Reconciliation in the African Synod

Reconciliation has become a major theme of the African Synod, with the Church seen (rightly) as an important real or potential player in the process. A new dimension to this was added by Sister Pauline Bukasa of the Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking a few days ago, who called (together with other speakers) to recognise the importance of women as agents of the process in both church and state. Women, after all, bear the brunt of violence, oppression and marginalisation – in, once again, both Church and State.

This poses the obvious question: what do we mean by reconciliation? “This is how things are; be reconciled to it” is no reconciliation at all. Nor is a series of vague apologies that are quickly said, with things returning to the status quo. True reconciliation is a process that must transform.

It starts with truth – finding the unvarnished facts of violence, suffering, oppression and sin. But a narrative of wrongs must be accompanied by a careful analysis of causes, getting to the root of why things happened: economic inequalities, patriarchal mindsets, tribalism, ideologies of power, even religious beliefs.

But a simple apology, easily said and more easily forgotten, is not enough. Justice must be done to right wrongs of the past. In some cases this may involve punishment of serious violators of human rights. But more importantly things need to be done to restore the dignity of victims. Yet even this is not enough.

Ultimately reconciliation must be the engine that creates and drives new relationships in a community so that such harm that was done is never repeated. It is, in theological terms, a conversion (metanoia) of how we relate to each other. Almost inevitably this must involve structural change.

The Church of Africa is well positioned to be an agent of reconciliation on the continent. The Church can be to countries and communities going through social trauma an ‘honest broker’ who can mediate the process between rival factions. We saw this in the person of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa – a passionate defender of human rights, yet someone sufficiently outside the factions to chair our Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

But the credibility of the Church will not be as strong if we do not consider how reconciliation needs to begin within ourselves. We need to look long and hard at ourselves, put aside naive ideas of the church as a ‘perfect society’ and see what the Fathers of Vatican II saw, an ‘ecclesia semper reformanda’ – a church always in need of reform. Looking at the history of the Church of Africa we see many inconvenient truths: how we collaborated in colonialism; how we often chose to align with new elites for a variety of reasons; how we have helped to perpetuate the oppression of women on the continent (whether in the name of orthodoxy or African culture); how we have failed and continue to fail to implement the vision of collegiality of Vatican II.

This means looking at many uncomfortable areas in our Church lives. It means above all honest reflection on our practice – and even on how our theology may at times make us opponents of reconciliation. God grant the Synod the courage to embrace reconciliation in all its dimensions.