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PAGE 2 — The Southern Cross, August 22, 1985
Congress Reflects African Church Coming To Age
NAIROBI, Kenya (NC) — “The power of Christ’s Gospel
has been revealed in Africa,” Pope John Paul II declared at
a Mass Aug. 18 closing the 43rd International Eucharistic
Congress, the first ever in black Africa.
The pope’s comments at the final event of the congress
echoed reflections by other speakers throughout the eight-
day gathering who saw in the meeting a symbol of the
fledging African church now come of age, with some 70
million Catholics across the continent.
“This community of 70 million people is a great sign of
the fruitfulness of the Eucharist,” said Pope John Paul,
himself nearing the end of a 12-day, seven-nation African
voyage.
Cardinal Maurice Otunga of Nairobi, who hosted the con
gress, declared in an opening address Aug. 11 that Africa’s
church has a message to give the world and is no longer just
a passive receiver of missionary activity.
“We need not carry the burden of names such as the
‘Dark continent’...Light can emanate from here,” he said.
“Africa is not just a recipient passively taking what is of
fered, but is vibrant with creativity and can give and
enrich” others.
Auxiliary Bishop James Lyke of Cleveland, Ohio, one of
the U.S. bishops at the congress, offered a similar analysis
when he said in an interview that African Catholics have
been engaged longer in the process of indigenization, or in
terweaving the faith with their culture, than black
Catholics in the United States have.
Within the last decade, he said, the music and liturgical
rhythms of Africa, as well as some deeper elements in the
African church, have begun to make their way into the
United States.
Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro of Karachi, Pakistan, who as
papal delegate represented the pope for most of the con
gress, also praised the growth of Catholicism in Africa dur
ing the opening Mass of the Congress in Nairobi’s Uhuru
(Freedom) Park.
Catholics are still a minority in Africa, and African
Catholics are a minority among the world’s Catholics, he
CONGRESS CLOSING — Pope John Paul II Eucharistic Congress in Uhuru Park in Nairobi,
receives a gift from a traditionally dressed cou- Kenya (NC photo from UPI-Reuter)
pie at the closing of the 43rd International
said, but the strength of their witness is greater than their
size would suggest.
Some 20 cardinals, 200 bishops and 700 priests con-
celebrated the opening Mass in English and Swahili before
a crowd of thousands, and a similar crowd at the same site
marked the closing Mass a week later.
Among speakers at the congress was American Cardinal
Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago, the only North American
to address the full congress, who in his Aug. 14 address link
ed hunger for the Eucharist with hunger for peace and
justice.
Speaking on “Satisfying the Hungers of the World’s
Children,” he said that the “deepest hunger” of all people is
peace. But the children of the world, he said, “are held
hostage by great sums of money spent each year on the
worldwide arms race...Tragically, at present, more
resources are being committed to the destruction of human
life than to saving it.”
He called the Eucharist “the paradigm of unity” in a
divided world and “the basic source of our nourishment,
guidance and strength.”
The theme of the congress was “The Eucharist and the
Christian Family,” and a number of speakers, including
the pope, took the occasion to urge Strong Family values,
including opposition to abortion, sterilization and artifical
birth control.
Pope John Paul urged couples to reflect God’s love in
their own “fruitful love,” saying that each new child is “a
renewed invitation to love with still greater generosity.”
His comments were interpreted in part as a criticism of
the Kenyan government, which has included birth control,
sterilization and financial penalties for civil servants hav
ing more than four children among elements in a campaign
to reduce Kenya’s 4.2 percent annual population growth
rate.
The pope also praised families for playing “a Key role in
small Christian communities and in the life and mission of
the church.”
During the closing Mass the pope also presided over the
renewal of marriage vows by hundreds of Catholic couples.
During the pope’s Angelus remarks Aug. 18, he thanked
delegations from 43 countries for their participation in the
congress, but asked them to remember those who could not
join them.
“I send my greetings particularly to the bishops of
Burundi, whose pastoral activities I entrust to the maternal
protection of Mary, the mother of the incarnate Word,” the
pope said.
On Aug. 19, U.S. and Burundian diplomats said that Arch
bishop Joachim Ruhuna of Gitega, Burundi, and other
priests of his archdiocese were arrested in the past few
weeks after defying a ban on holding religious services dur
ing daylight hours on weekdays.
