Tangaza Update(Culture Galore)
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Date
2009-11
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
Running right through the bible is a
tension which echoes in each of us
in one way or another. Our feelings
of insecurity create a desire to feel
we 'belong' within a community. Unfortunately human communities usually function
by creating a distinction between insiders
and outsiders. Insiders are those who belong;
outsiders do not.Thus the tension is created
between inclusion and exclusion.
These communities of inclusion/exclusion may be based on race, nationality, tribe,
class or age stratification, culture and religion
or indeed gender. What lies at the basis of
such distinction is the desire to feel secure
in a community of shared assumptions and
prejudices, which allows us to intelligibly interpret the world around us in. Perhaps this
is all the more desirable in matters of faith,
because this deals with our deepest aspirations.
Many parts of the scripture tradition, as
indeed of Jewish and Christian history are
saturated with such aspirations.The very notion of chosen people is an obvious case in
question. In itself it is an exclusive concept
... chosen for a special place in God's concern or affections, often leading to extremes
of religious fanaticism, nationalism and in
justice. Some of the prophets are incisive in
questioning the notion.
As I return to the Tangaza community after many years of absence, I find myself asking
if there is such a thing as the Tangaza community. And if it is there, then it must have a
set of shared assumptions and prejudices. {I
use prejudice here in the original sense of
praejudicium : assumptions which precede
our judgments, with no necessary nuance of
something to be disdained). I pose the question today to ourselves as a Tangaza community : what are the set of shared assumptions
and prejudices which distinguishes us from
other similar communities of learning in Kenya or throughout Eastern Africa.
Last March, when I was approached to
consider accepting the role of Principal of
Tangaza College, I found myself asking : is
Tangaza still a community of learning whose
assumptions and prejudices I can sympathise
with and share, and which I could try to
deepen and develop? It was at this point that
Dr. Maurice Schepers presented me with the
Strategic Plan to get some idea of what are
the basic assumptions which make Tangaza
tick, as it were. This was the most recent effort of the community of learning of Tangaza
to articulate its communal identity.
I looked to Chapter 2 where I read that
our vision is to produce agents of transformation in the light of Jesus' mandate to make
disciples of all nations, agents whose consciousness is global, and which honours cultural diversity as a core institutional value.
At a time in the history of Kenya, and
indeed the whole continent of Africa, when
rising tides of ethnic prejudice threaten to
Fr, Roe, the Principal greets students during the opening mass.
tear communities and countries apart, perhaps there was never a more relevant time
for the vision of Tangaza College to reassert •
itself, inviting each one of us, and the communities which are touched by our mission
and ministry, to rediscover the broader vision ... the horizon which corresponds to
the horizon of Jesus, a common brotherhood and sisterhood under the influence of
the same Heavenly Parent.
But before we preach it to others, perhaps we should ensure that we have established that universal horizon in our own
consciousness, in the practice of our Tangaza
community, and in the orientation we give
to our academic life and priorities. This is
our task for the coming year and the years
that follow.
We live in a society afflicted increasingly with manifest poverty and destitution.
Let us not insulate ourselves in an academic
ivory tower, from the poor, so beloved to
the heart of Jesus. On a world horizon we
are living through a crisis of the capitalist
model of economic organization of society,
which leaves open the opportunity for a re
newed consciousness of the limitations of
the capitalism, and an opportunity to focus
attention on the heritage of Catholic social
doctrine which has tended to be ignored
in recent years. Perhaps the time has come
for an institution like Tangaza to renew its
commitment to what the strategic plan calls
programmes and projects which will con
tribute to a future society in which wealth is
distributed more equitably and social justice
prevails.
Jn the new academic year 2009-10, let
us invoke God's Holy Spirit to be with us
and guide us in pursuing the universal vision
of the horizon of Jesus in our study and our
life as a Tangaza community in the service
of God's Church in Africa and to the ends
of the earth.
It is that same Holy Spirit who sends us
and missions us. May the coming year be a
time of blessing and growth for us and for all
entrusted by divine providence to our care.
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Keywords
Culture, Academic standards, Depaul, Social Tranformation