SECAM: Commission to Reflect on Polygamous Unions in Africa Set
The Secretary-General for SECAM, Fr. Rafael Simbine
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Following the Vatican’s directives in the Synthesis Report compiled from the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023, for the people of God in Africa to discern pastoral care towards persons in polygamous unions, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has already constituted a commission to discuss polygamy, a Church official has said.
The Synthesis Report Chapter 16 which focused on the topic ‘Towards a listening and accompanying Church,’ synod delegates proposed that the continental body of the bishops in Africa and the Islands which is SECAM “Promote a theological and pastoral discernment on the question of polygamy and the accompaniment of people in polygamous unions who are coming to faith.”
Based on this concern, the Secretary-General for SECAM, Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior in an interview Thursday, April 25, during the African Synod delegates seminar said the commission, comprising of experts has been set and ready to reflect on the issue of polygamous unions in Africa.
“This commission comprises theologians from different fields and the members of the commission are going to reflect deeper on the concern about polygamy,” Fr. Simbine revealed during the interview highlighting that the African Church has set the deadline for members of the commission to present the results of their work to the Bishops during the next SECAM plenary assembly slated for July 2024, in Rwanda.
“If the bishops agree with the results, we will send the results to the Vatican’s Dicastery of Doctrine of Faith. They will then start a new conversation between the Dicastery and our team from Africa to reach a consensus and final decision on the matter,” the Mozambican cleric said.
For decades, polygamy has been an issue of concern in the Church and for African theologians since polygamists are not legally recognized in the Catholic Church.
As the commission of theologians deliberates on the issue of polygamy raised during synod assembly, the synthesis report posed a question in the same chapter 16 which members of the commission need to reflect on, “What would need to change for those who feel excluded to experience the Church as more welcoming?
Synod delegates noted that “A synodal Church needs to be a listening Church and this commitment has to be translated into practice.”
The African delegates for the synod had a two-day workshop from 24-25th April, at Donum Dei in Nairobi, Kenya.
