Interview with Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown
Sierra Leone is a small country on the western coast of Africa with a population of 5 million and a wealth of natural resources, including diamonds, gold, bauxite and iron ore.
The nation has recently emerged from a decade-long civil war, but it continues to struggle with the challenges of reconciliation and reconstruction.
The television program "Where God Weeps" on the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN), in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need, caught up with Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown, and conducted the following interview.
Q: Your Excellency, upon your appointment you faced the daunting task of reconstruction and reconciliation after a decade long civil war which ended in 2002. Where do you begin?
Archbishop Charles: I agree with you that it is a daunting task and in the beginning we didn't know where to begin. My predecessor had already started and so I continue by way of rehabilitation of the structures, of lives by way of trauma healing and counseling as well as through peace education program in schools.
Q: Can you briefly tell us the root cause of the war?
Archbishop Charles: I will say here, first of all, what it was not. It was not a religious war; rather it was the usual African tribal war. It was greed for power. Some groups wanted to take over power and have access to the wealth of the country; the huge mineral resources we have. Injustice also played into that because some of the people who were treated badly joined one or the other of the fighting groups to avenge what was done to them. For example in some areas entire villages were wiped out. Later on, we were told, that was done by some people who felt that their own party was cheated during the election of chiefs. They thought everybody should lose so they went and burned villages.
Q: The war is uniquely recognized internationally as particularly brutal; the hacking off of legs and arms, but the population is peace loving. Can one say that the devil had his day? How can you explain this spiritually?
Archbishop Charles: This is one of the manifestations of the mystery of evil. Sometimes people who are good, peaceful and loving act in a manner that is difficult to explain and ours was such situation. Young people were forced to go out and commit atrocities against other people -- in most cases innocent people. Victims were shot, arms were amputated and pregnant women had their stomachs opened to know the sex of the child. It became a game among the young people because they were drugged by adults. And yet as you say, the majority of the Sierra Leoneans are peace loving. They hate violence in normal circumstances. So it is one of those manifestations of the mystery of evil that is difficult to explain.
Q: Where were you during this war?
Archbishop Charles: I was in Sierra Leone when the war stated in March 1991. And then I had to leave in the following June to come to Rome for my studies. I did five years in Rome. When I returned in September 1996, the war was ongoing, on account of which I couldn't go to my own region because the rebels captured the area and they were mining the diamonds. I couldn't go home for a long time. I saw part of the war and I was there until it ended.
Q: Was your family affected?
Archbishop Charles: Oh yes. Our entire village was burned down. My grandmother was killed. In talking about innocent people, she was one of those. She had nothing to do with power, or fighting, and yet she was gunned down. She was killed in her own room. The rest of the family fled to neighboring Guinea and they were in a refugee camp for many years until the war ended in 2002.
Q: How do you not cry out for justice? How do you not risk losing your faith when confronted with such senseless violence and evil? Do you not ask: Where is God?
Archbishop Charles: I agree with you that in such circumstances one is tempted to say: Is there a just God? But my deep faith as a Christian and I should add, as an African, I think that God is not responsible for this. This is one moment where we have to distinguish between the justice of God and the evil deeds of man; in this case it was not God. It was done by human beings. I blame the adults who gave hard drugs to young people to have them go out and commit atrocities so that the adults would get what they were looking for -- namely access to power.
Q: The victims and the perpetuators still live in the same society. How do you build reconciliation in this kind of an environment?
Archbishop Charles: Our sense of justice also leaves room for mercy. In fact, when the UN special court was proposed, many Sierra Leoneans felt it was not necessary because it would not bring back the dead, the amputees would not regain their limbs etc. It was felt that what had been done could not be undone and so what were they looking for? OK, those fellows who did it, some of them are with us, but as I've said, many of them did it because they were drugged by adults. Some of those adults have been brought before the special court for trial, some are still being tried.
What we are looking for is their re-integration and that we move on. Life must continue. Maybe somebody will say, "Well you Sierra Leoneans have a very strange sense of justice?" So be it, but we want to move on. Some of them are back to their villages. There were traditional processes of reconciliation. They asked for forgiveness and they have been accepted by society. Some of them are being incorporated into the police and the army and they are back to normal life.
Q: Is the Church participating in this reconciliation process?
Archbishop Charles: Yes, to ensure that it does not happen again and so we have peace education programs in our schools.
Q: What does this mean in a practical manner?
Archbishop Charles: Teaching children to relate to each other in a peaceful manner, to respect each other's rights and if there is a wrong, to be courageous enough to ask for forgiveness. We started it as a pilot program for Catholic schools -- primary, junior secondary and senior secondary. Now some of the communities are asking us to extend it to them. We are also running trauma healing programs for those who suffered terrible experiences during the war and who find it difficult to come to terms with this. So they are brought there and they are helped by way of counseling.
Q: Many of these are not necessarily Catholics or Christians? Some of these are also Muslims or other denominations as well?
Archbishop Charles: Indeed there are people of other religions. We do not have any problems relating to other religions in Sierra Leone. In fact, recently Sierra Leone was nominated as one of the, if not the first, country of religious tolerance. Maybe we should export it to other parts of the world. Yes, we live in peace. We relate to each other well both Muslims and Christian - Muslims are the majority - because many of us are from the same family background. This common cultural background is very helpful.
Q: The Church was also deeply affected: priests were killed, religious were killed. Can you tell us a little about this and how you re-construct after this period?
Archbishop Charles: We lost one priest, Father McAllister -- a Holy Ghost Father. We lost a Christian Brother. We lost four sisters of the Missionaries of Charity; sisters of Mother Teresa. We lost catechists and prayer leaders and thousands of church members.
Q: Was the Church a target or was it just a part the spectrum of random violence?
Archbishop Charles: I would say it was part of the violence; wanton destruction of life and property. The Church was not targeted as such because, as I said earlier, this was not a religious war.
Q: And yet every single church in your archdiocese was destroyed?
Archbishop Charles: Yes, we lost many churches, schools and clinics. Those that were not destroyed completely were rendered in a manner that made them useless.
Q: Your predecessor, Archbishop Ganda, understood that there were very few financial means and he suggested starting parishes with small businesses on the side: a farm, an ice-cream parlor, anything that could create self-sufficiency. Was it successful? Are you pursuing this strategy as well?
Archbishop Charles: The idea was fascinating, but not many people warmed to it, especially among the priests who were not used to business or farming, but I think we have to continue because the resources from overseas are drying up. I have gone around the world and I know that this is the way, the future of the Church. We are insisting on self-reliance as a way for the Church in Africa. We have no other option but to promote it.
That said, as I said earlier, not many people warmed to that and so the initiative now is to focus on a few of the parishes where there is enough land to farm. Some priests do this to subsidize whatever minimal subsidies they are receiving from the bishop. In the cities we have initiatives like restaurants, but it is not bringing us much yet. We hope to reorganize it to make sure it is profitable.
Q: To your pastoral priorities: You are confronting a wave of challenges ranging from church reconstruction, to evangelization, to young people. Where do you weigh your priorities?
Archbishop Charles: As you say it is a difficult choice, but I would put a premium on education and also on the support of the priests who are my first collaborators; priests who are in the parishes and future priests, so that we have many more laborers in the Lord's vineyard. Once you have that, then we begin to look at where to celebrate Mass. You see, in Africa, sometimes we celebrate our Masses beside a big tree, maybe from there we then move to a Church, but only when we can afford to build one.
Q: The young people; do they see hope in the Lord or Christianity, or is there disaffection?
Archbishop Charles: Perhaps there might be one or two young men or women who are really angry about the war and want to turn their back on God, but the majority are very religious. That is the one difference between us and the rest of the world -- Europe and America. Our churches are full of young people; actually they constitute the vitality of the Church. Since the war the churches are really full. People are coming back. In fact, in some places where the bishop started it, and I intend to continue, some of the churches have to be extended because they were built with a small congregation in mind. Since the war the numbers have increased and for an ordinary Sunday Mass, people are sitting outside. In some places they have to introduce a second or third Mass to accommodate the congregations.
Q: To what do you attribute this growth of the Church?
Archbishop Charles: It could be the hunger for God, which is very natural for us Africans. Christianity has helped us to build on that. We are a religious people and so we turn to God first when seeking solutions to our problems and so that may well be the reason why young people have gone to the Church after the war.
Also, during the war the Church stood by the people; priests were in displacement camps and myself I spent some time in a displacement camp ministering to people and burying some of the dead. I had a rickety pickup that I used, a kind of funeral van for carrying those who died and praying for them. Some of them were not even Catholics, but it didn't matter to me. They came to me: "Father we need your help," and so I did. That built up the credibility of the Church. One diocese even set up a Catholic mission for refugees in Guinea. They sent priests from Sierra Leone to go and minister to our refugee brothers and sisters in Guinea. The Church came out of it, I would say, with a high profile.
Q: The country is rich in mineral resources: Diamonds, gold and bauxite. Has this been a curse or blessing?
Archbishop Charles: A curse! As you know extractors all over the world leave behind so much destruction in terms of environmental damage and poverty, and the mineral resources in Sierra Leone have been no exception. The first diamonds were discovered in the 1930's in my own region, in the Kono district. Today there is no running water, there is no electricity, poor roads and those there are infested with holes left behind by both the mining companies and the rebels who, during the war, targeted that area because they wanted something they could use with which to buy weapons. They destroyed many villages, deliberately destroying the buildings because they wanted to establish an open mining field from which to be able to extract the diamonds to buy weapons. You know the film "Blood Diamonds?" This attempts to give you a picture of what happened: different groups were selling weapons to both sides -- the rebels and the government -- in exchange for diamonds.
Q: How do you change this curse to a blessing?
Archbishop Charles: Well, we need good laws, but above all a machinery to ensure that the policies are well implemented. I think that this is where the problem is for the third world. It's one thing to make a good law, but it is quite another thing implementing it because some multinational companies have ways of manipulating the system to ensure that they get what they want and, in some places if they require it, even to ferment conflicts to ensure that they get access to the mining areas.
Q: That's a big statement?
Archbishop Charles: It is a big statement, and it is happening in Eastern Congo.
Q: Your Episcopal motto is: Duc in Altum. How do you live your Episcopal motto today in Sierra Leone?
Archbishop Charles: First of all I must say it is a statement of trust and confidence. You know the story about Peter. Peter toiled the whole night and caught nothing, and the Lord told him: "Go out there and throw your net into the deep." Peter initially, in his usual manner, protested, but when he did he caught a huge catch. I thought it would be a good model for me. First of all I had no intention of becoming a bishop and so when I was appointed, you know…
Q: It wasn't your choice…
Archbishop Charles: No, so I needed something to hold on to and Pope John Paul II used that expression. Many times when I was in Rome and afterward I thought it would be fine for me. So that is why I chose it as my episcopal motto. It requires of me to trust in the Lord. In the final analysis it is the Lord's work. It is not a question of waiting until I have all the means available to me. I must do the little I can trusting in the Lord. Sometimes I have had experiences that convinced me that was a good choice because some days you are not so sure. You wake up and you are not sure which direction to take but then the Lord presents you an opportunity and you do something useful for the people.
