January 1998 Case Study: A Continent on the Margins
Abstract
Contemporary Africa can be compared to the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; he fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead (cf. Lk 10:30-37). Africa is a continent where countless human beings -men and women, children and young people -- are lying, as it were, on the edge of the road, sick, injured, disabled, marginalized and abandoned. They are in great need of Good Samaritans who will come to their aid.
Description
In these dramatic words of gospel reflection, John Paul il provides a vivid image of the conditions and challenges of 'a continent on the margins'. His message comes in the Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa, delivered in September 1995, sixteen months after the close of the historic African Synod.Pl The Synod ("Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops") drew together over 300 bishops and others (90% of whom were African) for four weeks of deliberation in Rome in April and May 1994.