OPINION: Celibate and Marital Chastity are Equally Difficult: A Response to FR Musaala’s Letter to Bishops.

Fr Anthony Musaala a Ugandan Catholic priest of Kampala Archdiocese has hit headlines in both local and international media since the publication of his letter entitled: An Open Letter to Bishops, Priests and Laity: Failure of Celibate Chastity Among Diocesan Priests.  It is dated, Tuesday March 12, 2013.

It is a very controversial letter addressed not only to Bishops and priests but also to the faithful. In other words it is written to every member of the Catholic Church in Uganda and Africa as a whole!  It touches allegations of sexual abuse in the Church, and what Musaala calls the conspiracy of both clergy and laity not to go public on this matter; and above all it reveals Musaala’s unhappiness, misery and bitter regrets for having chosen a celibate way of life which unfortunately he claims is imposed on him!  He wants to get married and at the same time remain a Roman Catholic priest.  But the Catholic faithful in Uganda whom he naively thinks are ignorant and backward have totally refused to accept his position and ideas! 

In his letter Musaala claims:

That many catholic priests and some bishops in Uganda and elsewhere no longer live celibate chastity and that some of them have children. (This is a bitter remark and very difficult to swallow!  But to make things better in our Church we have to take it into consideration and take necessary steps to remedy the situation.)

That unlike in Europe and America, the laity in Africa are collaborating and conspiring with the clergy to say nothing about the sexual abuses in the Church.

That he himself at the age of sixteen was sexually abused by a brother.  (If he truly went through this bitter and devastating experience, he deserves our sympathies, pastoral and motherly care and psychological help.)

That celibacy is meaningless, an unnecessary burden and yoke imposed upon the priests. He thus writes, “I believe that in time we will be freed from this unnecessary yoke, unhelpful as it is.”

That the root cause of sexual abuses in the Church, the unhappiness and misery of priests is because they are not married.  He thus writes, ‘’I suggest that now more than at any time we must begin an open and frank dialogue about Catholic priests becoming happily married men, rather than being miserable and single.’’

We cannot deny that sexual abuses on part of the clergy have taken place in the Catholic Church in Africa.  And as Church all of us clergy and laity should work together to find ways to tackle this enormous problem.  And to offer all necessary assistance to the victims, so they can rediscover themselves, have their inner wounds healed, and go on with their lives in peace. 

And this problem demands among other things a critical look at the training of the priests.  A priest is meant to serve and relate well with all God’s people both men and women.  But unfortunately from minor to major seminaries his trained in total isolation from women!  How do we then expect such young man in the prime of life to behave properly with women after his ordination when during his entire training he had little or no time to develop the sexual dimension of his life?

But Musaala in his letter sounds a very bitter and a psychologically troubled priest totally tired of a single and a celibate life!  He gives the impression that he wants to get married!  And he naively believes that the only way he and all other catholic priests can get out of their miseries and become happy is to drop the yoke of what he calls administrative celibacy.  And be allowed to marry without being relieved of their priestly duties. 

And in his bitterness he paints a very dark and negative picture of the Church in Africa whose bishops and priests are in general a morally rotten lot! And a Church whose laity are so ignorant and blind to see that priestly celibacy is a meaningless and an unnecessary yoke from which their priests should be freed!  I would like to tell Fr. Musaala and the whole world that regardless of our many problems, there is still a lot of good in the Catholic Church in Africa.

His efforts to convince the laity that Catholic priests should be allowed to marry have so far yielded no fruits!  The laity want the catholic priests to remain celibate! He thus writes ‘’When I ask lay people whether catholic priests should have the option to marry the answer is always NO.’’  The laity know better what they believe and the values of their Christian faith than Musaala the theologian and philosopher does! Musaala does not see any meaning in Christian or Religious Celibacy.  And this is why he has decided to call it administrative celibacy, which he conceives as a tool Church authorities use to oppress the priests!  The faithful through their Christian formation are aware that Jesus lived a celibate life and that his life was meaningful!

The Church I believe might in the future allow the Roman Catholic priests the option to marry on the ground that there is no intrinsic connection between priesthood and celibacy!  And this is the case in the Orthodox Church.  It should also be remembered that St. Peter the first Roman Pontiff was a married man! (Lk.4:38-39).   But the Catholic Church would not allow its priest to marry on the ground that Christian celibacy is meaningless as Musaala would like us to believe. Celibacy just like marriage is a Christian value!

Although Fr.Anthony gives a long list of cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Uganda, cases which for sure demand investigation and appropriate action taken, the basic point he wants to make is that he himself is tired of a celibate life he claims is imposed on him!  But the naked truth is that nobody has imposed celibacy on Musaala!

I personally know Fr. Anthony Musaala.  We played football together, ate together and took walks together in the Benedictine novitiate at Nanyuki, Kenya!  

