Catholic bishops in Togo increase dialogue efforts

The Catholic bishops of Togo, a country in West Africa with a wide variety of faiths, are moving to bolster their efforts in the field of ecumenism and interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

And there's a critical reason for this.

According to most figures, some 33% of the roughly eight million people who live in the Sub-Saharan nation on the Gulf of Guinea are members of Traditional African Religion.

Catholics comprise just less than 30% of the population, while Sunni Muslims constitute nearly 20% of the total. Another 14% belong to other Christian denominations.  

Togo’s national Catholic episcopal conference has taken steps to strengthen social cohesion among these various groups in the country through its Council for Culture, Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism.

The man who leads the efforts is Bishop Célestin-Marie Gaoua of Sokodé, a diocese in central Togo where there is a large number of Muslims.

The 64-year-old prelate spoke with La Croix Africa’s Charles Ayetan about the mission and challenges he and the members of his council face.

La Croix Africa: What exactly is the mission of the bishops’ Council for Culture, Interreligious Dialogue?

Bishop Célestin-Marie Gaoua: The Episcopal Council for Culture, Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism was entrusted to me in 2016, shortly after my ordination as bishop of Sokodé. 

In this capacity, I am working with a provisional team to lay the foundations of this episcopal office, which is far from the least important in the pastoral work of the bishops of Togo. 

The mission of this council is to promote culture, but also ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue through collaboration and fraternity.

At one level it is between Christians and Muslims, and then there is the interaction with Baptist and Protestant Christians, as well as believers of other religions.

What are your priorities and current activities at this stage of your mission?

On the one hand, as far as culture is concerned, our council's priority is to promote culture and talent.

Therefore, the team is working on an adequate strategy to coordinate and support cultural initiatives in the dioceses of the country.

On the other hand, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue are a priority.

In this sense, we took part in the Muslim prayer during the celebration of the feast of Ramadan at the municipal stadium of Sokodé on May 13.

It is from this same perspective that Archbishop Nicodème Barrigah-Bénissan of Lomé paid a visit on May 8 to the president of the Muslim Union of Togo, El Hadj Inoussa Bouraïma, in the Togolese capital, to wish the Muslims a happy Ramadan.

Finally, we initiate and support interreligious activities to support social cohesion. 

For several years, a series of sessions have been organized with the support of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on the theme of social cohesion for Christians, Muslims and believers of traditional African religions.

These sessions have a great impact on relations between believers of different faiths.

What are the challenges facing this council?

One of our main challenges is to finalize the structuring of this council and to make it functional for the effective implementation of the mission entrusted to it. 

This process has suffered from the COVID-19 health crisis situation that has been raging for more than a year, but we hope to overcome the obstacles. 

From this other challenges arise, such as the establishment, in agreement with our fellow bishops, of a national team for culture, interreligious dialogue and ecumenism. 

After that, formal meetings can be organized to pursue our ambition of being a framework for the promotion of inculturation and cultural diversity in our country.