Family, a School where we Learn How
to Live in Harmony
Family
is understood as group of people related by blood or marriage. This
understanding gives room to the two basic types of family, nuclear and the
extended family. Nuclear family consists of a man and his wife, a child is a
gift. In the African context this idea was even expressed in a polygamous
family where by a man could have more than one wife, the other way round,
though not very common, is contemplated. Extended family consists of two or
more related either by blood or marriage nuclear families. The Church advocates
strict nuclear family (one man and one woman united in love that expresses
itself through the bond of marriage forming one, inseparable family). She
esteems extended family. Besides considering incest a sin, she considers as an
impediment for one to marry a relative up to a certain degree. She values both
types of families.
The
African Munus defines family as, “the
‘sanctuary of life’ and a vital cell of society and of the Church” (AM 42). This is because from a family
that’s where a human being continues God’s work of procreation leading to the
growth of the human society. The growth is not only in numbers, but also in
vital human values and virtues that lead to a harmonious living.
Within
the family we see the interconnectedness of peoples, e.g., elderly, men, women,
young people and children (Cf. AM
42-68). All relate in a manner that can positively form ones character. This is
not to deny the misgivings of some families, and some degrading relationships
which ought to be dealt with, but rather, we focus on the ideal family values
and valuable relationships that are witnessed among family members. For
instance, ‘veneration’ of elderly in Africa, men’s noble responsibility that
they take within a family, women’s contribution in house hold chores and
religious matters etc., all ought to be put emulated.
Starting with the nuclear family whether
strict or polygamous, out of the love that binds together the lovers who enter
into marriage, children are able to learn right from their early stages of
life. These values are in turn manifested in the extended family. African Munus tells us that it is from
these families that features of a people take shape and members acquire basic
teachings. They learn to love inasmuch as they are loved unconditionally,
respect others as they are respected, and the face of God from the parents who
pay full attention in their regard (Cf. AM
42). Let’s put all the values that we learn from our respective families
into practice for our harmonious living. The living grounded on the mutual
respect and care that we learn from our families.
****
Who is to be saved?
The
teaching of the church holds that outside the church there is no salvation. Who
are then inside the church? The Lumen
Gentium views the church as essentially mystery. It has no single
definition. There are however biblical images and models that help us in
understanding the church. The most esteemed model is that of the church as the
people of God. This model is said to be the most inclusive model. In it all are
called to the catholic unity of the people of God, and consequently to
salvation. However, the incorporation into this unit differs.
The
fully incorporated into the Catholic Church are those who possessing the spirit
of Christ, accept all the means of salvation given to the Church with her
entire organization and who by the bonds constituted by the profession of
faith, sacraments, ecclesial government and communion are joined to the visible
structure of the Church of Christ who rules her through the supreme pontiff and
the bishops. Those who belong to the church will be saved. However, he who,
even though fully incorporated into the church, does not persevere in charity
will not be saved.
The
church is joined in many ways by the baptized non-Catholics Christians even
though they do not profess the catholic faith in its entirety or share full
communion and visible unity under pope. The orthodox and the oriental churches
are closest to us. They are said to have an imperfect communion. Protestants,
however, due to the lack of proper Eucharist are said to be in a defective
communion. The fully, imperfectly and defectively incorporated are all said to
be the people of God.
All
those who do not believe in Christ are merely related to the people of God.
Jews are given upper under for they respond to God’s revelation in the O.T.. To
our brothers Muslim and others who acknowledge God as creator, they are part of
God’s plan of salvation. The church recognizes in other religions that search
among shadows and images for God who is unknown yet near. She considers all
goodness and truth founded in these religions as a preparation for the gospel,
hence leading them though unconsciously to Christ, who is the head of the
Church, and consequently the Church. This group is said to be related to the
people of God.
It is with this in mind that we positively
understand the slogan ‘extra ecclesia
nulla salus’ to imply that all salvation comes from and through Christ the
head of the Church which is his body.
****
Did Jesus found the church?
That
the church exist no one can question. But in regard to her origin, founder and
when, raises a lot of questions. Whether Jesus found the church or not is not a
yes/no answer question. The answer could be “Yes” or “No” depending on what you
mean by ‘found’.
“No”
if by found we mean some direct, explicit and deliberate single act by which
Jesus established a new religious organization as some would cite the conferral
of Keys to Peter by Jesus (Cf Mt 16:18), coupled, with Jesus’ instruction to Peter to feed his sheep (Cf Jn 21:15-17). Also
the answer would still be negative if by found we mean a conscious act of the
will on the part of Jesus to an expressed and planned act of founding, as some
would rash to mention some juridical deeds i.e., the essential institutional
elements e.g., papal primacy in view of founding the church upon Peter, the
college of bishops in view of calling the twelve apostles etc.. Jesus did not,
to be sure, explicitly, formally and juridically found the church.
The
answer would be affirmatively “Yes” if by found we mean to lay foundation in
various implicit and indirect ways. Jesus
did draw men and women to join him in his view of life, he did attract
followers to his way of living, his hopes and dreams, he did inspire people to
share his fate and destiny, he did perform a number of deeds and spoke words
which were the historical impetus to the coming into the existence of the
church after Easter and Pentecost. With this understanding we can say that the church
has her origin in Jesus other than saying that she has been founded by Jesus.
