How African Small Christian Communities Implement the Pastoral and Missionary Vision of Vatican II
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Date
2013-07
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
As we continue to celebrate the 50-year Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council we recall
the historical foundations of African Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the People of
God Model of Church and in the communion ecclesiology of Vatican II.A study of five
documents of Vatican II reveals that Small Christian Communities are one of the great fruits
of the council and an awakening of the church as the People of God. The founding fathers of
AMECEA had a vision of implementing Vatican II’s ecclesiology of communion in Eastern
Africa that focused on the communion (koinonia) and service (diakonia) aspects. Both
African Synods built on the foundations of Vatican II and highlighted the pastoral and
missionary role of SCCs. We can look at the praxis of SCCs in Eastern Africa though the lens
of the three speakers at the Theological Symposium 2013. Pastoral, parish-based SCCs are
part of the “new face” of the parish and a significant part of a new way of being parish from
below. The parish is a communion or network of SCCs within the “communion of
communities” ecclesiology. We are optimistic that the experience of SCCs as a New Model of
Church from the grassroots as witnessed by SCC members in Africa will bring significant
changes in new pastoral structures corresponding to our contemporary communion
ecclesiology and the ecclesial reality on the local level.
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Keywords
Africa, Small Christian Communities, Pastoral, Missionary, Vision, Vatican II