Africa and the future of Christianity
By Matthew Otieno, Mercator.
The Catholic Church’s synod on synodality has been going on in the Vatican for more than a week now. Perhaps it would have made much more news had Hamas not breached Israel’s borders and committed its unspeakable atrocities there, grabbing the whole world’s attention in the process.
One of the emphases of the synod is on listening, especially to voices that have traditionally not received much attention in the Church. The synodal process began at the grassroots level around the world nearly two years ago, and every interested Catholic had the chance to contribute. What is happening in Rome now is the culmination of much wider consultations.
An important consequence of this is that Catholics outside the West – particularly those in Africa – are very strongly represented in this process. Their concerns, though not as flashy as their Western counterparts’ divisions about pastoral care for the LGBT community and the role of women, now have a place at the table.
What effect this will have on the outcome of the synod remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that it will be significant, and that it will grow increasingly more important in the future since, as many pundits – secular and religious alike – have pointed out, the centre of gravity of the Catholic Church, and of Christianity in general, is gradually but definitely shifting south and east, towards Africa.
Ancient heritage
Christianity has been present in Africa since its very beginning. As I pointed out in July, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul, who would later bring the faith to Europe, was still persecuting Christians when Philip baptised the first African Christian. In the early days of the faith, there were thriving Christian communities across the continent’s north shore, then part of the Roman world.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
