Camille Mukoso, S.J. Calls for a Renewal of Dialogue between the Church and African Religions
In a moving and intellectually rich presentation titled “Nostra Aetate and African Religions: An Unfinished Dialogue,” a Third Year Jesuit School of Theology student, Camille Mukoso, S.J., challenged the Church to re-examine its silence toward African spiritual traditions and to pursue a genuine, reciprocal theology of dialogue.
Speaking with humility and passion, Mukoso began with a personal story from his student days in Paris, where an encounter with an elderly woman made him reflect on how Africa’s faith heritage has often been overlooked. “As if God had been a stranger until carried in someone’s luggage,” he said, questioning the notion that Christianity brought faith to Africa.
Mukoso, a Congolese Jesuit from DRC, noted that Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Vatican II declaration that transformed the Church’s relationship with other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, seems to have left out Africa, the “spiritual continent” whose religion is commonly referred to as African Traditional Religion (ATR) was strikingly absent. “Can a document that claims to speak to all humanity be complete if it leaves out the voice of a whole continent?” he asked.
He argued that Nostra Aetate “opened the door to dialogue, but for Africa, the conversation never really started.” Citing theologians such as Laurenti Magesa, Emmanuel Orobator, and Thérèse Okure, Mukoso said that the Church’s engagement with African religions remains hindered by historical, cultural, and institutional obstacles, ranging from colonial attitudes to limited theological formation on African spirituality.
Mukoso called for what he termed a “double conversion of gaze,” in which the Church moves from doctrinal domination to theological receptivity, and for Africans themselves to recognize the spiritual dignity of one another across diverse traditions. True dialogue, he emphasized, begins with humility, respect, and mutual learning.
He urged theological institutions and seminaries to integrate African religions not as anthropological curiosities, but as partners in the shared search for truth. “It is no longer enough to talk about dialogue,” he said. “We must practice it by making it a skill, a habit, a spiritual reflex.”
Concluding with a poetic reflection, Mukoso evoked the memory of his ancestors who prayed “with open hands to the sky and their feet on the earth.” He reminded the audience that “God never left Africa,” therefore, the unfinished dialogue between the Church and African religions must begin not merely in documents, but in remembrance, respect, and renewed encounter.
By Pamela Adinda, HUC International Office and Communications Coordinator
