No:80 Mukai-Vukani

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‘Virtue – The Impetus for Well –Being.’

Dear Reader, We are back to Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar of the Church. It is my hope that you still savour the graces that the Lord gave you during the intense but joyful celebration of the Paschal Mystery of our salvation from Ash Wednesday to the end of Eastertide on Pentecost Day. Each year the Lord offers us time to grow in the graces of the Paschal Mystery.

It is in this spirit of growth toward what is truly good, which gives us a sense of accomplishment, peace, victory and joy over and above the challenges of life, that this edition of Mukai/Vukani is themed ‘Virtue – The Impetus for Well –Being.’

The concern that we share about development towards a holistic better life for different peoples in places that stand in need of enhanced advancement is not possible if we ignore the central role of virtue in human life. Aristotle rightly states that “virtue is that which makes the subject good.” In this case the subject is the human person.

We know and acknowledge that reason is an important faculty that distinguishes human beings from

other creatures on earth, even though it is possible to speak of some form of ‘instinctual intelligence’ that can be attributed to animals given how they survive and adapt to change for them not to go into extinction. However, this is not always possible because some species of animals have disappeared, in fact.

Yet in the case of human beings, rationality without virtue is simply dangerous. Most people who do evil in the world are quite cunning, calculating, shrewd and even outright intelligent, but they lack virtue. Hence, we cannot ignore the importance of virtue as the impetus for human well – being.

Thanks to the writers who contributed to this edition. I hope their ideas will evince your own consideration of the importance of harnessing virtue in order to put it into beneficial action. Life can be monotonous or meaningless if it is not supported by the happiness that is associated with acting in accordance with virtue.

Happy reading and be part of the synergy of virtuous actors.

Fr Emmanuel Gurumombe SJ

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All photos in this edition where taken Pre-Covid-19

Office : 37 Admiral Tait Rd, Marlborough, Harare, Zimbabwe Email: jescomzim@gmail.com

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Telephone: +263 242 309623

Website: www.jesuitszimbabwe.co.zw

Mukai May2020 2021| | Mukai -Vukani -Vukani No.80 No.77 ||July

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Sin is Personal Proud Muunga Diocese of Hwange Along the long journey of life, man slowly strides towards a unique end that involves self-transcendence which finds its realization and fulfilment in the union with the Creator. However, as man strives towards his destiny, he is confronted with two realities, sin and salvation. While the former denotes to a negative form of existence, the latter is more positive. In sin, to borrow a term from Martin Heidegger, man lives an unauthentic existence punctuated by a negation from the destiny for which he is intended. Salvation, therefore, comes to repair that scar which sin inflicts.

The concept of sin is enormously complex and thus deserves to be treated from its genesis up to its devastating effects especially with regards to its corrosiveness towards virtue.

A wide range of definitions have been put in place, all in an effort to tackle the inescapable reality of sin. As prescribed by the church, “ sin is an offense against reason, truth and right conscience.” It entails going against the good and thus failing in genuine love for God and neighbour. Hence sin wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. In his ground-breaking discourses, The City of God and The Confessions, Augustine writes extensively on the genesis of sin.

Sin, as perceived by Augustine, emerged as a consequence of man’s abuse of the God given free will. As explained by Augustine, man and angels were innately imbued with volition which enabled them to choose between good and evil.

However, through disobedient pride, angels and man chose a lesser good

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and betrayed the trust and friendship they had with the creator. Consequently, sin entails, ‘falling short of a goal’, ‘breaking a relationship’ and ‘rebellion’.

Considering the nature of sin and how it came into existence, it is incontrovertible that sin is personal. The prime issue that should be considered in relation to the personal aspect of sin is that in sin, ‘man seeks himself.’ This means that in every sin, man intends to selfishly achieve personal ends. In the early stages of sin, as Augustine has alluded to, the angels, through their disobedient act of pride sought to be like God. In the same fashion, man wishing to be like God, to possess knowledge of good and bad, disobeyed God and hence there was sin. In every sin be it mortal, venial, material or formal, one seeks to satisfy one’s personal needs and as

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a result one commits a sin that infringes on the safety of the other. In these torrid times where we are relentlessly grappling with the Covid - 19 pandemic, it is a sin when one wishing to feel comfortable, ignores the wearing of masks and sanitization at the expense of the safety of others.

One other point that is fundamentally crucial is that sin hinders one from achieving the happiness that one is intended for. According to Aristotle, every act that one carries out is shaped towards achieving the good which is happiness. This points to the idea that in sin, man obstructs himself from that end which he is actually meant for.

When one is incapable of achieving his purpose one’s life becomes meaningless.

Hence in sin, particularly mortal sins, one willingly and knowingly deprives his own life of meaning. In venial sins, on the other hand, that meaning is lessened.

This is so because living a good life means living according to virtue. Any act contrary to virtue undoubtable ensues in unhappiness.

Sin always has a negative bearing on one’s existential condition. One living in sin, lives in a vicious circle, an endless loop of self-inflicted bondage, anxiety and guilt. Sin dwarfs an individual and thus constrains him from transcending towards his destiny. In more vivid terms, sin makes the sinner unworthy before God. Just like the first human parents in the garden who hid themselves from the face of God while covering themselves up of their nudity, one is filled with shame, regret and a profound sense of unworthiness. Subsequently, he considers himself unworthy of grace and all his prayers obsolete and invalid.

In order to live with himself, one shuns away and resorts to hiding from God in whose union he is supposed to share.

Emmanuel Kant, in his book Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793), states that the guilt of past moral sin posed a serious threat to moral regeneration of individuals since striving for moral perfection can be paralysed through a sense of the intrusion of the moral inadequacies of the past. Above all, sin causes our hearts to constantly pound as if they were to burst in a sense that when we are in sin, we are constantly shaking in our shoes at the fear time may overtake us. Especially during these times were one is infested with thoughts of uncertainties, one lives in constant fear of imminent death and

the sinful condition does not make it any better. In fact, it adds insult to injury.

Furthermore, sin is a personal denial to grow to full stature and maturity. The sad and yet unavoidable truth is that in sin, man refuses to become his true self. As previously stated, man is destined for a higher course, one which witnesses him transcend towards the fulfilment of that plan in the creator. In the commission of a sin, man turns away from the creator in whom he realizes his true self and strives towards a lesser good. In his perception of sin, Irenaeus of Lyons, asserts that sin may be thought of as the loss of our Godgiven identity in Adam. Outside of the relationship with the creator, man’s true identity is lost.

The personal nature of sin is undoubtable since sin becomes the result of one’s personal disposition. What this means is that sin is a vivid portrayal of one’s infirmity in personality and spiritual disorder and disease. A great many if not all of the sins that are committed, hinge on one’s personal disposition intellectually, morally and spiritually.

There are for example a series of obscene

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messages that are circulated on social media. It is only through one’s personal choice that such message reach certain people at all. These obscene messages are sent to those whom the sender is aware of the gullibility of the individual who is susceptible to take pleasure in such conduct.

Virtue therefore plays a crucial role in the development of man especially as he moves towards his destiny. All virtue, be it intellectual or moral should be nurtured and channelled towards this particular end. However, as man grapples towards this end, he is soiled by sin which taints and wound virtue while at the same time destroying the relationship man has with his creator and his fellow man. Through the abuse of free will, the human being creates conditions that hinder the growth of virtue within oneself. Consequently, the person enters into sin through his thoughts, acts of commission or omission. Therefore salvation becomes a personal act in which Christ comes into the history of humanity to mend that broken relationship and through his wounds we have been healed. This is the message of Easter.

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Original Sin: The Parent of Vice

Precious Nihorowa CSSp

Tangaza University College, Nairobi, Kenya

From time immemorial, humanity

has experienced a lot of mysterious calamities and circumstances that have left everyone wondering how and why such would happen. Such calamities have been in form of pandemics, grave cases of injustice, wars and many other disasters. It will forever go down the history of humanity how nations disagreed over political reasons and ended up waging the First World War from 1914 to 1918. As if that was not enough, World War II broke out from 1939 to 1945 over similar reasons. Apart from these two significant world events, today the world media is awash with issues of racism that led, for example, to the apartheid system in South Africa, tribalism that led to the genocide in Rwanda as well as many other social and moral evils in other African countries.

Poverty which results from unequal distribution of resources is also the order of the day in the contemporary world especially in third world countries.

Elsewhere in the world, people are getting depressed and heartbroken over unfulfilled promises by politicians, leaders of the society, loved ones as

well unmet expectations over life due to ambitions of man. All this makes one reflect what could really be wrong with the human race. Why does the human being seem so helpless in the face of evil that he easily falls prey to it?

