{"id":646,"date":"2014-11-14T15:31:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T15:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2014\/11\/14\/ethiopia-extract-of-chairman-of-amecea\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T09:40:53","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T09:40:53","slug":"ethiopia-extract-of-chairman-of-amecea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2014\/11\/14\/ethiopia-extract-of-chairman-of-amecea\/","title":{"rendered":"ETHIOPIA: Extract of the Chairman of AMECEA Presented at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, Vatican October 5th \u2013 19th, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\ufeff<\/div>\n
\n\ufeff<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Most Rev. Berhaneyesus <\/em>
\nD. Souraphiel<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nMost Rev. Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel
\nCM, chairman of AMECEA and Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Abeba while giving
\nhis presentation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, Vatican that took
\nplace from October 5th \u2013 19th, 2014, said that the
\ngreatest gift which the Catholic Church and its Magisterium can give to our
\nregion is to remain faithful to the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ that true
\nmarriage is between a man and a woman, blessed by the sacrament of matrimony.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe following is the full text of
\nhis presentation.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/b> <\/div>\n
\n<\/b> <\/div>\n
\nThe Pastoral Challenges of the Family<\/b><\/div>\n
\nExternal Pressures on the Family<\/b><\/div>\n
\nInstrumentum Laboris Nos. 70 \u2013 75<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI speak on behalf of the Association
\nof Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) whose chairman I
\nhave been elected by my brother bishops in our Plenary in Malawi in July 2014.
\nAMECEA is a regional association which comprises of eleven countries in Eastern
\nAfrican and the Horn of Africa, together with Djibouti and Somalia as
\naffiliated members.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn these countries, God is the
\nsource of all life. Therefore all love life. 
\nFamilies are the source of life and, as such, need to be loved and
\nrespected. Motherhood is God\u2019s gift to humanity. Children are therefore great
\ngifts to be cherished.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat distinguishes Catholic families
\nis that their marriage, once blessed by the sacrament of matrimony, is
\nindissoluble. This is both a source of spiritual pride and, at the same time, a
\nsource of anxiety to remain faithful to the marriage bond.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe pastoral challenges that face
\nthe Catholic families are:<\/div>\n
\n1)    
\nPoverty: material poverty forces
\nhusbands or wives to migrate within countries or go to neighbouring countries
\nor abroad, especially in the Arab world. This creates cracks in the marriage
\nbond.<\/div>\n
\n2)     Migration is also linked to trafficking and also
\ndispersion of children, who most of the time spill over to become street children
\nand prone to be trafficked and abused.<\/div>\n
\n3)    
\nHIV AIDS: a disease which creates
\ndivision in the family and frequently divorce. Usually, both parents are
\naffected and, sometimes both die, leaving children under the care of grandparents.\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn order to strengthen Catholic
\nfamilies in the region, the positive elements of traditional African family
\nvalues ( e.g. respect for life, love of children, respect of mothers, right
\ninfluence of the extended family, respect for elders, etc.) need to be taught
\nin schools, in parishes, and in institutions. Nowadays, because of the
\nonslaught of the mass media and internet technology, our positive traditional
\nvalues are being eroded and being replaced by cheap ones from elsewhere. For
\nexample, the phenomenon of homosexuality and same-sex unions are being tried to
\nbe imposed in our region as elements of \u201chuman rights\u201d. Some organizations and
\nfunding agencies are threatening the region that unless these \u201chuman rights\u201d
\nare accepted, they will not give funds or will withdraw funds. The answer in
\nthe region to such statements is \u201cKeep your funds and money; we do not want
\nthem\u201d. Our poverty does not mean that we have no dignity. God will provide.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMany AMECEA martyrs died refusing to
\ngive in to homosexual acts and opposing those who promoted it. They remained
\nfaithful to the teachings of the pioneer missionaries who evangelized them. They
\ndid not die in vain !<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe greatest gift which the Catholic
\nChurch and its Magisterium can give to our region is to remain faithful to the
\nteaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ that true marriage is between a man and a woman,
\nblessed by the sacrament of matrimony. We shall continue to pray for Catholic
\nfamilies. In spite of the many challenges and difficulties of married life,
\nthere is also joy and happiness in Catholic families. There are saints in
\nfamily life: grandparents, parents, children, and even unborn children.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nJesus is the same yesterday, today,
\nand for ever !                                          <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n+Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel CM<\/b><\/div>\n
\n                                                                                  \n<\/div>\n
\nMetropolitan Archbishop of Addis Abeba<\/i><\/div>\n
\nPresident of the CBCE & Chairman of AMECEA<\/i><\/div>\n
\nExtraordinary Synod on the Family, Vatican<\/i><\/div>\n
\nOctober 5th \u2013 19th, 2014.<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeff \ufeff Most Rev. Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel Most Rev. Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel CM, chairman of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}