I composed luganda songs like: Tweyagale Wama (Les us enjoy life!) and Musaala who was already a musician accompanied them with a synthesiser and we entertained people! At that time both of us were young adults in our 20s!  And we knew what we were doing!  We were not small boys!  We were responsible for our choices!  Then Musaala made a choice to leave the Benedictines and eventually went back to England where he had lived for many years. 

He then joined a Major Seminary for priestly training!  He was already an adult at this time, old enough to get married!  But he chose not to marry and opted for a priestly celibate life!  How can he then claim that someone imposed celibacy on him!  Even on the very day of his ordination to the priesthood he was totally free to tell the Bishop not to ordain him!

If Musaala had said that the celibate life he freely chose to live was very difficult for him and that sometimes he falls, I would totally agree with him.  With all that sexual energy we have at the centre of our being, boiling and stronger than the storms of the sea, only a hypocrite could claim that celibacy is easy!  Celibacy is beyond the natural order.  It is by the help of God alone that we can live it.

And Fr. Anthony naively believes that the gate way to happiness for a miserable, single and lonely priest is marriage!  Many people forget that marital chastity or faithfulness is as difficult as celibate chastity!  Since we are attracted to a limitless number of the people of the other sex and can fall in love with different people, this makes marital chastity extremely difficult!  So just like celibacy, sticking with unwavering fidelity to one partner for life is beyond the natural order!  It is by God’s help alone that married people can do it. 

And in today’s world both celibacy and marriage are in crisis!  The rate of divorce today is shocking!  And many married people are regretting why they got married and wish they were celibates just as many celibates wish they were married! 

So Musaala should know that although in the future the Church might offer Catholic priests the option to marry, we might find ourselves having as many miserable married priests as we have miserable single priests today!  Happiness does not depend on being married or not!  But on walking the unique and difficult path God has set before each one of us!

Both celibacy and marriage are Christian values and should be appreciated.  They complement each other in the Body of Christ, the Church.  Neither celibacy nor marriage is easy!  Both are lived only by the grace of God!

Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo

OPINION: Pope Leaves Behind Legacy Full of Ups and Downs

John Paul II used to be known as the pope of surprises, forever doing things Roman pontiffs simply hadn't done before. With the election of Benedict XVI, many believed the era of papal novelties had drawn to a close, since Benedict has always been a man of tradition and the main lines of his papacy were fairly predictable from the theological and cultural concerns he had expressed over a long public life.

In the end, however, Benedict XVI proved to be capable of a true stunner, becoming the first pope to voluntarily resign his office in centuries and the first to do in the modern media-saturated age. Acknowledging what he called his "incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me," Benedict has announced he will step down effective 8 p.m. Rome time February 28.

Immediately, Benedict's decision has both won wide praise as a responsible and humble act and raised a whole rafter of questions. Chief among them: What exactly will be the role of a retired pope? And, naturally, many have already begun to speculate about who might capture the two-thirds support in the College of Cardinals necessary to take over the church's top job.

Benedict's decision also means the debate over his legacy is now officially open, and as with all things, it's likely to draw widely different verdicts depending on who's performing the evaluation.

Regarded as among the most accomplished Catholic theologians of his generation, Benedict XVI was what church historians call a "teaching pope" as opposed to a governor. His passion was invested in his teaching documents, his speeches on foreign trips, his regular catechesis at the Vatican, and the three books on the life of Christ he published. This teaching often struck people as profound and surprisingly free of ideological edge.

Even some of the pope's fiercest critics on other fronts expressed admiration.

When Benedict released his encyclical Deus Caritas Est in 2005 on human love, applause came from Swiss theologian Hans Küng, an erstwhile colleague of Joseph Ratzinger and a leading voice for liberal Catholic dissent.

"Papa Ratzinger takes on with his inimitable theological style a richness of themes of eros and agape, of love and charity," Küng said. He called the encyclical "a good sign" and expressed hope that it would be "received warmly, with respect."

Many observers believe four cornerstone speeches delivered by Benedict XVI -- at Regensburg, Germany, in 2006; at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris in 2008; at Westminster Hall in London in 2010; and at the Bundestag in Germany in 2011 -- will be remembered as masterpieces laying out the basis for a symbiosis among faith, reason and modernity.

If Benedict never became the media darling his predecessor was, he still fared strikingly well on the public stage. His trips drew enthusiastic crowds, and turnout at his public audiences actually exceeded John Paul's numbers. He even developed a popular touch, launching his own Twitter account [1] and inspiring a children's book [2] purportedly written by his cat, Chico.

Yet for every triumph, the cerebral pontiff also ran headlong into crisis.

Early on, Benedict's Regensburg speech touched off Islamic protest because of his quotation of a Byzantine emperor who linked Muhammad with violence. Churches were firebombed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip while an Italian nun was shot death in Somalia. On the one-year anniversary, a missionary priest was killed in Turkey.