Q: What would you ask of the people around the world?
Archbishop Charles: To ask them to pray for us first of all; secondly I want to assure them of our own prayers. It saddens us in the newly established churches to see that the churches that have contributed and are still contributing to our sustenance are losing the dynamism they used to have. Some of the churches are empty. There are no vocations. Parishes are being closed and it saddens us. So we pray that the faith may not be lost. So that is my hope and prayer for them and perhaps in the future they will be courageous enough to accept missionaries from those churches they have built in Africa, Asia and around the world. That is my message to them.
* * *
This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly TV & radio show produced by Catholic Radio & Television Network in conjunction with the internation Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
OPINION: Pan African Church Comes to Kenya
Nairobi will become the heart of World Wide Marriage Encounter during the month of September 2011. First, there will be the Panaf (African regional secretariat) meeting which will be held at St Therese Girls training center in Karen between September 12 to 18.
His Eminence John Cardinal Njue will preside over the opening mass to be celebrated at 10am on September 12. Secondly, the International Ecclesial Team (IET) Tony and Cathy Witzak with Fr Emile from the USA who are the current head of the movement world wide will be offering a new enrichment program to the African region on 9th and 10th titled ‘Love and Respect’.
The events will reach their climax with the celebration of a community mass to be held at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church at Ongata Rongai at 10am Sunday the September 18. The fifteen African countries who embrace the movement will be represented each by their ecclesial teams comprising of a couple and a priest.
Each of our 17 dioceses embracing the movement will be represented during this mass, which will be presided by His grace Archbishop Boniface Lele of Mombasa Archdiocese.
The theme of the Nairobi meeting is “COMMITMENT THAT LEADS TO EVANGELIZATION”
But what is this movement called World Wide Marriage Encounter?
Many of us in the church today must have had of World Wide Marriage Encounter. This is a lay movement that enjoins the two sacraments of matrimony and the Holy orders with a mission to evangelize love as per Christ’s commandment “Love One Another as I have loved you” John 15:12. The movement promotes the growth of spousal love based on perpetual decisions to love in order to be loved. It is open to married couples, priests and religious.
The Servant of God, his holiness the late Pope John Paul the II while addressing a gathering in 1998 remarked; “I place much of my hope for the future in Marriage Encounter”.
The movement strongly believes that the church of Christ is firmly founded at home, the small church and hence the building of strong faithful homes is key to strengthening faith and evangelization. Once the family is evangelized, the whole church is evangelized.
The movement is 50 years now since the 1960’s when the Spanish Jesuit priest Fr Gabriel Calvo initiated special talks to his parish parents in an effort to contain the source of many street children who kept flocking to his parish in need of food, love and comfort that they lacked at their parents homes. The talks had dramatic effects on couples involved and changed their homes to be havens of love for both themselves and their children. They became popular in other parishes and were later to spread to English speaking America and Europe.
In Kenya, the movement is here courtesy of the late Michael Cardinal Maurice Otunga who experienced his weekend in America during the 1975 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. He was so touched with the experience that he decided that it was good for the church in Kenya. Indeed, he worked so hard that in 1978, he brought in some Irish couples with their children and priests who pitched camp in Kenya for three months to train Kenyan facilitators. Since then, the movement has grown from the Archdiocese of Nairobi and it is now to be found in 17 diocese.
Encountered couples are to be found across all spheres of our church and they give testimony to harmonious relationship that is warm and fulfilled. Encountered couples and priests have one thing in common; they have endless love for one another and are strong pillars and source of evangelization. Their unique system of daily dialoguing technique enables them to have a systematic method of resolving any emerging issues before them and turn their differences into opportunities of building their togetherness.
It is a system that enables the couples to reflect deeply on the worldly way of living differently as they are equipped with the Godly plan of matrimony based on the gospel teachings which must be lived daily. The couples becomes the sacraments to each other on a daily basis. The priests and religious are able to see the sacraments through the eyes of the married couples and hence understands in a different dimension the meaning of matrimony. They also understand the interpersonal relationship which they encounter in their own parish houses, community houses or the parishioners themselves.
It becomes a wonderful opportunity for them. To use the words of Prof James Dobson “…it proved to be one of the highlights of my life. I just wish that everyone who trusts my opinion would now accept this advise; attend a Marriage Encounter Weekend at the earliest opportunity”.
World Wide Marriage Encounter in Kenya has sponsored the inception of the International Engaged Encounter, a complimentary movement for premarital counseling which ideally should be experienced by all Christians before sacramental marriage. We have also sponsored the Retrouvaille movement to take care of our hurting marriages.
By becoming hosts to this important conference, it is our hope and desire that the whole of our church will become more aware of evangelizing the family. We are called upon individually to play our part in bringing the plan of God for our lives a little closer to others by playing our roles fully. Let us welcome our guests with open hands and hearts.
His Eminence John Cardinal Njue will preside over the opening mass to be celebrated at 10am on September 12. Secondly, the International Ecclesial Team (IET) Tony and Cathy Witzak with Fr Emile from the USA who are the current head of the movement world wide will be offering a new enrichment program to the African region on 9th and 10th titled ‘Love and Respect’.
The events will reach their climax with the celebration of a community mass to be held at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church at Ongata Rongai at 10am Sunday the September 18. The fifteen African countries who embrace the movement will be represented each by their ecclesial teams comprising of a couple and a priest.
Each of our 17 dioceses embracing the movement will be represented during this mass, which will be presided by His grace Archbishop Boniface Lele of Mombasa Archdiocese.
The theme of the Nairobi meeting is “COMMITMENT THAT LEADS TO EVANGELIZATION”
But what is this movement called World Wide Marriage Encounter?
Many of us in the church today must have had of World Wide Marriage Encounter. This is a lay movement that enjoins the two sacraments of matrimony and the Holy orders with a mission to evangelize love as per Christ’s commandment “Love One Another as I have loved you” John 15:12. The movement promotes the growth of spousal love based on perpetual decisions to love in order to be loved. It is open to married couples, priests and religious.
The Servant of God, his holiness the late Pope John Paul the II while addressing a gathering in 1998 remarked; “I place much of my hope for the future in Marriage Encounter”.
The movement strongly believes that the church of Christ is firmly founded at home, the small church and hence the building of strong faithful homes is key to strengthening faith and evangelization. Once the family is evangelized, the whole church is evangelized.
The movement is 50 years now since the 1960’s when the Spanish Jesuit priest Fr Gabriel Calvo initiated special talks to his parish parents in an effort to contain the source of many street children who kept flocking to his parish in need of food, love and comfort that they lacked at their parents homes. The talks had dramatic effects on couples involved and changed their homes to be havens of love for both themselves and their children. They became popular in other parishes and were later to spread to English speaking America and Europe.
In Kenya, the movement is here courtesy of the late Michael Cardinal Maurice Otunga who experienced his weekend in America during the 1975 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. He was so touched with the experience that he decided that it was good for the church in Kenya. Indeed, he worked so hard that in 1978, he brought in some Irish couples with their children and priests who pitched camp in Kenya for three months to train Kenyan facilitators. Since then, the movement has grown from the Archdiocese of Nairobi and it is now to be found in 17 diocese.
Encountered couples are to be found across all spheres of our church and they give testimony to harmonious relationship that is warm and fulfilled. Encountered couples and priests have one thing in common; they have endless love for one another and are strong pillars and source of evangelization. Their unique system of daily dialoguing technique enables them to have a systematic method of resolving any emerging issues before them and turn their differences into opportunities of building their togetherness.
It is a system that enables the couples to reflect deeply on the worldly way of living differently as they are equipped with the Godly plan of matrimony based on the gospel teachings which must be lived daily. The couples becomes the sacraments to each other on a daily basis. The priests and religious are able to see the sacraments through the eyes of the married couples and hence understands in a different dimension the meaning of matrimony. They also understand the interpersonal relationship which they encounter in their own parish houses, community houses or the parishioners themselves.
It becomes a wonderful opportunity for them. To use the words of Prof James Dobson “…it proved to be one of the highlights of my life. I just wish that everyone who trusts my opinion would now accept this advise; attend a Marriage Encounter Weekend at the earliest opportunity”.
World Wide Marriage Encounter in Kenya has sponsored the inception of the International Engaged Encounter, a complimentary movement for premarital counseling which ideally should be experienced by all Christians before sacramental marriage. We have also sponsored the Retrouvaille movement to take care of our hurting marriages.
By becoming hosts to this important conference, it is our hope and desire that the whole of our church will become more aware of evangelizing the family. We are called upon individually to play our part in bringing the plan of God for our lives a little closer to others by playing our roles fully. Let us welcome our guests with open hands and hearts.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
OPINION: The Roman Missal, Enriching it With a Touch of African Culture
At the level of song and dance, no one can doubt that the Roman Catholic Liturgy in Africa today, has a visible and irreversible touch of the African culture! So my thanks and gratitude to all those (musicians, composers, religious, laity, priests and Bishops) who have made this possible.
Another great breakthrough and landmark in the field of Africanisation in recent years has been the publication of the African Bible! Although the main text is the New American Bible translation, the introductions and comments place it in today’s African context.
But there is still another big, heavy and daunting task ahead, which deserves and demands all our attention, skill and energy, namely: The Africanisation of the Roman Missal! And this is much more than a mere good translation of the Missal into African languages like: Kiswahili, Luo, Luganda, Kikuyu etc! It should touch the soul and heart of the African people! In other words, it should reflect as much as possible all the essential elements and values of the African world view which are not contrary to the Gospel! It should also reflect the concrete socio-political and economic reality of the African continent!
The Roman Missal is the Church’s official document, which contains authorised prayers and texts for the liturgy of the Roman Rite. Therefore, this document plays a very important role in the life of the Church, and in the life of every catholic Christian! We use the document for the celebration of Mass. And the Vatican II document on the Sacred Liturgy (N°10) has this to say stressing the importance of the liturgy : The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flow.
So given the centrality of the Roman Missal in the life of the Christians, to be as meaningful and effective as possible, it should be presented to the faithful within their cultural context! In addition, as I have mentioned above, in Africa, it should touch the soul, heart and concrete life of the African people.
The third and revised edition of the Roman Missal is already out and on sell! It is result of 10-years’ work! Mother Church in her wisdom leaves room for adaption and adjustments of the Roman Missal! And the Vatican II document on the Sacred Liturgy recommends and encourages such adaptations and adjustments! It thus says:
It is the goal of this most sacred Council to intensify the daily growth of Catholics in Christian living; to make more responsive to the requirements of our times those Church observances which are open to adaptation; to nurture whatever can contribute to the unity of all who believe in Christ; and to strengthen those aspects of the Church which can help summon all mankind into her embrace. Hence the Council has special reasons for judging it a duty to provide for the renewal and fostering of the liturgy. (Sacrosanctum Concilium No° 1).
