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Accra (Agenzia Fides) – Evangelization, peace, and reconciliation are at the heart of the document of presentation of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, published by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). In the document, which was also sent to Agenzia Fides, they especially recall the great contributions of the Catholic Church in the last 10 years for peace and reconciliation in Africa.
“A quick review of SECAM efforts towards reconciliation, justice and peace in the past 40 years of its existence reveals that at the inauguration of the Symposium in July 1969, the Bishops of the continent pledged to support Pope Paul VI in his mission of peace in Africa and issued two declarations on peace and development at the end of the inaugural Assembly.”
The Bishops also issued a statement on reconciliation and penance in Africa at the end of the 6th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1983 in response to simmering divisions and tensions on the continent. The theme of the 7th Plenary Assembly of SECAM in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo in July 1984 was “the Church and Human Promotion in Africa Today”. A Pan-African seminar was held in Lesotho in May-June 1988 on Justice and Peace, and a declaration issued on Justice and Evangelization in Africa.
In 2000, SECAM in collaboration with the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) organised an Africa-America meeting on Reconciliation, Conflict Resolution and Civic Peace-building in Maputo, Mozambique. Later in the same year, SECAM held its 12th Plenary Assembly in Rome, Italy in September-October 2000 on the theme, “Christ our Peace (Eph 2.14): How the Church-as-Family of God may be a Sacrament of Reconciliation in Africa”. In October 2001, a pastoral letter on the topic was issued by the Symposium. The letter which is still relevant today exposes the problems, conflicts and wars in Africa, discusses the peace offered by the world vis-à-vis that offered by Christ and exhorts all the people of Africa to embrace peace, reconciliation and love. Furthermore, the study session of the 14th Plenary Assembly of SECAM held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in January 2007 was dedicated to the review of Ecclesia in Africa and to share ideas on how to make the Second Assembly for Africa a huge success. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 2/10/2009)
