In 2001, the Kenyan Bishops had written a Pastoral letter “on Self Reliance”.  It is a topic which concerns all of us and their text is worth reading.  We may pay attention to this statement on their third page:

The missionary contributions in terms of expertise and funds are on the decrease.  In spite of all this, the mandate of Christ to evangelize gives us the stamina to forge ahead, with hope and determination, and to explore new economic development avenues.

As a matter of fact, it seems that the economic crisis affecting Zambia as a whole, has now reached the Zambian Church, and each of its dioceses in particular.  That news had been a bit of a shock for some of us, more especially the young priests who are  suddenly  asked  to  face  the reality.  They had given themselves to the church, fully, expecting that in return the Church will provide for them.  And now they are told that there is far less money than expected.  Yet, as said the Kenyan Bishops, it should not be the time for despair or grumbling but rather to go back to our essentials and forge ahead, pushed by our apostolic motivation: the mandate of Christ to evangelize.

Therefore time has come now to see, in the words of the Bishops, what “new economic development avenues” could be opened to us.

SUSTAINING A MORE EVANGELIZING CHURCH

As Church leaders, we use to rely on the Christians for our daily living.  And they are most of the time very generous.  Still there has not been any parish priest who, one day or another, has not been obliged to put pressure on his people so that they fulfill their financial obligations towards the Church.  In some cases, it has even been done under the threat of punishment to be prevented to receive the sacraments.

Why is it that we are bound to oblige the Christians to sustain financially their Church?  Why is it that some of them are just occasional givers when “giving” should be the life style of the devoted faithful Christian?  There might be various reasons for that.

Many of our people are more concerned with their salvation than their evangelization.  We still have a pastoral approach which is much more geared towards salvation through sacraments than through evangelization.  Therefore, some Christians may not understand all that fuss about evangelization, together with the expenses it entails.

Moreover, considering that the first evangelization had been offered free of charge with money from abroad, we may understand better why they are so puzzled when we ask them for money.  It seems that if we want people to be more generous, we have to explain in more details the importance of evangelization for salvation.  And consequently, they will notice that if salvation is a free gift from God, evangelization is not cheap!

It may also be true that many people do not link their regular offerings with this fundamental work of evangelization.  When they pull money out of their pockets or select an animal from their krall, they may have the feeling much more to feed a huge structure, the Church, rather than to contribute to the work of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Genuine Christians may refuse to feed the selfish interest of the Church leaders, but they will never refuse to contribute and equip properly all the agents of evangelization.  If the people would see better what we are doing with the money they have generously offered, maybe they would be more willing to contribute financially.  In other words, we are challenged: as Church leaders, what are we doing with the money entrusted to us?  Could it be true that it is used for our own well being before the needs of the apostolate?

Jesus Christ has left us a mission to bring salvation to our brothers and sisters through evangelization and the sacraments.  The current economic situation may be a call to be a far more evangelizing Church, in the footsteps of Christ.  And people would see that their offerings and efforts are worthwhile.  All our contributions, in sweat or in money, in actions or in offerings, should be geared first and foremost towards evangelization and also the upkeep of dynamic agents of evangelization.

SCOUTING FOR DONORS

Another of these avenues mentioned above would be to seek more help from donors or donors agencies.  And it seems that some of us have become quite skilled in this domain.

One of our Zambian leaders has been reported to have said to some western people: For me, you are like a mango tree.  As long as you have some mangoes for me, I shall pick them out.  As he was further asked: But what will you do when there will be no more fruit in your tree?  He replied bluntly: That is not your problem!  If it really happened as reported, we  should  not  be  astonished as such frame of mind seems to be a reflection of the African Traditional Culture, called sometimes culture of the harvest, which says: let us enjoy the fruits as long as they fall from the tree.  We shall look for another solution afterwards.  And such mentality is still alive in many cases.

Recently, there was a meeting of a Diocesan Committee heavily funded from abroad.  Wisely, its leaders had brought the point: What shall we do in 2006, when our donor agency will stop funding us?  Rightly, one of the members reacted: It is not what shall we do then but rather what are we doing now, in order to prepare ourselves for 2006.  Luckily or not, it seems that our Committee has already found another donor agency which will take over the funding after 2006.

They definitely want to delay the time when, at last, they would not live any more in dependency.  They have not realized that the problem is indeed: how can they work now in order to be less dependent on outside funding; in short what should they do now to become a self-reliant committee.  No doubt that for all of us, some rationality in the management of the local resources would be needed so that everything does not end “when the tree has no more fruits”.

OUR DIGNITY AS BEGGARS

Many of our people have become (or are) very concrete and practical in their approach to life.  So, facing the many NGO or other donor agencies they would rather think: If somebody is ready to do it for us, why should we bother? Let him go ahead.  And then starts the perpetual begging which tends to become the enduring art, a begging which annihilates our dignity as people of God, called upon to be God’s collaborators.