It was a harbinger of things to come. In 2011, Italian journalists Andrea Tornielli and Paolo Rodari published a 300-page book documenting the most notorious crises during the Benedict years, including:

•         The massive sexual abuse scandals, which exploded in the United States in 2002 then swept across Europe in 2010. That second wave brought critical examination of Benedict XVI's personal record, including a case when he was archbishop of Munich in the late 1970s in which a pedophile priest slipped through the cracks, and other instances on his Vatican watch when the institution dragged its heels. As pope, there was persistent criticism that Benedict's apologies and meetings with victims were not matched by action, including holding errant bishops accountable.

•         Benedict XVI's decision in 2007 to dust off the old Latin Mass, including a controversial Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews. The Vatican eventually revised the prayer to satisfy Jewish concerns, raising the question of why somebody didn't think about doing so before the tempest erupted.

•         Lifting the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops in 2009, including one who denied that the Nazis ever used gas chambers and claimed the historical evidence is "hugely against" Adolf Hitler being responsible for the death of 6 million Jews. The affair brought an anguished personal letter from Benedict to the bishops of the world apologizing for the way it was handled.

•         Comments made by Benedict aboard the papal plane to Africa in 2009 to the effect that condoms make AIDS worse. Among other things, those words brought a first censure of a pope from the parliament of a European nation (Belgium) while the Spanish government airlifted a million condoms to Africa in protest.

It's a measure of how bad things sometimes were that this is far from a complete list.

The authors also could have included Benedict's 2007 trip to Brazil, where he seemed to suggest that indigenous persons should be grateful to European colonizers; blowback to a 2009 decree moving the controversial wartime Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood; and the surreal "Boffo case" in 2010, featuring charges that senior papal aides had manufactured fake police documents to smear an Italian Catholic journalist, including the claim that he harassed the girlfriend of a man with whom he wanted to carry on a gay affair.

This pattern reached a crescendo with the notorious "Vatileaks" affair in 2012 involving a tidal wave of secret Vatican documents that appeared in the Italian media, the most serious featuring allegations of financial corruption and cronyism. An investigation ended with the arrest, trial, conviction and pardon of Paolo Gabriele, a married Italian layman who had served as Benedict's butler since 2006, for being the mole.

To many observers, the affair captured the Vatican at its most disedifying, fostering perceptions of in-fighting, cover-ups and disarray.

To be fair, Benedict's record as a manager also included some breakthroughs. For the most part, he appointed people of personal integrity to senior positions; he committed the church to several reforms on sex abuse; and he launched a sort of financial glasnost, including opening the Vatican for the first time to outside inspection of its anti-money-laundering policies. The overall narrative of dysfunction, however, made those stories hard to tell.

Benedict XVI largely steered clear of geopolitics, rarely standing on the front lines of history like John Paul II. His focus was more on the church's internal life, calling it to a stronger sense of traditional Catholic identity vis-à-vis a highly secular age. In that sense, Benedict XVI consolidated the more conservative, "evangelical" direction set by John Paul.

Benedict repeatedly denounced same-sex marriage, radical feminism and an "ideology of gender," triggering blowback from women's groups, secular liberals and the more progressive wing of his own flock. He steered liturgical practice, a special passion, in a more traditional direction. At the same time, some aspects of his teaching also irritated the right, including his critique of capitalism and a strong environmental emphasis for which he was dubbed the "Green Pope."

The pontiff could also flex disciplinary muscle. A sweeping crackdown was launched of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious [3], the main umbrella group for leaders of women's orders in the United States; liberal theologians were censured, including several high-profile Irish priests and Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley [4] in the United States; and American priest Roy Bourgeois was excommunicated [5] over his support for women's ordination.

In the end, the first draft of history perhaps boils down to this: Benedict XVI was a magnificent public intellectual, a mixed bag as CEO, withdrawn as a statesman, and a church leader whose "politics of identity" cheered some and horrified others.

Whatever else one might say, no one disputes that Benedict XVI was a keen cultural critic. He asked searching questions of both the church and the world, and offered his own provocative answers, thereby proving that institutional Catholicism still has some intellectual gas left in the tank. In that sense, British Prime Minister David Cameron may have provided the best epitaph while bidding the pontiff farewell at the Birmingham airport on September 20, 2010, after a four-day swing in Scotland and England.

"Holy Father," he said, "you made us sit up and think."

[John L. Allen Jr. is American and NCR senior correspondent. Allen is an experienced “vaticanologist”. He is the author of books on Benedict XVI, Opus Dei, etc. His e-mail address is jallen@ncronline.org.]

OPINION: Tale of Two Easters: Holy Land Catholics, Orthodox to Celebrate as One

"We had two times to celebrate and two vacations. My father's family gave us gifts on the Greek Orthodox date, and my mother's family on the Catholic," said Rafidi, the son of a Catholic mother and a Greek Orthodox father.

