The Plenary Assembly of the Association of Bishops’ Conferences of Central Africa (ACERAC) was held in Libreville, Gabon, on the theme of the Family, from November 13th to 17th.

 

The President of the Pontifical Council for the Family sent a message, also recalling that Pope Francis has, from the early days of his Pontificate, been working to transmit the Gospel of the Family: «The family that prays, the family that keeps the faith, the family that lives with joy». The Pope has given “three words” to the world’s families for living the true joy of the family: «Knowing how to say: please, thank you, forgive me».
 

The family in Africa, perhaps even more than elsewhere, is «God’s family, the domestic Church and the Sanctuary of love and life». The hope of the President is that «the family, the cell, the driving force and the world’s patrimony, may be for the African continent the school leading into the future». So, he invites everyone: «Love your family, build your family, live in your family, and bear witness to the family». All the members of the Church, as they prepare for the Extraordinary Synod on the family, are «united in one heart in view of the encounter during which a program for the future of the family on the African continent will be defined».
 

In the introduction of the working-paper for the Plenary Assembly, the African bishops began by saying that «the family is like the pillar and the foundation on which society is built. So society has a duty to protect and promote the family». «The Catholic Church recognizes [the family’s] role as mother and teacher of life and love». Marriage is «the sacramental and socially recognized union between a man and a woman, who, recognizing their difference, freely choose and give themselves to one another without reserve and without return». Marriage is a “good and natural” reality. «Man is naturally made to love and to be loved». Marriage is also a “divine institution” and a “sacrament”, that is, an opportunity to “encounter with God”, “indissoluble:” “Man must not separate what God has joined together (Mt 19:6). Moreover, today the family is «a necessary step in the New Evangelization», with «the courage to try new strategies and to reach the depths of the human being».
 

The Bishops of Gabon, who hosted the meeting, at the end of the special session held last October for assessing the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, issued a pastoral letter urging the faithful to «not to let themselves be led astray by false doctrines and to remain vigilant in the face of the current proliferation of mystical-religious currents», and also exhorting them to «regain consciousness of their faith, of its strength and beauty, by giving renewed vigor to those who are experiencing difficulties or a crisis in their lives of faith». «This moment is crucial and grave—we read in the statement—even in our areas, many lie, claiming that Christ is not risen, and the sellers of illusions of certain sects assert that Jesus’ Resurrection is a human invention. We care a great deal about the duty to make the light of the truth shine forth in the face of religious relativism, and as pastors and successors of the apostles we ask you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to be deceived and led astray by strange doctrines».
 

The next Plenary Assembly of the Association of Bishops’ Conferences of Central Africa will be held in Brazzaville, DR Congo, from 6 to 13 July 2014.