Service to the Church-Family of God
In the SECAM space
The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) was founded on July 29, 1969 in Kampala (Uganda) as an expression at the level of the whole African continent of the ecclesiology of communion brought to light by the Second Vatican Council. At the close of this first Assembly of the Episcopate in Africa, Pope Paul VI made this memorable missionary mission:
"You Africans are now your own missionaries." And again: "you can and you must have an African Christianity".
Le Sillon Noir, born on October 19, 1970, in the context of a liturgical celebration of Mission Day, without any previous human planning, was welcomed as a response prompted by the Spirit of the Lord to this missionary sending. Since then, all the commitment of Le Sillon Noir and its research centers has been part of the missionary dynamic of the Church in Africa.
In addition to its theological and pastoral contribution on the axis of culture, one of the major contributions initiated in the "Milestones for an African theology" (B. Adoukonou, 1980) is on the axis of history. The concretization of this commitment has been expressed since the historic pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II until the creation of the "Faith-Culture-Development" Department of SECAM.
Pilgrimage to Gorée: Pope John Paul II (1992) - SECAM (2003)
According to testimony repeated several times by Abbé Léon Diouf, Rector in 1992 of the Libermann Major Seminary of Sébikotane and Vicar General of Dakar, the suggestion to the Holy See that Pope John Paul II, coming on an apostolic trip to Dakar, go necessarily in Gorée, left one of its major seminarians, Abbé Edouard Adé. This major seminarian has, moreover, published in the Collectif du Sillon Noir "An African experience of inculturation, vol. III" (Editions du QIC, 1992), two texts on this event of great historical significance: "Africa must ask forgiveness" (p. 75-77) and "The Church and a new historical consciousness in Africa: John Paul II in Gorée" (p. 79-91), (text dated February 29, 1992, a week after the Pope's pilgrimage to "this African sanctuary of black sorrow" (Pope John Paul II, Speech at the Church of Saint Charles Borromeo in Gorée on February 22, 1992).
"It's a scream! ... I came here to listen to this cry of centuries and generations, generations of blacks, of slaves. I think now at the same time that Jesus Christ became, we can also say a slave, a servant: but he brought light even in this situation of slavery. This light was called the presence of God, liberation in God... liberation in God, that means God of Love” (Pope John Paul II, Speech at the House of Slaves).
Eleven later, the African Episcopate, on the occasion of the 13th Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar in Dakar from September 30 to October 13, 2003, made on October 5 the same pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jean-Paul II in Goree. There they held a celebration of purification of memory and reconciliation. The theological and liturgical preparation for this pilgrimage was provided by Abbots Barthélemy Adoukonou, Léon Diouf and Edouard Adé.
(IMagi of Pope John Paul II, during his pilgrimage to Gorée in 1992.)
Creation of "Faith-Culture-Development" (2010)
Seven years later, in Abidjan, another initiative will give CRS-NDI the opportunity to once again put itself at the service of the Church in Africa. Indeed, from September 27 to October 1, 2010, at the initiative of the Pontifical Council for Culture, supported by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a symposium-workshop bringing together theologians and pastors, women and men of culture, took place at the CERAO Center for Pastoral Care and Mission on the theme: “Culture and Development in the mission of the Church Family of God in Africa”. At the end of this meeting, a “Culture and Development” Forum was set up. The project submitted to the Standing Committee of SECAM in October 2010 received encouragement. At the request of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the denomination of the Forum was changed to “Faith, Culture, Development”. On February 8 and 9, 2011, the Forum's Steering Committee met at the CRS-NDI in Cotonou to clarify the main lines of its Action Plan and develop proposals to be submitted to the Standing Committee of SECAM.
In Dar-es-Salam (November 20-24, 2012), the Director of CRS-NDI became coordinator of this Forum which was approved by the Plenary Assembly, in Kinshasa in July 2013, as a Department ad experimentum, within the SECAM Evangelization Commission.
One of the flagship projects of this Department is to work to create a consortium of cultural research centers in Africa and the emergence of the African cultural subject.
Symposium in Rome in homage to Popes John XXII and John Paul II
CRS-NDI participated in the Colloquium in homage to Popes John XXIII and John Paul II that “Faith, Culture and Development” organized in Rome on April 24 and 25, 2014.
Tribute from Africa to Popes John XXIII and John Paul II - ZENIT - English
Symposium in Dakar on Alioune Diop
CRS-NDI also participated in the International Colloquium held in Dakar, from January 27 to 29, 2016, on the figure of Alioune Diop: “50 years after Vatican II. Africa and the legacy of Alioune Diop: the dialogue of religions and the challenges of the present time” (Présence Africaine, n° 195-196, 2019).
