The second session of the Synod of Bishops marks an important stage of maturation in the synodal process. What should the Church, the family of God in Africa, contribute to discerning new paths together? Throughout the synod, five African experts give their opinions on La Croix International.
By Fr. Walter Ihejirika
(in Port Harcourt, Nigeria)
Father Walter Ihejirika is a priest of the Catholic diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria
The convocation of the Synod on Synodality will stand as an important milestone in the papacy of Pope Francis. One can safely say that the notion of synodality is a key pillar of his pastoral leadership. Right from the outset of his papacy, he harped on the need for a synodal Church.
In an interview he granted the Belgian newspaper Tertio in 2016, the pope noted: “Synodality means a passage from the method of ‘seeing, judging and acting’ towards ‘listening, understanding and accompanying.’ It is a process which allows each person to say what he thought, without fear of feeling judged.” Referring to the 2014 and 2015 synods, he said: “Everyone had the attitude of listening, without condemning. And then we discussed, like brothers, in the groups. But it is one thing to debate like brothers and another to condemn a priori. There was great freedom of expression. And this is beautiful!”
Further reading: Synod: Pope Francis’ warnings to avoid tensions
The Synod on Synodality is thus not an afterthought, an idea that just came up as he progressed with his papal ministry, but rather a foundational thought that defines the way Pope Francis sees the church in the modern world. In his address to the faithful of the Diocese of Rome in 2021, Francis stated categorically: “Synodality is not a chapter in an ecclesiology textbook, much less a fad or a slogan to be bandied about in our meetings. Synodality is an expression of the church’s nature, her form, style and mission.”
Synodality in tradition and mission
It is not as if the word synod is a new concept in the church; it is rather an ancient and venerable word in the tradition of the church that indicates the path along which the people of God walk together. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who presents Himself as “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14,6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were originally called “followers of the way” (cf. Acts 9,2; 19,9.23; 22,4; 24,14.22).
At the heart of the synodal church are the people of God building a community of love, where each member participates actively by exercising the variety and ordered richness of their charisms, vocations, and ministries. This active participation promotes the mission of the church, which is to ensure that the Good News of Salvation reaches the ends of the earth.
The church in Africa has been fully present in all the phases of the Synod on Synodality. As reported in the Continental Document: “The final phase of the continental celebration of the Synod on Synodality took place in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia from 1st to 6th March 2023 and brought together about 209 people made up of Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Religious men and women, and lay faithful, with the lay faithful being in greater number. For five days, the Church Family of God in Africa, through the continental representatives, prayed, listened, and reflected on the new way of being a church today, i.e., the Synodal way.”
The African representatives made a number of recommendations that were forwarded to Rome for consideration in the final sessions of the synod. These recommendations are in the continental document and accessible on the synod’s website. But beyond these recommendations, I believe that the African continent has an intangible asset that she brings to the synod.
As the official logo clearly states, the synodal church is a community of the faithful journeying together. The idea of a journey connotes the movement towards a goal. The Synodal Church is journeying towards immediate, intermediate, and ultimate goals. These goals are encapsulated in the mission of the church. The immediate and intermediate goals of the church are to transform the world through the grace of the Holy Spirit to reflect the gospel values. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all God’s creatures can unite with Him in heaven at the end of time (Salvation of souls).
The virtue of hope and Africa’s example
One of the key ingredients required for successful journeying is hope. Anyone going on a journey must have a firm hope of reaching the destination. Hope is the driving force for people on a journey because it enables them to savor in anticipation of the delights awaiting them at the destination. Hope, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC, no. 1817)
Thus, a synodal church bereft of the virtue of hope will surely be ineffective. This explains why Pope Francis proclaimed the Jubilee Year of Hope in proximity to the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality. The members of the synodal church are also pilgrims of hope.
I would like to present two reasons to support my postulation of Africa as the continent of hope. Firstly, Africa has consistently registered an increase in the number of her Catholic population. This is affirmed by the annual church statistics published by the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples.
It is also remarkable that a good percentage of the church members in Africa are young people. Many of these youths are willing to dedicate themselves to the service of God as priests and religious. Thus, the 2023 church statistics showed that Africa is the only continent that witnessed an increase in seminarians and religious brothers across the globe. The number of seminarians in Africa increased by 0.6%. The number of religious brothers in Africa increased by 2.2%. The growth of the Catholic Church in Africa is a sure sign of hope for the synodal church.
My second argument for postulating Africa as the continent of hope derives from the fact that she presents the most recent example of a country that rose from adversity to a remarkable and meaningful level of social development. In 2022, SIGNIS Africa, the continental branch of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, held its Congress and Delegates Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda.
Participants from other countries marveled at the neatness and visible elements of social development in many parts of the country. The surprise derives from the fact that everyone was conversant with the stories of the Rwandan genocide in the early nineties. In less than thirty years after the devastating genocidal conflict, Rwanda rose from adversity to reasonable social development. For many first-time visitors to the country, Rwanda presents a beacon of hope, not only to the continent but to the world at large.
The Rwandan example resonates with the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal. The 160-foot-tall bronze Monument depicts an African family emerging from a volcanic mountain-top: a woman with her hand extended downwards and holding on to a man. The man holds aloft a child whose left-hand points upwards. Despite many criticisms of the monument, I agree with Cameroonian Jesuit theologian Nougoutna Norbert Litoing S.J., who said the monument presents a snippet of theology of hope. For me, the key figure is the child held aloft by the combined efforts of the man and woman. The child is a symbol of hope and points towards an unseen future, but drawing strength from the efforts of their forebears, the young Africans are today encouraged to ensure that the torchlight handed over to them continues to burn brightly.
