Cardinal: Without church, there would be 'no life, no hope and no future' for many Africans

(OSV News) -- A leading African cardinal has described the Catholic Church in Africa as "a champion of human development," saying that it's precisely the church that makes up for state deficiencies in many places.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa, Congo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar spoke as African bishops' conferences celebrated SECAM Day, observed each year in July, commemorating SECAM's foundation in 1969.

SECAM bishops met with secretaries general of the episcopal conferences of Africa and its islands for the 55th anniversary of the inauguration of the organization in the capital of the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville, July 24-29.

Cardinal Ambongo said that without the church, "there would be no life, no hope and no future" in several places in Africa that experience "absence of State provision."

The church, the leading African cardinal said, "is concerned with the education and health of its people," providing training centers and health facilities.

"The Church has been involved in the work of being the voice of the voiceless and advocating for the reduction or cancellation of the unjust debt burden of the African people," Cardinal Ambongo said.

In a statement released prior to the meeting in Brazzaville, Cardinal Ambongo recalled a famous sentence of St. Paul VI, the pontiff who blessed SECAM's inauguration: "You Africans are missionaries to yourselves."

Cardinal Ambongo said the Catholic Church in Africa has since grown strong, and today represents 18% of the continent’s population, with around 256 million believers.

"It is in Africa where the Catholic Church is experiencing record growth," Cardinal Ambongo said, which is seen in the increasing number of dioceses along with the accompanying structures such as church buildings, educational establishments and health centers, religious
institutes, seminaries and religious formation centers. But most of all, in people.

The cardinal said that the "Catholic Church in Africa has taken root and is now an adult Church: most of the hierarchy in Africa now comes from indigenous clergy," and that "there is a growing number of African religious involved in leadership positions" in international missionary societies.

But a leading Catholic researcher, Stan Chu Ilo, urged caution in celebrating the growth of the Catholic Church in Africa.

The associate professor at the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto told OSV News that the term "progress" should be used wisely as "the church is a spiritual instrument whose mission may not be easily measured using some sociological categories and standards."

He however acknowledged that there were significant developments in African Catholicism in the last five decades.

"First, it is the deep faith that continues to drive the momentum of Christian expansion," he told OSV News.

"It is not simply a question of growth in number, but rather a deepening of the traditions through African … types of Catholicism. Growth in number does not always mean a healthy church … and every healthy church may not be growing in number," he said.

Ilo said that since SECAM was founded in 1969, one of its greatest achievements has been "a very concerted attempt to sustain the growth in the Catholic population of Africa with authentic teaching that is truly Catholic and truly African."

He emphasized that in a fragmented African continent where "everyone wants their own small piece of the African universe, SECAM has successfully brought African Catholics together through building bridges not only among bishops, but also encouraging relationships among priests, religious, theologians, lay groups and professional groups."

Cardinal Ambongo in his statement said the remarkable growth of the church in Africa has not quenched the continent’s "thirst for Jesus and the Gospel," since about 70% of the continent’s people still do not know Christ.

Such statistics mean that "it is absolutely necessary and urgent for the Church in Africa to commit herself to the task of the first proclamation, because 'revealing Jesus Christ and his Gospel to those who do not know him has been, since the morning of Pentecost, the fundamental program that the Church took on as received from her Founder,'" Cardinal Ambongo said, citing the "instrumentum laboris," or working document, of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in 1994.

The cardinal said the mission of the African church entails new evangelization of those already baptized, so that they can gain "maturity of faith" and "remain firm, even in times of crisis, and avoid looking for solutions either in African Traditional Religions or in Independent Churches."

The cardinal said effective evangelization must take into account the aspect of inculturation of the Gospel and Christian faith, because it enables Christians to "receive Jesus Christ in an integral way."

"The Gospel message cannot remain alien to the people with whom it lives. It must take root and be reshaped in people's thinking. It has to be integrated into people's lives," the Congolese cardinal said.

He pointed out that the lack of this process "has reduced the once flourishing Christianity in North Africa to zero."

The meeting of SECAM bishops in the Republic of Congo provided an opportunity to share experiences and address the challenges and perspectives for the church in Africa and the society in the coming years, the organizers said.