The Catholic bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have urged their country’s young people to remain in Africa, rather than being seduced by the “false trappings of wealth” in the Western world.
“Use your talents and other resources to renew and transform our continent,” Bishop Nicholas Djomo Lola of Tshumbe urged participants in the Pan-African Catholic Youth congress, being held this week in Kinshasa. “You are a treasure for Africa. The Church relies on you; your continent needs you.”
Speaking in his role as president of the DRC bishops’ conference, Bishop Djomo Lola went on to warn the young people against the dangers of life in Europe and America, speaking of “the new forms of destruction of the culture of life, moral, and spiritual values.”
Congo is losing a generation to war over diamonds and other minerals in the country’s eastern regions, said the president of the nation’s bishops’ conference.
“We are losing a generation. That’s true,” Bishop Nicolas Djomo Lola of Tshumbe, Congo, told Catholic “A lot of children have not gone to school because of that. It’s terrible.”
However, while peace is being sought for eastern Congo, Bishop Djomo said he prefers a nontraditional approach.
“We don’t think that negotiating directly with the rebels right now is something which is useful,” he said. “We are asking to negotiate also with the neighboring countries. Some of them are backing the rebels. It’s very important. The rebels are instrumented (supplied) by some countries.”
The bishop did not name those countries, but Rwanda and Uganda have denied international charges that they supported the rebels in eastern Congo. In the past, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe have backed the government.
Bishop Djomo was in Washington as part of a tour of Western nations, during which he hoped to generate support for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, which began in 1996. While in Washington, he met with Congressional members and staffers, officials of the State Department and the National Security Council.
He told Catholic News Service the effects of the war are readily visible.
“We have 2 million displaced people. Two million people fled the villages without any possibility to cultivate (land). And the international community is not able to feed all of them. People in camps don’t have (enough) food,” he said.
“At the same time, the education system doesn’t work,” Bishop Djomo added. “Imagine the children in this area. They are not able to go to school. That’s terrible for us. For the last 15 years, women are raped and they are not able to be in security.”
Issues of human rights and poverty are connected to the war.
He added: “We need our military to be more respectful of human rights and the justice against the corruption. That is a very, very important issue for the church and we are working hard.”
Poverty, according to Bishop Djomo, is “a huge challenge. Fighting the armed groups, it’s absolutely necessary to work for development — to support development in that area, because poverty is dangerous. And it’s engendering the violence.”
While Congo needs the development money that overseas investment can provide, foreign firms have shied away because of the ongoing war, he said: “Without investment, there’s no way to create jobs. Most of the people are unemployed.”
About half of Congo’s 72 million population is Catholic.
“The Catholic Church is playing a very important role in the Congo because we are running 40 percent of (the) schools and 45 percent of (the) medical facilities. So we are working with (the) grass roots, the population. Our parishes and our Christian communities are scattered everywhere in the Congo. We have the possibility to work for peace for that.”
The church also helps where it can to give aid to displaced Congolese.
“Through our Caritas we are collecting aid through the Congolese Catholic people,” Bishop Djomo said. “Through our parishes we are receiving the child soldiers to keep them involved in the new life,” he added. “We are dealing with street children, too. We are dealing with raped women, especially in the … eastern part of the Congo.
In the extraordinary Synod of last October, were the same Africanparents who revealed the pressures to which the poorest countriesmust be to receive financial aid. The conditions, as indicated by theRelatio Synodi in point 56, includes “The introduction of lawsestablishing marriage between persons of the same sex.”
Are there other priorities in view of the Synod of 2015?
The accompaniment of many young people baptized that coexist, butthat not directed to sacramental marriage, there are cases of divorcedand returned to marry then, but not in the proportion of Europe andNorth America. Finally, have to worry by the practice of polygamy,widespread even among the baptized.
“The agencies of the UN and even NGOs, many of them European,condition increasingly helping the acceptance by the beneficiary of theideology of gender, with all the negative consequences for the family.”
What you intend to do?
We must continue to denounce this orientation with the relevantauthorities. We must tell our rulers, who often are not aware of what‘sbehind some linguistic formulations that actually hide these conditions.Finally, in our pastoral practice, we must tell our faithful in danger. Alsowe should ask the voters who supervise their representatives so thatthey do not vote for laws that allow marriage between people of thesame sex. It is also urgent to integrate a safe preparation of gender andideology of the dangers posed to our families and also for the wholesociety in the formation of future priests.
Have the problems of Africa been taken sufficiently into account in theSynod?
It is true that the problems of the possibility of the communion for thedivorced and remarried under certain conditions, as well as theacceptance of homosexuals, have dominated the discussion of theSynod; to which must be added pressure from the media on theseissues. But I didn’t have the impression that the Synod Fathers haveoverlooked problems pastoral Africa.
Some Synod Fathers seemed a little “too focused on the problems ofthe West…
We now have a year, which will allow us to present our problems betterand I know that all of the Synod fathers are willing to take intoconsideration the problems of one or another agreement based onregional or continental characteristics.
The Synod debate revolved around the relationship between doctrineand Pastoral Ministry. What do you think?
Francisco has reiterated it in several ways: is not a question of playingthe doctrine. According to him, the issue is to see how to deal withdifficult and complex problems in the manner in which Christ would have done. Therefore, the problem is to combine truth and mercy. I think that next year, guided by the Holy Spirit, it will enable us, at theend of the Synod on October, find proposals that, respecting thedoctrine, allows men and women of our time to see the face of Christdemanding and compassionate.
What are the problems of marriage and the family in the Congo and,more in general, in Africa?
The main problems are poverty and war. Poverty has destructive effectson members of the family, who are forced to disperse to find a way tosurvive, with all the risks that this entails. Children living on the street;girls begin in prostitution; parents are unable to educate and educatechildren properly.
And the war?
Also the situations of violence, of course, have destructive effects. Theseconflicts cause migration of families who move to the makeshift camps;the schooling of the children is very difficult, and there is an inability tohave earned income. Then there is the drama of violations. This hasbecome a weapon of war, destroys families and condemns women tosocial exclusion. And children born of rape are condemned to anuncertain destiny, sometimes to suffer from social rejection.
What can it do the Church to try to solve these problems?