The beginning of the book of Genesis, especially the first chapters, explains how the world was when God created it. At every point of creation God saw that everything he had created was good (Genesis 1:9,11,18,21,25,31). But then such a goodness could not last as long as it was intended. The story of the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3 explains the human condition that is marked by a tendency towards sin. It talks about how man, having been put in a state of bliss in the garden of Eden and having been put in charge of everything, rebelled against God by trying to be like God (Gen. 3:4) and hence misused his freedom. The subsequent chapters of Genesis present a series of consequences of that fall.

Chapter 4 explains how sin invaded the world beginning with fraternal hatred between Cain and Abel. This is followed

by Israel’s struggle to keep God’s commandments and live a life that was Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 | Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

in conformity with the covenant they had with God which eventually led to them being exiled.

In the New Testament, especially in the book of Romans, St. Paul asserts that through the disobedience of man, sin entered the world (Romans 5:19).

All these scripture passages offer foundations of what the Church at the Council of Trent would later call the doctrine of original sin. Thus, it was at Trent that the doctrine of original sin was officially defined. More than the Old Testament, St. Paul laid a good foundation for the definition at Trent.

The sinful condition that human beings found themselves in after the fall also justifies humanity’s faith in Jesus as a redeemer as it means that in Jesus, God had offered a solution of his own to our fallen condition. Man is in need of redemption from the effects and the consequences of sin.

One of the challenges that the teaching of the Church on original sin has faced is how a sin of one man, Adam, could consequently affect the whole human race. Exaggerated humanism at the time of Renaissance, for instance, had

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particular difficulty in accepting the fact that one’s religious-moral state could be so affected by something prior to his own free choice. As a response to such, the Church professes belief that the Adam of Genesis by his sin brought about a change of a religious-moral condition in relation to God not only for himself but also for subsequent human beings.

Thus, since human beings descended from him historically, they are affected by the sin and guilt he brought into the world. Hence, the sin of Adam has consequences in progeny. Man is affected by the evil introduced into the world by the first Adam. Our generation understands better the effects of heredity and environment. Even from a religiousmoral perspective, man can be affected by a sin that he did not commit and by good for which he is not responsible.

Man can receive some traits through heredity and can acquire good and bad habits through the environment as he lives.

This explanation accords Adam moral and juridical leadership over the whole human race. This is based on the decree that God made over Adam putting him as a legal representative of all human beings that would descend from him (Genesis 1:28, 2:15). His exercise of free will would affect theirs in both positive and negative way. When he refused the friendship that God extended to him, he passed on to his descendants an enmity

with God. Adam as a progenitor passed on to the rest a humanity that he tainted by his sin. This explanation justifies the present evil in the human situation and why man suffers so much to overcome it.

Other theories of explaining evil in the world do not give sufficient explanation.

Upon the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, this original sin together with personal sins are forgiven. However, since the Council of Trent, the Church also holds that even after Baptism, the human inclination to sin known as concupiscence is left for human beings to wrestle with (CCC #1264). This concupiscence is what characterises man’s battle with all sorts of sins and vices that require man to be ever in need of God’s grace. Due to concupiscence, selfishness becomes an obstacle to living a truly human life characterised by virtue in among the other qualities that the person may have. Man must wage war against selfishness in order to attain selflessness. Today we witness a new pandemic, the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19). There have been suspicions among countries that the pandemic is a product of biological warfare among countries. This proves how human beings have grown suspicious of one another due to their inclination to do evil. With COVID-19 vaccines now available, there are already outcries over the manner of distribution citing selective attention in distribution of the

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vaccines. All this ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals. This is because human sin, a result of concupiscence, sets man in discord with himself, the world and God. Nevertheless, the human being still possesses a capacity for doing good and has free will. But he has to fight battles against his own selfish human tendencies and inclinations. He needs the help and power of Christ to exercise it well. Because of man’s first offence against God, human beings enter this world already in need of the special redeeming grace of Christ. Man cannot do without reliance on Christ. Pope Francis, in Laudato Si, notes that the sinful nature of man has led to an excessive anthropocentrism which is the driving motivation for the depletion of the environment and other evils (LS #116). He suggests that to fight such inclinations that have affected the human race to a greater extent “we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it (LS #229).

Human life without virtue is simply demonic. Lack of such recognition only leads to further battles and conflict of interests. It is only such a conviction that will be a step towards overcoming our selfish selves.

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Praying With and Healing the Earth: Inculturating Preface V of Sundays of Ordinary Time

Rev Emmanuel Banda, SJ Santa Clara University, Califonia, USA

Defining Inculturation Inculturation, refers to the serious and honest attempt to make Christ and his salvific message understood by peoples of every locality, culture and time (Phan 2003:5-6). It is a seed (the gospel message) planted, watered and weeded in well manured and rich soil (the cultural context) in order to bring fruit (the lived experience). It means the reformulation of Christian life and doctrine into the very thought-patterns of each people.

It is the conviction that Christ and the gospel message are experiential and challenging to all cultures and times as they become better understood and lived by each people (Magesa 2004:29-30).

The words of Preface V for Sundays of Ordinary Time underscore that inculturation (growing into maturity as Christian people) is a process that is deeply related to creation. It engages the human community in God’s work of care for the earth, and calls them to respect life in all its forms – human and ecological.

A Message of Life in Preface V of Sundays of Ordinary Time The message of the Preface exemplifies that fundamental to inculturation is the promotion and celebration of life in all its forms which involves cherishing and growing in virtue. The words: “For you laid foundations of the world and have arranged the changing times and seasons…” (The Daily Missal 2013:628) challenges humanity into

a practical solidarity with both the harmony and wounds of the earth.

In the struggle for global justice, the planet can be viewed as itself a victim.

The planet is hungry, sick, devastated and dying. Inculturation expressed and experienced through preferential option for the earth calls people to a theology rooted in the experience of global oppression, ecological devastation and institutionalized resistance to social, gender, political and economic equality (Conradie 2006:3). In solidarity, people can perceive themselves as part of the raped rainforests, abused children, marginalized women and the economically disadvantage. In doing so, they embrace their experience of interconnectedness with the poor people and the earth in the whole of creation.

In turn, people themselves become instruments healing the earth and themselves.

Ecological Stewardship and Cocreation in Preface V of Sundays of Ordinary Time It has been established that inculturation entails embracing the gospel message of life in all its forms and how the human person (individually and collectively) continually seeks to shape and reshape this reality in their context. In shaping this reality, beyond the rituals, the words

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“…you formed [the human person] in your own image and set humanity over the whole world in all its wonder, to rule in your name over all you have made…”

(The Daily Missal, 628) is a call to stewardship and personal responsibility over all that God created. In tandem with this, St Ignatius of Loyola says that while the human person was “created to praise, reverence and serve God […] The other things on the face of the earth are created for the human beings, to help them in the pursuit of the end for which they are created” (The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius 1992:23). In this way, people are invited to grow in a vision of faith and virtue on the entire divine enterprise of God’s creation. One ought to stand back and reflect on God’s creating activity from the beginning up to the present and continuing on towards its fulfillment in the new heaven and new earth.

Creation, therefore, is not static. It is not work done and ended in the past but alive and growing. It is developing continually out of its origins in the past and moving purposefully towards the destiny envisaged for it from the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:3-14). While God is the creator of all things, human beings are both stewards and co-creators.

However, it can be noted that in the

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Christopher P Murasi

work of being stewards and co-creators, human beings sometime act against life and therefore against creation. Whether it is for selfish or capitalist reasons, some people continue to bleed the earth of its resources. The process of inculturation alluded to by the words of Preface V, therefore, calls each person to free themselves from destroying the work of creation. It is a process of freeing the self from bleeding the earth, selfish ends and causing disharmony in a world which was created good. The task of every person, therefore, in collaborating with God in the work of creation is to lift creation up to the creator in conscious praise, reverence, and service (Laudato Si 84-86). We have to be a people of virtue in handling creation.

Healing the Earth In Zimbabwe, music, dance, and poetry are part and parcel of life for they bring out the desire and experience of harmony in life. Science teaches that the universe is a symphony of harmony and balance, each part of the universe is interdependent on every other part.

Conversely, some people live in a time of great pain. Cities are wrecked with senseless violence. Rivers are poisoned, lakes suffer from acid rain and the

atmosphere chokes on greenhouse gases. More than any other time in the past twenty centuries, Zimbabwe and indeed many parts of the earth reflect Paul’s words to the Romans: “…the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth…” (Romans 8:22). This pain carries great hope for an ecological inculturation, a new way of living together on the planet. The problems are all related but so too are the solutions like in that moment at dawn when upon the rising of the sun, the darkness of isolation ends and everything emerges more interconnected – woven together into a new day.

