Recall Pope Francis’ now famous words to pastoral workers/shepherds to “smell the sheep.” We should regularly smell the sheep on the local level and even have/take on the smell of the sheep/smell like the sheep. He says that clericalism is a disease in the Catholic Church. “The spread of Bible study groups, of Ecclesial Basic Communities [also called Small Christian Communities] and of Pastoral Councils is in fact helping to overcome clericalism and to increase lay responsibility.”
In Eastern Africa SCCs (the nine countries of the AMECEA Region) we have 195,000 SCCs. They are not a program or project in the parish or in general African religious life. They are a way of life. So we say that we are a Synodal SCC. The SCC is a communion of families. The parish is a communion of SCCs. So we live a Synodal Parish. The diocese is a communion of parishes. So we live the Synodal Diocese. This is part of Communion Ecclesiology.
The SCCs are an official pastoral, ecclesial structure in the Catholic Church in Africa. We are disappointed that SCCs are not mentioned in the Second Vatican Council or in the Code of Canon Law. The traditional geographical parish is considered the basic juridical unit of the Catholic Church so there is no mention of sub parishes, outstations, chapels and SCCs, that is, nothing “smaller” or “lower” than the parish. As the African Bishops have said: “The Code of Canon Law is western.” This has to change.
For the first time in Vatican Synod Documents the specific term “Small Christian Communities” are mentioned twice in the Summary Report of the First Session of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops -- A Synodal Church in Mission -- that was published on 28 October, 2023. In Part III: “Weaving Bonds, Building Community:”
1. No. 16 is “Towards a Listening and Accompanying Church.” Under "Matters for Consideration" m) states: “Widespread in many parts of the world, grassroots [base] or Small Christian Communities foster listening practices of and among the baptized. We are called to enhance their potential, in particular by exploring how they can be adapted to urban contexts.”
2. No. 18 is "Structures for Participation." Under "Matters for Consideration" e) states: "We are encouraged by Small Christian Communities in the Emerging Churches who live the closeness of the day-to-day around the Word of God and the Eucharist.”
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