Africa's Catholic clergy express views on family in two new books

NAIROBI: Two books on the family have been published in Nairobi to coincide with the Catholic Bishops’ Synod which was held this week at the Vatican.

Africa’s Catholic clergy have laid out their views and experiences on family in the books; Christ’s New Homeland — Africa: Contribution to the Synod on the Family by African Pastors, and African Family Today.

While appreciating that polygamy is still practised in some parts of Africa, Christ’s New Homeland emphasises that the Catholic Church has the task of reinforcing the conviction that monogamy is the way forward.

In the book’s preface, Nigerian Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Rome, observes that the African prelates make a concise presentation of the attitude of Africans towards marriage and family.

Africans, he emphasises, see the family as a community of love between a man and a woman, with a loving opening to children.

Marriage, he stresses, comes from the creating hands of God, so no human being has the authority to try to reinvent. A marriage in Africa establishes a link between the families of the man and the woman, with each side ready to help to make it a success, the Nigerian Cardinal says.

In the epilogue titled ‘Why Should the State Support the Family?’, the book ends with an appeal to African states to play their critical role in building the family.

Other contributors include the Ethiopian Cardinal Berhaneyes D. Souraphiel; Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacrament in Rome; Archbishop Denis Amuzun-Dzarkpah of Lome, Togo; Philippe Cardinal Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso; Bishop Berarthelemy Adou konou, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Rome; Christian Cardinal Tumi, Archbishop Emeritus of Douala, Cameroon; Archbishop Antoine Ganye of Cotonou, Benin; Teodore Adrien Cardinal Sarr, Archbishop Emeritus of Dakar, Sierra Leone; and Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala, Cameroon.

The book has tackled the topic of family under three sections: The Synod on the Family from One Assembly to Another; The Gospel of the Family; and Pastoral Care of Families That Are Hurting.

It is based on papers presented at a theological conference held at the Tangaza University College, Nairobi.

Says a summary note on the book: “The papers that are published in this book are the fruit of an effort made by Tangaza University College to bring together in a conference scholars and practitioners in the field of pastoral accompaniment of families. The purpose of the conference was to consider what contribution to bring to the Ordinary Synod on the family, October 2015, from the considerable experience as well as joint deliberations of the people who gathered together.”