In weeding ecological insensitivity and injustice, there is a renewed recognition of people’s capacity to be instruments of healing and justice. An awareness of personal pain, united to the pain of the earth becomes a basis for ecological inculturation. As people act, they participate in healing the earth through virtuous deeds. Ecological justice emerges from the dynamic of the earth itself. The process is geological, biological, and human (Laudato Si 1314). It invites a reflection on the role of people on earth. It reminds one to let go of domination and move toward participation in the harmony already Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 | Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

present in the world. Ecological justice depends on both being initiators and participants; members of the gigantic chorus that permeates and flows into all aspects of existence. Ecological justice, therefore, finds expression in the equity and relationship of all creation (The Zimbabwe We Want 2006: 24-25).

As the world continues to evolve, people ought to imagine new ways of taking responsibility for their life and for the world, for living out their preferential option for the earth. People would re-vision ways to restructure society and to transform the various forms of oppression that they experience.

Ecological justice invites humanity to be people of justice, instruments of harmony, participants in balance, promoters of interconnectivity and healers of the ruptures in the fabric of creation that cause injustice for psyche, society and the planet (Conradie, 52).

The development of such a theology is an undertaking of praxis – a synthesis of action and reflection. It focuses first on the ongoing inculturation process and sees how the creative energy of God is expressed in and through the energy of the earth. The work of healing the earth, therefore, becomes an expression of divine creative energy.

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Retreat in Daily Life: A Journey Towards Transformative Conversion and Evangelism Christopher P Murasi Jesuit Youth Office, Harare

The liturgical season of Lent is one

of the most important periods in our catholic calendar, providing the faithful the opportunity to find God in the figurative wilderness for forty days.

As believers we are all soul searching, seeking to experience God in a profound and unique way. This notion is true for the young catholic who may not have deep knowledge of the liturgical celebrations. MAGIS Zimbabwe, inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius formulated a spiritual programme called Retreat in Daily Life, tailor made to meet the spiritual needs of participants. I was privileged to take in the programme and this year will be my second retreat. In this article I will be narrating my journey with this Ignatian tool of prayer and how it has helped me immerse myself in my faith during Lent, the season of grace.

The Journey and its steps Preliminary Week: Disposition Days Every journey has a beginning and this journey’s point of departure are the days before Ash Wednesday. In Ignatian terms we call them disposition days. During these days we prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for the retreat, praying for graces particular to us to manifest through this retreat. These days are quite fundamental as they set the foundation of the retreat for the participant and the trajectory of the retreat for them. Hence they must not be ignored. However at times the graces we pray for during these dispositions are not necessarily the graces we acquire at the end of the retreat. The journey of the spirit in itself is spontaneous and will probably lead one to where one is supposed to go as opposed to where one wants to go.

During this first week the participant

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gets acquainted with their spiritual director, that is, a guide during the journey of soul searching in the spiritual wilderness. I am particularly grateful for my spiritual director. He served as a compass in my journey, ensuring that I focus on what really mattered during the retreat.

Week 2: Principle and Foundation.

The second week focuses on the Principle and Foundation. This is an important stage as it awakens an aspect of introspection so powerful and so profound. According to St Ignatius, God created mankind to praise, revere and serve him and all that exists in the world was created to help attain that end. Hence we are to use these things to the extent to which they help us to this end and rid ourselves of them when they become a barrier. These words by St Ignatius are a powerful tool for reflection as they illuminate how one relates to the

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world around positively as the will of God manifests in it. It begs the question in the retreat participant, “What in my life is drawing me to God’s presence and the divine design? What in my life is acting as a barrier to that end?” I found these questions guiding my reflection in a meaningful way, helping assess my relationships, my behavioural patterns and even my possessions such as my phone, on whether they helped me fulfil God’s intended purpose or they were a hindrance. I was able to notice barriers in my life that were an obstacle against my having a meaningful relationship with Christ and what draws me close to him.

Week 3: Sin The second week focuses on Sin, that which alienates us from the grace of God. This week is emotionally tense as one confronts their past and present. In my case it was where I felt desolate and shameful, considering where I fell short of the glory of God. The feeling of desolation can consume you, taking you to the abyss. This point of reflection can also open your eyes to what you thought was not sin but on the other hand it was. However the retreat provides much consolation, reminding the participant of the boundless love of God and his infinite capacity to forgive sin. This point of reflection was particularly profound

for me as it helped me appreciate the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a new way. I used to have this perception of the sacrament as a trip to the headmaster to admit my indiscretions. Now it’s like talking to a friend who can relate to your anxieties and insecurities. Sin brings about anxiety and insecurity and Retreat in Daily Life can and is part of the antidote to those problems Week 4: The call of Christ For this week the participant focuses on What Christ the Eternal King requires of him. In this week my reflection focus was hinged on how I envisioned Christ, that is, how I perceived Christ in my personal relationship with him. In this week the Ignatian tool of imaginative prayer guided me into immersing myself in the gospels and discerning who Christ is to me and what he expects of me. My spiritual director (who will remain anonymous but will always be appreciated) advised me to go through the gospels and envision myself in those stories. For instance, Christ’s anointing at Bethany (Matthew 26:6-13). I would ask myself, “Who am I in the story? Am I the woman anointing the feet of Christ?

Am I Judas who is criticising the woman for such a display of devotion?” All of these questions helped illuminate what Mukai Mukai -Vukani -Vukani No.80 No.80 || May May 2021 2021 ||

I was failing to grasp with regards to my relationship with Christ.

Week 5: The Passion of Our Lord The Passion Week for me was the most profound and as any Catholic would attest, it is the pinnacle of the Catholic and Christian faith. Retreat in Daily Life enabled me to immerse myself into the passion in a way that I failed to do before I embarked on the programme. Instead of it being a mere display of dogmatic commitment and participation in the liturgical celebration I was enabled to suffer and resurrect with the conquering Christ.

Conclusion The Retreat in Daily Life for me was a journey worth taking. It really made me experience the treasures of my catholic faith in a way I had never experienced before. Ignatian prayer has a way of continuously surprising you. Simple repetitive prayers to me now mean so much more than before. The exposition I had to the Examen and Contemplative prayer have made me experience God’s grace. St Ignatius of Loyola truly left an invaluable treasure in the spiritual exercises. I have made a commitment to sharing it with my contemporaries, I encourage everyone to do the same too.

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Education for Character Development Today Fr José Júlio, SJ St Ignatius College, Chishawasha, Harare

Which kind of education is needed today?

This article does not intend to bring new ideas about “Virtues in Education”, but to revisit the known old centuries need for education on the Virtues, which contribute towards an “input for Well-Being” in social and economic transformation.

Some writings or research about education with regard to the concept of “Virtue” seem to have been forgotten or completely left out due to rapid scientific and technological developments that constantly occur and take place in different areas including in education, where the emphasis is more on the concept of instruction (in science and technology) than formation (in which the term Virtue and Moral seems to be based). In some school curricula, the Moral Subjects have been replaced by Family and Religious Studies.

The question of “quality of education” which occupies a predominant space

in social political debates, especially in parliaments, is not adequately addressed.

The debates respond to specific questions, such as why the education system fails to satisfy the needs of the people and resolve the existential problems of the people.

The causes and consequences of economic backwardness which are the subject of great interest among politicians, civil societies and ordinary citizens, are also not properly addressed due to superficial debates. Education, which is a fundamental “weapon” for all kinds of development in societies has been reduced to technical and scientific learning. The debate to solve the issue of education should continually address these specific questions: Which kind of education is needed for holistic wellbeing today?

Savater (2010:11), a Spanish Philosopher of Education, tries to respond to this significant question, which, in my view, should be considered as fundamental in all social and political debates about Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

education: “Should education prepare earners (or competitors) in view of the market or to form a complete human being”? (personal translation). The problem, however, arises when we ask about the reasons behind this question; what did he notice as weaknesses in the educational systems designed for the future generation?

The understanding and response to the above question, can be possible if we go back to philosophers like Aristotle who analyse virtues of thought and character and/or Kant who writes on virtues and moral principles as means for well-being.

These ideas can help us to understand how learning and practicing virtues helps well-being. People need education, but education that is qualitative and based on virtues that are taught and exercised.

The absence of moral teaching in the curriculum has weakened and jeopardized the educational system today. How can it be possible to have a good education without virtues or values?

A known African educator, Kivinge (2017) defines education as a system of training and instructing children and young people in the school. It is designed to give knowledge and develop skills in the life of those children. It helps the individual to be different from other animals. It can be intellectual, normative and technical education. In this view, we can speak about holistic education which integrates the heart, mind and body of the individual at the same time.

Virtues in education are formative Nowadays that normative education is neglected. The priority is given to academic and technical education. The rejection of normative education, of moral principles and virtues, has undermined most educational projects, and the consequences are simple to recognize: social injustice and family conflicts between children and parents etc.

Virtues are individual permanent inner dispositions that move the individual to practice the good. Virtues strengthen and help the individuals to act humanly.

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Virtues humanise individuals and helps them to develop their abilities and bring out the possible best for human development and well-being.

