The church, human rights and democracy in Africa

Although the relationship of Catholic mission to colonialism in Africa is a controversial one, it cannot be denied that the Church was instrumental in the progress of African peoples and nations. Drawing inspiration and guidance from the corpus of Catholic Social Teaching, the Church plays a key role in continuing to inspire Africans to the higher goals of human rights and Democracy. A Catholic social imagination, through which Catholics communicate the social demands of their faith as they engage social questions and envision social possibilities in Africa's pluralist societies, needs to be promoted. The task before the Catholic Church in Africa is to move this rich deposit of faith from being the Church's best-kept secret to the marketplace of ideas that can constitute the moral foundation for our politics. Helping to frame the moral direction of public policy in the various young or tottering democracies in Africa is a noble vocation that makes the Church remain a critical collaborator in building sustainable and just democratic cultures on the continent.