But today the Christian community has shrunk, and it is important that the celebrations be united, he said. Employers honor vacation on only one of the celebrations, putting pressure on families to decide which to celebrate, he said.

"The Muslims always ask us how many Jesuses we have," he said.

There are many families like Rafidi's, both in Israel and the Palestinian territories, with members belonging to the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant churches.

For the past 15 years, Catholic parishes throughout the Palestinian territories and many in Israel have been celebrating Easter on the Greek Orthodox date. Now, following a directive from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, within two years all Eastern Catholics and the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy Land will officially adopt the Greek Orthodox Julian calendar date.

The Latin Patriarchate calls the move a "decisive step toward ecumenism." The official directive will take place after completion of the decree and approval by the Vatican.

"The main reason for the unification of the Easter celebration is for members of the same family, village and parish to be able to have one celebration, and one calendar, and to show the unity and enjoy the unity. We want to give a good example of unity to our non-Christian neighbors," said the Latin Patriarchate chancellor, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali.

The Latin-rite diocese of the Holy Land includes Israel, the Palestinian territories and Cyprus. Parishes in Jerusalem and the Bethlehem, West Bank, area will be exempt this year because of the Status Quo, the 1852 agreement that preserved the division of ownership and responsibilities of various Christian holy sites. The parish in Tel Aviv has also received an exemption for this year since there are many foreign workers who are members of the parish.

The Greek Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar and did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, which was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct a miscalculation in the rotation of the earth.

Next year, Easter falls on the same day according to both calendars, so the change by decree will only be adopted in 2015.

The spirit of the holiday is lost if it is celebrated on separate dates, said Father Raed Abusahlia of Holy Family Parish in Ramallah, West Bank. Easter in the Eastern Church is all of Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, and includes special prayers during the week, he said.

"The liturgy is very beautiful if done together as a family. It can't be spiritual if it is only part of the family," he said. During the week following Easter there are traditional holiday family visits as well, he added.

Father Ilario Antoniazzi of St Anthony Parish in Rameh, Israel, has been celebrating Easter with the Greek Orthodox for 15 years; he said the date is not important.

"The most important thing is to be together on the feast, to give a good example of our love and to show that we are united in our love," he said.

In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, the change did not come easily for some parishioners, said Father Agapios Abu Saada of St Elijah Melkite Catholic Cathedral, who has been pivotal in pushing for unifying the celebration.

"My experience in seeking solidarity ... was not a smooth one," he said. "The decision was not unified even within the same congregation."

He said those initially opposed to the idea were swayed by the joint religious processions during Holy Week.

"Unifying the feast is a vivid Christian testimony in a multicultural and multi-religious society," he said. "Christians in the Holy Land are a minority that keeps dividing itself to inner minorities within the minority, creating diverse sub-communities ... which deteriorate the goal of Christians as one unrestricted community living in a multicultural and multi-religious society."

Father Abusahlia said some of his parishioners are "a little bit disturbed" because the Greek Orthodox Easter comes so late this year: May 05.

"In the past years, we celebrated it together or with a difference of one week, so they didn't feel it. Now it is very late, with a difference of 35 days. But we will celebrate together, it is good and important," said he said.

The change also involves celebrating Lent and the period between Easter and Pentecost, said Bishop Shomali.

"Christmas is just Christmas and Epiphany, but when we unify the calendar (on Easter) we are unifying 90 days of the year. It is important," he said.

He said he would be happy to see the unified celebration adopted universally by all Christians.

"The solution is to fix one Sunday in April as the date," he said.

Bishop Shomali said although the Catholics did not ask the Greek Orthodox Church to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, he expects they will do so to unite Christians for that feast.

(Catholic News Service)

New IDPs in Mochongoi Catholic church Unsecure

Another wave of violence, destruction and lose of life was being witnessed as parties and coalitions went for nominations across the country. The number of displaced people has sworn to some 392 people of Tugen origin taking refuge in the neighbourhood in fear of the brutal attack executed by the Pokot people in and around the neirghbours of  Baringo county.

Mochongoi Catholic Mission is one of the last parishes of Nyahururu diocese bordering Nakuru diocese and maralal to some extend. It is under Laikipia county that borders Baringo and Samburu counties. Parts of the population are living in both counties. The tension that had been sparked by the murder of two children by the Pokot Morans has escalated in the last one week.

  The peace talks that had been called to avert the disaster have yielded to violence as Pokot ethnic community clashed with the Tugens making them retreat 4km to the mountains outside their homes.  Further, the Pokots, well armed with superior weapons, invaded the Kasera village where escaping Tugens had been accommodated by relatives and burned their homesteads; beat up men and women, children and adults without discrimination.

One week after, the situation is rather unstable, the IDPs are afraid of more attacks as their enemy is already aware of their hiding place.  The Red Cross came, assessed but are still to come.  Thanks to St Martins, Nyahururu Catholic Diocese and the local Christian communities and groups that have responded positively to the aid.