And the document adds something very important saying : The Council also desires that, where necessary the rites be carefully and thoroughly revised in the light of sound tradition, and that they be given new vigor to meet the circumstances and needs of modern times. (Sacrosanctum Concilium No° 4) So with adaptations and adjustments to this new edition of the Roman Missal, the Church in Africa should be able to produce an Afro-Roman Missal acceptable to the Holy See.
I propose the following to be part of the adaptations and adjustments :
Inclusion of the ancestors in the Afro-Roman Missal. Ancestors are an essential and integral part of the African perception of reality! Their reverence and veneration is engraved upon the African soul! And they play an active and important role in people’s daily lives! Blessings, joys and curses in one’s life are generally interpreted and understood against the backdrop of ancestors!
In addition, ancestors provide the most powerful symbol of eternal life in the African culture! Africans have no need for philosophical proofs for the immortality of soul and for life after death which occupy a big place in western thought!
The ancestors also symbolise the union between the living and the dead! These are all good reasons for their inclusion in the Afro-Roman Missal! And it should be remembered that celebration of Mass, is celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. It is celebration of eternal life! And this celebration unites both the living and the dead. That is, the pilgrim Church on earth and the saints in heaven!
To the inevitable question: Where exactly should the ancestors be inserted in the Afro- Roman Missal? I proposed that they be inserted between the introductory rites and the penitential rite. And this part of the Mass should be called: The Ancestors Invocation Rite! This place fits them because generally in African traditional worship, ancestors are invoked at the beginning of the ceremony.
The prayer of invocation of ancestors could be formulated along the following lines : Almighty God, Lord of endless ages, without beginning or end, creator of heaven and earth, and all they contain, Ruler of the spirits in the skies above, in the waters below, in the forests, thickets and rocks, Lord of life and death, God of our great, great ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Moses; God of the ancestors our African continent : St. Augustine of Hipo, St. Monica, the Uganda martyrs (Charles Lwanga and his companions,) Bakhita, (other African Saints can be added), God of the ancestors of our clans, men and women, our grandparents, parents and relatives who a lived a holy life before your eyes, we beseech you to let them come down from the heavens above, bringing with them all your blessings; and join us in giving glory and thanks to your name. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen!
The normal penitential rite should follow the ancestor’s invocation rite, but which in my opinion should be said when we are on our knees whenever possible! The symbolism of kneeling would make this rite more meaningful to the African congregation. For in Africa you cannot ask for forgiveness of your wrong doing from the king or chief while standing! You go down on your knees or prostrate yourself to do this! And God is the King of Kings, Chief of chiefs!
In the Afro-Roman Missal, a little adjustment could be done on formula one of the penitential rite. Its first part should thus read: I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, the living and dead, that I have sinned through my own fault. This will provide an occasion of reconciliation for members of the congregation who wanted to reconcile themselves with some people, but who unfortunately died, before this reconciliation could take place.
We should also have an Afro-Eucharistic prayer addressing the deep rooted socio-political problems of the African continent, namely : Tribalism or negative ethnicity, witchcraft, racism corruption and poverty. The 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 2007-2008 Kenya political and ethnic violence, and the independence of South Sudan from North Sudan, are all vivid reminders of these problems. Just a little adjustment of our usual Eucharistic prayer II can serve this purpose!
So after the prayer of consecration, the part that starts with, ‘In memory of his death and…..’ should be adjusted and thus read: In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you. And we ask you Lord God of mercy and love to save and set us free from the dark forces of witchcraft, tribalism, racism, corruption and poverty. So that all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ and the rest of his children be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit. We should call this Eucharistic prayer II with its adaptations: The Afro-Eucharistic prayer.
I also propose that some of the great African Traditional Prayers be integrated into the Afro-Roman Missal as: opening, offertory or prayers after communion, etc! Here are some examples of those great prayers, all taken from the article: African Traditional Prayers – Love Peace and Harmony:
In the beginning was God,
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is the word that comes out of your mouth.
The word!
It is no more,
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God. ( African-Pygmy)
Oludumare, oh Divine One! I give thanks
To You, the one who is as near as my heartbeat, and more anticipated than my next breath.
Let Your wisdom become one with this vessel as I lift my voice in thanks and love. (African-Yoruban)
To our Gods [God] of old, we bless the ground
That you tread in search of our freedom!
We bless your presence in our lives and in our hearts!
Take this offering to your delight,
And be filled with our prayers of thanksgiving!
May our lives remain as full as our hearts on this day! (African-Yoruban)
Praise ye, Ngai…Peace be with us.
Say that the elders may have wisdom and speak with one voice. Peace be with us.
Say that the country may have tranquility. Peace be with us.
And the people may continue to increase. Peace be with us.
Say that the people and the flock and herds,
may prosper and free from illness. Peace be with us.
Say that the fields may bear much fruit,
and the land continue to be fertile. Peace be with us.
May peace reign over earth,
may the gourds cup agree with vessel. Peace be with us.
May their heads agree and every ill word be driven out
into the wilderness, into the virgin forest.
Praise ye, Ngai…Peace be with us. (African-Kikuyu of Kenya)
With such adaptations and adjustments, the Afro- Roman Missal will speak to the heart of hearts of the African people! It will touch the greatest depth of their being!
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Another great breakthrough and landmark in the field of Africanisation in recent years has been the publication of the African Bible! Although the main text is the New American Bible translation, the introductions and comments place it in today’s African context.
But there is still another big, heavy and daunting task ahead, which deserves and demands all our attention, skill and energy, namely: The Africanisation of the Roman Missal! And this is much more than a mere good translation of the Missal into African languages like: Kiswahili, Luo, Luganda, Kikuyu etc! It should touch the soul and heart of the African people! In other words, it should reflect as much as possible all the essential elements and values of the African world view which are not contrary to the Gospel! It should also reflect the concrete socio-political and economic reality of the African continent!
The Roman Missal is the Church’s official document, which contains authorised prayers and texts for the liturgy of the Roman Rite. Therefore, this document plays a very important role in the life of the Church, and in the life of every catholic Christian! We use the document for the celebration of Mass. And the Vatican II document on the Sacred Liturgy (N°10) has this to say stressing the importance of the liturgy : The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flow.
So given the centrality of the Roman Missal in the life of the Christians, to be as meaningful and effective as possible, it should be presented to the faithful within their cultural context! In addition, as I have mentioned above, in Africa, it should touch the soul, heart and concrete life of the African people.
The third and revised edition of the Roman Missal is already out and on sell! It is result of 10-years’ work! Mother Church in her wisdom leaves room for adaption and adjustments of the Roman Missal! And the Vatican II document on the Sacred Liturgy recommends and encourages such adaptations and adjustments! It thus says:
It is the goal of this most sacred Council to intensify the daily growth of Catholics in Christian living; to make more responsive to the requirements of our times those Church observances which are open to adaptation; to nurture whatever can contribute to the unity of all who believe in Christ; and to strengthen those aspects of the Church which can help summon all mankind into her embrace. Hence the Council has special reasons for judging it a duty to provide for the renewal and fostering of the liturgy. (Sacrosanctum Concilium No° 1).
And the document adds something very important saying : The Council also desires that, where necessary the rites be carefully and thoroughly revised in the light of sound tradition, and that they be given new vigor to meet the circumstances and needs of modern times. (Sacrosanctum Concilium No° 4) So with adaptations and adjustments to this new edition of the Roman Missal, the Church in Africa should be able to produce an Afro-Roman Missal acceptable to the Holy See.
I propose the following to be part of the adaptations and adjustments :
Inclusion of the ancestors in the Afro-Roman Missal. Ancestors are an essential and integral part of the African perception of reality! Their reverence and veneration is engraved upon the African soul! And they play an active and important role in people’s daily lives! Blessings, joys and curses in one’s life are generally interpreted and understood against the backdrop of ancestors!
In addition, ancestors provide the most powerful symbol of eternal life in the African culture! Africans have no need for philosophical proofs for the immortality of soul and for life after death which occupy a big place in western thought!
The ancestors also symbolise the union between the living and the dead! These are all good reasons for their inclusion in the Afro-Roman Missal! And it should be remembered that celebration of Mass, is celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. It is celebration of eternal life! And this celebration unites both the living and the dead. That is, the pilgrim Church on earth and the saints in heaven!
To the inevitable question: Where exactly should the ancestors be inserted in the Afro- Roman Missal? I proposed that they be inserted between the introductory rites and the penitential rite. And this part of the Mass should be called: The Ancestors Invocation Rite! This place fits them because generally in African traditional worship, ancestors are invoked at the beginning of the ceremony.
The prayer of invocation of ancestors could be formulated along the following lines : Almighty God, Lord of endless ages, without beginning or end, creator of heaven and earth, and all they contain, Ruler of the spirits in the skies above, in the waters below, in the forests, thickets and rocks, Lord of life and death, God of our great, great ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Moses; God of the ancestors our African continent : St. Augustine of Hipo, St. Monica, the Uganda martyrs (Charles Lwanga and his companions,) Bakhita, (other African Saints can be added), God of the ancestors of our clans, men and women, our grandparents, parents and relatives who a lived a holy life before your eyes, we beseech you to let them come down from the heavens above, bringing with them all your blessings; and join us in giving glory and thanks to your name. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen!
The normal penitential rite should follow the ancestor’s invocation rite, but which in my opinion should be said when we are on our knees whenever possible! The symbolism of kneeling would make this rite more meaningful to the African congregation. For in Africa you cannot ask for forgiveness of your wrong doing from the king or chief while standing! You go down on your knees or prostrate yourself to do this! And God is the King of Kings, Chief of chiefs!
In the Afro-Roman Missal, a little adjustment could be done on formula one of the penitential rite. Its first part should thus read: I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, the living and dead, that I have sinned through my own fault. This will provide an occasion of reconciliation for members of the congregation who wanted to reconcile themselves with some people, but who unfortunately died, before this reconciliation could take place.
We should also have an Afro-Eucharistic prayer addressing the deep rooted socio-political problems of the African continent, namely : Tribalism or negative ethnicity, witchcraft, racism corruption and poverty. The 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 2007-2008 Kenya political and ethnic violence, and the independence of South Sudan from North Sudan, are all vivid reminders of these problems. Just a little adjustment of our usual Eucharistic prayer II can serve this purpose!
So after the prayer of consecration, the part that starts with, ‘In memory of his death and…..’ should be adjusted and thus read: In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you. And we ask you Lord God of mercy and love to save and set us free from the dark forces of witchcraft, tribalism, racism, corruption and poverty. So that all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ and the rest of his children be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit. We should call this Eucharistic prayer II with its adaptations: The Afro-Eucharistic prayer.
