SECAM: Small Christian Communities, a Touchstone of Synodality for Church in Africa: SECAM Official Says in Preparation for 2023 Synod of Bishops

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

As the entire Church prepares for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops planned to take place in October 2023, an official from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has appreciated Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in Africa as touchstones of synodality in the Church.

In a Monday, August 23 publication, SECAM’s first Deputy Secretary General Fr. Rafael Simbine said the “building of the Church as Family of God in Africa has been real and concrete through the creation of Small Christian Communities.”

“African SCCs emphasize personal relationships, family bonds, solidarity, Christian belonging, sharing together, working together, and celebrating together (including meals and entertainment) in the context of African values and customs,” Fr. Simbine said in his refection adding that SCCs are “places for studying, meditating upon and sharing the Word of God.”

Narrating that Pope Francis’ invitation towards the upcoming Synod calls for a “joint journey” involving everyone from the laity to the Bishop of Rome, the Mozambican cleric appreciates that SCCs “offer space and opportunities for interaction, collaboration, reflections and for praying together.”

Pope Francis through the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) announced the 2023 Synod of bishops and asked for active participation that “no one should feel excluded from this ecclesial journey.”

“In SCCs the people’s distinctive qualities, skills and talents are recognized. It is precisely because of the SCCs that many lay people – men, women and youth in particular – have become dynamic both in the Church and society,” Fr. Simbine who heads SECAM’s Evangelization Commission said in his reflection emphasizing that members of SCCs in Africa evangelize themselves and bring the Good News to others.

In his interpretation of the Pope’s invitation, Fr. Simbine notes that “ecclesial synodality is none other than the “refounding” of the Church in the perspective of the ecclesiology of the People of God which manifests and concretizes being in communion in and walking together, in gathering as an assembly and in the active participation of all her members in her mission of evangelization.”

Based on the aspect of collaboration and togetherness he says, “This is the kind of Church Pope Francis calls a ‘Church which goes forth, a Church of existential and geographical peripheries, and a Church which knows how to welcome and serve everyone’.”

The cleric further calls on members of SECAM to have a sense of synodality on the continent and to “stop and review our life as a family” since “there are many internal and external factors that have been spoiling the development of African values and the synodal path of the Church-Family of God in Africa.”

He cited that the Church needs to review among others the aspect of “bad news that characterizes Africa and is often produced by Africans,” and the way many countries experience conflicts and wars leading to lack of peace and harmony.

Referencing Pope John Paul’s Post-Synodol Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Africa” on the Church in Africa’s evangelizing mission, Fr. Simbine disclosed that “we (Africans) face many situations of different types of tension: racial, tribalism, xenophobia, political instability and the violation of human rights.”

“All this is visible in many parts of Africa and the Islands and all this runs contrary to the values of community spirit, teamwork, community sharing, togetherness that are typical marks of the African family,” he concludes.

The upcoming Synod themed “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” calls for journeying together through mutual listening to the Holy Spirit at every level of the Church’s life oriented towards evangelization.