Catholic clergymen from Guinea Conakry, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Niger met for the convention that was themed “The prophetic function of clergymen within the face of intolerance and ethnic-religious instrumentalization in sub-Saharan Africa”.
The clergymen acknowledged the escalation of ethnic and religious-based conflicts within the area, and deliberated on methods to finish them
In his presentation initially of the convention, Fr. Domingos Ca, the Professor of Biblical Theology on the Main Seminary of Bissau blamed the escalation of violence and different types of conflicts in West African international locations on the failure to deal with people and teams within the area with dignity.
“Though it’s not inside our remit to make an in-depth evaluation of the state of affairs in our sub-region, we’ve however been in a position to see that the generally lack of recognition of the equal dignity and rights of people and teams results in conflicts and injustices which, from a distance, degenerate into bloody and irreversible ruptures inside households and teams,” Fr. Domingos stated.
Earlier, Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Sierra Leone’s Archdiocese of Freetown had despatched a goodwill message to the convention, expressing remorse that many international locations in West Africa are experiencing divisions on tribal traces, and that a few of these divisions manifest within the Church.
The archbishop urged the clergymen to suggest methods to finish the conflicts on the Guinea-Bissau convention.
“Our West African sub-region is witnessing a surge of conflicts of varied varieties, together with these of ethnic and non secular nature. In such a state of affairs, we clergymen have an important function in spearheading battle decision and reconciliation as a result of we’re ordained to be ministers of a Church established by Jesus Christ to be a sacrament of union with God and of unity of all women and men,” Archbishop Tamba Charles stated.
Of their listing of suggestions following the convention, the clergymen proposed synergy from the heads of states within the area and the Church. They urged governments, notably, to stay attentive to the folks’s wants, and to advertise peace and justice.
The clergymen urged Bishops within the area to strengthen schooling in spiritual and ethical values and to be efficient brokers of peace, reconciliation, and nationwide cohesion.
The Monks additional urged the laity to desist from exploiting social media platforms to trigger divisions, and to stay agency in opposition to political, tribal, and religious-based divisions.