I also propose that some of the great African Traditional Prayers be integrated into the Afro-Roman Missal as: opening, offertory or prayers after communion, etc! Here are some examples of those great prayers, all taken from the article: African Traditional Prayers – Love Peace and Harmony:
In the beginning was God,
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is the word that comes out of your mouth.
The word!
It is no more,
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God. ( African-Pygmy)
Oludumare, oh Divine One! I give thanks
To You, the one who is as near as my heartbeat, and more anticipated than my next breath.
Let Your wisdom become one with this vessel as I lift my voice in thanks and love. (African-Yoruban)
To our Gods [God] of old, we bless the ground
That you tread in search of our freedom!
We bless your presence in our lives and in our hearts!
Take this offering to your delight,
And be filled with our prayers of thanksgiving!
May our lives remain as full as our hearts on this day! (African-Yoruban)
Praise ye, Ngai…Peace be with us.
Say that the elders may have wisdom and speak with one voice. Peace be with us.
Say that the country may have tranquility. Peace be with us.
And the people may continue to increase. Peace be with us.
Say that the people and the flock and herds,
may prosper and free from illness. Peace be with us.
Say that the fields may bear much fruit,
and the land continue to be fertile. Peace be with us.
May peace reign over earth,
may the gourds cup agree with vessel. Peace be with us.
May their heads agree and every ill word be driven out
into the wilderness, into the virgin forest.
Praise ye, Ngai…Peace be with us. (African-Kikuyu of Kenya)
With such adaptations and adjustments, the Afro- Roman Missal will speak to the heart of hearts of the African people! It will touch the greatest depth of their being!
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Abolition of Death Penalty
In a recent meeting, the representatives of East African judges rejected calls from the international organisations to formally abolish death penalty. Other judges within Kenya found themselves divided on whether to maintain or abolish death penalty. Those in favour of keeping the capital punishment are posing the question “whose right to life is to be defended; that of the already killed victim or of the live aggressor?
The United Nations is in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty whereby the executions are suspended in view of total abolition. Although most of the countries in the world have not officially abolished the law, they no longer practice death sentence or if it is done very rarely (cf. Evangelium Vitae n. 56). Although the Catholic church does not exclude the possibility of the extreme way of punishing capital offences if this is the only way to defend other lives against the aggressor, it has nevertheless defended the right to life of every person and advocated for non lethal means to punish capital offences, which are more in conformity with human dignity and in line with the conditions of common good (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2266-2267).
A non governmental Organization in Italy called “Hands off Cain” (in Italian Nessuno Tocchi Caino), initiated in the early 90’ the movement of suspension of death sentence and war against torture in general. The name of this association originates from the Biblical verse in the book of Genesis 4:15, whereby God put a mark on Cain so that nobody would kill him. Cain who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy was well aware that his burden was greater than he could bear and that people would be looking for his blood. However, God decided to protect the murderer saying that whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.
Is this not a clear indication that nobody really deserves death penalty, not because the crime committed is not capital, but simply because there is nothing or no punishment which can equal the crime of death of another person. I think a life lost in crime like murder can only be paid not by eliminating another life through death sentence, but by maintaining another life so that throughout his or her life one can repay through penance and other forms of punishment.
Those advocating for the death penalty instead seem to follow the law of an eye for an eye. Although they don’t quote the bible it can be traced in Genesis 9:6, where God speaks to Noah and tells him that he who sheds blood of man, shall by man his blood be shed. By this statement God however wants to stress how important and valuable human life is. This can be seen in the prohibitions (do not kill) found not only in Deuteronomy 5:17 and Exodus 20:13, but also in Mathew 5:21, among other biblical texts.
Article 26 § 1 of the Kenyan constitution states that every person has right to life. Although § 3 of the same article says that except to the extend authorised by the same constitution or any other law, it does not mean that such a law that might permit killing is a just law. We need to look at the objectives of punishment. It is meant to expiate one’s offences, to preserve public order and safety and as medicinal scope to correct the offender. It is obvious that when the person’s life is eliminated, some of the goals mentioned above won’t be effected. Preservation of public order and safety may be maintained by the aggressor’s death, but it is not guaranteed that such other persons capable of committing similar crimes are not still at large. And it might be impossible to eliminate each and every one who threatens public order and offends fundamental human rights. The circle will be too vicious if we have to apply an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth rule to every capital offence. Even when the universal declaration of human rights (UDHR) defends the right of every person, it states in article 1 that all human beings are equal in dignity and rights. This implies that even the person who murders another has the same right to life, regardless of the offence committed. While article 3 of the same UDHR defends security of every person, article 5 prohibits acts torture, cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment and punishment. With death penalty we can no longer talk of punishment, but revenge.
This is what precisely God meant by saying that whoever kills Cain will have sevenfold vengeance. Whoever then executes another person because he has committed a capital offence will also have to face the same charge. He is also going against the right to life of the other person (a murderer). As I pointed out, the vicious circle will be endless and the injustice great. Nowadays there are new technological ways of administering death penalty unlike the traditional head chopping or hangman. Nevertheless this does not lessen the gravity of the offence. All those involved in administering such punishment in countries whereby this is still practised, have a right to objection of conscious. This means they can pronounce against the act of killing someone if this goes against their inner voice: not simply as a personal matter, but against natural law of preservation of life, which is also prohibited by divine law.
Looking at the world records between 2010 up to at least July 2011, there is a positive evolution towards abolition of capital punishment. The number of countries/states practising it has gone down compared to the past years. In Africa, death penalty was executed by 6 countries in 2010 namely; Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea and Botswana. Recently it has been eliminated in Burundi, Rwanda, Cȏte d’Ivoire, Senegal etc. Asia remains the continent with the highest number of executions. In 2009 president Mwai Kibaki announced that the Kenyan government was commuting all death sentences to life in prison, a move which was seen to reduce by a fifth the total number of prisoners in the world facing the execution. What the East African judges are proposing now is a setback.
Kenya should be looking forward to officially eliminate death sentence after it took the move not to carry out the sentence, which in effect has not been done since 1983. Kenya should focus more on justice as pertains to non capital offences than putting into action the already dormant law of death punishment. It should actualize the moratorium favoured by majority of the nations because it is in line with the dignity the human person and in defence of his rights.
Death penalty can’t be termed as such like legitimate defence which needs to be an actual defence in the here and now action. When the officers in charge of security come across such concrete cases where the public need to be defended, unintentional killing may be viewed as legitimate self defence, if that was the only option to disarm the aggressor. However, when death penalty is executed it is not as a means to punish someone, but it becomes an end on its own. The end of capital punishment is the elimination of the culprit (killing). This does not neither guarantee that the crime committed will end nor give a chance to the person to amend his life. Life imprisonment seems to make sense as the society is free from the aggressors, yet at the same time the prisoners have time to reflect on their past life. Not all of them repent as seen by those who still organize other crimes while in prison or those who escape from prison. But at least the fact that they are imprisoned for life is almost equivalent to being sentenced to death, without being killed by anybody. One just waits for the natural death as he or she continues to study, work, reconcile with the creator and those he offended.
BY FR PASCAL MWAMBI MWAKIO
Master’s degree student at the Faculty of Bioethics
REGINA APOSTOLORUM UNIVERSITY, ROME.
The United Nations is in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty whereby the executions are suspended in view of total abolition. Although most of the countries in the world have not officially abolished the law, they no longer practice death sentence or if it is done very rarely (cf. Evangelium Vitae n. 56). Although the Catholic church does not exclude the possibility of the extreme way of punishing capital offences if this is the only way to defend other lives against the aggressor, it has nevertheless defended the right to life of every person and advocated for non lethal means to punish capital offences, which are more in conformity with human dignity and in line with the conditions of common good (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2266-2267).
A non governmental Organization in Italy called “Hands off Cain” (in Italian Nessuno Tocchi Caino), initiated in the early 90’ the movement of suspension of death sentence and war against torture in general. The name of this association originates from the Biblical verse in the book of Genesis 4:15, whereby God put a mark on Cain so that nobody would kill him. Cain who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy was well aware that his burden was greater than he could bear and that people would be looking for his blood. However, God decided to protect the murderer saying that whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.
Is this not a clear indication that nobody really deserves death penalty, not because the crime committed is not capital, but simply because there is nothing or no punishment which can equal the crime of death of another person. I think a life lost in crime like murder can only be paid not by eliminating another life through death sentence, but by maintaining another life so that throughout his or her life one can repay through penance and other forms of punishment.
Those advocating for the death penalty instead seem to follow the law of an eye for an eye. Although they don’t quote the bible it can be traced in Genesis 9:6, where God speaks to Noah and tells him that he who sheds blood of man, shall by man his blood be shed. By this statement God however wants to stress how important and valuable human life is. This can be seen in the prohibitions (do not kill) found not only in Deuteronomy 5:17 and Exodus 20:13, but also in Mathew 5:21, among other biblical texts.
Article 26 § 1 of the Kenyan constitution states that every person has right to life. Although § 3 of the same article says that except to the extend authorised by the same constitution or any other law, it does not mean that such a law that might permit killing is a just law. We need to look at the objectives of punishment. It is meant to expiate one’s offences, to preserve public order and safety and as medicinal scope to correct the offender. It is obvious that when the person’s life is eliminated, some of the goals mentioned above won’t be effected. Preservation of public order and safety may be maintained by the aggressor’s death, but it is not guaranteed that such other persons capable of committing similar crimes are not still at large. And it might be impossible to eliminate each and every one who threatens public order and offends fundamental human rights. The circle will be too vicious if we have to apply an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth rule to every capital offence. Even when the universal declaration of human rights (UDHR) defends the right of every person, it states in article 1 that all human beings are equal in dignity and rights. This implies that even the person who murders another has the same right to life, regardless of the offence committed. While article 3 of the same UDHR defends security of every person, article 5 prohibits acts torture, cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment and punishment. With death penalty we can no longer talk of punishment, but revenge.
This is what precisely God meant by saying that whoever kills Cain will have sevenfold vengeance. Whoever then executes another person because he has committed a capital offence will also have to face the same charge. He is also going against the right to life of the other person (a murderer). As I pointed out, the vicious circle will be endless and the injustice great. Nowadays there are new technological ways of administering death penalty unlike the traditional head chopping or hangman. Nevertheless this does not lessen the gravity of the offence. All those involved in administering such punishment in countries whereby this is still practised, have a right to objection of conscious. This means they can pronounce against the act of killing someone if this goes against their inner voice: not simply as a personal matter, but against natural law of preservation of life, which is also prohibited by divine law.
