Women in Africa, both in the traditional setup and in modern society form the cornerstone of the Church and society. They have spearheaded change in traditional and modern society and heralded the Gospel message on the African soil. Based on the formidable roles women played and the influential areas of authority they occupied in the social, economic, political, and religious dimensions of African traditional societies, such as priestesses, diviners, medicine women etc., I attempt to understand the role women play and the place they occupy in the Church and in society today taking the Catholic Church as a case study. The aim of this paper is to seek to understand the roles women play in society, as well as discerning how the roles could be promoted and improved for the betterment of the Church and society. For the discussion to achieve its objective, the following areas will be addressed: explore the place and the significance that traditional African society accorded to women; investigate the nature of women’s involvement in the life of the community as well as the precise roles that traditional society assigned to women; discover the place of women in Christianity and some of the roles the Catholic Church assigns to women members as documented; understand some of the challenges women face as members of the Church and the roles they play in enhancing the Gospel; and finally attempt to provide some recommendations in response to some of the challenges identified.
A b s t r a c t. The concept of Mission takes three dimensions: ad Gentes, re-evangelization and finally the missionary activity of the Church, which the Church undertakes among her faithful members. The mission is a constitutive element in the nature and the life of the Church; the Church, devoid of her missionary character, is non-existent.Theologically, therefore, Church and mission are complimentary, two sides of the same coin. As a consequence, then, the question to ask in today's discussion is not whether Africa is still a missionary continent because, essentially, where the Church is there is the mission of God.The Church in Africa is missionary in two fold ways: (1) as passive recipient of the deposit of faith entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and (2) as active agent in bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.There are also areas where mission in Africa is urgent: 1) The mission of Reconciling Peoples, 2) Proclamation of the Gospel to the adherents of non-Christians through dialogue, 3) Evangelization of the society (secularism, modernism as challenges today), 4) Pastoral care of the "already baptized," 5) Inculturation: "Continuous dialogue between the Christian faith and human cultures."
Summarised by Rev. Patrick Mwania
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