Dated 16 September, the document is signed by seven senior clerics in KwaZulu-Natal − Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop Siegfried Jwara and five bishops.
The statement expressed concern about the blending of Catholic religious observances with those of traditional African spirituality “in ways that contradict the Gospel”.
It set out four specific areas of concern: consulting traditional healers for spiritual guidance; sacrificing to the ancestors in a manner suggesting their divinity; spirit invocation; and the combination of such practices into Catholic rites. Each of these was affirmed as contrary to established Catholic doctrine.
It noted further that it was disturbing to receive reports that some Catholic priests were engaged in these practices. This, it said, “is a source of pain and confusion to the laity”. A priest was called to be an unwavering witness to Christ and Catholic doctrine. To engage in such behaviour would be “a grave betrayal of this sacred trust and a source of scandal for the faithful”.
It called further for those engaged in these practices to repent, and warned that clergy who did not do so would be subject to “correction”.
The communiqué referred to the example of Blessed Benedict Daswa, a South African convert to Catholicism who was murdered in 1990 for having refused to participate in traditional practices. In 2008 he was beatified by the Church. This is widely seen as a step towards canonisation.
Syncretisation has been a theme for the Catholic Church – and for other denominations – for generations, and dealing with it is complicated by the hold that traditions drawn from outside the Faith exert on the wider society.
This has been matched by liberalisation in matters of marriage and sexuality in some predominantly developed societies.
This situation is a source of frustration for Church leaders in the developing world, whose leadership tends to be more theologically conservative.