VOA标准英语2013--Catholicism in Africa Seen As Success Story

 

Catholicism in Africa Seen As Success Story

Students at the Pontifical¹ University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Santa Croce, are learning canon law.

Like many universities in Rome these days, Santa Croce has more and more priests and seminarians in its student body from the developing world, especially Africa.

As the level of education there increases, Kenyan John Martin Onyango says people are thinking more about the deeper meaning of life. 

“And everyone tends to get a bit more interested in some of the eschatological questions: where am I coming from, and where am I going to,” Onyango said.

Paschal Okonkwo recalls that Irish missionaries² brought Catholicism to his native Nigeria:

“For me, it's the evolution of history. The Catholic faith was first received by Europeans and they have lived it for many years, and you know the history goes up and down," Okonkwo said.

A century ago, fewer than one percent of the world's Catholics lived in Africa, while 65 percent were in Europe. Africa's share is now 16 percent, while Europe's is 24.

“The church's expansion in Africa has been truly breathtaking, but is it the kind of success that can be replicated³ here in Europe and in America?”

Jesuit priest Thomas Reese says Africa today is like Europe when it was first Christianized.

“Africa is doing very well now, but what happens when it's modernized⁴? What happens when the enlightenment hits there, and there's malls and cable television and all of these other things and people are more educated?,” Reese said.

He expects faith could falter⁵.

“If that's the case, we'd better solve the problem in Europe and the United States before it hits Africa, so that we have some solutions that will work there,” Reese said.

But Okonkwo believes it will be different in Africa...

“Because in Africa man is intrinsically religious," Okonkwo said.

African Catholics' worship style is colorful, but it hews⁶ to the orthodoxy of the Vatican. Many Catholics believe it has the power to reinvigorate the rest of the church. 

1 pontifical   

adj.自以为是的，武断的

参考例句：

• His words criticizing modern society just right indicate his pontifical character.他用以批评现代社会的言论恰好反映了他自大武断的性格。
• The lawyer,with pontifical gravity,sat on a high chair.那律师摆出一副威严庄重的样子，坐在一把高脚椅上。

2 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

4 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。

5 falter   

vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚

参考例句：

• His voice began to falter.他的声音开始发颤。
• As he neared the house his steps faltered.当他走近房子时，脚步迟疑了起来。

6 hews   

v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的第三人称单数 )；砍成；劈出；开辟

参考例句：

• The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire. 诗29:7耶和华的声音使火焰分岔。 来自互联网