During the UZIMA! Eucharistic Youth Retreat that our visiting mission team led in Kisumu, Kenya, in May of this year, I was speaking with a precocious sixth grader, Felix (the boy on the right in the photo below), answering a series of theological and biblical questions he kept asking me one after another. “And when Jesus was in Africa,…” he said. “Jesus never went to Africa, Felix,” I interrupted. “What about the flight into Egypt?” he said. He had set me up (we hadn’t been talking about Jesus’ infancy) and he got me. But he was right. Jesus had been in Africa.
The footnote to the passage which recounts that event (Mt 2:13-14) in The African Bible, (published by the Daughters of St. Paul in Nairobi) reads: “[Jesus] lived on African soil in his infancy. Simon, who bore Jesus’ cross came from the African port of Cyrene (Mk 15:21)… African Jews were present at Pentecost (Acts 2:10). Philip led an Ethiopian to Christ (Acts 8:26ff), and the mighty Apollos came from Alexandria (Acts 18:24).” This African presence in the New Testament is preceded by the presence of Abraham, Israel and Moses in Africa in the Old Testament, and followed by a legacy of holiness in the Church on the continent, which includes the likes of St. Augustine, St. Anthony and the monks of Egypt, the Alexandrians Sts. Athanasius and Cyril, and more recently St. Charles Lwanga and the Martyrs of Uganda, Bl. Cyprian Tansi of Nigeria and Sudan’s own luminous St. Bakhita.Jesus is alive in Africa, and His Church here is exploding with life, too. In the last 15 years the population of the continent has increased by almost 250,000,000, bringing it close to the one billion mark. The Catholic Church has grown by more than 60,000,000. In that same span of 15 years 80 new dioceses have been created, more than 100 bishops added, 3,500+ more parishes established. The number of priests has grown by over 10,000 and the number of religious by more than 15,000. That’s why Pope Benedict XVI called Africa “the Continent of Hope” during his pastoral visit in March, and referred to it as “the repository of an inestimable treasure for the whole world: its deep sense of God… an enormous spiritual ‘lung’ for humanity, which appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope,” during the recent special Synod of Bishops for Africa that took place in Rome.
During that gathering, almost two hundred bishops and other representatives from Africa met with the Holy Father, members of the curia, bishops from other continents, experts, observers and delegates from other churches for three weeks in October to prayerfully reflect on the life of the Church here. Participants shared observations and suggestions, blessings and gifts, sufferings and struggles, hopes and concerns in order to generate a unified Gospel response to the opportunities, crises and challenges the continent is facing. It’s clear that the presence and role of the Church is crucial for Africa’s future.
Against that backdrop of “lights and shadows” Sudan finds itself under its own cloud of uncertainty as it presses forward toward some significant landmarks in the near future: the first free elections in 25 years in April 2010 and a referendum on the independence of the South in early 2011. The US has recently fashioned a new diplomatic policy for Sudan in response to the ongoing political tensions and social difficulties that stalk the country. The Sudanese Bishops will be meeting in Torit in December to formulate their response to some of these pressing issues in the light of faith and in the wake of the African Synod.
The CFR Sudan Mission continues to play its part in the drama of the Gospel in Africa, principally through evangelization and the formation of hearts and minds attuned to the Heart and Mind of Christ, sowing the seeds of a hope that does not disappoint, and concrete gestures that make the love of Christ visible and tangible in the midst of suffering and need. The response to the mission team that visited in May-June was extraordinary; we have two more teams planned for 2010. The St. Daniel Comboni Missionary Youth group meets four times a week for Mass, catechism study, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an inspirational video. We’re pushing ahead with repairs on Mercy House and plan to move into the residence early next year. We’re working with Bishop Akio Johnson Mutek and the priests of the diocese to assist in its pastoral mission and respond to the situation of drought and severe hunger in certain sectors. None of this would be possible without your help, for which we are prayerfully and inexpressibly grateful.
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