Conference on Religions and Development, 21-23 June 2017, Würzburg

Sr Alison Munro participated in the Universal Church and Mission 2017 conference, organised by the German Bishops’ Conference and attended by the heads of Catholic aid agencies, missionaries and people working in various dioceses.

In a panel on international perspectives on Religion and Development she presented her experience of the potentials and limitations of the Church’s engagement for development, looking at cooperation between Church/church institutions and Government /governmental institutions. Noting her own experience from the AIDS Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, she stressed the need for the funding of development programmes, the Church’s role in advocacy, the pioneering role of the Church where government programmes do not exist, and the call to the Church to provide services to marginalised communities.

The experience in South Africa of collaboration between Church and Government can be described as an “uneasy relationship”, in part because of the huge fragmentation within the faith sector, in part because collaboration does not always happen where it is needed most. The call however is clear: faith-based responses reach people through people. Government does have expectations concerning the role of faith based organisations and communities, and it is true that faith agencies on occasion do the work of government agencies. The willingness to collaborate needs to be fostered from both sides…. Read More here