Bishop Djomo, while visiting the Diocese of San Diego and other California dioceses in May, urged support for U.S. legislation requiring companies to disclose the source of their minerals. The goal is to discourage the purchase of minerals from mines that are tied to human rights abuses and armed conflict.
Closer to home, Bishop Djomo has launched several peace building initiatives within the Congo.
He was among the participants in the Synod of Bishops for Africa, which met in October 2009 at the Vatican. The synod’s theme was “The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.” Its purpose, he said, was to discuss how the Church could further the cause of peace in Africa.
Bishop Djomo said the synod concluded with a call for all African Catholics to sow the seeds of peace in their daily interactions with others, for Catholic schools to educate toward “a culture of peace,” for each diocesan bishop to make peace building a pastoral priority and for Catholic political leaders to govern according to the dictates of their faith.
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Current peace building efforts in the Congo include plans for a peace studies institute at the Catholic university in Kinshasa, as well as cultural exchanges between Catholic youth from the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
This October, Bishop Djomo said, a major regional meeting of Church leaders will take place in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, to further discuss “the contribution of the Church for a lasting peace in central Africa.”
Reflecting on the recommendations of last year’s synod, Bishop Djomo said, “That every Catholic be a peace instrument, everywhere in Africa, that is our goal.”
Printed with permission from the Southern Cross, newspaper for the Diocese of San Diego.
Denis Grasska is the assistant editor of The Southern Cross, newspaper for the Diocese of San Diego.