Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cape Town (Agenzia Fides)- “We notice with a measure of concern, that many African Christians, during difficult moments in their lives, resort to practices of the traditional religion” the Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa said in a recent Pastoral Statement “Ancestor Religion and the Christian Faith”. The Bishops refer to practices which include “the intervention of ancestral spirits, the engagement of spirit-mediums, spirit-possession, consulting diviners about lost items and about the future, magical practices and identifying (smelling out) one’s enemies, etc”.
“What is even more disturbing - the Bishops write - is the fact that some priests and the religious (and lay people from other professions; teachers, doctors, nurses, etc.,) have resorted to becoming diviner-healers.”.
This is why the Bishops decided to issue a pastoral statement to explain once again the teaching of the Catholic Church and renounce cultural elements which contradict the message of the Gospel.
First of all the statement reaffirms the significance of Catholic priesthood: “Priests act in the person of Christ and not in the persons of their ancestral spirits. They receive authority and power from the church and not from undergoing a ritual to become a diviner-healer. The claim to a double source of power and authority confuses Christians and undermines the image of the priest because the one contradicts the other.”.
Those who have recourse to the practices of ancestral religion are mainly people in difficulty, especially the sick, the Bishops note adding that “indigenous religious belief attributes the power of healing to ancestral spirits. In this context, the sacrament of the sick pales into insignificance in the eyes of the afflicted because faith in Jesus Christ does not play any role; rather it is the belief in the good disposition of the ancestors. This practice and belief therefore contradicts the teaching of the church on healing.”. The Bishops recall instead that “the Lord himself showed great concern for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the sick and commanded his followers to do likewise. This is clear from the Gospels, and above all from the existence of the sacrament of anointing”.
With regard to ancestral religion the Bishops warn “the belief that ancestors are endowed with supernatural powers borders on idolatry. It is God, and God alone who is all-powerful while the ancestors are created by him. They can only be helpful to us by interceding for us. When we speak of ancestors or of saints, we should therefore use the phrase “pray for us” and not “do this for us”. The first commandment forbids honouring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people”.
“All forms of divination are to be rejected” the statement continues. “Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers…a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence”.
The Bishops conclude by warning the faithful about the use of magic, charms and recourse to ancestral spirits in rituals of healings, and reminding the people of the Christian meaning of life after death and the importance of prayers for the dead who are still in Purgatory. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 30/8/2006 righe 43 parole 514)
