Joseph Meaney and George Wirnkar, October 22-31 2007

George Wirnkar, our HLI Director for Francophone Africa, and I have been in contact with the seminaries in Burkina Faso and neighboring Mali for two years now.  We have had the pleasure of bringing seminarians from both of these countries to train at our HLI Francophone Seminarian Institutes.  Thanks to our previous contacts, we did a speaking tour, which took us to four major seminaries, where we had the chance to address nearly 500 major seminarians.

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Known as Upper Volta during the colonial era, President Thomas Sankara changed the name in 1984 to the more poetic "Land of Upright Men," or Burkina Faso.  The area was part of the French sphere of influence in West Africa after the end of the 19^th century.  The first Catholic missionaries to establish a permanent presence only arrived in 1912.  Thus, in less than 100 years, the growth has been simply astonishing.  Today there are 13 dioceses along with three major seminaries teaching 380 seminarians.  This figure does not even include the seminarians from some religious orders, who train their own novices rather than using the diocesan seminaries.

George Wirnkar and I made our base of operations at the St. Peter and St. Paul Seminary in the capital city of Ouagadougou (pronounced Waga-dougou).  Despite the fact that it was late October, the temperature was a scorching 90º+ Fahrenheit.  We were told that at the peak of summer the mercury can climb to 115º.  Our hosts eagerly gathered the young seminarians and priests to hear our pro-life presentation only a few hours after I stepped off the airplane from Paris.

The next day began with a very warm shower, courtesy of the sun, and a beautiful sung liturgy of Morning Prayer.  We were invited to address the National Commission on the Family Apostolate of Burkina Faso at midday.  The 22 delegates at their annual meeting represented all of Burkina Faso's dioceses.  We brought them the worrying news that Burkina Faso's government has ratified the African Union's Maputo Protocol, a treaty that aims to impose a radical feminist agenda on Africa.  At the same time, HLI is helping them to prepare the fight to retain their pro-life laws and family-friendly culture.

Our next stop was St. John the Baptist Major Seminary, where another large contingent of seminarians waited for us.  We learned from the seminary professors that they had just hosted a bio-ethics conference with several speakers from Rome.

THE CHURCH'S MESSAGE ABOUT AIDS 

One of the big problems in Burkina Faso is the "safe sex" message relating to AIDS.  Many people are confused about the Church's teaching when one spouse is infected with HIV and the other is not.  Some theologians have argued that marital relations using a condom is acceptable in these circumstances.  Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau from the Pontifical Academy for Life explained to them that the use of condoms is never morally licit.  I added a very practical argument:  Given the high failure rate of condoms, serodiscordant couples must abstain from sex, or the infected spouse will eventually literally kill their wife or husband by giving them AIDS.  We left many copies of HLI's book, The Case Against Condoms, at all the seminaries where we spoke.

Our adventures really began as we took to the roads to drive through the south of Burkina Faso and into Mali.  Thankfully, the highway did not have many potholes or much traffic.  I believe I saw more donkey carts than cars once we left the major cities.  Some of the villages we passed are still composed of round mud-brick huts with thatched roofs.  Signs proclaimed that electricity had arrived as late as 2006 in some large towns.  It is a very different world from the industrialized nations.

St. Peter Claver Major Seminary was the halfway point of our trip.  It was actually the first seminary in the region.  George and I spoke to the young men about our HLI Seminarians for Life International program and answered the seminarians' questions.  The father rector expressed his delight at our coming as pro-life missionaries to help them to defend the Gospel of Life.

PRO-LIFE WORK IN LARGELY MUSLIM MALI

The next day we crossed the border into Mali.  This country is larger than Burkina Faso-almost twice the size of Texas.  Its territory reaches all the way north into the great Sahara Desert.  I was happy that all went smoothly without any long delays like the ones I have experienced at other border-crossings.  Mali is home to an estimated 12 million people, and about 90% are Muslim.  Even here, however, the Catholic Church is growing, and there are many religious vocations.

Our first stop was in the city of Sikasso, where we planned to make a courtesy call on the bishop.  He was away on a trip to the capital of Bamako, so we followed him there.  Unfortunately, the roads were not nearly as well maintained in Mali.  I have painful memories of one stretch of highway where traffic rolled on the dirt shoulder next to the pavement for several miles because it was less jarring than going over the continuous potholes.  We also saw mosques now in almost every village.  Islamic nations paid for most of these, but the other forms of development aid they promised to this country are much less visible.  The major exception to this is the new project of government buildings that Moamar Kaddafi of Libya is financing.