In referring to Kant on education, Courton (1900:13) states that humans are the only educated beings. By nature human beings have this natural capacity to be educated, to acquire values and be virtuous. A human person is the only being that needs education. According to Kant, education is about nurturing (the tending and feeding of the child), discipline and teaching virtue, together with culture. By nature individuals live through successive stages: infant (requiring nursing), child (requiring discipline), and scholar (requiring teaching and research).

According to Courton (1900:13) Kant defined education as “an art” that leads the individual to perfection, this capacity of man to desire “high well-being” in community life, well-being that is not only limited to or reducible to the financial and political, but first the intellectual and good moral behaviour. Education which does not pursue perfection should be reviewed and

replaced by another because education is about the good, “it is through good education that all good in the world arises” (Couton:15).

To clarify his ideas about education, Courton (1900) notes that Kant identified four kinds of education that promote perfection and well-being in community: 1) Education that promotes discipline, the “restrain of unruliness”; the children must be educated to respect family and community rules, they should be educated in such a way that they know their rights and duties, and also they respect and fulfil adequately their obligation. 2) Education that promotes “culture” that is providing information and instruction. It is an education that helps individuals to develop abilities, the capacities of being adapted to various circumstances and “ends”. 3) Education for discretion: an education that intends to bring well-being, this has to promote discretion for the person to know how to conduct him or herself in the society and he or she may be, as Kant points out, “liked and gain influence”.

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It is about civilisation. 4) Education for moral training: Education that intends the acquisition of perfection; this should be a holistic education in which moral principles and virtues are the objects of teaching and learning for the sake of man’s dispositions to elevate himself to “choose none, but good ends, that are the aims of everyone in the society.”

In conclusion, our education today should not be reduced to academic and technical education, but incorporate moral and spiritual elements for growth and welfare.

The formation of character and heart of the social actors and professionals constitute a necessity for well-being and social and economic development. By knowing the good and evil, individuals, especially the future generation, according to Pala (2011), through character education, “will be able to develop important human qualities such as: justice, diligence, compassion, respect, and courage, and to understand why it is important to live by them” and participate in the transformation of the society.

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Structural Sin - A Strangulation Tendai Mbanje University of Cape Town Questions emerging concerning COVID-19 in Zimbabwe; reflections on governance deficits and the impact on ordinary people; failure of State-Society relations and the capacity of the State in service delivery are issues directly linked to the idea of ‘Structural Sin/Evil’ in the context of Zimbabwe and Africa in general.This sin demoralises people and reduces them to objects of manipulation by the powerful or those who have resources locally or globally.

THE DEFINITION OF SIN/ STRUCTURAL SIN Generally, ‘sin’ can be defined as a disordered or disrupted relationship toward God; it also implies wrongful actions or deeds affecting one’s fellow humans (McFarland 2011:473). In the same view, König in De Gruchy and Villa-Vicencio (1994:109) provides that to sin ‘is to live either in wrong or in broken relationships’. In addition, article 1849 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church hein-after referred as CCC provides that “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbour caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. In other words, sin is ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.’ To affirm this view, Latin American liberation theologians taught that sin consists not only of personal misdeeds—it is also embedded in social structures that promote harm and inequity. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda writes that: structural sin “remain[s] invisible to those not suffering from it. If we do not see the structural sin and injustice in which we live, we cannot repent of it.

Failing to renounce it, we remain captive to it. Failure to see structural sin breeds complicity with it and passes it on to the next generation. The call to renounce sin contains a call to ‘see’ the structural sin of which we are a part, in order that we might repent of it, renounce it, and resist it. Therefore, Structural sin is sustained by our ignorance of it.

This means that human beings are made to live in relationship with God, others and the environment, based on love.

The absence of this Christian relational dynamic ipso facto disrupts these relationships. It should be noted that “the

reality of sin is that it can be personal or communal”. (See‘the Catechism of the Catholic Church (# 1869)’ and ‘Pope John Paul II’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation called Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (# 16)’ concerning structural sin). Various synonyms have been used to articulate the notion of structural sin.

Various terms have been used by scholars to designate this social phenomenon and each term portrays a particular emphasis.

For example, the sin of the world which is one of the phrases used to designate social sin, is understood as ‘a sin that runs through time and space infecting both persons and institutions’ (Blair, 2007:4). The term social sin is used most to denote sin as a social phenomenon.

O’Keefe understands social sin as follows: Structures that oppress human beings, violate human dignity, stifle freedom, and impose gross inequality. Situations that promote and facilitate individual acts of selfishness. The complicity or silent acquiescence of persons who do not take responsibility for the evil being done. Thus, social sins can be understood as those committed against society or against the common good, and thus also referred to as social injustice. Examples are slavery, misuse of public funds, oppression and exploitation to mention a few.

in destructive activities such as theft, oppression, exploitation, human rights violations, discrimination, injustice, racism or imperialism among others (Kakwata 2016:4).

IMPLICATIONS OF STRUCTURAL SIN/EVIL TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ZIMBABWE AND AFRICA Given the above, one may ask what the implications of structural sin are. From this perspective, a close link can be pointed out. Structural or Social sin often gives birth to poverty/ and or human suffering. It has been argued that social sin or structural sin/ systemic sin results in or influences poverty systems in each society. Myers (2007:88) in his book Walking With the Poor, echoes this view when he identifies sin as the fundamental cause of poverty. Structural sin therefore results in structural poverty or systemic poverty. Poverty has negative impacts on human health, social, emotional and cognitive development, behaviour and

The Old and the New Testament scholars testifies to the fact that sin is a social reality in the world in which humans live. These narratives also substantiate the notion of a social dimension of sin that reaches beyond individualistic transgressions. One can observe that certain specific social sins, as mentioned above, do cause and sustain poverty in society and particularly in our context as Zimbabwe. These forms can be identified in many illicit acts of government, failed political and economic structures, and Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

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educational outcomes. For example, children born into poverty are more likely to experience a wide range of health problems, including poor nutrition, chronic disease and mental health problems, among others. It is in this view that the implications of structural sin/evil to national or regional development are way deeper than what the eye can see. These implications are deep, severe and harmful to our wellbeing as humans if not addressed.

Sin is the root cause of deception, distortion and domination. Instances where people do not treat each other well, this is because God does not form the centre of their story. Thus, for the African society to experience transformation from poverty to a state of well-being there is a need to address sin that is rooted in the social structures, sin that manifest in governance deficits and its impact on ordinary people, sin that is seen in failure of State-Society relations and the failure of the State in service delivery. Therefore, sin continues to manifest itself in all these aspects. In the context of Zimbabwe and Africa where poverty is rife, broken relationships as a result of structural sin often lead to oppression, exploitation and injustice against humans by their fellow human beings. It is clear that sin is the harmful element that destroys the

above-mentioned basic relationships.

In this regard sin implies the failure to love God fully and one’s neighbour unconditionally. Sin is synonymous with lovelessness.

holders, however, rights holders are often hardest hit. Duty bearers are often those having obligations to respect, protect and create an environment for the exercise of human rights - this is often the State.

STRUCTURAL SIN/EVIL IN THE CONTEXT OF RIGHTS AND DUTIES WITHIN ZIMBABWE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As citizens, we are entitled to certain rights as well as obliged to certain duties.

It is our duty as responsible citizens that we abide by these laws and carry out our duties. Without a good degree of adherence to practical intellectual and moral virtues we cannot take our responsibilities with dignity and produce valuable outcomes. At the same time knowledge of our fundamental rights is important to prevent injustice.

Structural sin impedes citizens from fully exercising their rights and perform their duties. The impact of Covid – 19 in Zimbabwe and Africa COVID-19 has made worse by the structures of governance. COVID-19 has revealed a world in need of grace, while exposing poor governance structures and failed political and economic systems, which in turn affect the exercise of duty by the duty bearers and the exercise of rights by the rights holders. Structural sin affects both duty bearers and rights Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

Since sin destroys relationships it is imperative for citizens to be trained to change their mindsets. People must have love the common good which in turn informs and shapes their worldview in the light of virtue. The Church in Africa should amplify its teaching for people to understand the subtleness of sin and nuances around sin and provide insight into what is truly for the commonwealth.

The prevalence of Structural Sin should not be the cause of hopelessness. The negative experience of sin should be turned around into an opportunity for Africans to grow their relationship with God in order to rid themselves of effects of Structural Sin. The good life is a huge possibility wherever genius and virtue co-exist. The traditional love for community in Africa in general is an important resource for attaining this end as long as the vice of tribalism is curtailed.

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A Brief Exposé on Arête – Virtue Ethics Fr Floria Marozva CSSp Arrupe Jesuit University, Harare Introduction Some of us might recall that from our earliest beginnings in our school going age we have learnt or heard about this popular English adage which says that pride goes before a fall. This is the lesson that I derive from the social, economic and political factors of disintegration of our nation Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general as well as other nations of the world. Our African folktales and some historical books have made known to us how a proud humanity that believes entirely in its ability to make and unmake things, trusting in its abilities alone often disregarding the others and the beyond have fallen. Pride is one of the things that has undermined human development in Africa. My analysis of this problematic is to locate the question of the socio-political and economic challenges facing Africa and Zimbabwe to the question of meaning and therefore of philosophy which is essentially the question of virtue otherwise known as arête in Greek.

