Many of you will hear the name IMBISA for the first time. It stands for the Inter-regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa and consists of all the Catholic Bishops of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
We 59 bishops met in Harare from 22 to 26 August. This gathering was of considerable significance for all of us because this is the very first time many of us have had the opportunity of meeting each other, sharing our concerns and informing one another about the state of the Church and our respective countries. It is a sign of communion and of the growth of the Church in our region. Our formation into an association of bishops follow a pattern that has been realized in different parts of the world since Vatican II.
As this meeting draws to a close we greet all the members of the Church in our region and all men and women of good will. We thank you for your prayers which made this gathering a success and we wish to address to you a message of hope that springs from the depth of our union in Christ.
Message from Holy Father
This gathering was made more solemn by a special message from our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. In the course of this profound message the Holy Father said:
As pastors of Christ’s flock you share in the solicitude of Christ himself, the Good Shepherd of all men and women. As you address yourselves to the varied and often painful situations of your peoples, I propose for your consideration something I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptor Hominis: “What is in question here is man in all his truth, in his full magnitude. We are not dealing with the abstract man. We are dealing with each man, for each one is included in the mystery of Redemption, and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery” (no. 13).
This passage forms the basis of our message to you. We want to put before you the need to see the human person in the full range of his or her eternal destiny that begins with the birth and ends in the very heart of a loving God. The many aspects of human life must be considered as a whole. The entire human person, made unto the image and likeness of God, must be heled to reach him or her, because we are all the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ our Lord, “the first of many brethren”. This is the basis of the dignity of each human person.
The Church, Sacrament of Christ
Christ is the Church and the Church is the Sacrament of Christ. Where the Church is present, Christ is present. What appeared clearly as we heard the reports from different countries is how deeply rooted the Church is in our area. For centuries the Church has gradually been taking root in African soil. It is not a foreign growth, but Christ made visible in African men an women.
The very place that God occupies in African culture has been the soil in which the Church has taken root. Africa needs the Church, but the Church also needs Africa.
We thank God for this growth, this considerable vitality which is a sign of the youth of the Church, of its capacity for even greater growth in the future. The Church in our part of Africa, far from being in decline, is just beginning to realize its enormous potential. It is not only that we are increasing in numbers, but also increasing in presence, which at root is the presence of Christ, in the power of his Spirit. That presence is in you, the People of God, the Body of Christ. Let the Gospel shine forth because he who lives the Gospel spreads the Gospel.
Difficulties
However, the region we live in witnesses both war and peace. Political conflicts within countries continue and often have a very divisive effect on the citizens of the same state. Some countries find themselves subject overtly or covertly to foreign political influence, and people suffer. The world economic recession, too, has its effect in this part of the world and it is particularly evident in widespread unemployment. The drought has only compounded this situation. But perhaps the suffering that goes deepest among some of our people is the deprivation of basic human rights as a result of atheistic and materialistic ideologies that continue to be implemented at great cost in human lives.
Much more could be said about hunger, relocations, racial discrimination, refugees and the exploited, but we would only be talking about what is already familiar to you.
We are aware of this suffering and we feel it deeply with you. But even this suffering is not without its significance. The root cause of suffering is sin, both personal and social. In so far as anyone is guilty of sin we exhort you to profound conversion because all sin is destructive. The Body of Christ is weakened or strengthened by the presence or absence of sin.
Suffering too has value because it can be a participation in the redemptive work of Christ. While our suffering may at times be deep and appear unending let us not get lost in a despairing sadness. Christ is present even in the midst of this suffering making us more fully his own.
Signs of hope
We were struck by the signs of hope that are blossoming in our area. Southern Africa is not a region lost in the darkness of unending suffering. Instead we are deeply impressed by the faith that has flourished in adverse situations. There is a maturity in our laity that shows itself in the way the Christian life is lived very responsibly, in social awareness that takes form in practical action, in the increase in vocations, in the dedicated lives of parents and single men and women, in the increased growth in faith of young people, in the development of Christian communities, and generally in the growth of concern for those in need. This is not an abstract faith, but a practical one that is a sign of the presence of Christ. He shows his love through human beings, and when we see the many ways in which ordinary men and women in their daily lives take care of one another, then we must conclude that Christ is present. Society is being transformed because of the many manifestations of Christian love and concern that we are witnessing in our region. In the very midst of our sufferings Christ is working to heal, to transform and to make whole.
A final word
Since Christ has died for all men and women and united us to himself, we appeal to everyone for those conditions of life that will allow people to live according to their full human dignity and so realize their destiny in freedom and peace.
We recognize the good that is done by governments often in difficult conditions, but plead also that the African man be allowed to grow according to his own cultural forms and values and not to be manipulated according to the terms of an unacceptable ideology. The Church is constantly open to dialogue so that different and conflicting opinions may be discussed and resolved, and reconciliation may take place.
We thank our collaborators, the dedicated priests, religious and Church workers who build the Body of Christ through their daily lives and service, and we plead for young people to choose and be allowed to choose these forms of dedicated life.
We thank parents for living the ideal of Christian marriage and so forming the domestic Church, the cells in the greater Body of Christ.
We thank our youth for remaining faithful to Christ and so securing the future of our nations and the Church. May Christ be ever more your life and strength.
We thank men and women of good will who in their daily lives through love and concern for their fellow man bring their God-given gifts to bear for the transformation of society and the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God.
The Church as a whole must be involved in a continual process of self-evangelization. There is much that needs to be improved at every level of our life and by all of us. The theme that has preoccupied IMBISA for several years is the social teaching of the Church and her prophetic mission in Southern Africa.
This theme will continue to engage our attention for the future, because it is far from exhausted.
Finally, as we end this first and very fruitful meeting of all the bishops of IMBISA and look to our future work, we know that without Christ we can do nothing, and so we appeal for a Crusade of Prayer for peace that will begin on 1 January 1985, the World Day of Peace, and continue until Easter. In the power of this prayer “man in all his truth, in his full magnitude”, will be realized in our part of this beloved continent of Africa by the presence and power of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May Mary the Immaculate Mother of God, to whom we dedicate our respective countries, keep us all in her maternal care.
Sources
IMBISA. 1984. Inter-regional meeting of Bishop of Southern Africa. First Plenary Assembly. 22-26 August 1984. Chishawasha Harare Zimbabwe Africa. IMBISA, Manzini.
IMBISA on synodal journey for 50 years
To celebrate the golden jubilee of IMBISA, formed in 1975, we publish snippets from its 50-year journey.