PRO-LIFE WORK EVEN BEING DONE IN TIMBUKTU!

Bamako is a vibrant place that I was told is the fastest growing city in Africa.  The large Niger River flows through the city after passing by the fabled destination of Timbuktu.  Malians are proud of their city and their medieval empire that stretches all the way to the Atlantic.  A group of seminarians came to guide us through the chaotic traffic of almost two million people to St. Augustine Major Seminary.

Our guides were members of Seminarians for Life International, who began their dedication to the pro-life cause through our seminarian institutes.  At St. Augustine, George and I found a thriving community.  They also include seminarians from neighboring Guinea-where HLI hopes to expand soon as well.  We had an evening session with the seminarians and prayed a rosary with them.  Mercifully, the heat was a bit less in Bamako, thanks to a few rain showers, but this brought forth an incredible number of toads.  It reminded me of the plagues mentioned in Exodus.

The big question in our minds was how the strength of Islam in Mali affected the Church and the pro-life situation.  We were told that the Muslims there are much less radical than in Sudan or Arabia.  In fact it is not uncommon for people to convert to Christianity without fearing retaliation, although most of the growth of the Church comes from those who leave the practice of Animism.  Regarding respect for human life, we saw that the average family has seven children.  This is among the highest birth rates in the world.  Abortion is strongly condemned and motherhood esteemed as a great honor.

What did give us some concern, however, was the large presence of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and other UN agencies.  Their projects in Mali are emphatically not oriented towards building up a culture of life.  Condom billboards dot the roadsides.  In fact, Mali has ratified the Maputo Protocol, which explicitly calls for the legalization of abortion.  We had the sense that it is very important to warn the leaders there of the population controller's plans for them.  They may easily accept euphemistic terms like "gender" and "reproductive health" without realizing that homosexuality and abortion are behind these phrases in treaties and international agreements.

Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako and Bishop Jean-Gabriel Diarra of San received us to discuss our pro-life work.  Archbishop Zerbo said that he has a good relationship with the president and can warn him about anti-life threats.  George was especially pleased that they invited us to return and speak to the full bishop's conference.  We can count on 100% support from the strong leaders of the Church.

Something I found very moving was a part of the discussion with the Archbishop of Bamako.  He told us that he spent some time as a young priest working in Germany.  Part of his ministry was going as a chaplain to a home for the aged.  On his rounds he met an elderly couple.  No one visited them because both their two children had died childless before them.  Archbishop Zerbo expressed his great sadness that countries of Europe, which brought the Catholic Faith to them, are now experiencing a crisis of faith and declining populations.  He is determined that this should not happen to his beloved country.

These trips for spreading the Gospel of Life are rewarding but can also involve some dangers.  On the way back to Burkina Faso our jeep repeatedly broke down.  The most dramatic incident was when this happened in the middle of the African bush at night.  As we tried to find water for the radiator and help to push-start the car, I looked up and saw the most enchanting and bright stars filling the sky.  Later that night we almost ran off the road when we hit a large rock.  At least there was no stampede when we passed an elephant crossing marked in the same way as school crossings in the USA.

THREAT TO AFRICA FROM AIDS GROUPS

A major threat to all these African countries is brewing thanks to the AIDS pandemic.  Using the excuse of fighting the spread of this dreaded disease, many groups are infiltrating the healthcare institutions of these countries, including the Catholic hospitals.  There they spread condoms and disrespect for innocent human life.  They also use their financial leverage in the ministries of education and try to implement hedonistic sex education programs.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created by George W. Bush to fight AIDS, was supposed to promote abstinence and fidelity rather than condoms, but there is a current move in the US Congress to massively increase the funding for the program while taking out its moral aspects.  Congressman Chris Smith warns that billions of dollars from PEPFAR given to population control groups who have now reinvented themselves as partners in the fight against AIDS will be a disaster.  This is something that pro-lifers in the US must take very seriously.  In this and other areas, the results of the 2008 elections will have a dramatic impact on the international pro-life situation.  

George Wirnkar continued on to Ivory Coast to call on the West African Bishop's conference, while I flew back to the USA.  He had several fruitful meetings with the staff of this regional body.  Hopefully, as a result we will soon be going to Senegal.