The Small Christian Communities are pastoral priority of the Church in Tanzania

Abstract

The Church is always looking for better ways to help Christians live the Christian faith well. Among the best way for Christians to live the Christian faith well is through their participation in the church's activities. Looking at one of the great themes of Vatican II, it was to see how Christians can participate well in the activities of their Church. So why, when Pope John XXIII convoked Vatican II, he used the Italian word aggiornamento in which it means updating the life of the Church. Small Christian Communities are one of the many pastoral methods the Churchuses to help Christians participate well in the life of the Church. Thus, why, after the Second Vatican Council, many places in the world, especially in Africa and Latin America, immediately began to carry out pastoral realization through Small Christian Communities or Christian communities of the base. In Tanzania things were a little different. The bishops of Tanzania (TEC) and AMECEA decided to declare that small Christian communities are the Pastoral Priority. Catholic bishops in East Africa have chosen to declare CCS as the pastoral priority as the best way to build local churches to be truly self-ministers (self-governing), self-propagation (self-dissemination) and self sustaining (self-reparation and self-sustaining). This means that the whole life of the Church in Tanzania is built on the basis of small Christian communities. The main capital or source of the Small Christian Communities are Christian families.

Date of Award	28 Jun 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís M. Figueiredo Rodrigues (Supervisor)