…Proposes Creation of Missionaries Welcome Centres
The Secretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, has weighed in on the possibility of the Church in the West establishing places where Priests coming from Africa could be equipped with skills to efficiently respond to the pastoral needs of their Episcopal Sees.
In his address at the III Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society, and Pastoral Life that was held in Ivory Coast’s city of Abidjan from August 5-10, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu underlined the need for a coordinated response what he described as a “pastoral need in the West” that missionaries from Africa are moving to meet.
He said that incoming Clergy from Africa “and other younger Churches” need places where they can learn the language, culture and pastoral expectations of their host Dioceses before immersing themselves in mission.
Formation of these incoming Priests, the Nigerian-born Vatican official said, could be done in “underused” Seminaries in the West.
“A practical way forward would involve establishing missionary welcome centres in underused Seminaries in the West. Here, incoming Clergy from Africa and other younger Churches could learn the language, culture, sensitivities, and pastoral expectations of their host Dioceses,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said in his presentation on August 7.
“Formation must mirror the training once given to Western missionaries before they were sent abroad,” he added in his presentation titled, “The Church of the Sheaves: Africa’s Mission to itself and to the World in a Synodal Church”.
He explained that for Africa, the image of the sheaf reflects the reality of a continent that once received the Christian Gospel through the self-giving mission of others, and that is now emerging as a rapidly growing Church, “like young and luxuriant branches of a tree, bearing fruit for the wider body of Christ.”
Credit: ACIAfricaNews