Truly, Africa and our Diocese in particular, are too poor.  We shall always need help from abroad.  We shall have to apply for funds, to ask or to beg.  But it will have to be done with dignity: the dignity of people who have done everything possible to take charge of themselves, people who are taking the steps towards self-reliance.  In short, the dignity of people who are not perpetual recipients of outside generosity but people who have also their specific contributions to bring in for the building up of society and God’s Kingdom.  How many of us would be ready to crawl as a poor beggar provided it brings in any profit?

The begging is not and will never be the long term solution.  In fact this continuous call on outside help may prevent us to discover and experience all the potentialities which are lying in the hearts of our people, in our Christian Communities.  It is while we are enjoying the little outside help we are still getting, that we can start developing these local potentialities.

HIDDEN POTENTIALITIES OF THE POOR

In this domain, the example of the biblical widow of Sareptha is enlightening.  She was poor, she had almost nothing left.  Yet she was invited to share the little she had with the prophet of God.  Humanly speaking, we would say, she was fool enough to do it.  And yet the jar did not go empty nor the jug run dry (1 King 17, 14).  She discovered that, through God’s help, she had far more potentialities than she thought.

We should believe that the people of our Diocese have far more potentialities than we think.  We are called upon to discover them through challenges like the prophet did in the Bible.  All our people have received from God capacities of action, initiative and determination.  Instead of dreaming about outside help, we should capitalize on these potentialities often dormant in the people so that not only they would discover their real dignity as God’s collaborators but also would be enabled to see themselves and become the valuable agents of change Zambia and the Church so badly need.  Those potentialities may be small, like a little seed.  But it is the mustard seed of the Gospel, destined to become the biggest shrub if we know how to care for it.

Unfortunately, because of past failures, we too often do not believe anymore in people.  But if we may experience disappointments with them, God never does.  With Him, we have to believe in the potentialities He has put in each human person of our parishes.  There has been and there will be more mistakes but these have to be considered as temporary crisis in a process of unending growth.

JOURNEYING THROUGH THE CRISIS

It is never easy to live through a crisis time and we can understand the worries and anxieties of some of us.  None of us will be left untouched.  We need patience, understanding, compassion, community spirit.

Some 40 years ago, the Catholic Church in the French speaking Guinée had to face a very big crisis with the deportation of all its expatriate personnel.  It had been quite unexpected.  Yet the Church survived thanks to the faith, determination and courage of all its catechists guided by the few local priests remaining.  If they did so in Guinée, there are no reasons why we should not be able to overcome our own financial crisis here in Zambia.  Let us not give in to desperation but on the opposite raise our heads and be ready to take the necessary steps that will allow us to carry on our mission of evangelization.

For the last 30 years, the Church in Chipata has made tremendous progress.  It has started many new foundations.  It has shown its strength and power at the service of the people.  In the near future, it may progress differently.  We would rather improve in depth and qualities rather than in number or size.  Our limited finances may push us to be a more humble Church in its outside setup but still active and vigilant in its fidelity to the Gospel and mission of evangelization.

During the past few years, the necessities of the apostolate have obliged us to travel extensively in order to serve the people all over the province and harmonize our work at Diocesan level.  Then, we may have to replace a  multiplicity of short visits by one single visit, a much longer one and more in depth.  Such are the type of changes which may have to take place if we want to keep alive the flame of evangelization in spite of the scarcity of our material means.

Our limited means of apostolate may give a new shape to our Church.  It will not be the Church as laid down by the missionaries of the colonial and post-colonial era.  But as said by the Kenyan Bishops, that might be the beginning of a real African  Church: “This will make us not only self-reliant but also lay basis for a truly authentic African Church.

So to say, we are called to write together the third Chapter of the history of our Church in Chipata.

THE CHURCH OF THE 21^ST CENTURY

Once upon a time, an English priest was asked: How would be the Catholic Church in England without all these Irish immigrants?  He answered with a large smile: Much smaller yet much better.  In the same way we could ask ourselves: How will be our Church in Chipata without all that money and subsidies from abroad? and our answer would be in a similar vein: Probably less triumphant, yet still better.

The creativity and ingenuity of its people will be stimulated; the individualism, rampant in our society, will be replaced by a sense of solidarity and unity of a community which accepts to face up to adversity; it will show a greater dignity and ecclesial maturity as a Church standing on its own feet and not wearing the shoes of somebody else … and many other positive aspects.

It is this Church that we are invited to build, all of us priests, religious and laity: young ones with their dynamism and enthusiasm, older ones with their experience and wisdom.  With this financial crisis, a new shoot is showing up on the solid tree of the Church.  It belongs to us to care for it and make it grow.  That shoot will become the true African Church of the 21^st century.

Gilles Mathorel, M.Afr.
Diocese of Chipata
Chipata