SoS Sat Report: The uniqueness of Africa is the joy of the faith

Day 7 of the Synod on Synodality

It was announced that €62,000 will be donated to the Parish of the Holy Family, the only Catholic Parish in the Gaza Strip. €32,000 raised donated by Synod delegates, with the rest amount given by the Papal Almoner. Let us all continue to pray for the suffering people in the Middle East, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the remaining hostages.

The big news from the Synod today is that the election took place for 7 members of the Commission for the drafting of the Synod’s final document. The elected members are as follows: Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu, O.F.M. Cap., for Africa, Luis José Cardinal Rueda Aparicio for Central and South America, Prof. Catherine Clifford for North America, Fr. Clarence Sandanaraj Davedassan for Asia, Jean-Marc Cardinal Aveline for Europe, Bishop Mounir Khairallah for the Middle East and Eastern Churches, and Bishop Shane Anthony MacKinlay for Oceania. They join the ex-officio members, Jean-Claude Cardinal Hollerich, S.J., Mario Cardinal Grech, Msgr. Riccardo Battocchio, Fr. Giacomo Costa, S.J.; and three Pontifical appointees, Fr. Giuseppe Bonfrate, Filipe Neri António Sebastião Cardinal do Rosário Ferrão, and Sister Leticia Salazar.

It must be underlined that the members of this commission do not draft the final document. The final document is being drafted by Jean-Claude Cardinal Hollerich, S.J., Fr. Giacomo Costa and Msgr. Riccardo Battocchio. The role of the commission is to supervise the work of the drafters, and their first meeting took place this afternoon.

The other big news of the day was the confirmation that the restoration work of Bernini’s baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica will be completed and unveiled at the concluding Mass of the Synod of Synodality on October 27.

The panel at today’s Synod Press Briefing (Photo: Vatican Media)

Behind closed doors, this morning reports from the five language groups, Italian, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese, on the first part of the Instrumentum Laboris was presented to the Synodal Assembly; mainly dealing with the sacraments of Christian Initiation. the topic of baptism.

Following these presentations Synod delegates were given the opportunity to give open interventions on the theme of Christian Initiation. What follows are specific quotes as relayed by the Information Commission of the Synod, the body that controls what secrets from the Synod Hall are divulged into the public.

Several speakers spoke of a “need to put relationships and relational conversion at centre” echoing what had been said in from the linguistic reports. Some highlighted the “necessity of healing relationships wounded by scandals in the Church, including abuses, emphasizing the importance of trust to strengthen the Synodal journey.” Others proposed “a deepening of the diaconate, to renew the Church.” whilst others insisted on an “ecclesiology of the people of God” and the importance of “charity and mission.” It was also emphasized that “love for the poor arises from the Eucharist, just like the gospel teachings we must be charitable, especially to those who are marginalized, unwanted, and who sometimes feel excluded even from the Church.”

Someone rather astutely noted that in a increasingly “secular world the process of Christian initiation is becoming increasingly radical,” and “to be witnesses of the Gospel, we must become prophets.” Others have said that “a process of faith formation is needed, starting from childhood and involving in the entire community.”

It is also noted that the “Synodal assembly must address the participation of women in the leadership of the Church.” Finally it is requested that documents from the Church including those from the Synod “use language that is understandable to all.”

It is clear that there was a problem, particularly in the West, of retaining people in the pews beyond their First Holy Communion or Confirmation. The situation now though is much worse, children are not even being baptised.

The Press Briefing

Today we were graced by the presence of three future Princes of the Church on the panel at the Synod Press Conference; Cardinal-designate Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Cardinal-designate Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Japan, and Cardinal-designate Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre.

I was particular struck by Cardinal-designate Dogbo words on his experience of the Synod; “there is a mutual recognition, nobody is wishing to impose their own vision on others. So it's truly an atmosphere which is strongly ecclesial. We are all recognizing in the other the presence of Christ. This is essential and this is what is at the root of Synodal process we are experiencing. So that in the Church we may recognize at everybody has their place, you may be big or small, rich or poor, the supreme authority or not but we are all brothers and sisters, all working for the Mission, living this Communion.”

He then added that Synodality “will help live the Church in a different way, without changing the Church. The Church was always a Church of Communion, but the way of living, the modus vivendi, changes thanks to this process.”

Exchange of Gifts

Asked about what their specific Churches could contribute to a missionary Church, Cardinal-designate Kikuchi said it was the exchange of gifts, “from those that have to those who don’t have”, which was once thought as “the rich Churches with money and resources to poorer countries in Asia and Africa.” Adding “except now the vocations are coming from Asia, except Japan, and Africa”, laughing as he remembered the lack of seminarians in his own Archdiocese of Tokyo.

Cardinal-designate Dogbo said that the Church in Africa can give the joy of the faith to the world. “We who come from dioceses in Africa, can say that we may seem to be poor from a material standpoint, but spiritually our dioceses are so rich. Faith is linked with joy. And this something we must share with the universal Church. It is a faith which with the Eucharist offers to the Church this great joy.” He added that when the news came out that he was to be made a Cardinal; “in my village they immediately celebrated with music and dancing. This simple joy of people who are humble, poor, and who are happy, without having to look for material things.” Unlike the other two panellists he able to thank God for vocations; “in Africa there are many vocations and this is a grace, but the uniqueness of Africa, is precisely this, joy.”

Cardinal-designate Spengler spoke of the gift of immigration to Brazil, mentioning that this year is the 250th Anniversary of the first wave of German immigration to Brazil, his own ancestors, and the 150th Anniversary of the first wave of Italian immigrants to Brazil. “Not only these, but the Poles, Ukrainians and the Japanese”, adding that these “promoted a process of evangelisation in Latin America, and if today we have a Christian tradition that is strong and lively we owe it to immigrants, who left their own countries and who came in great numbers where there was nothing.” Curious no mention of the Portuguese, I guess in this day and age they are seen as colonisers, who I guess weren’t the one that brought the faith to Brazil, who built the Churches, who defeated the Dutch Calvinists in Pernambuco. Not to mention, the poor from the islands of Madeira and the Azores, whose descendants make up the majority of the population of Brazil, whose simple and unwavering faith, along those of the Germans, Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, Lebanese and Japanese are the reason Brazil has any Catholic identity, that it is slowly losing to the heralds of the Pentecostal Prosperity Gospel.

Ordination of Married Men

Spengler informed us that he was in bed “reading a beautiful book by Carlo Maria Martini, titled Sequela Christi, when my phone started ringing and vibrating” receiving the news that he was going to elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Very much surprised, like almost everyone else in Brazil.

He spoke of the priest shortage in certain remote areas in Brazil, and even in his own “diocese in the south of Brazil, in a relative short period of time we went from exporting priests, men and women religious, to now be faced with parish merges, investing in permanent married deacons. Perhaps in a future that is not too distant these married men could also be ordained priests for a specific community.” I wonder who has been in charge during this period of decline in his own diocese and doesn’t this person bare some responsibility.