“THE SALT OF THE EARTH”

THE REASONS FOR A MEETING
The African Synod (Rome, October 4th-25th) reflects on the need to join faith with life, for the rebirth of the whole continent.

by Andrea Tornielli

Fifteen years after the first Synod of Bishops dedicated to Africa, the second special assembly dedicated to the continent takes place from October 4th to the 25th in the Vatican, with the theme: “The Church in Africa at the service of reconciliation, justice, and peace. ‘You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.’” Last March, during his pilgrimage in Cameroon and Angola, Benedict XVI presented the Instrumentum Laboris to the bishops, which  serves as a basis for the Synod discussions. The Relator-General is the Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson. There are two focal points in the assembly. The first is the need to link faith with life, overcoming the oppositional risks of spiritualism on one side, and pragmatism that forgets the Gospel on the other (with a criticism of a kind of cooperation that is no more than material business). The  evangelizing mission, therefore, cannot set aside concrete commitment in society. The second objective is a reflection on the need to make a qualitative leap regarding traditional perspectives. The Church in Africa is now an adult Church, a native Church, which has to take up new responsibilities in every field and emerge from the mentality of a Church “assisted” by the West. Speaking at the Special Council for the Synod, before the bishops’ meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Pope Benedict came out in support of African theologians:  “This century will perhaps allow, by the grace of God, the re-birth, in your continent, but certainly in a different and new form, of the prestigious Alexandrian School. Why not hope that this may provide Africans today and the universal Church with great theologians and spiritual masters who could contribute to the sanctification of the inhabitants of this continent ?”