In the Name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.
Dt: Friday 09 Oct.2009
PRESS RELEASE
Dear Editor,
Assalamu Alaykum. Courtesy Vatican Information Service [VIS 091005, 091007] we are copying hereunder selected quotations from the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops held in Vatican recently. Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon shares with Vatican similar concern about many of the issues copied hereunder. We strongly feel that the administrations of EU, USA and UN should return to divine moral values and pursue aim of reaching “high measure” of virtuous life. They should change their current harmful agenda for promotion of :-
(1) practical materialism, combined with relativist and nihilist thinking
(2) export its spiritual toxic waste that contaminates the peoples of other continents
(3) new global ethic which aggressively seeks to persuade African and Asian governments and communities to accept new and different meanings of concepts of family, marriage and human sexuality
(4) second wave of colonisation both subtle and ruthless at the same time
(5) liberalism, secularism and …lobbyists who squat at the United Nations
(6) structural injustice rooted in European and United States policies
(7) The 'Aid Industry', which feeds on selling negative and outmoded stereotypes of Africans and Asians as helpless victims of endless wars and constant famines.
For Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon
Kazi Azizul Huq
International Affairs Secretary
QUOTATIONS
HH POPE BENEDICT XVI:
Africa ..represents an enormous spiritual 'lung' for a humanity that appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope ...at the moment, at least two dangerous pathologies are attacking it: firstly, an illness that is already widespread in the West, that is, practical materialism, combined with relativist and nihilist thinking........First World has exported and continues to export its spiritual toxic waste that contaminates the peoples of other continents….in this sense, colonialism which is over at a political level, has never really entirely come to an end.....The "second 'virus' that could hit Africa..is religious fundamentalism, mixed with political and economic interests……in God's name, but following a logic that is opposed to divine logic, that is, teaching and practicing not love and respect for freedom, but intolerance and violence ...
Matrimony as it is presented to us in the Bible, does not exist outside of the relationship with God. Married life between a man and a woman, and therefore of the family that springs from that, is inscribed into the communion with God Jesus welcomes the children..we see the image of the Church that, in Africa, and in every other part of the planet, demonstrates her maternal concern especially for the smallest, even before they are born ....
The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.. one must always aim at the 'high measure' of Christian life, that is to say holiness
reconciliation is the stable foundation upon which peace is built, the necessary condition for the true progress of mankind and society, according to the project of justice ordained by God....
conflicts currently endangering the peace and security of the people of Africa. episodes of violence that have affected the people of Guinea I invite all parties to engage in dialogue and reconciliation.. spare no efforts to reach a just and equitable solution.....
carry out empirical studies yet practical analyses, though conducted with precision and competence, do not indicate the true problems of the world if we do not see everything in the light of God.our analyses are deficient if we do not realise that behind the injustice of corruption, and all such things, is an unjust heart, a closure towards God and thus a falsification of the fundamental relationship upon which all other relationships are founded....
ARCHBISHOP BUTI JOSEPH TLHAGALE O.M.I. OF JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA:-
Moral values embedded in the diverse African cultures, alongside the Gospel values, are threatened by the new global ethic which aggressively seeks to persuade African governments and communities to accept new and different meanings of concepts of family, marriage and human sexuality.
The cultures of Africa are under heavy strain from liberalism, secularism and from lobbyists who squat at the United Nations.
Africa faces a second wave of colonisation both subtle and ruthless at the same time. ...
Lay people, by virtue of their Baptism, have a significant role to play. They are expected to witness in the public square, in their families and places of work. Their Christian voice in the face of the many challenges in Africa, is weak, muffled or simply silent.
The hierarchy is without credible partners in the work of the transformation of Africa. Lay Catholics need to be given a voice in order to stand up and be counted for their Catholic faith. The hierarchy cannot do it alone.
FR. KIERAN O'REILLY, SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF AFRICAN MISSIONS:-
to address issues of structural injustice rooted in European and United States policies that affect Africa adversely. ...
As the 'family of God' the Church is challenged to witness and promote the universality of God's love for all people and the future unity of humanity....
Africa is poorly served by the mass media, which focuses almost exclusively on the bad news, thus creating a widely accepted narrative of a continent in a constant state of crisis. ..
The 'Aid Industry', too, feeds on selling negative and outmoded stereotypes of Africans as helpless victims of endless wars and constant famines.
[Source : Vatican Information Service www.visnews.org or www.vatican.va ]
