Tangaza Vision(Fed Up With Inculturation Talk!)
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Date
1993
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
We have been friends=that is what I most think
about as I clean my office, answer phone calls,
greet visitors these days dropping by. We have
been friends ....
May 18th 1988 Fr. Luciano Odorico, SDB, the
second rector of Tangaza showed me the rector's
office, room A 10, at Tangaza. He handed me the
keys to the door and said, "I haven't really used it
yet, you see it has only a desk in it" --it was a bare
room otherwise. Then he showed me the Constitutions of Tangaza, the section on the rector, article
4.55: "it shall be the duty of the rector to maintain
unity and harmony of purpose ... " "This is the4
most important thing you have to do," Fr. Odorico V
said.
"Unity and harmony of purpose"--"He is to see
to it that all departments are operated efficiently
and according to proper academic and educational
standards [art. 4.l]." So the Constitutions say.
They don't say much how you are supposed to do
all that--"maintain unity and harmony of purpose" ... make sure "all departments are operated
efficiently and according to proper standards."
How? How?
I was eight months in Africa, eight months a
missionary. What did I know. So I thought,
maybe start by making friends with those who know something. Try to make everyone feel
at home, so they can share what they have,
share who they are. Maybe something good
will happen ...
And so I tried ... we tried. To make a
friend, start by being a friend--not judging or
criticizing, but visiting, asking, listening.
And so our friendship grew. So we grew to
gether.
We did not always agree. It is easy for
strangers to agree--the agreeableness of conventional politeness and conformity is easier
for mere acquaintances and fellow travellers
than it is for friends. Social amenity is easy
when you share nothing of any importance.
For friends it is another matter indeed.
It would be easier to agree if we all shared
a common culture, a common tongue; common customs. But how· could we ever agree
if we cannot even begin to understand one
another.
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Keywords
Inculturation, Goodbye, Kimaryo, Church, Evangelization, Africa, Marriage