the first Synod, things have not changed for the better, as the various presentations made at the congress did reveal," the leaders said in a final communiqué issued Sunday.
The bishops and other participants at the congress made "far-reaching resolutions and recommendations which represent a programme of a more intense involvement in the service of Jesus Christ and of the whole Church of God in Africa," the communiqué said.
They also resolved "to leave no stone unturned" in preparing for the second Synod, and "to intensify the formation of all the members of the people of God: priests, religious and especially the laity."
In particular, the congress underlined the "primary importance of modern technologies of information and communication" in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Christian-Muslim dialogue, the congress noted that Christian minorities in some countries were not allowed free expression of their faith.
The participants appealed "to our brothers and sisters of the Islamic faith to understand that evangelization is not meant to proselytize but to be a free proposal of God's love manifested in Jesus Christ."
Reiterating the African model of the church as the Family God, the congress said Africa needs to rise up to the challenges posed by wars, chronic economic mismanagement of resources, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, hatred, negative self-image and tribalism.
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