Incultrating the Church in Africa

“Another end remains to be achieved; and We desire that all should fully understand it. The Church from the beginning down to our own time has always followed this wise practice: let not the Gospel on being introduced into new land destroy or extinguish whatever its people possess that is naturally, good, just or beautiful . . . .” Evangelii Praecones, 1951, 56. “By reason of its deep conviction that “the synthesis between culture and faith is not only a demand of culture but also of faith,” because “a faith that does not become culture is not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not fully lived,” (151) the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops considered inculturation a priority and an urgent task in the life of Africa’s particular Churches. Only in this way can the Gospel be firmly implanted in the Continent’s Christian communities . . . .” Ecclesia in Africa, 1995, 78. It is against these backgrounds that the suggestions/vota from Africa for Vatican II, as well as the Lineamenta, Instrumentum laboris, voices of the AMECEA Bishops and others to, and from, the first African Synod, help evaluate the state of the Church in Africa.