Report on Africa
Peter Schineller, S.J. Introduction About 12% of the world's population reside in Africa, second only to Asia. In Africa we are witnessing the fastest growth ever in the 2000 year history of Christianity. Here are a few statistics to illustrate this point:
Former Dean and Professor of Theology, former Regional
Superior of the Jesuits of Nigeria-Ghana, and future Dean
and Professor of Theology at Hekima College, Nairobi
Population |
Catholics |
Seminarians |
|
| 1900 | 118 | 2.3 | ? |
| 1970 | 320 | 32 | 3,470 |
| 1997 | 720 | 95 | 19,000 |
Africa is large, containing 22% of the land of this good earth. Europe, the USA, India, China, and Argentina all fit within Africa. Africa is complex, with over 2000 languages and ethnic groups. For the purpose of this presentation, I am focusing on subSaharan Africa, and thus not speaking of North Africa or Egypt.
He didn't "omit any statistics." He analyzed the data that already exists regarding America, which is the country where he happens to live . By coincidence, I too live in America, and so does Kenneth Jones the author of the original book, and so do you, judging by your screen name. So why try to change the subject to a land far away where we have so little hard evidence? How about if we deal with the situation right here in our own country where we actually live?
And before we look to Africa to save the Church, perhaps we should consider a few facts. It's difficult to get hard data from Africa, but all the evidence that we do see indicates a continent returning to barbarity and chaos. A land where the most Catholic countries engaged in wholesale mass slaughter and genocide of millions within the past decade. A place which was the subject of a recent report called "New Springtime for Voodoo."
And if we want to look at the causes of the evangelization of Africa which was beginning to take root, who was the number 1 representative of the Catholic Church in Africa at the time of Vatican II? It was Archbishop Lefbvre. He was bishop of Gabon, Apostolic Nuncio from the Vatican for all of French-speaking West Africa (which is where the Catholics would live), and also Superior General of the Holy Ghost fathers who were the ones that evangelized the continent.