‘During the Synod, Africa can exemplify the virtue of hope for the Church’ [2/5]

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!”

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. The child on the African Renaissance Monument is a symbol of
hope.

So, to the question of what should be the contribution of the church in Africa to the Synod, I will answer: Let Africa continue to exemplify the virtue of hope for the church. And we are assured that our hope does not disappoint. (Rom 5:5)

Fr Walter Ihejirika is a priest of the
Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Nigeria. He is a professor of development
communication and media studies at the Federal University of Port Harcourt and
currently the President of SIGNIS Africa, the continental branch of SIGNIS –
the World Catholic Association for Communication.