The government ‘bus’ is doing very little to settle the matter.  The administration is not feeling the responsibility.  Talking to the DC at Maringat he was rather rude in response -  “Father, I never come to direct you how to do your mass, so let me do my job”.  Such response at whichever circumstances closes any dialogue.  I wanted to share with him my findings and provide my opinion and suggestion on a way forward. 

The situation is rather hostile to the Tugens. One wonders why such a thing had to happen at the time people are going to nominate their favourite candidates. Further it beats any reason that the Pokots have done it again just a few months from another episode in Ol Moran surroundings. The elders in a meeting confessed that the attacks were organized by the Morans, their children without their permission.

In such an episode, it implies that they are unable to tame them. Thus, once the community security system does not deter crime, does the government not have alternative mechanisms? Time again when the State system does not enter into solving the matter, we will have given the Pokots the green card to pursue their agenda. They will pride themselves as accomplishers to which it will be hard to be controlled at the end. It is the time that the elder’s diplomacy is avoided and legal justice be done to the rogue ethnic communities. 

Laikipia county is famous for its traditional animal rustling and resource management differences. It is alleged that search for pasture, economic resources, property ownership are the main issues for violence and destruction that are constantly witnessed. But it is so clear to me that apart from the political instigation there is a great indiscipline and crime plots hidden in the name of Tradition, Culture, Moranism and other things.

What used to be a value has been abused and turned to become a disservice to humanity. Elders councils that in old days had role of genuine arbitration to protect harmony and promote peace has now been influenced politically and are no longer upholding the dignity of humanity, unity, respect for life, honour for creator but rather an owe some allegiance to tribe, family gains, political fame and economic gains.

This kind of scenario does not recognize others and is fast leading a country to disintegration. In as much we respect the role of elders, a limit must be set to block the self centered ones, who through personal whims are inflicting pain to our country.

Fr. Makau Nicholas, imc

Pope's Message for 46th World Day of Peace

"1. Each new year brings the expectation of a better world. In light of this, I ask God, the Father of humanity, to grant us concord and peace, so that the aspirations of all for a happy and prosperous life may be achieved.

"Fifty years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the Church’s mission in the world, it is heartening to realise that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship with Him and sojourning among mankind, are committed within history to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish, as they proclaim the salvation of Christ and promote peace for all.

"In effect, our times, marked by globalisation with its positive and negative aspects, as well as the continuation of violent conflicts and threats of war, demand a new, shared commitment in pursuit of the common good and the development of all men, and of the whole man.

"It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism. In addition to the varied forms of terrorism and international crime, peace is also endangered by those forms of fundamentalism and fanaticism which distort the true nature of religion, which is called to foster fellowship and reconciliation among people.

"All the same, the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace. In every person the desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of God’s plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is God’s gift.

"All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God'.

Gospel beatitude

"2. The beatitudes which Jesus proclaimed are promises. In the biblical tradition, the beatitude is a literary genre which always involves some good news, a 'gospel', which culminates in a promise. Therefore, the beatitudes are not only moral exhortations whose observance foresees in due time – ordinarily in the next life – a reward or a situation of future happiness. Rather, the blessedness of which the beatitudes speak consists in the fulfilment of a promise made to all those who allow themselves to be guided by the requirements of truth, justice and love. In the eyes of the world, those who trust in God and His promises often appear naïve or far from reality. Yet Jesus tells them that not only in the next life, but already in this life, they will discover that they are children of God, and that God has always been, and ever will be, completely on their side. They will understand that they are not alone, because He is on the side of those committed to truth, justice and love. Jesus, the revelation of the Father’s love, does not hesitate to offer Himself in self-sacrifice. Once we accept Jesus Christ, God and man, we have the joyful experience of an immense gift: the sharing of God’s own life, the life of grace, the pledge of a fully blessed existence. Jesus Christ, in particular, grants us true peace, which is born of the trusting encounter of man with God.

"Jesus’ beatitude tells us that peace is both a messianic gift and the fruit of human effort. In effect, peace presupposes a humanism open to transcendence. It is the fruit of the reciprocal gift, of a mutual enrichment, thanks to the gift which has its source in God and enables us to live with others and for others. The ethics of peace is an ethics of fellowship and sharing. It is indispensable, then, that the various cultures in our day overcome forms of anthropology and ethics based on technical and practical suppositions which are merely subjectivistic and pragmatic, in virtue of which relationships of coexistence are inspired by criteria of power or profit, means become ends and vice versa, and culture and education are centred on instruments, technique and efficiency alone. The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgement of the ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and woman. Peace is the building up of coexistence in rational and moral terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not created by man, but rather by God. As Psalm 29 puts it: 'May the Lord give strength to His people; may the Lord bless His people with peace'.

