(Bishop of Bafoussam, Cameroon)
African man has had during his history the true vision of nature, God and man. To express this vision, he weaves his life with diversified rites made up of words, gestures and symbols: so that the events of his life are celebrated by rites (birth, passage into a social class, marriage, decease, widowhood, serious dangers to life).
The ways of inculturation are present, but constitute obstacles: the African is doubtful of the competence of the Christian minister who works using a traditional rite, he doubts the origin of the power used; the African is often a slave to the whole concrete context of the rite (person, object, gesture, place) linked by an automatic efficiency of the word and gesture. He is also afraid of nature and his god!
To find a remedy for this, one must take time for an in-depth Christian initiation, based on the Word of God and touching upon the points of life and traditional initiation to provoke a true mental transformation. The neo-catechumenal method, which has been well adapted, is excellent.
The rites to express this inculturated faith must be constituted by region or by cultural area, with the participation of Christians who are fully engaged in Christian faith and the African tradition.
Original
text: French