Looking at the world records between 2010 up to at least July 2011, there is a positive evolution towards abolition of capital punishment. The number of countries/states practising it has gone down compared to the past years. In Africa, death penalty was executed by 6 countries in 2010 namely; Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea and Botswana. Recently it has been eliminated in Burundi, Rwanda, Cȏte d’Ivoire, Senegal etc. Asia remains the continent with the highest number of executions. In 2009 president Mwai Kibaki announced that the Kenyan government was commuting all death sentences to life in prison, a move which was seen to reduce by a fifth the total number of prisoners in the world facing the execution. What the East African judges are proposing now is a setback.
Kenya should be looking forward to officially eliminate death sentence after it took the move not to carry out the sentence, which in effect has not been done since 1983. Kenya should focus more on justice as pertains to non capital offences than putting into action the already dormant law of death punishment. It should actualize the moratorium favoured by majority of the nations because it is in line with the dignity the human person and in defence of his rights.
Death penalty can’t be termed as such like legitimate defence which needs to be an actual defence in the here and now action. When the officers in charge of security come across such concrete cases where the public need to be defended, unintentional killing may be viewed as legitimate self defence, if that was the only option to disarm the aggressor. However, when death penalty is executed it is not as a means to punish someone, but it becomes an end on its own. The end of capital punishment is the elimination of the culprit (killing). This does not neither guarantee that the crime committed will end nor give a chance to the person to amend his life. Life imprisonment seems to make sense as the society is free from the aggressors, yet at the same time the prisoners have time to reflect on their past life. Not all of them repent as seen by those who still organize other crimes while in prison or those who escape from prison. But at least the fact that they are imprisoned for life is almost equivalent to being sentenced to death, without being killed by anybody. One just waits for the natural death as he or she continues to study, work, reconcile with the creator and those he offended.
BY FR PASCAL MWAMBI MWAKIO
Master’s degree student at the Faculty of Bioethics
REGINA APOSTOLORUM UNIVERSITY, ROME.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
OPINION: Church Launches New Evangelisation: NASA Scientists Launch First Rocket to Jupiter, 600 Million KM away
The launching of the first rocket ever to Jupiter by NASA scientists, demonstrates the technological stage on which Pope Benedict’s New Evangelisation plan is unfolding! And reveals some of the greatest challenges ahead! Challenges posed by advanced technology which appears to be out pacing by far, our theological reflection and thinking, leaving theologians gasping for breath!
At some point in history, we thought and believed that going to the moon, which is only 384, 000, Km away from the earth was a dream and an impossible task! But on 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped where no human had ever trodden! He set foot on the moon!
The apparently inexhaustible human intellectual powers are at it again! On 5 August 2011, NASA’s Juno spacecraft blasted off heading to Jupiter about 644 million kilometers way from the earth! It is a 5-year journey to the largest planet in the solar system! In terms of surface area, Jupiter is about 122 times bigger than the earth! In July 2016, Juno is expected to settle in the orbit around Jupiter!
In 2014, NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the most advanced and sophisticated space telescope of our time! It will study the birth and evolution of galaxies, and the formation of stars and planets. It will replace the Hubble Space Telescope.
All this reveals today’s complicated context in which God’s people for whom our Lord Jesus Christ died live. The context in which the Gospel, the Good News of salvation is to be proclaimed to all humans and to all creation! We are not living in the middle ages nor in the early 1900s! We in a world of highly advanced technology! We are in the digital age whose spiritual, moral, economic and socio-political challenges the New Evangelisation seeks to address and tackle!
The Pope is very conscious and aware of the technological and complex life situation in which we live today. And this is why he has given an important position and role to science and technology in his plan of the New Evangelisation as necessary tools at the service of the Word!
In his message for the 44th World Communication Day he thus said :
All priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God,…
Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communication technologies. … Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.
… Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, and websites)…
And on 21 September 2010, when he created the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, it was revealed that one of its specific tasks was the study and promotion of the use of modern forms of communication, as tools for the New Evangelisation.
In our Community of Val Notre-Dame, our Superior Dom André Barbeau, shared with us his reflections on the Lineamenta for the Synod on the New Evangelisation. And from his sharing I discovered that this document too, discussed the technological and digital culture in which we live!
Reading the document myself, I found that chapter one in the section entitled: The Sectors Calling for the New Evangelisation discussed the extensive mixing of cultures due to today’s technological means of communication. The text thus says:
Although these means of social communications, in their initial stages, were limited to the industrialized world, they are now able to influence vast portions of the developing countries. Today, no place in the world is beyond reach and, consequently, unaffected by the media and digital culture which is fast becoming the ‘forum’ of public life and social interaction.
In my view, this section touches a very important issue, which deserves all our attention, namely: Science and technology in the life, thinking and theology of the Church today. And when the Pope requests and encourages the priests to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources, we are for sure talking about technology in the life of the Church!
So at this point, I would like to give an answer to question number two at end of the introduction of this Lineamenta, which states:
In the process of discerning events in history, what should be shared with the universal Church, so that, by mutual listening to these happenings, the universal Church can recognize where the Spirit is leading her in the work of evangelization?
One of the most striking and amazing things in today’s world and which I would like to be shared with the universal Church, is the incredible speed at which science and technology are developing and advancing! All the time scientists are coming up with new discoveries and astounding findings, in addition to the newly developed scientific theories! So I would like the universal Church during the Synod on the New Evangelisation to ask herself whether or not her theological thinking is coping with the speed and pace at which science and technology are developing.
Are we for example able to integrate the developments in synthetic biology (e.g. the invention of artificial life or DNA, by Dr. Craig Venter and his team, and the invention of the artificial sperm by the Japanese scientists, etc.)? Some genetic scientists, from a mixture of human genes and animal genes are now creating being that are between humans and animals (human-animal hybrids) How is our theology tackling this?
In astrophysics, a theory has been advanced and supported in Stephen Hawking’s book the Grand Design that the universe created itself! This renders God as creator meaningless. How is our theology handling this? In particle physics we are at the level of subatomic particles like: quarks, photons, neutrinos, muons etc, is our present theology making use of this development in physics?
We have Bioethics, but science being so vast, I feel Bioethics is too limited to theologically handle all the material and findings from the different fields of science! So I think the Holy Spirit wants the Church at this point in its history to create a new body of experts who are at once scientists and theologians or at least men and women of faith, to theologically make use of the scientific and technological developments of our day! So I propose that a new Pontifical Academy be created for these experts! And I further propose that it be called: The Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology!
And by Techno-theology, I term I have coined, (techno, stands for technology) we should understand: A theology that uses scientific and technological discoveries of our time and modern scientific theories as its major material for reflection in light of the Gospel and our Christian faith. And it does so, inorder that theology may move at the same pace as science and technology.
So the proposed Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology should be a Sister Institute to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. And should be structured along the same lines of universality. Meaning, its members like those of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences should be of diverse racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, coming from different parts of the world. But what they should all have in common is faith in a Personal God and being experts in the natural sciences or technology.
This means members of this academy could be : Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews etc, as is the case with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. This would give us an opportunity to profit from the theological reflections of believing scientist who are not Christians!
But one could ask, if such an academy were created what exactly would be its contribution to the New Evangelisation? Given the fact that in today’s world especially in the West, young people generally, listen more to scientists than to religious leaders (Imams, Gurus, Pastors and Priests,) if the scientists who believe in God were brought together in such an academy, their strong voice as believers would touch many people’s hearts! Their voice would be strong instrument for the New Evangelisation plan.
I remember for example being touched very deeply by the faith testimonies of two great scientists of our time, Charles Townes (Nobel Physics Prize 1964) and William Phillips (Nobel Physics Prize 1997) published in a French magazine, Le Monde des Religions. (see, Le Monde des Religions, Janvier-Fevrier 2010 N°39 p.36-38.)
I believe and I am convinced that all these great scientists of our day, men and women of deep faith, are an indispensable tool for the New Evangelisation. Let us bring them together in a Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology and we shall live to see a changed world through their testimony of faith and theological reflections.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
At some point in history, we thought and believed that going to the moon, which is only 384, 000, Km away from the earth was a dream and an impossible task! But on 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped where no human had ever trodden! He set foot on the moon!
The apparently inexhaustible human intellectual powers are at it again! On 5 August 2011, NASA’s Juno spacecraft blasted off heading to Jupiter about 644 million kilometers way from the earth! It is a 5-year journey to the largest planet in the solar system! In terms of surface area, Jupiter is about 122 times bigger than the earth! In July 2016, Juno is expected to settle in the orbit around Jupiter!
In 2014, NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the most advanced and sophisticated space telescope of our time! It will study the birth and evolution of galaxies, and the formation of stars and planets. It will replace the Hubble Space Telescope.
All this reveals today’s complicated context in which God’s people for whom our Lord Jesus Christ died live. The context in which the Gospel, the Good News of salvation is to be proclaimed to all humans and to all creation! We are not living in the middle ages nor in the early 1900s! We in a world of highly advanced technology! We are in the digital age whose spiritual, moral, economic and socio-political challenges the New Evangelisation seeks to address and tackle!
The Pope is very conscious and aware of the technological and complex life situation in which we live today. And this is why he has given an important position and role to science and technology in his plan of the New Evangelisation as necessary tools at the service of the Word!
In his message for the 44th World Communication Day he thus said :
All priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God,…
Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communication technologies. … Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.
… Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, and websites)…
And on 21 September 2010, when he created the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, it was revealed that one of its specific tasks was the study and promotion of the use of modern forms of communication, as tools for the New Evangelisation.
In our Community of Val Notre-Dame, our Superior Dom André Barbeau, shared with us his reflections on the Lineamenta for the Synod on the New Evangelisation. And from his sharing I discovered that this document too, discussed the technological and digital culture in which we live!
Reading the document myself, I found that chapter one in the section entitled: The Sectors Calling for the New Evangelisation discussed the extensive mixing of cultures due to today’s technological means of communication. The text thus says:
Although these means of social communications, in their initial stages, were limited to the industrialized world, they are now able to influence vast portions of the developing countries. Today, no place in the world is beyond reach and, consequently, unaffected by the media and digital culture which is fast becoming the ‘forum’ of public life and social interaction.
In my view, this section touches a very important issue, which deserves all our attention, namely: Science and technology in the life, thinking and theology of the Church today. And when the Pope requests and encourages the priests to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources, we are for sure talking about technology in the life of the Church!
So at this point, I would like to give an answer to question number two at end of the introduction of this Lineamenta, which states:
In the process of discerning events in history, what should be shared with the universal Church, so that, by mutual listening to these happenings, the universal Church can recognize where the Spirit is leading her in the work of evangelization?
One of the most striking and amazing things in today’s world and which I would like to be shared with the universal Church, is the incredible speed at which science and technology are developing and advancing! All the time scientists are coming up with new discoveries and astounding findings, in addition to the newly developed scientific theories! So I would like the universal Church during the Synod on the New Evangelisation to ask herself whether or not her theological thinking is coping with the speed and pace at which science and technology are developing.
