Namibia Bishop at Synod: 'we need
to empower women and youth'
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| Bishop Willem Christiaans of Keetman shoop, Namibia. |
Bishop Willem Christiaans of Keetmanshoop, Namibia is one of
the youngest Synod Fathers at the ongoing Synod on Young People, the Faith and
Vocational Discernment. He speaks of what he sees as the most urgent issues at
the heart of the meeting.
By Linda Bordoni
Vast open spaces, spectacular scenery, magnificent wildlife
are the first images that come to mind when think of the southern African
nation of Namibia.
This beautiful, semi deserted and sparsely inhabited corner
of the world has a new shepherd leading the flock in the Catholic Diocese of
Keetmanshoop, and he is promising to work for change.
Bishop Willem Christiaans was appointed to head
the diocese in February this year after having served as diocesan administrator
and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Namibia.
Born in 1961, Bishop Christiaans is probably one of the
youngest Synod Fathers here in Rome for the Synod of Bishops on Young
People, the Faith and Discernment. Talking with Linda Bordoni he spoke of
his determination to work with the priests of all the parishes of his diocese
to make sure women and young people are given the role and the voice they
deserve:
Bishop Will – as he likes to be called – explains that his
Diocese comprises the whole southern part of Nambia – “from Rehoboth right down
to the South African border.”
It’s a vast diocese that includes large swathes of
semi-deserted and uninhabited land. All in all, the diocese counts 45,000
Catholics, who, together with the Lutherans and Anglicans make up the most
numerous faith-based communities of the region, but he warned: “At this moment
in the life of the country there are many of our young people who are looking
for ways and means to be truly part of the life of the Church, and if we don’t
offer it to them they will leave and join the other churches, especially the
Pentecostal Churches”.
Bishop Christiaans who is due to present his intervention
during part-three of the Synod, revealed that it focusses on the call to holiness
because, he says, “that’s what young people are searching for that in their
lives” despite the technological revolution and everything else, he says he is
convinced that young people are searching for ways to make their lives
meaningful.
The need to listen
“What I have discovered listening to the interventions in
this Synod is the lack of listening in the Church to our young people. This has
been a big part of the synod: listening”.
Bishop Christiaans reflects on how too often “We don’t
really find time to listen to our young people, when they want to come and talk
to us about their lives and other things, we are often too busy”.
He also says that in his own diocese there are too few priests,
pastoral workers, nuns, laity who are really geared towards the young and find
time to accompany them.
Wake-up call
“It has been a wake-up call for me that we truly need to
tackle that area seriously: find time to listen to the young people despite the
busy schedules that many of us have”.
Lack of young auditors from Southern Africa
With a tone of regret the bishop also talks of how a young
person from his diocese was in Rome in March to take part in the preparatory
meeting for the Synod, and of his disappointment no young people from Southern
Africa are here today.
“She was actually representing the Namibian Bishops’
Conference, she was very active in bringing the plight of young people to that
preparatory meeting in March” he says explaining that much energy was put into
the preparation for the Synod also with a follow-up meeting in July in
Johannesburg with the Inter Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa
(IMBISA).
“There were about ten or twelve young people: very, very
vital in their own outspoken way and we thought that they would be presented at
this Synod. We discovered that none of them are here (at least to my
knowledge), the reason being that only few young people were chosen to be
present. So that is part of my disappointment: that not one of those young
people from southern Africa – from IMBISA – are here” he says.
Empowering young people
Bishop Christiaans says the message he is going to take back
with him “is that young people are so, so important in our Church”.
They are a vital component of the Church, he continues, and
says “it it’s the biggest mistake ever not to make them part of everything we
do, in our discussions, in leadership, wherever… they are vital. And if you
have a vital element that is not being part, you are doomed for failure, and
this is my message”.
Women
Bishop Christiaans also points out that gender issues are at
the forefront in his country right now. “Women, he stresses, need to play a
vital role in all spheres of leadership, and they are not being recognized in
many spheres, also in the life of the Church”.
Summing up, says Bishop Christiaans, women and youth need to
be given the opportunity and the space to be able to play a vital role in
society and in the Church.
“As the bishop of the diocese this is something I am going
to push for: I am going to work with the priests in all the parishes of my
diocese to make sure women and young people can play their roles: this is
important”.
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