Peace: God’s gift and the fruit of human effort

"3. Peace concerns the human person as a whole, and it involves complete commitment. It is peace with God through a life lived according to His will. It is interior peace with oneself, and exterior peace with our neighbours and all creation. Above all, as Blessed John XXIII wrote in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris, whose fiftieth anniversary will fall in a few months, it entails the building up of a coexistence based on truth, freedom, love and justice. The denial of what makes up the true nature of human beings in its essential dimensions, its intrinsic capacity to know the true and the good and, ultimately, to know God Himself, jeopardises peacemaking. Without the truth about man inscribed by the Creator in the human heart, freedom and love become debased, and justice loses the ground of its exercise.

"To become authentic peacemakers, it is fundamental to keep in mind our transcendent dimension and to enter into constant dialogue with God, the Father of mercy, whereby we implore the redemption achieved for us by His only-begotten Son. In this way mankind can overcome that progressive dimming and rejection of peace which is sin in all its forms: selfishness and violence, greed and the will to power and dominion, intolerance, hatred and unjust structures.

"The attainment of peace depends above all on recognizing that we are, in God, one human family. This family is structured, as the Encyclical Pacem in Terris taught, by interpersonal relations and institutions supported and animated by a communitarian 'we', which entails an internal and external moral order in which, in accordance with truth and justice, reciprocal rights and mutual duties are sincerely recognized. Peace is an order enlivened and integrated by love, in such a way that we feel the needs of others as our own, share our goods with others and work throughout the world for greater communion in spiritual values. It is an order achieved in freedom, that is, in a way consistent with the dignity of persons who, by their very nature as rational beings, take responsibility for their own actions.

"Peace is not a dream or something utopian; it is possible. Our gaze needs to go deeper, beneath superficial appearances and phenomena, to discern a positive reality which exists in human hearts, since every man and woman has been created in the image of God and is called to grow and contribute to the building of a new world. God Himself, through the incarnation of His Son and His work of redemption, has entered into history and has brought about a new creation and a new covenant between God and man, thus enabling us to have a 'new heart' and a 'new spirit'.

"For this very reason the Church is convinced of the urgency of a new proclamation of Jesus Christ, the first and fundamental factor of the integral development of peoples and also of peace. Jesus is indeed our peace, our justice and our reconciliation. The peacemaker, according to Jesus’ beatitude, is the one who seeks the good of the other, the fullness of good in body and soul, today and tomorrow.

"From this teaching one can infer that each person and every community, whether religious, civil, educational or cultural, is called to work for peace. Peace is principally the attainment of the common good in society at its different levels, primary and intermediary, national, international and global. Precisely for this reason it can be said that the paths which lead to the attainment of the common good are also the paths that must be followed in the pursuit of peace.

Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness

"4. The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.

"Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenceless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offence against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life.

"There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.

"These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity. The Church’s efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace.

"Consequently, another important way of helping to build peace is for legal systems and the administration of justice to recognize the right to invoke the principle of conscientious objection in the face of laws or government measures that offend against human dignity, such as abortion and euthanasia.

"One of the fundamental human rights, also with reference to international peace, is the right of individuals and communities to religious freedom. At this stage in history, it is becoming increasingly important to promote this right not only from the negative point of view, as freedom from – for example, obligations or limitations involving the freedom to choose one’s religion – but also from the positive point of view, in its various expressions, as freedom for – for example, bearing witness to one’s religion, making its teachings known, engaging in activities in the educational, benevolent and charitable fields which permit the practice of religious precepts, and existing and acting as social bodies structured in accordance with the proper doctrinal principles and institutional ends of each. Sadly, even in countries of long-standing Christian tradition, instances of religious intolerance are becoming more numerous, especially in relation to Christianity and those who simply wear identifying signs of their religion.

"Peacemakers must also bear in mind that, in growing sectors of public opinion, the ideologies of radical liberalism and technocracy are spreading the conviction that economic growth should be pursued even to the detriment of the state’s social responsibilities and civil society’s networks of solidarity, together with social rights and duties. It should be remembered that these rights and duties are fundamental for the full realisation of other rights and duties, starting with those which are civil and political.

"One of the social rights and duties most under threat today is the right to work. The reason for this is that labour and the rightful recognition of workers’ juridical status are increasingly undervalued, since economic development is thought to depend principally on completely free markets. Labour is thus regarded as a variable dependent on economic and financial mechanisms. In this regard, I would reaffirm that human dignity and economic, social and political factors, demand that we continue 'to prioritise the goal of access to steady employment for everyone'. If this ambitious goal is to be realised, one prior condition is a fresh outlook on work, based on ethical principles and spiritual values that reinforce the notion of work as a fundamental good for the individual, for the family and for society. Corresponding to this good are a duty and a right that demand courageous new policies of universal employment.

