CONGO (Republic), July 5, 2007 — Exciting new opportunities for collaboration between the Bible Society in Congo and the Roman Catholic Church are opening up in this country where 50 per cent of Christians are affiliated with this Church. “We are committed to working together for the Bible cause” emphasised Archbishop Anatole Milandou of Brazzaville and Etienne Diatha, General Secretary of the Bible Society, once again at a recent meeting to review existing joint areas of work and to consider future collaboration. “Our meeting was very cordial and informative,” says Mr Diatha.
In 2003, the Archdiocese of Brazzaville and the Bible Society reached an agreement to undertake the final tasks relating to the Lari New Testament translation project, which had started in 1986. One of the purposes of the meeting on June 14, therefore, was to review progress with this work, particularly its links with Lari literacy initiatives in Brazzaville and Pool, an area in the south-east of the country where illiteracy is particularly high. Mr Diatha presented the Archbishop with some Lari literacy materials developed by the Bible Society in collaboration with SIL Congo. In turn, the Archbishop expressed his continued support for literacy work.
“This is a really good thing,” he said. “I am very much in favour of it because illiteracy has started to rise again, especially in Pool. I will promote the literacy initiatives in my sermons and by letter to all parishes.”
Mr Diatha and Christian Nsounga, the Society’s Marketing Manager, also discussed with the Archbishop steps being taken to ensure that the Scriptures are as widely distributed and used as possible. Hearing that several diocese in Brazzaville and Point Noire, the country’s economic heart, are already using the Lectio Divina program of reading and praying through the Bible, they offered copies of the Society’s DVD about Lectio Divina for all the country’s bishops. They also assured the Archbishop that the Bible Society would be willing to assist in local preparations for the Catholic Synod of Bishops’ XII Ordinary General Assembly in Rome in October 2008.
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