A CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD OF AFRICA: THE ZAMBIAN EXPERIENCE

How often have you and I used the opening words of Gaudium et Spes, “The joys and hopes, the fears and anxieties...”, to call attention for ourselves and for others to the overriding priority of the Church’s mission today, the service of all humanity to enjoy life to the fullest! Surely, there is no "church in the modern world” if there is not that Christian community composed of women and men, united in Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, in a journey to the Kingdom intimately linked with humankind and its history.Zambia became independent of British colonial rule in 1964, one year before that greatest document of the Second Vatican Council, Church in the Modem World (Gaudium et Spes), was published. The Catholic church in Zambia has over the past forty years played a very significant role in the development of the country. This has occurred both through direct service institutions (e.g., schools and hospitals) and through explicit social teaching on key issues facing the country at large. Today the church enjoys a prominent and respected place, in cooperation with other church bodies, in influencing the social, economic and political life of the people, as well as the religious life of individuals and the community

Presentation in JCTR 2007 Series

So what new can possibly be said about this topic of corruption in Zambia? Haven’t we already heard more than enough about the topic? And really, what difference does yet another paper make on the presence of corruption in Zambia today? Well, these are questions that kept coming to me the past few days as I was finalising my presentation here this evening at the joint Alliance Française-JCTR lecture programme. (Maybe they were questions coming to you also!) Indeed, I was even tempted to switch to another more fresh topic, or else give up altogether. Well, of course I couldn’t do that, so here I am, making an effort to provoke some good discussion this evening, and some strong action tomorrow!So what new can possibly be said about this topic of corruption in Zambia? Haven’t we already heard more than enough about the topic? And really, what difference does yet another paper make on the presence of corruption in Zambia today

CHURCH’S SOCIAL TEACHING AND THE ECONOMY IN ZAMBIA

To speak of the economy in Zambia, let me Introduce my presentation with mention of three books that have a particular focus on a people-oriented economy. These are studies that challenge very strongly the ordinary discussions, frameworks, parameters, and measurements that characterise so much of economic planning, decisions and outcomes of the Zambian government and the international financial institutions that have such an influence on that government.Since we are going to be talking about Zambia in great detail this afternoon, I want to open with a phrase I use more and more these days: "Zambia is a very rich country, a very rich country indeed, but Zambia is a country of very poor people, very poor people indeed!” How and why the two parts of that sentence come together is not simply an economic issue, but primarily a moral, ethical, indeed religious issue. And that is why our discussion this afternoon focuses on Zambia’s economy and the Church’s social teaching

ZAMBIA: A CASE STUDY OF ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE IMPACT ON THE POOR

The purpose of the present paper is not to do fresh research but to survey key areas/issues in the Zambian economy and in particular to note the impact of these issues on some of the Partners of Christian Aid. Part I will analysis the macro-economic areas of (1) SAP economic reforms, (2) trade, (3) investment, and (4) debt; Part II will highlight responses by Partners; and Part III will explain advocacy efforts.Zambia is a '‘classic case" of a poor African country struggling with the problems of political and economic transitions. In 1991, it moved out of 27 years of one-party/one-man rule by the leader of its independence fight, Kenneth Kaunda, and embraced multi-party democracy with the election of Frederick Chiluba as President. While today the structures of - democracy may be more or less in place (e.g., many different parties, periodic elections, relatively free media), the attitudes of democracy still are weak (e.g., tolerance, commitment to the common good, transparency and accountability). The movement away from a socialist economy to a liberalised capitalist economy has accompanied the political transition and caused considerable hardship among the people. The government's full-scale implementation of a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) has particularly hurt the poor

The Challenge of the Second African Synod

The purpose of this JCTR booklet is to help to prepare for the African Synod by increasing awareness about it and its importance to Catholics and other in Zambia and wider in Africa and around the world. We contribute to such a preparation by suggesting answers to these important questions: Have we achieved the themes and recommendations of the First African Synod? What are our expectations of the Second African Synod? How best can we prepare and participate for the Second African Synod?On 28 June 2007, Pope Benedict XVI called for the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops to be held in the Vatican in October 2009. The theme of this Second Assembly is: “The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace: ‘You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world’ (Matthew 5: 13-15).” This synod will come 15 years after the 1994 Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, now commonly referred to as the First African Synod. Synods of Bishops have regularly been held since the conclusion of Vatican Two, devoting attention both to the universal topics such as evangelisation, laity or scripture, or geographically localised with a focus, for example, on the Church in Europe, the Americas or Asia. Unlike a Council which can make decrees, a Synod is, in the present Roman dispensation, only “consultative.” This means it can only make recommendations which are referred to the Pope for follow-up