Building the good of peace through a new model of development and economics

"5. In many quarters it is now recognized that a new model of development is needed, as well as a new approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable development in solidarity and the common good require a correct scale of goods and values which can be structured with God as the ultimate point of reference. It is not enough to have many different means and choices at one’s disposal, however good these may be. Both the wide variety of goods fostering development and the presence of a wide range of choices must be employed against the horizon of a good life, an upright conduct that acknowledges the primacy of the spiritual and the call to work for the common good. Otherwise they lose their real value, and end up becoming new idols.

"In order to emerge from the present financial and economic crisis – which has engendered ever greater inequalities – we need people, groups and institutions which will promote life by fostering human creativity, in order to draw from the crisis itself an opportunity for discernment and for a new economic model. The predominant model of recent decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption, on the basis of an individualistic and selfish mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely in terms of their ability to meet the demands of competitiveness. Yet, from another standpoint, true and lasting success is attained through the gift of ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial skills, since a 'liveable' or truly human economic development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic of gift. Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers are those who establish bonds of fairness and reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients and consumers. They engage in economic activity for the sake of the common good and they experience this commitment as something transcending their self-interest, for the benefit of present and future generations. Thus they work not only for themselves, but also to ensure for others a future and a dignified employment.

"In the economic sector, states in particular need to articulate policies of industrial and agricultural development concerned with social progress and the growth everywhere of constitutional and democratic states. The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable; these must be stabilised and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to the very poor. With greater resolve than has hitherto been the case, the concern of peacemakers must also focus upon the food crisis, which is graver than the financial crisis. The issue of food security is once more central to the international political agenda, as a result of inter- related crises, including sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level, with the aim of enabling farmers, especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the social, environmental and economic points of view.

Education for a culture of peace: the role of the family and institutions

"6. I wish to reaffirm forcefully that the various peacemakers are called to cultivate a passion for the common good of the family and for social justice, and a commitment to effective social education.

"No one should ignore or underestimate the decisive role of the family, which is the basic cell of society from the demographic, ethical, pedagogical, economic and political standpoints. The family has a natural vocation to promote life: it accompanies individuals as they mature and it encourages mutual growth and enrichment through caring and sharing. The Christian family in particular serves as a seedbed for personal maturation according to the standards of divine love. The family is one of the indispensable social subjects for the achievement of a culture of peace. The rights of parents and their primary role in the education of their children in the area of morality and religion must be safeguarded. It is in the family that peacemakers, tomorrow’s promoters of a culture of life and love, are born and nurtured.

"Religious communities are involved in a special way in this immense task of education for peace. The Church believes that she shares in this great responsibility as part of the new evangelisation, which is centred on conversion to the truth and love of Christ and, consequently, the spiritual and moral rebirth of individuals and societies. Encountering Jesus Christ shapes peacemakers, committing them to fellowship and to overcoming injustice.

"Cultural institutions, schools and universities have a special mission of peace. They are called to make a notable contribution not only to the formation of new generations of leaders, but also to the renewal of public institutions, both national and international. They can also contribute to a scientific reflection which will ground economic and financial activities on a solid anthropological and ethical basis. Today’s world, especially the world of politics, needs to be sustained by fresh thinking and a new cultural synthesis so as to overcome purely technical approaches and to harmonise the various political currents with a view to the common good. The latter, seen as an ensemble of positive interpersonal and institutional relationships at the service of the integral growth of individuals and groups, is at the basis of all true education for peace.

A pedagogy for peacemakers

"7. In the end, we see clearly the need to propose and promote a pedagogy of peace. This calls for a rich interior life, clear and valid moral points of reference, and appropriate attitudes and lifestyles. Acts of peacemaking converge for the achievement of the common good; they create interest in peace and cultivate peace. Thoughts, words and gestures of peace create a mentality and a culture of peace, and a respectful, honest and cordial atmosphere. There is a need, then, to teach people to love one another, to cultivate peace and to live with good will rather than mere tolerance. A fundamental encouragement to this is 'to say no to revenge, to recognize injustices, to accept apologies without looking for them, and finally, to forgive', in such a way that mistakes and offences can be acknowledged in truth, so as to move forward together towards reconciliation. This requires the growth of a pedagogy of pardon. Evil is in fact overcome by good, and justice is to be sought in imitating God the Father Who loves all His children. This is a slow process, for it presupposes a spiritual evolution, an education in lofty values, a new vision of human history. There is a need to renounce that false peace promised by the idols of this world along with the dangers which accompany it, that false peace which dulls consciences, which leads to self-absorption, to a withered existence lived in indifference. The pedagogy of peace, on the other hand, implies activity, compassion, solidarity, courage and perseverance.

