Chicago auxiliary bishop calls for more common bonds among Africans

WASHINGTON, D.C.(CNS) - In calling for more common bonds among Africans during the first African National Eucharistic Congress in the United States, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago reminded his audience, "We eat the same food. We share the same life that food sustains."

Recalling some of Africa's fratricidal wars, Bishop Perry reminded the priests and nuns, "Reconciling is a task you cannot sidestep, even as solutions might seem elusive." In the Eucharist, he added, "we are sharers of the same word of life. We are partakers of the same bread of life." Bishop Perry was the keynote speaker for the Sept. 2-3 congress, held in Washington. He urged his audience to "directly appeal to the Eucharist as a sign of unity" to avert the "tribal, racial and ethnic prejudices" that have plagued Africa for generations. "We must take pains to avoid a conflict between different tribes, different races, different ethnic groups," he said. Bishop Perry also expressed concern about the continent itself. "No nation has ever given back to Africa even one-third of what was taken from Africa during the slave trade," he said. While the church in sub-Saharan Africa is growing "by leaps and bounds," he added, he knew some participants came from nations "where the church is repressed and even outlawed." He said African immigrants to the United States may find things they didn't expect once they arrived. "For us Westerners, religion is an interesting idea, or a topic for debate," Bishop Perry said. "You might be tempted to view this country as inhospitable, with a hyper sense of privacy." Moreover, they may encounter "problems of poverty and social imbalance .... and hedonism" not seen in their homeland, the bishop added. As a result, Bishop Perry said, "we find it is so easy to succumb to the virus of individualism ... once we survive this culture." In calling on African immigrants to stick to the values they brought with them, Bishop Perry said, "We Americans look to your example of communitarianism and collaboration and a cohesive faith." "Do not lose sight of your richness and heritage while you are here," Bishop Perry said to applause. "Life here in America is an anxious existence for all its material gain and promise." Prior to Bishop Perry's talk, two speakers called for greater attention to the needs of African-born Catholics by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "It's time to have our (own) office in the USCCB," said Beatrice Unegbu, to shouts of "Yes!" from some at the congress. "We have the numbers to form our own national association." There may be as many as 100,000 African-born Catholics in the United States, among them 900 priests and 1,000 nuns. Dieudonne Ndouoga, who doubled as a French and Spanish interpreter for some congress sessions, echoed Unegbu's desire for a stronger ministry to Africans. "When I go back to Florida, that's what I will bring back," he told the congress. "I hope it will materialize." The Eucharistic congress was expected to draw 500 participants, but 580 had registered by the time of the first day's lunch break, according to Sister Joanna Okereke, a Nigerian-born member of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus who works as coordinator of ethnic ministries for the Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the USCCB, which coordinated the gathering.

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