MESSAGE OF THE AMECEA BISHOPS
FROM THE 12TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY IN MANGOCHI, MALAWI
Preamble
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour (Lk 4:18-19)
1. We, the Bishops of the Episcopal Conferences of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia and Zambia (AMECEA) met at St. John the Baptist Major Seminary at Mangochi in Malawi. Our 12th Plenary Assembly (6th -20th August 1995) would like to send you, the Catholic faithful and all peoples of good will, our warm greetings. We implore the blessings of Almighty God upon you.
2. We reflected together on the theme of The Role of the Church in Integral Development in the Light of The Africa Synod. As pastors of God's people here in Eastern Africa we listened to the reports from the various countries. As pastors we want to express our concern for the life of our people; also in its economic and social aspects.
I. Growing poverty disrupts society
3. All of us see that there is still so much poverty. Many people do not have access to the basic necessities of life. Causes of poverty are manifold. Some are beyond our control, like droughts and other natural disasters. Others are external like terms of trade and the international financial markets. Some have their root in human greed and lust for power. These lead to civil wars, ethnic conflicts, economic exploitation and corruption.
4. Economic programmes have been tried and have brought some improvement, but only to a small section of the population. The majority of people are reaping very few benefits from our economic resources. Extreme poverty has a negative effect on our society and makes people feel powerless and without hope. Inflation and devaluation of currencies have reduced the buying power of our people. Moreover, the burdens of caring for education and health have been ever increasing in recent years rather than becoming lighter.
5. We cannot fail to notice that many, especially among our young people, are becoming bitter and despairing and have no hope for a better future. Their frustration is causing a growing social instability and is leading to social evils such as crime, drug abuse while putting great strain on family life.
6. Many women are carrying burdens of responsibility beyond their capacity. Without their contribution social and economic life in our nations would come to a standstill. Their contribution needs to be recognized and economically rewarded. We support the delegates to the UN Conference in Beijing in their struggle for their rightful place in society.
II. Democracy needs economic development
7. We do applaud and encourage the movement towards a greater degree of democracy in some of our countries and the emergence of political pluralism. Yet we must also say that, growing democracy will not by itself remove poverty, will not by itself guarantee security and peace nor create basic social justice. Often we notice that the new political parties seldom offer any alternative ideas on how to alleviate poverty.
III. People of hope
8. All this worries us. We are concerned. At the same time we are a people of hope. We believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ who brought us a message of liberation and of hope. "Christ our Hope is alive; we shall live!", the Synod declared (Message of the Synod No. 2).
9. We also believe that we, the people of Eastern Africa, have the power and the capacity within ourselves to face our own problems and seek solutions for them. God gave us resources and talents and we are called by Him to use them well.
IV. An appeal to all
10. Much has been achieved. We acknowledge with gratitude the efforts made by so many in our society and Church. We encourage those who are committed to the struggle against social evils. Yet much remains to be done. Therefore we would like to appeal:
11. To all of you
Living in villages or in the neighbourhoods of our towns, to look towards each other and see how you can help one another at the local level, without waiting for higher authority to come with government assistance.
12. To all communities
To join together your forces, pull together your efforts and talents and build cooperatives and other self-help schemes to alleviate and eradicate poverty. Our youth need special opportunities to empower them and ensure their future.
13. To all local governments
To really assist the local communities and not to treat them as objects or
ignorant agents.
14. To all professional people
You were given a chance to obtain skills and a profession. Look upon your knowledge, not only as a means to enrich yourself, but to see your profession as a service to society. Take pride in your talents and learn to use them creatively with dedication and commitment for the good of your people. Don't forget the rural areas where most of you came from.
15. To you, our pastoral collaborators
To live in these times of distress in solidarity with our people. To be near them, ready to listen to their problems and give a word of encouragement and hope, is a challenge to us all. Especially, we must mobilize our Christian communities for development and lead them through the example of our own hard work and dedication. Let us avoid giving scandal to our people by an extravagant style of life. Let us be accountable and transparent to those we serve and those who support us.
16. To all leaders
We appeal to all of you who are in positions of decision-making to be true leaders of your people. Whether you received your mandate through elections or otherwise, you carry that mandate in order to serve the community. This position and power is not your property. You must neither use it for your personal enrichment nor to favour your family or clan. A good leader works for the common good. A good leader looks upon economics as a tool to care for all the people.
We make this special appeal to you: do not make money or power the aim of your leadership. Money must remain a tool to build up the common good. Some of the recent economic plans, like the Structural Adjustment Programme, were not people-centred programmes and therefore did not help the poor.
We ask you to look at these policies again and discuss with the international community how to come to economic policies that do not hurt the majority of our people. The recent UN meeting in Copenhagen gives us hope that such a new dialogue will be fruitful.
17. To the international community
We renew our appeal for a realistic review of the debt problem. This question asks for a political will to consider the problems of poverty as a global problem. Only a political solution will solve this growing disparity between the rich and the poor.
Our region needs your help to solve some problems: millions of refugees are waiting for conditions of security to return home; the supply of arms to warring factions only increases conflict. A determined effort of the international institutions can contribute to a just and peaceful solution.
18. To the governments and people of Sudan and Somalia
As spiritual leaders of the AMECEA region we see the bitter internal hostilities, conflicts and wars going on in the Sudan and in Somalia. This makes development impossible, it uproots thousands of people from their homes and leads to a terrible loss of human life and property. Our appeal, therefore, is for dialogue among the different parties in order to establish justice, peace and democracy for all. We pledge constant prayers and our solidarity with you.
V. The Church-as-Family
19. In September the Holy Father will bring us the fruits of the African Synod.
The Synod Fathers spoke of the Church as a family. This is a major challenge
to us in the field of development. In our African families we used to look
at problems together. We learned to pool our efforts and work together for
the good of all the family members. We need to look upon our development questions
as a challenge to the whole family of God. In a family we do not allow an
attitude of dependency. As the wisdom of our ancestors put it: "One head
cannot carry a roof" (Malawian Proverb). Together we have a great capacity
to solve most difficulties. The visit of our brothers from Rwanda made us
realize how much we are a family. Their sufferings are ours and they expressed
their gratitude for our solidarity.
20. If the Church is to become the family of God in Africa, we all, clergy,
religious and laity have to learn to sit together, to look together at our
situation, to listen to each other, to plan a common project and fell all
responsible for realizing it. In this way, our action will be built on our
traditional wisdom and involve everybody in the community.
21. As our spiritual leaders we invite everyone of you to be truly responsible
and active member of God's family. In this way we will give God honour and
be true builders of His kingdom.
22. As we leave Malawi we feel full of gratitude to God and to our marvelous
hosts, the Church in Malawi and the Government, for their warm hospitality,
true to their motto: Malawi the warm heart of Africa
St. John the Baptist Major Seminary, Mangochi
19th August 1995