Virtue Ethics therefore is that morality that resists the separation of human actions from their human sources, human character and community and from the consequences of human actions. Virtue ethics take into consideration aretaic judgments such as “that was a courageous deed” (Frankena: 63) or thanks for being truthful, or such else.

The Crisis of Virtue At the root of the moral crisis confronting the modern world is a crisis of virtue

that must be resolved before there can be any hope of lasting solutions to the social and political problems facing humanity in general and Africa in particular. This crisis reinforces the paramount importance of virtue as the essential basis for social and political progress. The following social and political problems in Africa such as the unregulated markets that serve the few at the expense of the many, undemocratic institutions of governance that arise from lack of honest bureaucracy through the use of power and dictatorship, rising levels of inequality among men and women, the rich and the poor, unsustainable exploitation and destruction of our natural resource base, rising alienation of human capital from productive employment and rising levels of social instability are signs of a social fabric increasingly divorced from the practice of virtue. And if one takes a closer look at the aforementioned one discovers that these are but the results of consequentialism. The importance of the practice of virtue is that kind of morality that Ross Poole talks of when he says that it has been marginalized in the modern world although not completely lost (Poole:135).

So, the call to virtue invites us to seek radical remedy to the prevailing social ills in our countries, not merely in technological fixes, but in a re-examination of the fundamental ideas and values on which our systems are based. Our value systems are based on lies, hate, anger and moral decadences. As many of us learnt,

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the history of human development is commonly described in terms of advances in technology, but this is an overtly-simplified view that disregards other transformative agents of change. There can be no proper human development that is deprived of virtue. Lies, hatred, violence or corruption do not bring upon human development. As long as our leaders remain untruthful to their promises, as long as they perpetrate violence and participate in corrupt practices there can be no human progress. Here one is led to conclude that responsible leadership demands consequences necessary to sustain the different nations and built more sustainable places to live, but not on the models that have so far guided irrational behaviors that we see being exhibited by most of our leaders. These behaviors derive from the lack of virtues such as courage, justice and truthfulness. If there is lack of virtue then one cannot function properly.

The Greek word arête means something akin to excellence. This word was not only used to refer to a person’s intellectual or moral virtues but to any other type of excellence e.g. the sharpness of a knife. Arête or virtue can then be understood as a skill for living well. The fact that the Greeks used this term in their discussions of ethics implies a strong sense that humans have a function just as sharp knives do and that we become good by fulfilling this function. Therefore, a person exhibits arête when he performs his function properly as already

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mentioned.

The Function of Man Argument Human beings certainly have functions that they acquire as the result of taking on certain social roles e.g. parents’, students, teacher, president, priest, police officer, concert pianist etc. But the fundamental question is: Do human beings have a function simply as human beings, apart from social, economic or political roles? But in a somewhat different way, is there some end that we are uniquely suited to attain by virtue of our human nature apart from a particular role or occupation? If so, it would have to be some more generic end than making beautiful music or keeping the floor clean etc.

For Aristotle, a function is not a task assigned to a human being from without. The function of a human being is that thing which, if it were lacking, would mean that that being would not be human. It is that which differentiates human beings from plants and animals. A human being has functions but not in the instrumental sense as inanimate objects have functions. Inanimate objects have instrumental functions, which presuppose that they are good or useful for further ends or purposes. The function of human beings, however, is that which is intrinsically or non-instrumentally beneficial for human beings in virtue of his being a member of the species homo sapiens. This is where we derive the idea of human development. Another way to understand this is to understand Aristotle as arguing that human beings have an essence. By this Aristotle is looking for something that is distinctive to human beings only as opposed to other beings.

The only thing that remains that distinguishes human beings from other beings is the active life of the element that has a rational principle. So the function of human beings, Aristotle concludes, is that of rationality.

The Importance of Rationality When rationality is at work human beings are able to attain wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. The habits of thought and intellectual skills that help it to do this job are called intellectual virtues. These are the virtues that are acquired through the kind of training one receives in school. But someone can have great “book smarts” and still be very irrational in how they conduct their lives. Such a person lacks what Aristotle calls moral virtue.

For every emotion, every desire or appetite, every behavioral disposition there is a corresponding moral virtue, as well

as moral vice. They are those capacities or dispositions of character that enable us to understand any situation we might find ourselves in, react rationally, and positively in order to avoid extremes and excesses. Acting virtuously for humans, accordingly, is acting rationally, that is, acting in accordance with reason. Rationality is important in the aspect of human development because it is that aspect of the human person that helps him to think properly, evaluate, judge and form beliefs that are in accordance with reason. This is what I think most of our leaders have been lacking and it has been manifested in a lot of ways not excluding corruption, human rights abuse, violence etc.

The above brief treatise on virtue reminds us that the time has come for humanity to develop new narratives, new metaphors and new storylines for the urgent and compelling threats that face the political, social and economic pillars upon which humanity seems to stand by re-visiting some particular virtues especially the virtues of truthfulness, courage and justice. With nuclear warfare accumulation, actual war and threats of war, humanity faces a predicament at its ability to sustain peace for the human species. Where there is no peace there is no human development.

Virtue as something that defines humanity

At a global level the experience of the current pandemic of the corona virus otherwise known as Covid -19 has also shown the world how important virtue is.

The coming together of all peoples in the world agreeing to almost the same thing is a sign that shows that virtue is what really matters. The presupposed cowardice that is levelled against China by most sectors in the world for being dishonest about the facts of the corona virus is a sign that virtue is making a comeback.

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This is a great sign also that virtue is not a utopia but it is actually what defines us as human beings. Covid -19 has shown that the African value of Ubuntu is strong even though Africans themselves might underrate its efficiency.

For the sole reason of nurturing that universal cultural soil which enables fruitful and constructive dialogue both socially and politically in Africa the virtues of courage, honesty, humility, respect, and love can promote justice and peace, which I think are the primary objectives of every community or society, country or nation. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of dialogue in politics and in social life.

That is why these virtues are needed. In politics for example most of our African leaders are not humble and respectful.

They are proud and stubborn. They need to listen to others. As for respect, our leaders need to respect human persons as well as respect human life, a respect that does not despise life itself by holding on to resources, the silencing of opponents and even killings, but the kind of respect that values life and enables regard for personal and social identity, openness to diversity, forgiveness and reconciliation necessary for re-building the bridges caused by situations of pre and post-election violence, ethnic and tribal wars as well as general misunderstandings.

Conclusion There is no doubt that most of our leaders and citizens, especially those who work in the public domain, are very educated people. Unfortunately their behaviour does not really resonate with what they acquired intellectually.

Human integrity demands some degree of both intellectual and moral virtues.

One cannot exist without the other. Being a virtuous person requires that we reason well and act well at the same time such that virtue becomes something more than good accidental habits. The deliberate pursuit of virtue in its many aspects promotes proper human development, even infrastructural development as well as technological development that can boost the human being’s self-esteem based on good ethical behavior. It is good behavior and excellence (arête) that makes people humble, loving, caring, considerate and sympathetic. This is also what it means to live a good life. In other words the goal or end of virtue is to live the good life and enable everyone to be fully alive.

Probably this is what St Irenaeus wanted to illustrate by saying, “the glory of God is a human being fully alive”.

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‘The Blame Game - A Dead End’ Theresa Sanyatwe Arrupe Jesuit University, Harare

‘The blame game- a dead end’ is a

saying which expresses a situation in which people try to blame each other for something bad that has happened but that does not end in a successful resolution. The blame game usually follows this pattern: His Fault←->Her Fault←->Their Fault←->Not Me. This is where the little gremlin voice in one’s head screams, “The economy sucks”, “My manager is holding me back”, “My co-workers are mean”, “It’s the administration team…the pandemic… lack of opportunities…” and so on. In a divided community everyone finds reasons to pass on the blame onto someone else. The fact is that no one wants to be blamed. Targets are easy to find because they are everywhere.

Somebody somewhere is behaving in ways someone disapproves of. When the situation is us versus them, has it ever been hard to name ‘them?’ (D. Chopra, MD, February 2021).

A glance at the streets of Harare, for instance, quickly reveals piles of stinking garbage that has not been collected for weeks and months. When one inquires why the streets are not clean and the refuse not collected one hears a litany of reasons including a chain of people who are reported to not have attended to their duties. The residents blame the city councils, the city councils blame the economy and central government, and central government blames incompetence and lack of foreign currency. Whoever may be to blame, the result is that nothing is done: we increasingly live in an ecosystem that is not fit for human habitation.

