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Special Synod Africa: peace and development
"New" people, renewed by the Gospel, is needed to transform society. Summary of the address given by Auditor Geneviève Sanze, Ivory Coast
15/10/2009
 «The Focolari Movement has been present in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1963. Since then, its presence has spread throughout the African nations even if this was achieved in different ways. Today more than 170,000 persons try to live its spirituality.
How does it contribute to reconciliation, justice and peace in Africa? Its spirituality being communion, the members wish to witness Christ by putting the Gospel into practice. The Movement thus works for the formation of “new men” who, renewed by the Gospel in all aspects of their life, are able to transform society.
By taking one example, we can speak about the “New Evangelization" done at Fontem, with the population of Cameroon. In 2000, Chiara Lubich, strengthened by the fraternal experience lived by all together, addressed the population, proposing: “... it is like a vow where we commit ourselves to being always fully in peace among ourselves and making peace again in cases where it is threatened... All, you are free to follow the faith of your fathers, if in your conscience you feel that, however you cannot be free to not love”.
The population followed this proposal with enthusiasm. Then, with the king, a concrete plan was elaborated and regular meetings have started in ten villages. The fruits are many: requests for pardon and reconciliation between relatives and neighbors, respect for moral values, a return to the sacraments, an experience of internal peace which gives and creates the family in the home as well as in the local community, etc. Today, 16 traditional chiefs and their peoples participate in the “New Evangelization” which grows each year. The kings (Fon) have stated many times that they no longer hold meetings for reconciliation, because the problems have been resolved in fraternal charity.
 In 1992 in Nairobi (Kenya), Chiara Lubich founded a school for inculturation, whose objective was to deepen the roots of the Gospel in the African cultures in the light of the charism of unity. Each seminar is held on a specific subject which is approached according to African traditions, the Holy Scriptures and the Magisterium of the Church, thus according to the charism of unity. This is an experience of increasing interest, to discover and to express the values and the limitations of our own cultures, A domain that is truly new, even for us Africans. This is a true reciprocal donation which allows us to grow in love and in life, giving us a new consciousness of our own roots and opens us to new horizons, in giving us the possibility of realizing our common patrimony. It also helps us to let the voice of Africa be heard in the rest of the world, in a relationship of mutual dignity in view of the universal fraternity and for the harmonious development of the socio-cultural and ecclesial life».
Mrs. Geneviève Amalia Mathilde SANZE, Responsible of the Work of Mary - Focolari Mouvement, Abidjan (IVORY COAST)
www.zenit.org - English-language summaries provided by the Vatican press office of the interventions given by auditors Saturday at the Tenth General Congregation of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
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