Are we for example able to integrate the developments in synthetic biology (e.g. the invention of artificial life or DNA, by Dr. Craig Venter and his team, and the invention of the artificial sperm by the Japanese scientists, etc.)? Some genetic scientists, from a mixture of human genes and animal genes are now creating being that are between humans and animals (human-animal hybrids) How is our theology tackling this?
In astrophysics, a theory has been advanced and supported in Stephen Hawking’s book the Grand Design that the universe created itself! This renders God as creator meaningless. How is our theology handling this? In particle physics we are at the level of subatomic particles like: quarks, photons, neutrinos, muons etc, is our present theology making use of this development in physics?
We have Bioethics, but science being so vast, I feel Bioethics is too limited to theologically handle all the material and findings from the different fields of science! So I think the Holy Spirit wants the Church at this point in its history to create a new body of experts who are at once scientists and theologians or at least men and women of faith, to theologically make use of the scientific and technological developments of our day! So I propose that a new Pontifical Academy be created for these experts! And I further propose that it be called: The Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology!
And by Techno-theology, I term I have coined, (techno, stands for technology) we should understand: A theology that uses scientific and technological discoveries of our time and modern scientific theories as its major material for reflection in light of the Gospel and our Christian faith. And it does so, inorder that theology may move at the same pace as science and technology.
So the proposed Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology should be a Sister Institute to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. And should be structured along the same lines of universality. Meaning, its members like those of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences should be of diverse racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, coming from different parts of the world. But what they should all have in common is faith in a Personal God and being experts in the natural sciences or technology.
This means members of this academy could be : Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews etc, as is the case with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. This would give us an opportunity to profit from the theological reflections of believing scientist who are not Christians!
But one could ask, if such an academy were created what exactly would be its contribution to the New Evangelisation? Given the fact that in today’s world especially in the West, young people generally, listen more to scientists than to religious leaders (Imams, Gurus, Pastors and Priests,) if the scientists who believe in God were brought together in such an academy, their strong voice as believers would touch many people’s hearts! Their voice would be strong instrument for the New Evangelisation plan.
I remember for example being touched very deeply by the faith testimonies of two great scientists of our time, Charles Townes (Nobel Physics Prize 1964) and William Phillips (Nobel Physics Prize 1997) published in a French magazine, Le Monde des Religions. (see, Le Monde des Religions, Janvier-Fevrier 2010 N°39 p.36-38.)
I believe and I am convinced that all these great scientists of our day, men and women of deep faith, are an indispensable tool for the New Evangelisation. Let us bring them together in a Pontifical Academy of Techno-theology and we shall live to see a changed world through their testimony of faith and theological reflections.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Science and Religion: Are the Wonders of the Digital Age here to Stay?
The fruits of scientific research and the wonders of advanced technology are everywhere, tangible and visible to everybody! But are they here to stay? Are we sure future generations will live to see them and enjoy them?
The bicycles and motor vehicles on our roads, the trains on the rails, airplanes flying the vast skies above and rockets and satellites orbiting the outer space are all fruits of science and technology! The triumph of the human mind!
We are living in a technological and digital world! The mobile phone is now common even in the remote villages of Africa! The Internet, Facebook, Twitter etc, all these are fruits of science and technology, which have revolutionised human communication! And have bridged the enormous distances between us, turning the world into a global village!!
The human mind is constantly in search for knowledge! Even the poor people who never had a chance to go to school are searching for knowledge within their limits to cope with life and its daily challenges!
As for scientific researchers, they are spending sleepless nights in private, national and international laboratories and the Space laboratory trying to find the key and explanation to the mystery of the universe and the enigma of life!
Using advanced ground telescopes and sophisticated space-crafts like : Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, Astronomers and Astrophysicists have plunged into deep space to study the origins of the universe, the formation of stars, black holes etc! And Astrobiologists have joined them in search of the possibility of life on other planets beyond the earth!
A new French video called: Du Big Bag Au Vivant (which translates: From the Big Bag to life) is out! It discusses among other things: the galaxies, the planets, their sizes and the distances between them, the sun as a nuclear reactor, the spectacular explosion of a dying star (supernova), the beautiful colours of the stars, etc.
As I watched the unfolding of the marvels of the universe in this video, several questions crossed my mind, namely: What is the ultimate goal of our hunger, thirst and search for knowledge? In other words, what do we want to achieve as the very last and final goal of our scientific endeavours and struggles? And can science really survive without religion?
I call upon both the scientific community and the religious community to reflect seriously on these questions. And together formulate and articulate the ultimate goal of our scientific project and research. For experience shows that the knowledge obtained through our scientific and technological breakthroughs, can be used for both good and evil purposes!
Breakthroughs in the medical field, for example: the discovery of vaccines, antibiotics, and organ transplant, has led to the improvement of the quality of human life. But 11 September, 2001 will always be remembered as a day of unspeakable terror! The day, passenger jets, fruits of high technology, were turned into deadly weapons that crashed into the World Trade Centre and reduced it to a heap of ruins and ashes killing thousands of people.
So the possibility that we can wipe the whole human family out of existence by the knowledge we have obtained through scientific research and technological advancement is very real. Scientists, politicians, tycoons who finance scientific projects and religious leaders, should therefore urgently address this problem! And it should be a concern of everybody.
This threat of humanity’s possible self-destruction using the very knowledge we have struggle to obtain through scientific and technological research, in my opinion comes from five basic corners:
• Scientific fundamentalism
• Religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance
• Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry
• Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research
• Militarisation of outer space
The stance or view held by some scientists which attributes absolutely no positive value to religion and intentionally and systematically seeks its eradication from society and from the human mind, is what I call, scientific fundamentalism!
For example, one of Britain’s leading scientists, Richard Dawkins who is described as: The UK’s Chief Atheist, has declared that religion is a delusion, incompatible with science. To this effect he wrote his now famous book: The God Delusion.
According to him: faith – belief that is not based on evidence – is one of the world’s great evils. And he compares religion to the virus of the mind which is difficult to eradicate!
But the eradication of religion seen as a virus, from the human mind, heart and society, will lead to a human disaster that will eventually bring about our total self destruction. The human race without God will for sure wipe itself out of existence!
What we call, religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance has been around since time immemorial! But what makes it so dangerous today is that religious fanatics have access to advanced weaponry technology! They are capable of constructing and assembling devastating bombs! And some already have in their possession sophisticated modern weapons of high tech!
And throughout the world we are witnessing almost at daily basis the heinous crimes committed by these religious fanatics: Muslims, Christians, Hindus etc, alike! They kill innocent people in the name of God or Allah! As they acquire more advanced technical know- how in weaponry construction, these people are capable of doing something that can wipe the entire human race out of existence!
Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry! Some scientific research projects are in the realm and category of what is called: Top security secrets! An article in Idea Connection entitled: Secrecy in scientific research, states thus:
A considerable amount of scientific research is conducted in institutes or under contracts which preclude dissemination of the results to other than a select group. … Secrecy may be maintained either to gain a military advantage (in the case of defense research) or to gain commercial advantage (in the case of industrial research).
The same article adds: While secrecy in science may be necessary to protect the human race from damage or extinction, secrecy in science in order to increase private profits is morally indefensible.
I have the feeling that if we are not careful, this defense research and the rivalry between different nations, if not checked, might one day bring the human race to the doors of its extinction!
Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research is a reality we cannot deny! The dignity of the human person has been totally eroded in some scientific research projects! And this is a very dangerous move for the human family.
It has been discovered that some scientists have secretively created what is called, human-animal hybrids. They created embryos from a mixture of human and animal genes. This is totally unacceptable if we still have a sense of respect for the human person. And scientists of this kind, for whom human dignity means nothing, are surely capable of producing something in the laboratory that can wipe out the entire human family and release it out of the lab confinements!
An article posted on 25 July 2011 by Mail Online, entitled: 150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs: Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years, has this to say :
Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories. …
The revelation comes a day after a committee of scientists warned of a night mare ‘Planet of Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.
Last night a campaigner against the excess of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.
Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.
Militarization of outer space! If we think, the end of the cold war ended the arms race, we are very deceived! It is still going on unabated and in ways that are more sophisticated than ever before! It is going on in the ocean depths below and in the outer space above!
This unabated arms race among Super powers is no good news! It puts the human race on its toes! Militarizing ocean depths, the earth’s surface and now the outer space above is a real cause for concern! It is an indication that we are constantly creating paths and possibilities, for humanity’s self-destruction!
In an article entitled: Chinese break own deep-water record, posted on 22 July 2011 by The Australian, we thus read:
A Chinese submersible conducted the country’s deepest dive ever Thursday in the latest milestone for China’s deep-sea ambitions as it seeks to exploit the vast resources of the ocean floor. … [Remember these deep-sea crafts have military capability also!]
Chinese technical capabilities have gathered pace in recent decades, exemplified by a fast growing space programme that in 2003 made China the third nation to conduct a manned space flight.
That we have already put military or weapon systems in space is no longer a secret. For many of the satellites orbiting the outer space are for military purposes! For example some of the operations (especially communication) of the deadly Apache helicopters can be done only with the help of satellites. And all the Super powers have satellites in space!
And the idea of space militarisation goes back to the 1960s. In his address to Rice University on 12 September 1962 President, John F. Kennedy had this to say:
Space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying threat of war.
It is true: science, genetic engineering and technology have no conscience of their own! Whether we use them for good or ill depends on us. However, without religion, without God can we expect to use them for good?
The total moral bankruptcy and lack of respect for the human person, manifested by those scientists engaged in the creation of human-animal hybrids, reveal what science without God, without religion does! Destruction of the human being! Science guided by moral bankruptcy is a nightmare and a weapon of self-destruction. Science without religion cannot survive!
Without a conscience enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, we shall eventually destroy all the fruits of science and technology we have achieved so far! We shall put an end to the wonders of our digital age!
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
The bicycles and motor vehicles on our roads, the trains on the rails, airplanes flying the vast skies above and rockets and satellites orbiting the outer space are all fruits of science and technology! The triumph of the human mind!
We are living in a technological and digital world! The mobile phone is now common even in the remote villages of Africa! The Internet, Facebook, Twitter etc, all these are fruits of science and technology, which have revolutionised human communication! And have bridged the enormous distances between us, turning the world into a global village!!
The human mind is constantly in search for knowledge! Even the poor people who never had a chance to go to school are searching for knowledge within their limits to cope with life and its daily challenges!
As for scientific researchers, they are spending sleepless nights in private, national and international laboratories and the Space laboratory trying to find the key and explanation to the mystery of the universe and the enigma of life!
Using advanced ground telescopes and sophisticated space-crafts like : Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, Astronomers and Astrophysicists have plunged into deep space to study the origins of the universe, the formation of stars, black holes etc! And Astrobiologists have joined them in search of the possibility of life on other planets beyond the earth!