Here are some of the blame games in Zimbabwe which hit a dead end because people are not keen to be responsible and accountable. The Daily News of the 14th of February 2021 had an article entitled Garbage piled up in city centres… When the people who are expected to have responded were approached, they said, “At times we struggle in our efforts to fully manage garbage in the city. Some people at bus termini keep dumping litter everywhere despite our efforts to keep the city clean. This is the main reason why heaps of garbage still dominate

mostly at the country’s bus termini.” In an interview, one of the residents argued, “The City Council is failing to do its job properly. The situation of litter in the [cities] has worsened to such an extent that in every corner and pavement that you pass there is litter. One wonders what the Council was doing during the lockdown phase when most of the people were working from home. The Council has failed dismally in executing their duties.” (The Herald, 5 March 2021).

Blame is never part of the solution.

It exists at the level of the problem.

Writing in an encyclical entitled Fratelli Tutti (Brothers and Sisters All) which was released on 3 October 2020, Pope Francis points out that to care for the world in which we live means to care for ourselves. We need to think of ourselves more and more as a single family dwelling in a common home. The blame game manifests among us because of what Pope Francis notes as the lack of a plan for everyone. Our people must come to the realization that everyone is a player in building our communities, societies and nation.

The blame game offers some persons excuses for irresponsibility. Ultimately it blinds us from seeing what the root causes to the rot in our country today might be. The Herald of 12th March 2021 presented a news article on how different groups of people allot blame on each other without anyone providing a solution to the problems. When the council official was interviewed about the deterioration of our road networks in our cities, he complained that Council was not receiving funds from the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA): “We have not done well in the roads programmes due to funding constraints. This sector relies heavily on ZINARA funds and we have received only $46,5 million, which is inadequate for works in the roads programme. ZINARA does not respond positively to our pleas.”

However, the ZINARA spokesperson said, “We have fully disbursed funds to the [City Councils] as per their request. We are 100 percent up to date and we never delayed. We have been in

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touch with them on a frequent basis.”

The residents said that the Council’s excuse was unacceptable considering that the deplorable conditions of the road system [in our cities] have caused numerous accidents. The city [Councils] need to take full responsibility for their given mandates and stop placing blame elsewhere all the time.” (Dailynews November 22, 2020). The Chronicle of the 18th of March, 2020 presents a similar chain of the blame game between the residents, city councils and Zinara.

Residents and motorists who spoke to the news crew said that councils should repair the cities’ roads. They also said that the Council needed to attend to the roads which they have neglected in the past four years. A Council representative defended themselves by saying, “While Council(s) admits that they [cities’] roads need urgent rehabilitation, it does not have the required funds to do the work.

There have been some challenges in gathering the ZINARA funds on time.”

A ZINARA representative blamed the inflation by saying that their 2019 budget was severely affected by inflation.

He said the economic environment affected the completion of most road works across the country. In another city the residents complained that the city council’s engineer was sleeping on the job and they were planning to demonstrate to push the council to act.

The council’s engineer defended himself by blaming the shortage of funds to buy more equipment for roads’ repair (The Herald 12 March 2021).

The blame game appears in all corners of the life cycle of the service providers and the beneficiaries. The noticeable thing is that each entity seeks to push dirt under the other’s door. This has become the order of the day and there does not seem to be any end in sight because of this approach. At the end of the day or year there is no concrete resolution of problems yet the senior staff of entities feel entitled to receive their remuneration with no work to show for it.

The Holy Father, in Fratelli Tutti gives us an insight on how we can counter this spirit of blaming each other. He proposes authentic social dialogue which

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involves the ability to respect the other’s point of view, legitimate convictions and concerns based on their identity and experience. He also stresses the need to recognize that others have a contribution to make, and it is desirable that they should articulate their positions for the sake of a more fruitful public debate. The Pope goes on to say: “When individuals or groups are consistent in their thinking, defend their values and convictions, and develop their arguments, this surely benefits society. Yet, this can only occur to the extent that there is genuine dialogue and openness to others. Indeed, “in a true spirit of dialogue, we grow in our ability to grasp the significance of what others say and do, even if we cannot accept it as our own conviction… Let us not forget that “differences are creative; they create tension and in their resolution of the tension lies humanity’s progress (Fratelli Titti,). Hence, we should learn that at the level of the solution, answers can be found without the blame game. We should not stick our heads in the sand and stop playing the blame game.

In conclusion, the real solution to this problem lies in the education system, training and work ethic.

The blame syndrome has grown over a long time in Zimbabwe. It begins with government which does not easily accept failure where it is evident. When its reputation and performance are brought into question, they tend to put the blame on the imposition of sanctions, ZIDERA, etc, which to extend that the sanctions are a threat to the economy of Zimbabwe cannot be ignored.

But internal incompetence or negligence cannot be underestimated. So, the root problem is really about lack of conscience, lack of a viable work ethic and an honest desire to work hard and live a modest life. It is imperative for us all to work hard for a viable economy in order to improve the standard of living in Zimbabwe. A life lived in pursuit of virtue is much more fulfilling and meaningful than that which produces nothing but further Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

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Virtues From Above Fr Nelson Nyamayaro, SJ Makumbi Mission, Harare my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). The Christians who are at work in the world to sustain their lives and to develop their countries should bear in mind that they have a mission to fulfill, that is, to serve Jesus Christ and bear witness to him in a practical way that is informed by the truth that they have received.

The Christian faith teaches that God is

the source of all the good. Jesus Christ asked the rich young man why he referred to him as good in order to heighten the young man’s awareness of the fact that only God is good, and the source of it thereof. This good God is the giver of virtues, particularly the Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope and Love.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) puts it well that “a virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself” (CCC # 1803). We need to emphasize the expression ‘firm disposition’ because without it the possibility or interest to pursue virtue would either be minimal or non-existent. Part of the work ethos from which Zimbabwe and Africa in general can benefit is the inclusion of a ‘firm disposition’ to endeavour for the well being of the people by those in public office as well as those in the private sector. The pursuit of self-interest at the cost of the well being of the people is akin to the promotion of vice, which is the direct opposite of virtue.

The theological virtues referred to above “are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life” (CCC #1813). In addition, and this is a point of significant interest: “the human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the theological virtues relate directly to God” (CCC #1812).

The foregoing implies that Christian life is not merely about mental knowledge of truths, lip-service repetition of what one has learned about the faith or a chanting of songs in praise of God. These activities have their rightful place in the life of a Christian, but they make sense if and only if the theological virtues can be put into positive action. It is more or less like what Jesus himself said, “It is not anyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of Mukai Mukai -Vukani -Vukani No.80 No.80 || May May 2021 2021 ||

The Second Vatican Council document dedicated to the mission of the Laity in the world, called Apostolicam Actuositatem (AA), teaches the following among other things: The laity “exercise a genuine apostolate by their activity on behalf of bringing the gospel and holiness to men, and on behalf of penetrating and perfecting the temporal sphere of things through the spirit of the gospel. In this way, their temporal activity can openly bear witness to Christ and promote the salvation of men. Since it is proper to the layman’s state in life for him to spend his days in the midst of the world and of secular transactions, he is called by God to burn with the spirit of Christ and to exercise his apostolate in the world as a kind of leaven (AA #2).

It is not possible to exercise the apostolate of the laity in this way without the three essential virtues that are infused through grace. In brief, by faith is meant “the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith ‘man freely commits his entire self to God’” (CCC #1814). There is no doubt that the challenges of life and ordinary human life require growth in and of one’s faith, i.e., that relationship of committing one’s entire self to God. Meanwhile, “hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit “ (CCC #1817). In the modern world in which technology easily cause a revolution in human life, hope is needed especially in the sense that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical

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Spe Salvi (SS) which means In Hope We Are Saved. The Pope Emeritus writes that modernity must enter into a “dialogue with Christianity and its concept of hope. In this dialogue Christians too, in the context of their knowledge and experience, must learn anew in what their hope truly consists, what they have to offer the world and what they cannot offer. Flowing into this self-critique of the modern age there also has to be a self-critique of modern Christianity, which must constantly renew its self-understanding setting out from its roots” (SS #22).

The Christian faithful is challenged to always double check the foundation of his or her faith and hope.

There is rapid transformation of life in the contemporary world, which can easily and undetectably erode the foundation of one’s faith and hope.

Significant numbers of people these days place their hope on fame, money, political affiliation and pleasure based on an insistence on certain and even controversial activities or outright evil that becomes known as one’s ‘right’.

It is on account of such a possibility that self-critique becomes vital and a yardstick for evaluating one’s values and purpose in life. Our hope is in God who loves us in spite of all the disappointments of life. Set backs can certainly cloud the human mind and attempt to extinguish hope. This is the fight that we must always fight using faith, hope and love because “man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God – God who has loved us and who continues to love us ‘to the end’, until all ‘is accomplished’ (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite” (SS #27).

the world” (SS # 22). In defense of the importance of hope, the Pope Emeritus’ overall conclusion is that “very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope” (SS #23) the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven.

should take its origin and power from charity, some works by their very nature can become especially vivid expressions of this charity. Christ the Lord wanted these works to be signs of His messianic mission (cf. Mt. 11:4-5) AA # 8.