We
can therefore comfortably trace back the church’s origin to the will of Jesus. In
this sense we talk of founding moments of the church. The church took several
phases before it came into existence, it was a process. These phases go back to
Christ’s event which was ordained by the Father (always sought to do His will),
from incarnation to the sending of the Spirit who guided the apostolic times
and is still guiding the church. Among the phases include: preaching of the
kingdom of God, gathering disciple, calling of the twelve apostles, sending the
twelve and the seventy disciples with a missionary mandate, last Supper (New
Covenant), resurrection and Pentecost. The birth of the church is associated
with the Pentecost coupled by the preaching of Peter that saw over three
thousand converts. It is therefore proper to say that Jesus is the foundation
of the Church rather than saying that he is her founder.
****
The Good Governance,
Reconciliation, Justice and Peace, in the light of the Africae Munus
Pope
benedict XVI in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus part I chapter II outlines paths towards
reconciliation, justice and peace. He discusses 4 major paths. 1. Care for the
Human Persons. 2. Living in Harmony. 3.
The African Vision of Life and 4. Dialogue and Communion Among Believers. Here,
we wish to look at his position in regard to good governance of the state that
falls under the third path named above.
His
holiness sees the major duty of the body politic as the implementation and the
administration of just order. For him this can be a major instrument at the
service of reconciliation, justice and peace, and in turn the vocation to the
communion of persons. He calls for cooperation among Church, government
authorities and public and private institutions in building the society for the
common good. He is quick to recognize the positive contributions of the traditional
chiefs in making good governance as well as that of the church in promoting a
culture that respects a rule of law.
On
the other hand, the pope cautions the selfishness of the political and economic
decision makers as well as the way governments responds to the rising crime
rates. In response to the political and economic decision makers’ assumption
that they owe nothing other than to themselves, the pope proposed a sense of
responsibility for their own and others for the integral development. He is
convinced that rights presuppose duties.
Responding
to the rising crimes especially in urban areas which he saw as a cause of great
concern to all leaders and governments, he appeals for urgently needed
independent judicially and prison systems for the restoration of justice and
rehabilitation of offenders. He considers time ripe to put to halt the
miscarriages of justice and ill-treatment of prisoners as well as wide spread
non-enforcement of law which he equates to the violation of human rights. I.e.,
he mentions imprisonment without a trial or even a much delayed trial. While
calling for elimination of the death sentence, he invites reforms for the penal
system in a way that respects prisoners’ human dignity. Finally he invites
Pastoral workers to study and recommend restorative justice as a means and a
process of promoting reconciliation, justice and peace and the return of
victims and offenders to the community. In Africa this is our dream, to have
all as brothers and sisters.
****
A
Call for Inculturation in the Church
The
church as the new encyclical says is ordered towards the Kingdom of God of
which she is the seed, sign and instrument (RM
18). She can neither be separated from the kingdom of God, nor from Christ.
Christ’s Mission was to preach the Kingdom of God even though he was the
Kingdom Itself. He commanded his disciples to do the same. The church therefore
as the consequences of preaching the kingdom of God has this primary
responsibility of preaching what has been preached to her. It is not by chance
that the council bishops and fathers said that missionary activity flows
immediately from the very nature of the church (cf. AGD 6). The council fathers add, “The church on earth is by its
very nature missionary since, according to the plan of the father, it has its
origin in the mission of the son and the Holy Spirit” (AGD 2). It is clear that the Church is not static but always in
motion towards the other. In the missionary mission, inculturation is more and
more demanded and in fact indispensable as the modern world’s technology opens
us to all cultures.
The
need to inculcate the gospel in the local cultures is a characteristic of
faith. It is a need of human nature. Inner thoughts and feelings particularly
spiritual ones need to be stressed externally through words, arts, gestures,
and symbols etc., suited to every people according to their cultural nature.
The missionary nature of the church enables us to reach out the different other
and explicate the religious meaning of let say a particular symbol e.g.,
color. The recipient culture is able to
make out the compatibility or the incompatibility of the meaning of that
particular colour with that culture. In this sense inculturation is important
because an expression or a symbol which is very significant in one culture
could be insignificant in the other. Because of this, cultures of people are
considered important in missionary work. The Church on her part urges
missionaries to not only respect the true values of the local cultures, but
also to purify them and adopt them in Christian life (cf. GS 54-62).
Inculturation
has to be done but not without caution. Borrowing from the Synod fathers the church needs to carry out a thorough
discernment in order to identify those aspects of culture which represent an
obstacle to the incarnation of Gospel values, as well as those aspects which
promote them (AM 36). This is in line
with what Jesus did with the Jewish culture. He censured what was not in line
with what he proclaimed e.g., the old idea of priestly purity which called for
separation made clear by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus advocated the
idea of solidarity, open commensality. It is with this in mind that we call for
inculturation in the church mission.
Key:
RM
=Redemptoris mission, AGD= Ad Gentes
Divinitus, AM= Africae Munus
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