AFRICA/ZAMBIA - “The dignity of the human person object of God’s love and the centre of our pastoral activity” says President of the Catholic Bishops Conference

Thursday, 12 October 2006

Rome (Agenzia Fides)- “The main challenge for the Church in Zambia is evangelisation because the Christian message brings a profound change to life” Fides was told by Bishop George Telesphore Mpundu, Coadjutor of Lusaka and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Zambia, presently in Rome for the five yearly ad limina visit. Fides asked Bishop Mpundu about prospects for evangelisation in his country.

Tell us about evangelisation in your country and about the concerns and hopes of the local Church?
The main difficulties are due to political, social and economic conditions. Zambia like most African countries is decades behind in development and progress. Our democracy is still in its infancy. There are problems such as disease, especially AIDS and hunger in many parts of the country. In this situation it is our duty to proclaim the Good News. Our approach to evangelisation is based on an integral vision of the human person, as a spiritual being who lives in the world. We proclaim salvation not only in heaven but already here on earth. We do not say “we are waiting for a perfect world in heaven” instead we say there is a world waiting for the saving message of the Lord. This is why we are active also in the social field.

The Church in Zambia was planted by missionaries. Now that there is a local clergy are missionaries still necessary?
I think that as members of the universal Church we must share what we have. All Christians, of the first, second or third world, have something to give and something to receive. In Africa our goal is to become self-supporting Churches: every Catholic community must base its activity on its own spiritual and material resources. However this does not mean that missionaries are no longer necessary. On the contrary, we must have a vision of exchange of church personnel. Missionaries are always necessary to help the local priests for example. In our country missionaries are important and we are grateful for their presence because the local clergy has made considerable progress but we are still far from being able to say we can stand on our own feet at the level of church personnel.
So, although the number of missionaries is decreasing, they will still be needed in the years to come.

Faced with the tragedy of AIDS how can we spread hope and bear witness to God’s love for all men and women?
The Church is fully committed to working to stop the spread of AIDS and to comfort and care for the AIDS patients. Because in our integral approach to evangelisation whatever which affects the person, affects the Church. We should look at the person as a whole. Since the beginning of evangelisation the first missionaries here, built schools and hospitals. This was a way to show God’s love for all men and women. Still today the Church is present in services of education and healthcare. To tackle the devastating AIDS pandemic the Church’s main concern is to guarantee respect for the dignity of the human person: even and especially the dying who have right to die with dignity. Another field in which the Church is active is care for AIDS orphans. With regard to prevention we promote the position of the Church: abstinence before marriage, fidelity in marriage and monogamous marriage.

What is the situation in relations between people of different religious beliefs in your country ?
In Zambia besides Catholics there are Christians of various other denominations. We collaborate in various ways, to solve nation wide problems and issue joint statements. The largest other religious group consists of followers of Traditional African Religions who are not organised at the community level, but represent our original culture and have a strong influence on everyday life. There is a small Muslim community and we often take joint positions with the leaders to defend moral values. There is a growing presence of Islam here in Zambia, and also in Malawi and Tanzania and our Seminaries have intensified Islamic studies to prepare young priests to dialogue with Muslim communities. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/10/2006 righe 63 parole 720)


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