Lastly we can briefly zero-in on the theological virtue of charity “by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC #1822). This is agape, which proceeds from God’s love for us in the first place and by which we in turn love God and our neighbour. Agape is unconditional and universal in its range. It is given to someone, not because he or she has special characters, but simply because that person is there as a person. Agape’s nature is to value a person in such ways as actively to seek his or her deepest welfare and fulfillment (cf. William, Rowe 1993). This is the New Commandment, according to Jesus Christ.

Apostolicam Actuositatem goes on to teach that “while every exercise of the apostolate

Zimbabwean Christians and believers elsewhere should embrace the call to action on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ. It is not useful to speak much about the faith without putting it into practice, the kind of practice that transforms society through responsible use of education, skills, intelligence and experience. An allegiance to love for virtue can change human societies by motivating people to take up their duties with responsibility and enjoy their legitimate rights with peace of mind in the light of Christ. Faith, hope and love are indeed virtues that make us god-like if we strive to grow them and thrive in employing them for human development and the salvation of souls.

Holding on to a correct perspective of hope is important. This is necessary because progress in the modern world “without doubt … offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evil – possibilities that formerly did not exist” (SS #22). This kind of challenge can lead to loss of faith and hope in God. Hence, “if technological progress is not matched by corresponding progress in ethical formation, then it is not progress at all, but a threat to man and Mukai Mukai -Vukani -Vukani No.80 No.80 || May May 2021 2021 ||

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“I Was Sick and You Visited Me” The Quest To Stretch Our Boundaries

Fr Admire Rufaro Nhika, SJ

St Peters Kubatana, Highfield, Harare

deterioration through the blame game.

In his Lenten Message for 2021,

Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu of Harare, reflected on Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, “I was sick and you visited me”. The Archbishop invited Catholics as well as men and women of good will to donate anti-Covid 19 equipment for medical frontline workers. I draw inspiration from his call in this brief reflection.

In one of Jesus Christ’s teaching stories on the Last Judgement, he recounts criteria for separation of the upright from the unrighteous based on what they would have done in their lives to

strangers, or on what they would have not done. For those who will inherit the kingdom of God, they would have done works of charity to others. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me”(Mt 25:35-36). In another story recorded in the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus Christ recounts a story of a man who helps not only a stranger, but a stranger who belongs to a rival tribe: a Samaritan having compassion towards a Jew; who would not ordinarily have been friendly towards each other. Furthermore, Jesus himself Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

being a Jew, praising a Samaritan was a scandal of overstretching boundaries; at least from the perspective of fellow Jews of his day.

Apart from his stories, Jesus lived a life of stretching boundaries by befriending and relating to people who, under normal circumstances, a Jew was not supposed to relate to due with their origins, tribe, state of life and political or military position.

In the Gospels, he is regarded as a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Mt 9:1013). In the Gospel of John, he befriends a Samaritan woman , a Pharisee (one among the people he constantly criticises) and praises a Roman military man .

From these stories and his actions, Jesus

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encourages his followers to stretch the boundaries, to go beyond the normal. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly (…) If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:27-33).

Though Jesus’ stories are told from a personal or individual perspective should we not go beyond? The stretching of boundaries or to go beyond the common norm should not be limited only to the parameters presented within the scriptural passages. Just as Jesus stretched the boundaries that he encountered in his own context, we also have different contexts in which we should continuously discern on the challenges of our new situations. We are thus called to ask ourselves as individuals, the following questions: In what ways am I doing more for others who are not in the circle of my family and friends?

Who are the new tax collectors, sinners, Samaritans and centurions of my day, whom I should treat well and pray for?

Who is my neighbour?

Going a step further: The Sick, The Hungry, The Homeless, The Stranger and The Prisoner is the one yet to be born!

The stories of Jesus are told in the present and make individuals remain focused on what to do for their contemporaries. The present day challenges of climate change, environmental degradation and many more, push us to consider my neighbour and our neighbour as someone not yet born, our future generations. Our love and considerations should no longer be fixated in our present age, but on doing justice for those who will come after us. Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato Si (LS), brings this very strongly as it discusses Justice Between Generations (LS 159-162). In this section, Pope Francis states that, “Intergenerational Solidarity is not optional but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 | Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

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will follow us” (LS 159).

Stretching of Boundaries for Organisations.

For many people, the Christian message is an individual pursuit which one faithfully follows through the dictates of one’s heart by listening to the word of God. It is hardly an organisational issue, unless the organisation being talked about is the Church itself which organises works of charity and works of mercy through church groups. While this is acceptable, remaining at this level of commitment is very limited and does not make the impact that is needed to transform the world. It is relegating the practice into a particular corner of the “spiritual” in which one belongs privately without venturing into the space of big public and private corporates that play a major role in determining world outcomes and whose decisions and policies have great impact on citizens.

Government organisations and private corporates can still find ways of being good Samaritans through caring for the common home and for the next generations as organisations. Church organisations, which are Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), can make policies which are not merely events that are done on big religious festivals to fulfil a religious duty or remind themselves that they are Christians and then forget about it until the return of the same seasons.

This is typical of Christmas time, Lenten and Easter periods when Christian groups scramble to include a visit to prisons, children’s homes and hospitals, then wait until such seasons comes again.

The big problem with this approach is that, it does not make a big impact on society. We relegate the practices

to be symbolic good gestures done on these hallmark days of the Christian calendar. Prisoners, orphans and the sick become objects for us to satisfy our need to fulfil something prescribed on a religious calendar and not necessary to help them. In the same way public offices will always remain in the mode of maintaining power and control through winning votes, while corporate companies stagnate themselves in the mode of maximisation of profits by all means. What then do non-profit organizations do when two major sectors that control the world have the interests mentioned above? They are forced to walk on a tight rope of trying to make a semblance of saving the world or attending to human needs in such a way that they maintain or win benefactors who mostly belong to the said two sectors. This becomes an interplay of convenience for each other without confronting the pressing problems in a deeper way. Thus, the impact and the transformation needed remain at very minimal levels.

Recommendations.

There are Christians who also occupy leadership positions within the three sectors (public, private and FBOs) I have mentioned. Is there a way that their organisations can adhere to the Gospel principles through their policies and ways of proceeding? I noticed a possible way at one school which is contained in its procurement policy. The school gives special considerations to goods and services provided by less privileged people i.e. people with disabilities, minority groups, local small scale medium enterprises and start-ups. Of course, the services and goods have to satisfy their standards, but they promote those who can easily be forgotten by society.

There is a non-governmental organisation that has a retail outlet in which it employs ex-prisoners only. This organisation helps in the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners and helps in offering them employment such that they are not closed off from society which always scrutinises past crime records. A past conviction of a crime is good enough to deny such persons employment.

Our various organisations in whichever sector should make particular commitments towards something of the common good which serves or contributes towards the care of our common home (the environment) and our peoples.

We can also orient our financial budget forecasts towards making an impact through the corporate social responsibility element that transforms and helps communities. It should not be just done to get a gaze from clients whom we wish to lure, but in order tohave the bigger vision of what we wish our society to be like. Government officials and law-makers should allow different players to contribute in positive ways towards matters that affect the citizens since we are all in this together. One commendable way that the Government of Zimbabwe initiated, on which we can build a strong sense of responsibility, is the National Tree Planting Day, which is the 5th of December each year. Also, the presidential initiative of the National CleanUp Day on the first Fridays of each month is a welcome development that needs to be pursued further with wider participation. If big companies and conglomerates make strong campaigns and contribute towards care for the environment, towards green energy and addressing other issues that affect our societies, their actions would transform

Vision Statement Mukai- Vukani (“Arise”) magazine for the Jesuit Province of Southern Africa serves as a magazine for theological reflection for Jesuits in the said Province and their friends. It seeks to help in finding the direction of life in the light of the Word of God at any given time. In this way the magazine facilitates dialogue among Jesuits and their friends based on study, prayer and discernment.

Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

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in 1969 this desire to contribute to the promotion of justice was the driving force of her life. Her entry point into this mission was through journalism, both teaching it and practicing it.

Reading her memoir, to be published later this year, one is astonished at her courage in becoming engaged in issue after issue without seeming to hesitate. At one point she tells us she might agonize for days over what dress to wear at some function but for life changing decisions, which were often risky and dangerous, she did not hesitate. By her own admission she was careless about her own safety. She left incriminating evidence lying around when she was in Rhodesia and later expressed horror when she reflected how her diary was read out in court and her negligence implicated others. But it was all an expression of her generous self-giving without ‘counting the cost’.