A new French video called: Du Big Bag Au Vivant (which translates: From the Big Bag to life) is out! It discusses among other things: the galaxies, the planets, their sizes and the distances between them, the sun as a nuclear reactor, the spectacular explosion of a dying star (supernova), the beautiful colours of the stars, etc.
As I watched the unfolding of the marvels of the universe in this video, several questions crossed my mind, namely: What is the ultimate goal of our hunger, thirst and search for knowledge? In other words, what do we want to achieve as the very last and final goal of our scientific endeavours and struggles? And can science really survive without religion?
I call upon both the scientific community and the religious community to reflect seriously on these questions. And together formulate and articulate the ultimate goal of our scientific project and research. For experience shows that the knowledge obtained through our scientific and technological breakthroughs, can be used for both good and evil purposes!
Breakthroughs in the medical field, for example: the discovery of vaccines, antibiotics, and organ transplant, has led to the improvement of the quality of human life. But 11 September, 2001 will always be remembered as a day of unspeakable terror! The day, passenger jets, fruits of high technology, were turned into deadly weapons that crashed into the World Trade Centre and reduced it to a heap of ruins and ashes killing thousands of people.
So the possibility that we can wipe the whole human family out of existence by the knowledge we have obtained through scientific research and technological advancement is very real. Scientists, politicians, tycoons who finance scientific projects and religious leaders, should therefore urgently address this problem! And it should be a concern of everybody.
This threat of humanity’s possible self-destruction using the very knowledge we have struggle to obtain through scientific and technological research, in my opinion comes from five basic corners:
• Scientific fundamentalism
• Religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance
• Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry
• Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research
• Militarisation of outer space
The stance or view held by some scientists which attributes absolutely no positive value to religion and intentionally and systematically seeks its eradication from society and from the human mind, is what I call, scientific fundamentalism!
For example, one of Britain’s leading scientists, Richard Dawkins who is described as: The UK’s Chief Atheist, has declared that religion is a delusion, incompatible with science. To this effect he wrote his now famous book: The God Delusion.
According to him: faith – belief that is not based on evidence – is one of the world’s great evils. And he compares religion to the virus of the mind which is difficult to eradicate!
But the eradication of religion seen as a virus, from the human mind, heart and society, will lead to a human disaster that will eventually bring about our total self destruction. The human race without God will for sure wipe itself out of existence!
What we call, religious fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance has been around since time immemorial! But what makes it so dangerous today is that religious fanatics have access to advanced weaponry technology! They are capable of constructing and assembling devastating bombs! And some already have in their possession sophisticated modern weapons of high tech!
And throughout the world we are witnessing almost at daily basis the heinous crimes committed by these religious fanatics: Muslims, Christians, Hindus etc, alike! They kill innocent people in the name of God or Allah! As they acquire more advanced technical know- how in weaponry construction, these people are capable of doing something that can wipe the entire human race out of existence!
Scientific secrecy and bitter rivalry! Some scientific research projects are in the realm and category of what is called: Top security secrets! An article in Idea Connection entitled: Secrecy in scientific research, states thus:
A considerable amount of scientific research is conducted in institutes or under contracts which preclude dissemination of the results to other than a select group. … Secrecy may be maintained either to gain a military advantage (in the case of defense research) or to gain commercial advantage (in the case of industrial research).
The same article adds: While secrecy in science may be necessary to protect the human race from damage or extinction, secrecy in science in order to increase private profits is morally indefensible.
I have the feeling that if we are not careful, this defense research and the rivalry between different nations, if not checked, might one day bring the human race to the doors of its extinction!
Abandonment of ethical and moral principles in scientific research is a reality we cannot deny! The dignity of the human person has been totally eroded in some scientific research projects! And this is a very dangerous move for the human family.
It has been discovered that some scientists have secretively created what is called, human-animal hybrids. They created embryos from a mixture of human and animal genes. This is totally unacceptable if we still have a sense of respect for the human person. And scientists of this kind, for whom human dignity means nothing, are surely capable of producing something in the laboratory that can wipe out the entire human family and release it out of the lab confinements!
An article posted on 25 July 2011 by Mail Online, entitled: 150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs: Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years, has this to say :
Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories. …
The revelation comes a day after a committee of scientists warned of a night mare ‘Planet of Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.
Last night a campaigner against the excess of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.
Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.
Militarization of outer space! If we think, the end of the cold war ended the arms race, we are very deceived! It is still going on unabated and in ways that are more sophisticated than ever before! It is going on in the ocean depths below and in the outer space above!
This unabated arms race among Super powers is no good news! It puts the human race on its toes! Militarizing ocean depths, the earth’s surface and now the outer space above is a real cause for concern! It is an indication that we are constantly creating paths and possibilities, for humanity’s self-destruction!
In an article entitled: Chinese break own deep-water record, posted on 22 July 2011 by The Australian, we thus read:
A Chinese submersible conducted the country’s deepest dive ever Thursday in the latest milestone for China’s deep-sea ambitions as it seeks to exploit the vast resources of the ocean floor. … [Remember these deep-sea crafts have military capability also!]
Chinese technical capabilities have gathered pace in recent decades, exemplified by a fast growing space programme that in 2003 made China the third nation to conduct a manned space flight.
That we have already put military or weapon systems in space is no longer a secret. For many of the satellites orbiting the outer space are for military purposes! For example some of the operations (especially communication) of the deadly Apache helicopters can be done only with the help of satellites. And all the Super powers have satellites in space!
And the idea of space militarisation goes back to the 1960s. In his address to Rice University on 12 September 1962 President, John F. Kennedy had this to say:
Space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying threat of war.
It is true: science, genetic engineering and technology have no conscience of their own! Whether we use them for good or ill depends on us. However, without religion, without God can we expect to use them for good?
The total moral bankruptcy and lack of respect for the human person, manifested by those scientists engaged in the creation of human-animal hybrids, reveal what science without God, without religion does! Destruction of the human being! Science guided by moral bankruptcy is a nightmare and a weapon of self-destruction. Science without religion cannot survive!
Without a conscience enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, we shall eventually destroy all the fruits of science and technology we have achieved so far! We shall put an end to the wonders of our digital age!
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
OPINION: The Tool Transforming Africa
Father Mose Adekambi on the Bible as the Base of Social Change
Many Nigerians can quote the Bible from memory -- not because they have sat down with a Gospel and drilled the words into their heads. In a population that is only 68% literate, that is not the methodology for memorization. So where do Nigerians learn the Bible? At Mass. They have heard the word of God proclaimed in their churches and retained it in their hearts.
There is a hunger for the word of God in Africa, says Father Mose Adekambi, a diocesan priest from the Diocese of Porto Nuvue in Benin.
Father Adekambi entered the seminary as a youth with dreams of being a simple diocesan priest.
But with time and the encouragement of his bishop he was sent to Rome and became a Biblical scholar. Today, this knowledge and education is serving him well as he is the director of BICAM, the Biblical Center for Africa and Madagascar.
He is responsible for promoting awareness of the Bible throughout all of Africa.
Father Adekambi spoke with the television program "Where God Weeps" of the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need, about the Bible in Africa -- and how it is bringing about social change.
Q: Father Mose, before we start talking about your work in Arica with the promotion of the Bible, tell us a bit about yourself. When did you have a sense of your calling to be a priest?
Father Adekambi: I felt my vocation when I was around 12 -- in primary school. Like any other boys of my age at that time, I wanted to be many things in my life. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a judge. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted even to be a priest because I would play pretend priest like many other boys of my age.
Q: Your parents had a background in traditional African religions. What was there reaction?
Father Adekambi: My parents became Catholic as adults. I was already born when my mother was baptized and was married in the Church. I grew up in a Catholic family because I received a Catholic education. One day I was wondering what I wanted to be and my mother said: "You do not know what you what to be exactly?" I think it was on that day that I decided to become a priest. Later on, during the last year of primary school, I had to choose whether to go to the secondary school or enter the minor seminary. I wrote to the first priest of Benin who is a cousin to my grandmother.
Q: The first native Benin priest is a cousin of your grandmother.
Father Adekambi: Yes, I wrote to him saying, "I want to be a priest like you." He wrote back and said: "For this year it is too late for you to enter the minor seminary because the list is already closed and the exam period has passed." Since I was a little bit stubborn, I then went to the parish priest and said I wanted to enter the seminary and he welcomed me and found a way for me to enter the minor seminary. I went then to inform my grandmother and told her that I wanted to be a priest like her brother. So these are the two figures behind my vocation. My mother who unwillingly pushed me to make a decision …
Q: … unwillingly, but when you made the decision there was joy in the family?
Father Adekambi: On the day of my ordination, Aug. 4, 1984, I publicly thanked my parents. And the reason is simple: I am the first-born and I am a man. I was aware that for them it was a big sacrifice, and I thanked them because they allowed me to be free. They never said, "Don't do it." They never said, "Do it." I knew that if I had quit it probably would have been a joy for them, so that is why I thanked them publicly for allowing me to be free to follow my choice despite the pain, which I know they endured.
Q: What is the greatest challenge to your priesthood, to your vocation?
Father Adekambi: To be available. When I decided to become a priest and during my ordination, I used the symbol of raining water. In my language, we have a saying: "Rain water is used carelessly and after that it is thrown away." In Africa, we use tap water and rainwater. I wanted to be available, like rainwater, to God and to my fellow brothers and sisters to meet their needs -- whatever that need may be. Rainwater is used to water flowers, to wash dishes, for the farm, for drinking, it is used for whatever you want. So for me "availability" is a great challenge as a priest -- doing what I don't want to do but what people want me to do …
Q: … and what people will ask of you.
Father Adekambi: Exactly, because that is where they need me and how they need me. It is not easy to give up one's desires, to give your liberty to others to serve in the way they want. I am fighting to be available, and in reading the Church Fathers there was one who particularly affected me. I think it was Alexander of Jerusalem who compared the Holy Spirit to raining water that adapts to each creature. He said that raining water is not the same for a palm tree. It is not the same for the mango tree, but rain always adapts itself to each creature on which it falls. So it became a second challenge for me -- to adapt myself to each person. I am of service just like Paul who said in 1 Corinthian 9: "To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law ... " and so on, but it is not easy.
Q: Why the focus on the Bible?
Father Adekambi: The focus on the Bible is due to the fact that the Church, especially the African bishops, discovered that there is no evangelization without the word of God. It became very clear that the word of God was not known and the people have a hunger and thirst for the word of God. For example Nigerian missionaries, bishops or priests, tell me Nigerians can often quote the Bible from memory. They have such great facility and love for the word of God. When it comes to Africa I can even tell you that we are more oriented to the word of God than to the book of the word of God.
Q: Why?
