A few years ago, an electrical grid failure left most of Europe in darkness.  Over the next week, one could watch night time satellite photographs of Europe go from almost dark to rather bright, as the system was being repaired.  Similar pictures taken over Africa would show huge dark areas which are always dark!  We regularly receive news of the economic woes in developed countries, but can easily forget the constant struggle the poor in Africa have to survive.  Such poverty is certainly unjustified in a world of instant communication.  We see material and people move all too quickly into war zones, hopefully to correct evils.  Would that the bearers of Christ’s peace be able to move as efficiently!

As soon as he began his pontificate, Pope Francis challenged the world to work to correct injustice.  Certainly he was challenging political and military leaders, but he especially challenged us, the ordinary members of the 1.2 billion strong Catholic Church.  We know that there can be no peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness, and certainly no forgiveness, without love.  Let us not sell ourselves short!  We are not perfect, but are trying to live up to Jesus’ call to live his command to the full.  We care about our family members, fellow parishioners, colleagues, and the wider community.  Hopefully we continue to see God in each of them, especially in those we find it hard to get along with.  Then we can become the loving, and therefore serving, people God wants us to be.

But most of us are very far from Africa!  The African Catholics make up 16% of the Church, about 186 million people.  The Church continues to grow rapidly.  Three early Popes were North African, but now it is south of the Sahara that the Church is growing.  Africans are religious people.  I love to listen to their music and watch their lively, dance-filled, religious celebrations.  Over the last five centuries European missionaries have laid a foundation for the faith and now a mature African Catholic Church is moving ahead.  Church institutions serve all Africans through pastoral, educational, health, and social services.  Canadians do support missionaries and local churches around the world, and we in the less developed corners of our world depend on that support.  Canadian Jesuits International coordinates help to Africa through several partner organizations.  Three Canadian Jesuits presently work on the continent.  I do encourage readers to look at what support Canadian Jesuits International is giving to African organizations.  Financial support is one way we Canadians can help the African Church. 

The missionary era is ending.  Now Africa is a strong arm of the Catholic Church, able to support itself and continue to grow.  Our challenge is to work together to help the people of the world grow in faith!  Let’s not ignore the real problems the African Continent faces:  economic corruption, dictatorships, wars growing from racial and religious differences, inefficiency, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

People have caused these problems.  Africa is developing economically.  Political leaders can rise to the challenge the poor in their countries bring to them, the challenge to share the benefits of growth evenly.  People can solve these problems if they really do love one another, and therefore care enough to share, so that as their standard of living rises, so will the strength of their faith. 

Let us pray for the people of Africa.  I pray for economic development, symbolized in more electricity, but I especially pray that the true light of God’s love will become more and more manifest in the lives of all of us, in Africa and in the world.  I can start this process by being the loving person God calls me to be.  You can do the same!