Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda: Challenges and Hopes [Kietas viršelis]

"In the year 2019 Rwanda marked twenty-five years after the genocide against the Tutsi. Sadly, Catholic priests and nuns were complicit - or even participated in the killing of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis. Thousands of people were slaughtered in Catholic Churches where they took refuge. For example, 5000 people are estimated to have been killed at the Ntarama Catholic Church in August 1994. In March of 2017, Pope Francis issued an apology, remarking that "the sins and failings of the Church and its members," had "disfigured the face" of Catholicism." This statement recognized that the Catholic Church's role in the genocide has implicated the entire Church and is an invitation to reimagine the very essence of the meaning of the Church, theology in its multiple dimensions, the missionary enterprise, the mission of the Church, and the place of human dignity in the Catholic faith. The task of rethinking what it means to be the Church and restoring fraternal identity as Christians in post-genocide Rwanda is thus crucial if theology is to make sense again. This is particularly imperative in as much as theology is compelled to reflect upon the very evils that have disfigured the Church's image and people's identity, namely the evils of sin, suffering, the indifference of bystanders, the increasing number of genocide deniers, the complexity of memory, the lack of credible and prophetic leadership that invites a new way of thinking about theology. This book brings together bishops, theologians, historians,and other scholars to reflect on how the Rwandan Catholic Church can restore fundamental peace and rebuild lasting reconciliation"--

The first comprehensive examination of the Catholic Church’s role in the genocide against the Tutsi and its attempts at reconciliation

From April to July 1994, more than a million people were killed during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tutsi men, women, and children were slaughtered by Hutu extremists in churches and school buildings, and their lifeless bodies were left rotting in these sacred places under the deep silence of church authorities. Pope Francis’s apology more than twenty years later presents the opportunity to reimagine the essence of the Church, the missionary enterprise, theology in its multiple dimensions, the purification of memory, and the place of human dignity in the Catholic faith. Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda critically examines the Church’s responsibility in Rwanda’s tragic history and opens the dialogue to construct a new theology. Contributors to this volume offer moving personal testimonies of their journeys to reconciling the evil that has marred the Church’s image: bystanders’ indifference to the suffering, despite their claim as members of the Church.

The first volume of its kind, Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda is a necessary step toward the Rwandan Catholic Church and humanity’s restoration of fundamental peace and lasting reconciliation. Catholic clergy, lay people, and human rights advocates will benefit from this examination of ecclesial moral failure and subsequent reconciliatory efforts.