Father Adekambi: Precisely because our culture is mostly an oral culture. Let us say a great part of the people cannot read. If you wait for them to know how to read and write before you proclaim the word of God -- how will you do it? How long are you going to wait? So we need to consider that factor, the oral dimension of our culture. As I mentioned, people in Nigeria can quote the Bible precisely from hearing the word of God in the churches -- most of them retain it in their memory.
Q: Because of this oral tradition …
Father Adekambi: … oral tradition and don't forget that in the book of Deuteronomy, the word of God is supposed to be kept on the lips and then be kept in the heart.
Q: So why come back to the written word? Why come back to the Bible?
Father Adekambi: Somehow it is the visible word of God, in terms of sacramentality, it is the Book that is inspired. That is why the Book is important, but we should not emphasize only the Book because to have a larger meaning of the Word of God is even helpful in terms of theology; I always tell people that Chapter 6 is the last chapter preceded by five chapters on what I call the theology on the Word of God. So we need a theology of the Bible before a good apostolate of the Bible.
Q: Africa, as we know, has terrible social ills such as poverty, war, etc. Can the promotion of the Bible address some of these social ills and is this also part of your work?
Father Adekambi: The word of God can help a lot. Take the Letter of the Hebrews Chapter 4 in which it is stated that the word of God is a double-edged sword; it scrutinizes our inner thoughts. If you open yourself and are affected by the word of God, definitely, your bad intentions are challenged and it pushes you to conversion. I think our stance may be wrong. To date, when we talk about social issues in Africa we always talk about things that go wrong: the problem with our leaders, hatred and violence. What we need is what I call an objective approach; an object-centered approach.
Q: ... something in the heart.
Father Adekambi: Exactly, and to solve the problems of Africa we should concentrate on Africans, how they can change their hearts, their mentality. The word of God in that sense is wonderful for change precisely because it challenges us to conversion through many generations. In fact, in 2007, the biblical motto was: "Where is your brother?" Are we fighting against one another? Can we re-define in the image of God who is my brother? Only then do we learn a responsibility toward our brother. Then from this you move to Matthew Chapter 5, the love of enemies. This can help us in Africa. That is really our main concern. This is our workshop.
I would like to share with you what I saw following these workshops in Africa. When I visited Rwanda -- I go around to know what is happening in the country as part of this apostolate -- they told me: "Father, Bible sharing is good. The Bible helps us to reconcile."
Q: After the genocide?
Father Adekambi: And we should never forget that. In fact, also in South Africa during apartheid, the Bible did a lot in terms of reconciliation and helping people address social issues including apartheid and after apartheid for reconciliation and for the reconstruction of the country.
Q: So, for you the Bible and the reintroduction of the word of God, is a foundation on which to build a new society?
Father Adekambi: Exactly, I believe it. I'm convinced. That is my hope for Africa. It is my hope. It is my dream. It is a realized dream because I saw it in Rwanda. I saw it in South Africa. I saw it in Zambia where they have a program where the small Christian communities, at the lowest level, are really trying to get away from their old mentalities and thus changing the world around them by listening to the word of God and the social teaching of the Church.
Q: And putting it into practice?
Father Adekambi: Exactly. The biblical meaning of listening is putting it in practice. Otherwise, if you remember James: "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves." So, we are supposed to listen, all of us.
* * *
This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
Many Nigerians can quote the Bible from memory -- not because they have sat down with a Gospel and drilled the words into their heads. In a population that is only 68% literate, that is not the methodology for memorization. So where do Nigerians learn the Bible? At Mass. They have heard the word of God proclaimed in their churches and retained it in their hearts.
There is a hunger for the word of God in Africa, says Father Mose Adekambi, a diocesan priest from the Diocese of Porto Nuvue in Benin.
Father Adekambi entered the seminary as a youth with dreams of being a simple diocesan priest.
But with time and the encouragement of his bishop he was sent to Rome and became a Biblical scholar. Today, this knowledge and education is serving him well as he is the director of BICAM, the Biblical Center for Africa and Madagascar.
He is responsible for promoting awareness of the Bible throughout all of Africa.
Father Adekambi spoke with the television program "Where God Weeps" of the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need, about the Bible in Africa -- and how it is bringing about social change.
Q: Father Mose, before we start talking about your work in Arica with the promotion of the Bible, tell us a bit about yourself. When did you have a sense of your calling to be a priest?
Father Adekambi: I felt my vocation when I was around 12 -- in primary school. Like any other boys of my age at that time, I wanted to be many things in my life. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a judge. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted even to be a priest because I would play pretend priest like many other boys of my age.
Q: Your parents had a background in traditional African religions. What was there reaction?
Father Adekambi: My parents became Catholic as adults. I was already born when my mother was baptized and was married in the Church. I grew up in a Catholic family because I received a Catholic education. One day I was wondering what I wanted to be and my mother said: "You do not know what you what to be exactly?" I think it was on that day that I decided to become a priest. Later on, during the last year of primary school, I had to choose whether to go to the secondary school or enter the minor seminary. I wrote to the first priest of Benin who is a cousin to my grandmother.
Q: The first native Benin priest is a cousin of your grandmother.
Father Adekambi: Yes, I wrote to him saying, "I want to be a priest like you." He wrote back and said: "For this year it is too late for you to enter the minor seminary because the list is already closed and the exam period has passed." Since I was a little bit stubborn, I then went to the parish priest and said I wanted to enter the seminary and he welcomed me and found a way for me to enter the minor seminary. I went then to inform my grandmother and told her that I wanted to be a priest like her brother. So these are the two figures behind my vocation. My mother who unwillingly pushed me to make a decision …
Q: … unwillingly, but when you made the decision there was joy in the family?
Father Adekambi: On the day of my ordination, Aug. 4, 1984, I publicly thanked my parents. And the reason is simple: I am the first-born and I am a man. I was aware that for them it was a big sacrifice, and I thanked them because they allowed me to be free. They never said, "Don't do it." They never said, "Do it." I knew that if I had quit it probably would have been a joy for them, so that is why I thanked them publicly for allowing me to be free to follow my choice despite the pain, which I know they endured.
Q: What is the greatest challenge to your priesthood, to your vocation?
Father Adekambi: To be available. When I decided to become a priest and during my ordination, I used the symbol of raining water. In my language, we have a saying: "Rain water is used carelessly and after that it is thrown away." In Africa, we use tap water and rainwater. I wanted to be available, like rainwater, to God and to my fellow brothers and sisters to meet their needs -- whatever that need may be. Rainwater is used to water flowers, to wash dishes, for the farm, for drinking, it is used for whatever you want. So for me "availability" is a great challenge as a priest -- doing what I don't want to do but what people want me to do …
Q: … and what people will ask of you.
Father Adekambi: Exactly, because that is where they need me and how they need me. It is not easy to give up one's desires, to give your liberty to others to serve in the way they want. I am fighting to be available, and in reading the Church Fathers there was one who particularly affected me. I think it was Alexander of Jerusalem who compared the Holy Spirit to raining water that adapts to each creature. He said that raining water is not the same for a palm tree. It is not the same for the mango tree, but rain always adapts itself to each creature on which it falls. So it became a second challenge for me -- to adapt myself to each person. I am of service just like Paul who said in 1 Corinthian 9: "To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law ... " and so on, but it is not easy.
Q: Why the focus on the Bible?
Father Adekambi: The focus on the Bible is due to the fact that the Church, especially the African bishops, discovered that there is no evangelization without the word of God. It became very clear that the word of God was not known and the people have a hunger and thirst for the word of God. For example Nigerian missionaries, bishops or priests, tell me Nigerians can often quote the Bible from memory. They have such great facility and love for the word of God. When it comes to Africa I can even tell you that we are more oriented to the word of God than to the book of the word of God.
Q: Why?
Father Adekambi: Precisely because our culture is mostly an oral culture. Let us say a great part of the people cannot read. If you wait for them to know how to read and write before you proclaim the word of God -- how will you do it? How long are you going to wait? So we need to consider that factor, the oral dimension of our culture. As I mentioned, people in Nigeria can quote the Bible precisely from hearing the word of God in the churches -- most of them retain it in their memory.
Q: Because of this oral tradition …
Father Adekambi: … oral tradition and don't forget that in the book of Deuteronomy, the word of God is supposed to be kept on the lips and then be kept in the heart.
Q: So why come back to the written word? Why come back to the Bible?
Father Adekambi: Somehow it is the visible word of God, in terms of sacramentality, it is the Book that is inspired. That is why the Book is important, but we should not emphasize only the Book because to have a larger meaning of the Word of God is even helpful in terms of theology; I always tell people that Chapter 6 is the last chapter preceded by five chapters on what I call the theology on the Word of God. So we need a theology of the Bible before a good apostolate of the Bible.
Q: Africa, as we know, has terrible social ills such as poverty, war, etc. Can the promotion of the Bible address some of these social ills and is this also part of your work?
Father Adekambi: The word of God can help a lot. Take the Letter of the Hebrews Chapter 4 in which it is stated that the word of God is a double-edged sword; it scrutinizes our inner thoughts. If you open yourself and are affected by the word of God, definitely, your bad intentions are challenged and it pushes you to conversion. I think our stance may be wrong. To date, when we talk about social issues in Africa we always talk about things that go wrong: the problem with our leaders, hatred and violence. What we need is what I call an objective approach; an object-centered approach.
Q: ... something in the heart.
Father Adekambi: Exactly, and to solve the problems of Africa we should concentrate on Africans, how they can change their hearts, their mentality. The word of God in that sense is wonderful for change precisely because it challenges us to conversion through many generations. In fact, in 2007, the biblical motto was: "Where is your brother?" Are we fighting against one another? Can we re-define in the image of God who is my brother? Only then do we learn a responsibility toward our brother. Then from this you move to Matthew Chapter 5, the love of enemies. This can help us in Africa. That is really our main concern. This is our workshop.
I would like to share with you what I saw following these workshops in Africa. When I visited Rwanda -- I go around to know what is happening in the country as part of this apostolate -- they told me: "Father, Bible sharing is good. The Bible helps us to reconcile."
Q: After the genocide?
Father Adekambi: And we should never forget that. In fact, also in South Africa during apartheid, the Bible did a lot in terms of reconciliation and helping people address social issues including apartheid and after apartheid for reconciliation and for the reconstruction of the country.
Q: So, for you the Bible and the reintroduction of the word of God, is a foundation on which to build a new society?
Father Adekambi: Exactly, I believe it. I'm convinced. That is my hope for Africa. It is my hope. It is my dream. It is a realized dream because I saw it in Rwanda. I saw it in South Africa. I saw it in Zambia where they have a program where the small Christian communities, at the lowest level, are really trying to get away from their old mentalities and thus changing the world around them by listening to the word of God and the social teaching of the Church.
Q: And putting it into practice?
Father Adekambi: Exactly. The biblical meaning of listening is putting it in practice. Otherwise, if you remember James: "Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves." So, we are supposed to listen, all of us.
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This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
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