Church leaders plan to tour Africa to 'listen and learn'

A GROUP of seven Church leaders from Britain is to visit Africa from 9-21 January as part of an ecumenical programme of solidarity with African Churches.
The visit represents a joint initiative on the part of CAFOD, SCIAF and Christian Aid who were recently challenged by Bishop Tilewa Johnson of Gambia and Josphat Mulyungi, a Catholic development worker from Kenya, to "deepen' their relationship with Africa. The three countries to be visited Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique have all been recently afflicted by severe drought and a consequent increase in refugee numbers. Ethiopia and Mozambique have also been ravaged by civil war.
However, whereas many Church groups in the past have visited Africa to consider aid, this will be the first expedition whose chief aim is to "listen to and learn from" the African Churches.
"In the West, we tend to
think of ourselves as the guardians of Christianity," says Cathy Corcoran of CAFOD, who will be visiting Ethiopia with Bishop John Rawsthorne, auxiliary in Liverpool, and the Rev Leslie Wallace of Bangor, "But these countries have a great deal to teach us. They do not compartmentalise their religion. They allow it to affect every area or their Eyes."
On their return, the seven will be reporting to the British and Irish Churches on their experiences.