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The Congolese Church: Ecclesial Community within the Political Community Yvon C. Elenga, S.J. THE RECENT WAVE OF DEMOCRATIZATION in Africa has enabled the Roman Catholic Church to participate in the political life of several African countries, including the Republic of the Congo.1 Under the leadership of the Congolese bishops, the Church has sought to contribute to the country’s political , economic, and social life—a rather complex task given the county’s history of political instability and the fact that the Church has never enjoyed the same moral and legal authority as the secular state. This chapter examines how the Roman Catholic Church has tried to enliven the ecclesial community within the Congolese political community in order to promote the creation of a more just society. The Church–State Relationship in Historical Perspective The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo (Brazzaville) and hereafter referred to as the Congo, was once part of the precolonial Bantu kingdom of Kongo, which occupied the contemporary states of Angola, the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following the struggle between France and Belgium to control the Congo River basin, the French occupied the river’s right bank in 1885. By 1908, France established French Equatorial Africa, which encompassed the current states of the Congo, Gabon, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Granted its independence in 1960, the Congo was subsequently governed by a series of leaders, including priests, Marxist-Leninists, democratically elected leaders, and the military. During this tumultuous period, the Congolese Church has played an important role in Congolese politics. The Portuguese Franciscans first evangelized the Kongo kingdom in the sixteenth century, followed by the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1883. With the establishment of French colonial control, the Holy See created the Vicariate Apostolic of French Congo and Loango in 1886. By 1900, more than a Chapter 14 245 246 The Challenge of Accommodation thousand new Christians lived in Loango, which was a key mission station at the starting point of the caravan routes (route des caravans) heading to Brazzaville. Following decades of missionary work, today half the Congo’s 3 million people belong to the Roman Catholic Church. Thanks to mutual understanding, selfcommitment , and even tentative collaboration, the Church has enjoyed a relatively cooperative relationship with successive regimes ruling the Congo. The Colonial Congo Various problems beset the work of evangelization during the colonial period. This region has a long-standing tradition of political action through religious expression.2 Following the collapse of the Kongo kingdom in the second half of the sixteenth century, a young woman called Kimpa Vita (aka Dona Beatrix) established the Anthonian movement, which attempted to reunify the kingdom in 1700. Like Joan of Arc, Kimpa Vita professed to have a prophetic vision of restoring the ancient kingdom to its former glory. Also like Joan of Arc, she was condemned for heresy and burned alive.3 During the period of French colonization, there were several messianic movements , including Matswanism. In 1926, André-Grenard Matswa founded the Fraternity of French Equatorial African Natives (l’Amicale des Originaires de l’Afrique Equatoriale Française). Matswa died in a French colonial prison in January 1942 while his partisans were still waiting for him. As a show of opposition , the Matswanists always refused to vote in any election. They saw the emergence of Fulbert Youlou as the rise of hope. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1946. While engaged in his pastoral ministry in Brazzaville, Youlou learned of the plight of the local laborers, who were ill treated by the colonial administration. This led to his interest in politics, which was not shared by his bishop, Monsignor Michel Bernard, who subsequently assigned Youlou to work in a remote city. Undeterred by missives not to engage in political activities, Youlou ran for political office in 1947 and again in 1951, resulting in a suspension a divinis— that is, he was not allowed to celebrate the sacraments. This did not stop Youlou, who founded his own party in May 1956, the Democratic Union for the Defense of African Interests. After gaining popularity as the mayor of Brazzaville—the country’s largest city and the capital city of French Equatorial Africa—Youlou was narrowly elected president and prime minister of the newly independent Congo in 1960. The Congolese Postcolonial Transition Reacting to the catastrophic consequences of Western domination—namely slavery and colonization—the newly established African countries adopted two [18.218.254.122] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...

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