AFRICA/D. R. CONGO - Cardinal Joseph-Albert Malula (1917-1989) proclaimed “national hero ”

[Agenzia_Fides]

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, the Catholic Archbishop of Kinshasa, has voiced the gratitude of the Catholic Church in Congo to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, for having proclaimed Cardinal Joseph-Albert Malula (1917-1989) a ‘national hero’.The Archbishop of Kinshasa underlined that Cardinal Malula was a source of inspiration for the activity of future generations and politicians, for culture, for the nation and for the Church. “For his tireless search for excellence and perfection, his lapidary statement: ‘a Congolese Church in a Congolese nation’, for his search for an African conscience, we are grateful to the government for proclaiming Cardinal Albert Malula a national hero” said Archbishop Monsengwo.The Catholic Church in Congo is celebrating the Year of Cardinal Malula ( 20 September 2009 to 20 September 2010), an initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deceased Cardinal’s ordination as a Bishop and 20 years since his death.Celebration initiatives have included a series of conferences on different aspects of the Cardinal’s personality. From 11 to 13 July a second series of conferences, following the first in March (see Fides 15/3/2010) was held on the theme “Cardinal Malula, a man of culture”. The speakers described Cardinal Malula, the man of culture. “The Cardinal was one of the first African theologians to promote the inculturation of Christian values. He was an excellent writer, a man deeply committed to the political debate, an avid reader, a great composer of music (he composed many hymns for the Congolese rite), a lover of the arts and an admirer of African cultural values such as matrimony. The Cardinal left an incommensurable legacy to the Catholic Church in Congo and in the rest of whole world. One rarely spent an evening with him without engaging in some discussion” Archbishop Monsengwo recalled and he concluded his intervention expressing disappointment that in this year dedicated to Malula “choirs in Kinshasa have not sung hymns composed by Cardinal Malula, although he left us hundreds of them”. (L.M.) (Agenzia 29/7/2010)

Full article…

 

[mshane]

That’s really wonderful. He’s a blessing from God I believe. I just hope that there’s still a man like him to lead us to the right path. Thanks for sharing this beautiful entry. More power to you!
hero

 

[Dale_M]

According to the article, Cardinal Malula was one of the first African theologians to embrace inculturation. He surely had a hand in the 1961 statement of the Congo bishops which said:

The liturgy introduced in Africa is not yet adapted to the proper character of our
populations, and therefore has remained foreign to them. The return to the authentic
traditions of the liturgy greatly opens the way to a fundamental adaptation of the liturgy to
the African environment. Such an adaptation is very necessary for the edification of the
traditional (pagan) community on religious grounds, since worship is the most important element which unites the entire community. Only a living and adapted form of worship
can generate the indispensable deepening of the faith which cannot be given through
instruction alone. … An elaborate study and critique of the religious customs as well as a
living contact with the people will reveal the fundamental cultural needs, and will furnish
the necessary elements for the elaboration of a living African liturgy which is sensitive to
the aspirations of the populations

However, with little coming from Rome (of course, Vatican II probably occupied the minds of more than a few persons there), in 1969 the bishops decided to ask permission to propose a Congo liturgy, and let the Vatican edit it: They emphasized…

…the necessity to open the liturgy to the cultural values of the people of Zaire (now called Congo). On the one part, this means (while respecting the common faith of the Church) the admission of modifications in the forms and expressions of the liturgy in a way that identifies with the genius and character of the life of the Zairean people. On the other part, those cultural elements of the people of Zaire will be subjected to the process of purification and critique in the light of the Christian faith.

www2.bc.edu/~morrilb/Egbulem.pdf

The process of creating the new liturgy took 20 years, but in 1988 the Congregation for Divine Worship formally approved the Zairean rite of the eucharist with the official title: Missel romain pour les dioceses du Zaire.

I am glad that Cardinal Malula, archbishop of Kinshasa, lived long enough to see this undertaking completed.