In Nairobi, Kenya one of the biggest challenges for the Roman Catholic Church according to the Catholic Information Service for Africa is witchcraft. When there is no natural explanation for death, sickness or a natural disaster people in this region tend to look for a scapegoat instead of chalking the unexplained up to a natural occurrence. Those accused of witchcraft are punished and in some cases murdered.
According to Bishop Marzinkowski the belief in witchcraft existed prior to the rise of the Catholic Church in this area and many of the church haven’t had their faith rooted deeply enough to not question when things go wrong.
“at the least difficulty they relapse back into their traditional way of thinking.”
The nation is in ruin when it comes to the social support system and many schools and hospitals don’t have the funds to continue to operate. With it’s huge foreign debt governmental monies are paying off the banker instead of taking care of it’s people.
Bishop Marzinkowski is hopeful that the Catholic Church can work to change the beliefs of his parish but fears an uphill battle. His diocese has a population of 240,000 people but only 38,000 are Catholic.
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