A Tribute To A Mukai-Vukani Writer Janice McLaughlin MM

Dieter B. Scholz, SJ

Bishop Emeritus of Chinhoyi societies for the better.

The word ‘missionary’ is going out of

fashion today. We have discovered that we are all missionaries to one another in some sense. Yet, the traditional use of the word still applies, for a little longer, to religiously motivated people who leave their own country to spend their lives in another where they render service in pastoral ministry, teaching in schools or universities or in nursing and medical work. Sr Janice McLaughlin, from the New York based Maryknoll Society of

Sisters, was a ‘missionary’ in Africa but not in any of these ways.

Missionaries, in the sense of servants of the mission of Jesus to the world, are motivated by faith in him and in God’s plan for humanity but from the 1960s this motivation often expressed itself in a struggle for justice. The Jesuits, for example, explicitly linked proclamation of the faith with the struggle for justice in their 1974 meeting in Rome. From the moment Janice arrived in Tanzania

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The intensity and depth of feeling she had for her mission, which is described in her memoir, is a measure of the generosity of her commitment to the struggle for freedom and independence for Zimbabwe.

This book also shows the variety of initiatives in which Janice was involved and where she was often among the prime movers. For a short while, at the time of her imprisonment and deportation in 1977, she was an international celebrity but she understood the ephemeral nature of this publicity and quickly returned to Africa and entered into the raw life of the refugee camps. Before and after Independence in Zimbabwe she worked to bring education to the refugees and displaced people both in Mozambique and later in Zimbabwe.

She wrote articles and gave talks on what was happening in the lives of ordinary people as a result of the liberation war and the civil disturbances that followed in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe after independence in both countries.

She did a major study, On the Frontline, on the effects of the liberation war on four missions in remote rural areas of Zimbabwe.

Her desire to be ‘with the people’ was not a romantic armchair wish; she actually lived in a small house with another Maryknoll sister in Tafara, a ‘high density’ low-income suburb of Harare, for four years before being recalled to New York to work in the media and later to be President, that is, over all responsible, for the worldwide Maryknoll community.

Her heart was always in Africa and at the

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end of her term she returned to work as a facilitator and animator in training courses for advocacy and peace building in Zimbabwe. Among the many causes she took up in these later years was the exploitation and trafficking of woman.

Her memoir reveals a generous heart and an attentive mind. Janice shares with us her reflections on what she sees as the new role of the Church in the modern world. While rooted in her Catholic faith and her Maryknoll religious family she does not hesitate to express her frustration at the slow pace of the Catholic Church in welcoming women into decision making and administration.

This is not a struggle for recognition of women for their own sake but for the sake of the Church which is missing out because it finds it so difficult to move forward and slough off the weight of tradition.

Janice tells us she had many heroes; Julius Nyerere, Josiah Tongogara, as well as her own Maryknoll sisters who gave

their lives in El Salvador. One person who deeply impressed her was Bishop Mandlenkosi Zwane of Eswatini and she quotes him in her book, On the Frontline: ‘My fear is that the Church will not be in a position to minister in a revolutionary situation … It is because of our attitude, because of our historical background, because of all kinds of things that have happened to us. We are imprisoned …

We only want to reform things, not radically change them. None of us is prepared for radical change. That is my fear.’

That Janice could put this quotation at the head of the Epilogue of her book suggests that the bishop expresses something she holds dearly. She was prepared to be a called a revolutionary and a radical and her memoir shows how she tried to live this attitude all her life.

She would be the first to admit that in some ways she was naive but she struck out ahead of others to blaze a trail even if she was not sure where it would lead or Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

who would follow.

Like many who had struggled and longed for the liberation of Zimbabwe, Janice was disillusioned by the way the new government of Zimbabwe was content to ‘enjoy the fruits’ of freedom without addressing the fundamental structures which continued to frustrate the aspirations of the people. The massive struggle that had taken around 60,000 lives ended with the replacement of one set of rulers, the whites, with another, the blacks. Nothing fundamental to the lives of the majority changed. Janice wrote her memoir forty years after the freedom she gave so much for was attained. But it was only a partial freedom. Sadly, another revolution, hopefully peaceful this time, will be needed if all the people are to enjoy the fruits of their hard-won independence.

Dieter B. Scholz SJ Bishop Emeritus of Chinhoyi Harare, 16 February 2021

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Graduates Making a Living on the Street

Book Review: Trapped, a novel by Valerie Tagwira , Weaver Press, 2020, pp. 309 www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com

Fr Oskar Wermter SJ Richartz House, Mt Pleasant, Harare

This is the second novel by the author.

She has also published a number of short-stories. Her first novel, The Uncertainty of Hope, Weaver Press 2006, dealt with the women of Mbare and their doctors. The writer is a doctor (obstetrician and gynaecologist) who writes from her daily experience in a busy city hospital.

The three main characters are a doctor, who is a surgeon battling for the lives of his women patients, and also his own survival, and two unemployed women graduates, one a chemical engineer, the other a journalist.

Parents in Zimbabwe have struggled for many years for their children to get a good education, and finally a university degree to qualify for well-paid professional work.

Unfortunately, this is often an illusion.

Academic achievements are not always rewarded with good positions in the professions. A university graduate who is found on the street as a vendor is a typical figure in post-Independence Zimbabwe. The cross-border trader who makes good money is another such character. But they all had higher ambitions. Now they find themselves trapped in a half-way station.

Dr Unesu can save many lives: the lives of mothers, but not necessarily their unborn children. The gynaecological ward is hectic. The surgeons do highly qualified work for little pay. They work under immense pressure, often lacking necessary instruments and badly needed ingredients like blood and the more sophisticated drugs. They work irregular hours and are often physically exhausted while they have the lives of expectant mothers in their hands.

In that situation reflecting on anything besides the technical procedures becomes impossible.

When Dr Unesu sees a vacancy for a part-time surgeon in gynaecology, he jumps. He needs the additional income.

The job involves carrying out abortions (“termination of pregnancies”, but the author does not use this euphemistic term.) She calls a spade a spade, and ending the life of an unborn child an abortion. Dr Unesu is not happy about that. He remains ambiguous in his ethical judgement. Nobody ever asks about the

right to life or the vocation of women to be life-giving mothers.

Asking such questions is a luxury no one in this “business” can afford. Some “prophets” who promise miracles cannot be taken seriously. Unesu’s mother has cancer, but trusts such a “prophet” and refuses to see a proper physician, let alone a specialist surgeon. Her doctorson tries to persuade her. Eventually, when time is running out, he succeeds and she gives up her foolish reliance on the medically illiterate “prophet”.

All this takes place on the background of Zimbabwe’s reputation of being a “failed state”, whose bribe-taking police force and corrupt officials make life still harder for the unemployed.

Unesu’s mother went to the Victoria Falls “for her prophet’s week-long healing crusade. The Man of God claimed that he regularly went to heaven for audiences with the Almighty.” He promised miracles of healing, deliverance from evil spirits, goblin creatures and ‘curses’ ….that ruined lives by stealing prosperity…..He would show his closeness to God by walking on water at the crusade.”

Her husband says, “That prophet has a hold over her. I can’t understand it. The house is littered with bottles of anointed Mukai -Vukani No.80 | May 2021 |

water….healing bracelets and all sort of other trinkets which are supposed to bestow miracles. To heal, to bless, to prosper.” (99) Cashleen “just cared about others, when most people didn’t seem to give a damn.

They were living in a new age when the most important person was always me.”

(59) Tax evasion is a way of saving “expenses” that the unemployed accept as a justified response to their plight.

“She wondered if anyone ever stopped to think that by evading tax, they were doing a disservice to national interests.

She shrugged. The law of the jungle and serving personal interests seemed to have become the order of the day” (p. 282).

“While she‘d compromised her values many times before, and she did not judge other people for their choices, in this case crossing the line would be tantamount to throwing away the last vestiges of her morals. She felt this would leave her less grounded in life, and she resolved that escort work, or indeed prostitution, were both no-go areas” (297).

But there is a brief character sketch of the “powers-that-be”. It suits them “for people to remain poor and dependent.

That way, they are more easily bought for a bag of maize meal, come election time” (181).

“So many people in Zimbabwe were having to engage in illicit activities in order to survive, so much so that a good number thought of the law as an ass.”(279).

People have only one ambition, to gain wealth and power. Is that a perspective for a girl with a botched abortion? Is there no room for respecting human dignity and people’s rights even in this corrupted world where it is not easy to be “good”.

Readers owe the writer a debt of gratitude for shedding light on dark corners in our country. We would like to meet Dr Unesu (or his literary “mother”) and enter into conversation with them about their work as surgeons and the life of their patients. The reader is left to work out some ethical dilemmas. We may want to ask Dr Tagwira, “How can you show respect for human life if a corrupted economy leaves the poorest and weakest unprotected?”

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