Wednesday, 18 February 2009 13:25
The Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa remain concerned about the enormous challenges that face South Africa going into the 2009 Election. In a Pastoral letter addressed to the Catholic Community in South Africa released on 17 February 2009, Catholics are called to promote catholic social teaching including respect for life and human dignity, responsibility and the common good, just sharing of wealth and resources, participation and compassionate solidarity with the poor and marginalised. "We must stand up for our convictions and show respect for the views of others" says Archbishop Buti Tlhagale who also calls for vigils of prayer before the election.
In the Letter, the President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference speaks of four tendencies that the Bishops regarded as threats to democracy. These threats are:
• Blind loyalty to a party.
• Intolerance and Intimidation of those who hold different political views.
• Corruption that delays service delivery and disillusions so many people.
• Doing nothing – creating a dependency and allowing those in authority to do as they please without challenge.
The Archbishop says that "we cannot relax and that guarding genuine democracy is an ongoing challenge". He remins the South African community of the tragedies that followed the elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2008.
"Jesus Christ shows us the way to the fullness of life" says Archbishop Buti. "As Christians we are called to work with all South Africans to ensure growth and strengthening of democratic values and principles."
In addition to the Pastoral letter, the Justice and Peace Department of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has produced a reflection document and questions aimed at small group and personal study in preparation for the election.
Fr Michael Deeb, Co-ordinator of the Justice and Peace Department of the SACBC said that the aim of the guide is to ensure "a greater participation of all the members of our Church through all the sodalities, movements and service groups in our parishes in working for justice and peace and in realizing a free and fair election."
The letter and reflections and translations into Afrikaans, Portuguese, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Xhosa and Zulu are available on the SACBC website.
To read this letter in English, click here
To read this letter in Afrikaans, click here
To read this letter in Zulu, click here
To read this letter in Xhosa, click here
To read this letter in Sotho, click here
To read this letter in Setswana, click here
To read this letter in Sepedi, click here
To read this letter in Portuguese, click here
written by John Berend, July 02, 2009