Since 1979, more than 100 missionaries have been forced
out of Burundi, where 55 percent of the population is
Catholic.
Workshops For Education Institute
WORKSHOPS ON FACTORS/ISSUES
TRENDS SHAPING SOCIETY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS — Gillian Brown, Office of
Information, Diocese of Savannah.
COMPUTERS — Joan Moran, Immaculate Heart of
Mary School, Atlanta.
SOCIAL ISSUES — Sister Kathy Tomlin, CSJ, Christian
Council of Churches, Atlanta.
SEX EDUCATION FOR THE ELEMENTARY CHILD —
Irene Murphy, Benziger Company.
THE CHALLENGE TO SAY YES TO LIFE — Ron and
Ann Trudell, Warner Robins, and Father J. Kevin Boland,
Columbus.
CRIMES YOUNG PEOPLE COMMIT — Sergeant E.
Williams, Chatham County Police.
SUICIDE AMONG THE YOUNG — Dr. Thomas Frazier,
Pastoral Counselling Center, Savannah, and First
Presbyterian Church.
LEARNING DISABILITIES — Ginny McManus, Savan
nah Speech and Hearing Center.
ATHLETICS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL — Rev.
Albert Bickerstaff, O.S.B. will be the moderator of a panel
of coaches, Rev. William Simmons responding.
VOCATION EDUCATION — Sr. Jeremy Daigler, R.S.M.,
Sisters of Mercy, Baltimore.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH OF TEACHERS — Dr.
Charles Nash, Armstrong State College.
WORKSHOPS ON ACADEMIC AREAS
MUSIC — Sharon Lenz Nix, Silver Burdett Company.
MATHEMATICS — Rita Rene, Silver Burdett Company.
CREATIVE WRITING — Rita Rene, Silver Burdett Com-
oany.
WORKSHOPS FOR RELIGIOUS
EDUCATORS, CCD AND SCHOOLS
” FROM VISION TO REALITY — Sister Rose Bill, O.S.F.,
Provincial Councillor, Missionary Franciscan Sisters.
SHARED CHRISTIAN PRAXIS — Sister Marylyn
McDonald, O.P. St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Holiday, Fla.
TEACHING TEACHERS TO TEACH RELIGION —
Sister Janet Roddy, Immaculate Conception School
Augusta, and Sr. Cheryl Donahue, St. Mary’s on the Hill
Parish, Augusta.
FUNDAMENTALISM — Father Douglas K. Clark, Adult
Education Director, Diocese of Savannah.
HELPING CHILDREN TO PARTICIPATE IN PARISH
LITURGIES — Marge Kelso, St. Francis Xavier School,
Brunswick.
day).
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Pre-institute session (multiple
workshops, choice of 6).
11:15 a.m. -12:30 p.m. FREE TIME - EXHIBITS - CTNA
DEMONSTRATION - LUNCH.
12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. OPENING SESSION - KEYNOTE
ADDRESS Rev. James Hawker, Director of Religious
Education, Archdiocese of Boston.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. SESSION I - (multiple workshops,
choice of 7).
EVENING SESSION
FOR PARENTS
PARENTS HELPING CHILDREN TO COPE WITH
STRESS — Dr. Claudia Thomas, Psychologist.
FAMILY PRAYER — Ron and Ann Trudell, Warner
Robins, Coordinators for Engaged Encounter.
PARENTS WHO HAVE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL
NEEDS — James Crawford, Sand Hills Psycho-
Educational Program, Richmond Co.
THE SINGLE PARENT — Shirley Wright.
EXHIBITS
Approximately fourteen companies will be exhibiting
books, school supplies, religious goods, computers and
video equipment, and fund raising ideas.
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. SESSION II - (multiple workshops,
choice of 7).
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 pirn. EVENING SESSION FOR
PARENTS.
Friday, September 27
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. GENERAL SESSION - Catholic
School Teachers; GENERAL SESSION - CCD TEACHERS.
10:15 a.m. -11:15 a.m. SESSION III (multiple workshops,
choice of 7).
11:30 a.m. - CLOSING LITURGY. Bishop Lessard
presiding. Recognition of persons serving the diocese in
ministry of education for 25 years.
Education Institute Program
Thursday, September 26
9:30 a.m. REGISTRATION (all day); EXHIBITS (all