Bishop
Serafim Shyngo-ya-Hombo
(Bishop of Mbanza
Congo, Angola)
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"Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk 16,15): "The context of Evangelization: the Church and society in Africa today (n. 21-24 and Chap. III and IV of the "Instrumentum Laboris"). Relatio ante disceptationem n.4-7.
Faithful to our mission, we must evangelize through the continuous and active presence and renewing the methods of evangelization, according to the theme of this Synod and its ramifications.
I will underline some of the contexts in which we find ourselves and the answers which must be given to them:
1. Religious context:
- Traditional African Religion: To promote authentic dialogue with TAR, enquiring, evangelizing it and inculturating the faith like this.
- Islam: continue the interreligious dialogue with great patience and with the continuous presence in all those areas where, collaboration is possible.
- Sects and new religious movements: they should be studied seriously, to give them a complex answer, through the profound and permanent formation of our faithful with a new evangelization.
- Other religions in the world: To know them and dialogue with them according to the orientations of the Church in relation to them and according to the experiences of the particular Churches of the countries of provenance.
2. The socio-political, economic and cultural context:
Our continent is suffering many profound changes. What the African expresses today with atheism, materialism, indifference, secularism, relativism and scepticism constitute a continuous challenge for the Church; all new situations are new challenges for evangelization.
- Dictatorships and One party Systems: To reinforce the Social Doctrine of the Church and reponsibilize the laity; to give life to the commissions of Justice and Peace, announcing the Gospel and denouncing what is contrary to human dignity (115-125); human promotion; receiving the decisions of the Bishops.
- Marxist and Maoistic Systems: To answer the atheism with the purity of the Faith, with the methods apt for the annunciation of the Gospel and Catechesis.
- Capitalistic System: even in the presence of this regime, to announce the Gospel with the social doctrine of the Church, promoting man, defending the poor, the weak, the ones without a voice.
- Pluralistic Societies (democracy and multi-party systems) (n.122): an effort to help democratization in human promotion and evangelization at all levels. - Dialogue with the Governments and with the other groups, through the Social Doctrine of the Church.
