Reinventing Theology in Post-Genocide Rwanda

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