"Jesus embodied all these attitudes in His own life, even to the complete gift of Himself, even to 'losing His life'. He promises His disciples that sooner or later they will make the extraordinary discovery to which I originally alluded, namely that God is in the world, the God of Jesus, fully on the side of man. Here I would recall the prayer asking God to make us instruments of His peace, to be able to bring His love wherever there is hatred, His mercy wherever there is hurt, and true faith wherever there is doubt. For our part, let us join Blessed John XXIII in asking God to enlighten all leaders so that, besides caring for the proper material welfare of their peoples, they may secure for them the precious gift of peace, break down the walls which divide them, strengthen the bonds of mutual love, grow in understanding, and pardon those who have done them wrong; in this way, by His power and inspiration all the peoples of the earth will experience fraternity, and the peace for which they long will ever flourish and reign among them.

"With this prayer I express my hope that all will be true peacemakers, so that the city of man may grow in fraternal harmony, prosperity and peace."

OPINION: Nigeria is Not a Lost Cause, Cardinal Onaiyekan

“I’m just doing my duty,” said Monsignor John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the Archbishop of Abuja who will become Africa’s newest Cardinal. Before leaving for Rome, he spoke of peace and war, and distorted and true journalism true, but not limited to Nigeria.

The 68 year old Archbishop, a native of Kabba, a small town located in the geographical heart of his country, Monsignor Onaiyekan is co-chairman of the Council of the religious leaders of Africa. On October 31, after receiving the Pax Christi Internationalis Peace Prize, he gave a speech on “risks” and “opportunities” of globalization. Christians and Muslims, on occasion, must take “responsibility for peace” starting from “their mutual relationships.”

Monsignor, you have often been called bishop of peace and interfaith dialogue. What is your message for Nigeria and Africa?

“To promote dialogue and peace in Nigeria is only my duty. Every bishop must work for reconciliation, peace and justice. There is nothing exceptional about what I do. I have only one regret: that my efforts and those of the Church often do not achieve the desired results. In Nigeria, particularly in the northern regions, the violence continues. We bishops are trying to do our best. And there is one thing that encourages us: the majority of Nigerians want to live in peace. They want to live in peace regardless of religion, ethnicity or other elements of diversity. ”

And what of the attacks launched by Boko Haram? This group claims to be fighting for the implementation of Islamic law across the country, including the predominantly Christian South.

“Behind the violence there is only a small minority. And the challenge is: how do you reach this minority, which so far has not been able to forgive and that continues to kill? I am convinced that Nigeria is not ‘a lost cause’. Through dialogue we can still work towards peace. Of course, you have to convince the government and the largest possible number of people to join our effort. This is my mission in Nigeria and in Africa.”

Saturday, you will become the only new African cardinal. From eastern Congo, the geographical heart of the continent, there has been painful news coming…

“Many parts of Africa are still held hostage by armed conflicts, old and new. And the victims of these conflicts are almost always the poor, innocent women and children. Too few leaders capable of leading their countries while maintaining a broad vision, which encompasses the whole continent! Often behind the wars in Africa there is an attempt to grab natural resources. Our continent is one of the richest in the world, but unfortunately we do not know how to govern it. Our political leaders want power and riches. They do not care about people’s needs and working for peace. ”

What does the world do?

“The international community could play a positive role. But often it does not, because it is controlled by world powers – and states that non-state actors – with interests that do not coincide with those of the Africans. During the past Synod which was held in the Vatican in October we made an appeal for Africa, an appeal loaded with anguish. ”

What is happening in Congo, with rebels advancing east of the country, is just the latest injury …

“One of the great problems, not only in the Congo, is the trafficking of weapons. Who produces the Ak47 rifles and light weapons continue to kill Africans? Where did they come from? Who provides these? Is it possible that the world’s powers do not know? The truth is that the arms trade is a huge business and it does not matter if innocent people end up paying the bill. Even countries like Italy know what happens, but they do nothing. ‘If we don’t sell them arms, the Chinese will’ they say, to clean their consciences.”

Can the media make a positive contribution? How to they comment on Africa?

“When I turn on the television in Italy, I hear about the economic crisis that affects rich countries and high-level diplomatic meetings. The only information about African countries relate to attacks or disasters of various kinds. Nothing I said about Africa for months, when suddenly appears the emergency in Mali, because insurgents and terrorists took control of a part of the country. Nigeria endures a similar treatment. I suspect that the journalists in my country end up feeding the flow of ‘bad news’ because they understood that these and not others will be taken up by the BBC or other information giants. 

The preference for this type of news also concerns northern Nigeria. We tend to talk about the tensions felt throughout the region as the result of a religious conflict, distorting the facts. Just because Boko Haram militants shout ‘Allah Akbar’ does not mean that they are true Muslims. As reflected in the sentences and expressions of solidarity of the members of the Islamic community that invariably follow every attack. The Boko Haram issue is very complex; it also has social and political components. Millions of people are plagued by unemployment and poverty and they can justly denounce the government’s inadequacies. That said, social discomfort does not justify violence. Never. ”

MISNA