AFRICA : KENYA : LAITY URGED TO EVANGELIZE

CISA NEWS REPORT:
Catholic-Laity-Challenged-on-Evangelization
MOLO, August 31, 2012 (CISA) – The laity in the Catholic Church has been urged to participate fully in evangelization.
Director of The Blessed John Paul II Evangelizing parish teams church movement, Professor Peter Kiarie said that the Second African Synod, held in Rome in 2009 and whose report was presented to the Church in Africa by Pope Benedict November 2011 “empowers” the lay people in the church to participate in evangelization work.
Professor Kiarie was officially opening a three-day workshop (August 16-19), organized by The Blessed John Paul II Evangelizing Parish Teams Movement and held at Ukarimu Centre-Incarnate Sisters, Molo.
The theme of the workshop was “Be Missionaries to yourself-Pope Paul VI-Uganda-I969” and was attended by 56 participants, drawn from various dioceses in the country.
“The laity must be very active in evangelization as stipulated by the Second African Synod,” said Prof Kiarie.
He said the spirituality of Blessed John II is of the new evangelization which Pope Benedict VI has adopted.
In his recent address Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that new evangelization requires a change in mentality, particularly with regard to the role of the laity in the Church, who should be considered not as “collaborators” with the clergy, but as persons truly “co-responsible” for the being and activity of the Church, said Prof Kiarie while quoting the Pope.
“It is important, therefore, that a mature and committed laity be united, who are able to make their own specific contribution to the Church’s mission,” added Prof Kairie.
Religious teacher, Simon Rurinjah presented a paper on how to make Small Christian Communities (SCCs) evangelistic.
He said some people are failing to attend the SCCs meeting because of their thirty for money.
Father Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ stressed the centrality of parental care within families. The list of parental responsibilities, which he described as fundamental survival of family included care and control of the child, discipline, protection and maintenance, secular education and religious upbringing, medical treatment and consent to marriage.
The workshop was also addressed by the Spiritual director of the Movement, Father Richard Quinn, a Maryknoll missionary priest.
“We must train and form our people on how to evangelize in our Small Christian Communities. We must know and learn how to dialogue with Muslims, work and show with them our love, even though we must be most vocal in claiming our rights and denouncing any false teaching and insults against our faith,” he emphasized.
Father Eustaki Tarimo, Vicar General and Dean, Arusha Archdiocese, Tanzania stressed the need for effective co-existence between the Catholics and people of other faith, Muslims included.
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS

Comments