By Paschal Norbert
NAIROBI, AUGUST 18, 2023 (CISA)- “Another problem also which we are interested in is the youth immigration problem. You know that today, many youths want to travel, they want to escape from Africa to Europe, and many of them go through the Mediterranean Sea. And unfortunately, some of them die, so it’s something very sad. So, we are expecting the Church to raise awareness of this situation and to sensitize the youth to see how they can deepen their own competence here, how the governments can help them live here and have a better life here,” said Rt Rev. Coffi Roger Anoumou of the Catholic Diocese of Lokossa in Benin.
In an interview with CISA on the sidelines of the two-day preparatory meeting of the African Delegates to the Synod on Synodality in Rome in October held at the Mariapolis Retreat Center in Nairobi, Kenya, Bishop Coffi Roger, the only prelate chosen to represent the West African country at the Synod says that the Catholic Church in Benin has taken a keen interest in the synodal process.
“The Catholic Church in Benin is very lively. It’s true that it’s not the most important in proportion in the African Church but as far as population is concerned, we may say that the Catholics in Benin may be about 40% of the whole population. But the most important thing is that they are very lively. And the Church in Benin also has been well interested in the Synod,” says the bishop of Lokossa.
“We had many steps in the work and we had the diocese level. In Benin today we have 10 dioceses and each diocese had to prepare a document according to the consultation from the people. And we have a national synthesis of the synodal consultations on the future of the Church in about 8 or 10 points about communication, listening and the reality of today- we are on the way to revolution that the Church is moving from a pyramidal Church to a Synodal Church. To mean, we work together, we listen to each other and we take into account the point of view of many others. And it’s a new way of being a Church in Benin,” he adds.
In 2022, Catholics in Benin, who make up about 3.8 million of the nearly 12 million people and who live in the French-speaking West African nation said that they want such synodal consultations of the faithful to happen more frequently as published in the national synthesis of the synodal process. Bishop Coffi, however, insists that people need constant formation to understand what the synod means as many are still in the dark about the process.
“For instance, in Benin, I’m the Bishop chosen. I’m only the only one because we have only 10 dioceses. Benin is not a so big country, it’s a small country. And among the Bishops, I’m the one chosen to participate in the Synod. And to let the people understand more about that, I gave some interviews even before coming here to the Immaculate Mary Radio, which is widely listened to in the country. And I had the time to explain that to the people, what is the meaning of Synod, what are the main issues we are going to discuss over there. And I think that even now with this meeting in Nairobi, once back to Benin, I may give another interview again, so that people can deepen what I said before coming here,” he says.
Bishop Coffi is adamant that for the Church in Africa to move into the future in the spirit of walking together as a Synodal Church then it must acknowledge the work of the lay people and also strengthen their capacity within the hierarchy of the Church.
“The Church today is required to listen, to be open-minded. The Church has to listen, especially to the poor, to those who are not in power, listen to the youth and all this. Also, the Church has to give a very important place to the laypeople because we want to go into a Synodal church. So, we walk together and that means that we don’t have to leave anybody behind, we move together,” he says.
He explains, “One thing we would like is that the lay people in Africa should also feel committed. They have to commit themselves. We have a chance in Africa that we are not dealing with a lack of priests and because of that, lay people, as far as priests are concerned, they say, okay, everything is up to the priest to do, which is not right, today each one of us has to occupy his or her place in the Church. Each one has his own role to play. The priest has his own role to play. The laypeople also have their role to play. So everybody has their part to take in the construction of the Church in Africa.”
The 51-year-old former rector of St. Paul Major Seminary in Djime says that the meeting in Nairobi has helped shade light to some of the issues, which were not clear to them about the Synod and has also strengthened their understanding of what is expected of them at the October Synod.
“We can say that this synod is a bit social and we are going there with an open mind. We want to listen; we want to be available for the work of the Holy Spirit. But that doesn’t mean that we are going with empty heads. No, we are preparing, especially this meeting now in Nairobi, is helping us to focus on some of the important issues that we can suggest there as a typical problem of the Church in Africa,” he stated.
Appointed on March 4, 2023, Bishop Coffi Roger Anoumou is the fourth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Lokossa in the southern region of Benin. He is the only prelate among the 10 local ordinaries in the country that will represent the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Benin in Rome.
