CISA DOCUMENT

A reflection from Religious Superiors Conference of Kenya Chairman

To all concerned and particularly those who are attending the Synod for Africa 2009......

The framework of Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation constitutes an inclusive paradigm within which issues of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation need to be situated and addressed by the forthcoming Synod for Africa.

This paradigm corresponds most favorably with the far reaching changes that are taking place in missionary strategy today.

Apart from the move from individual conversion to cultural conversion, there is also a thrust forward towards reconciliation as an inseparable dimension of evangelization. There is an indispensable need for reconciliation if genuine development of peoples is to take place. To engage in evangelization without addressing conflict resolution and reconciliation, both in theory and practice may well be inconsistent and contradictory.

While not dispensing with the sources and impacts of violent conflict arising from political-governance in Africa, a large part of the continent and its peoples are perennially ensnared in inter-ethnic conflicts between pastoral communities over a variety of issues, ranging from scarcity of environmental resources, cultural variation, state neglect, contested use of territory and the proliferation of small arms, etc. Concerning the Church’s involvement in evangelization on the African Continent, there is an urgent need for all evangelizers and humanitarian workers to become conscious of and, where possible, help to resolve the underlying issues or root causes of conflict.

To be involved in evangelization and humanitarian-development work without seeking to understand the root causes of conflict and to acquire the skills and techniques to resolve them will never yield true peace. This is especially true where some people are being killed and many others maimed and displaced on a daily basis, while catechetical, programmes, schools, hospitals and churches are being made inoperable. We may well ask how can the Gospel and its values (liberation, justice, peace, integrity of creation, development) take root in such situations? Will the people ever be able to live a "normal" life? Therefore, as well as the Synod for Africa addressing issues such as Evangelization, Development, Justice and Peace, there is a vital need to name and emphasize the critical importance of the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation paradigm.

Otherwise the struggle to cultivate a society founded on Gospel values and aspirations will not succeed. These themes are not only mutually complementary but without their inclusive integration there seems to be a fundamental flaw in the approach and vision of the Church’s mission in Africa.

There is a need to develop institutes of formation, beyond the parish structure, to be educational centers of Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies. This requirement entails the professional training of people (Religious and Laity) with the qualifications and competencies necessary to transform conflict situations to be environments of true peace and reconciliation.

Fr. Patrick R. Devine SMA