Transforming (Christian) apartheid
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Sun Media
Abstract
Ugandan Catholic Archbishop John Odama visited Belfast in March 2012, towards
the end of my decade as a peace practitioner on the island of Ireland. During this
visit a few colleagues and I spent a precious few hours around a small, round table
with him. He told us about going into very dangerous remote areas to meet with
leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), including the notorious Joseph Kony.
For Archbishop Odama it was about being true to his calling as a peacemaker. He also
talked about the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), which includes
the Anglican Archbishop, an Orthodox Christian leader and a Muslim Imam.2 He
then demonstrated his solidarity with humanity by relating to my colleagues how
he prayed for them during the “Troubles”, the euphemistic term often used for
the deeply rooted, bloody conflict in and about Northern Ireland. He fasts every
Thursday and prays for every conflict in the world that he is aware of. Then he held
up his hands in the familiar gesture of prayer – with the palms and fingers against
each other – and slowly explained what these two hands symbolise for him. Each
finger represents one of the five continents; one hand stands for men, the other for
women; his light brown palms bring to mind all people who are light-skinned, the
dark brown on the outside reminds him to pray for all people of color.
Description
CITATION: Verwoerd, W. 2020. Transforming (Christian) apartheid, in Nel, M. J., Forster, D. A. & Thesnaar, C. H. (eds.) 2020. Reconciliation, forgiveness and violence in Africa : biblical, pastoral and ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480532/10.
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
The original publication is available from AFRICAN SUNMeDIA - www.sun-e-shop.co.za
Keywords
Apartheid -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
Citation
Verwoerd, W. 2020. Transforming (Christian) apartheid, in Nel, M. J., Forster, D. A. & Thesnaar, C. H. (eds.) 2020. Reconciliation, forgiveness and violence in Africa : biblical, pastoral and ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480532/10.