Beyond self-protection to prophecy: The Catholic Church and political change in Zaire
This article situates current church-State relations in Zaire by analysing the role the Catholic Church has played in Zairian political and social change. The author argues that this role has shifted among three distinct modes. The first mode derives from a 'two realms' principle. The firs...
| Published in: | Africa today |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Indiana Univ. Press
1992
|
| In: |
Africa today
|
| Further subjects: | B
Political change
B State B Religious organization B Zaire (bis 1997) Catholic church Innenpolitische Lage / Development Soziopolitischer Wandel Verhältnis Religionsgemeinschaft - Staat B Internal policy B Social change B Catholic school |
| Summary: | This article situates current church-State relations in Zaire by analysing the role the Catholic Church has played in Zairian political and social change. The author argues that this role has shifted among three distinct modes. The first mode derives from a 'two realms' principle. The first part of the paper reviews the efforts of church leaders to abide by this principle within the newly independent State of Zaire. While the church found it necessary to adopt self-protective policies in a period of political instability, when Mobutu emerged in 1965 promising stability, the bishops supported him. A second mode of church-State relations is characterized as 'prophetic'. Church leaders may sometimes sacrifice public harmony and even place the church's institutional status in the balance because of an overwhelming need to speak their word of truth publicly in difficult circumstances. The second part of the paper examines two conflicts, the confrontation between Cardinal Malula and Mobutu in the 1970s and the bishops' letter to Mobutu of 1990. Lastly, when society experiences pervasive unrest or the prospect of fundamental political change, it may be possible for church leadership to intervene as a catalyst, to serve as an 'honest broker' to begin or facilitate processes of change. That this is the mode of church participation in Zaire at the present time, as evidenced by the bishops' 1990 letter and Archbishop Monsengwo's presidency of the national conference, is developed in the third part of the article. (Documentatieblad/ASC Leiden) |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0001-9887 |
| Contains: | In: Africa today
|