Church in Africa has lessons for us, says keynote speaker Jesuit Father Peter Henriot

The seventh annual Catholic African Connections Sister Parish Conference at St. Bridget Church in Seattle will definitely carry an African flavor. Kenya native Father Stephen Okumu, pastor of St. Bridget, will celebrate an African Mass, backed by the Swahili Choir from Holy Spirit Parish in Kent on Saturday, April 20.

And though participants will bring sack lunches, they will be able to sample African peanut stew during the noon break.

The conference, titled “Building Bridges of Faith,” will give representatives from more than a dozen Western Washington parishes and schools an opportunity to share experiences and resources gained from their relationships with people on the other side of the world.

“Everyone’s invited,” said spokeswoman Mary Jo Gasparich of St. Bridget’s. “It’s free, and people are welcome to come just for the Mass, or for a particular talk, or to come spend the whole day.”

Beyond poverty, conflictFather Henriot, the conference’s keynote speaker, was director from 1990 to 2010 of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection in Zambia, a social justice and development center that works closely with the Zambia Bishops Conference on issues of faith. He also served in a poor rural parish there.

Now based in neighboring Malawi and its capital of Lilongwe, he is working on establishing the new coeducational Loyola Jesuit Secondary School in a rural area 75 miles from Lilongwe. He also assists at the archdiocese’s cathedral parish.

A native of St. Patrick Parish in Tacoma, Father Henriot graduated from Bellarmine Preparatory School before entering the Jesuit community in 1956. He notes that a common misconception that outsiders have of Africa is that it is primarily a continent of poverty and conflict, a land beset with coups, dictators and genocides.

“The first thing I try and emphasize is every place has problems, and don’t over-exaggerate the problems of Africa,” he said March 30 in a phone interview from Malawi. It’s “important for the people in the United States to realize that there’s tremendous resources here: natural resources, human resources. There’s a tremendous richness of culture.”

Seminaries are fullThat culture features a respect for family and an emphasis on community over individualism — values that are key elements of Christianity, he said.

And despite the tribal wars that Africa has suffered, it has seen peaceful transitions as well, such as the end of the apartheid period in South Africa, and the ascension of vice president Joyce Banda to become Malawi’s first female president following her predecessor’s death last year, he said.

Father Henriot, whose talk at the conference is entitled “The Year of Faith: Lessons from the Church in Africa,” said what’s going on in the church in Africa has relevance to Catholics here.

For instance, the church in Africa is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, and its seminaries and religious houses full, he said.

“So you have to ask yourself: Why is that and can we learn something about the way faith is being experienced here that could be of help” to U.S. Catholics?

The ways in which the church there strives to “be in touch with the wisdom of the African tradition” is another lesson for American Catholics, he said. It seeks to be “authentically Christian and authentically African,” he said, and that is seen in the “way we do our liturgy” and “in our theological thinking.”

The church in Africa also displays a “great sensitivity to the poor” and to social justice issues, Father Henriot said.

“The churches are full, the people are praying, but they’re also aware that there are issues that we need to deal with … as St. James said, by our deeds.”

Assistance in many formsIn the Archdiocese of Seattle, parishes and schools from Vancouver to Arlington enjoy links with their counterparts in Malawi, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho and Zambia. They assist with everything from building schools and teacher housing to providing books and scholarships, funding micro-businesses, digging wells and supplying mosquito nets, among other projects.

Gasparich, for example, is a member of St. Bridget’s Friends of Namitembo Committee, which represents the parish’s 16-year relationship with a parish in southern Malawi. St. Bridget’s annual Elephant Stampede, a fundraising race and picnic, has become a North Seattle staple that draws hundreds each September.

But as Gasparich and others note, the relationship is not a one-sided affair. Delegations from Western Washington parishes have returned from Africa inspired by the depth of spirituality they’ve witnessed.

Michael Van Winkle of Immaculate Conception Parish in Arlington, which has a partnership with a parish in Kenya, said that the relationship also serves as a reminder to look beyond your own community’s needs.

“The poor are elsewhere, they’re not just here,” he said. “It’s very important for us to have an outward look, especially in terms of what the new pope is saying. And this (sister parish relationship) is helping us to do that.”

The church in Africa is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, its seminaries and religious houses full.

Catholic African Connections Conference

When: Saturday, April 20, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.Where: St. Bridget Church, 4900 N.E. 50th St., SeattleRegister through the archdiocesan Missions Office at 206-382-4580 or 800-869-7028, or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloaked0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addyed0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857 = 'missionsoffice' + '@'; addyed0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857 = addyed0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857 + 'seattlearchdiocese' + '.' + 'org'; var addy_texted0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857 = 'missionsoffice' + '@' + 'seattlearchdiocese' + '.' + 'org';document.getElementById('cloaked0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857').innerHTML += ''+addy_texted0497539ac8a239ff7a7993e26c6857+'';

Parishes, schools with African connections

ArlingtonImmaculate Conception Parish and St. John Vianney Mission, Darrington — KenyaBurienSt. Francis of Assisi School — KenyaBremertonOur Lady Star of the Sea Parish — UgandaKirklandHoly Family Parish — MalawiSammamishMary, Queen of Peace Parish — GhanaSeattleHoly Names Academy — Kenya and LesothoHoly Rosary Parish — Kenya and UgandaSt. Benedict Parish — ZambiaSt. Bridget Parish — MalawiSt. Joseph School — KenyaTacomaSt. Leo Parish — LesothoVancouverSt. Joseph Parish — KenyaWoodinvilleBlessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish — Kenya

Source: Archdiocese of Seattle Missions Office

April 11, 2013