Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia (CABICOL)

1. PASTORAL MESSAGE OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF LIBERIA (CABICOL)
AT THE END OF THE FIRST PLENARY ASSEMBLY HELD FROM THE 5TH
– 10TH
APRIL 2016
AT THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC SECRETARIAT
GAYE TOWN, OLD ROAD, MONROVIA
PREAMBLE
We, the Catholic Bishops of Liberia, having held our first Plenary Assembly from 5th
–
10th
April 2016, under the theme: ‘The Relevance of the Church in Liberia Today:
Evangelization, Health, Education, Social Works, Justice & Peace and Mass Media’, do
bring you greetings in the Risen Lord. Having prayerfully reflected on the theme, we
joyfully communicate to you the following pastoral message:
EVANGELIZATION
We recognize that our fundamental mission as a Church is to proclaim the Good News
as mandated by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ “in season and out of season”
(2Timothy 4:2). We commend our priests, religious, catechists and all the laity who give
their time and resources in the realization of this mission. We commend in a special way
our seminary formators, novice masters and mistresses for their efforts in the formation
of young men and women for the priesthood and religious life. We commit ourselves to
the strengthening of our pastoral and catechetical programs and to helping our Laity
deepen and strengthen their faith as we urge all to avail themselves of opportunities for
spiritual growth.
We thank sincerely our missionary institutions for collaborating with the Local Church in
our pastoral works. We look forward to working with you always!
HEALTH
We commend our selfless health workers for their efforts in the provision of care to our
ailing brothers and sisters. We acknowledge their tremendous sacrifices during the fight
against the recent Ebola virus epidemic in which some of them lost their lives. May their
souls rest in peace.
With the sporadic reoccurrence of the Ebola Virus Disease, we urge you to continue to
show the same commitment in saving lives. We also appeal to our people to continue to
observe all health protocols with regards to Ebola. We commend the efforts being made
by all stakeholders in improving our health facilities and we ask that you continue the
same.

2. In line with your medical code of ethics and the values of the Gospel, we encourage you
to continue to promote and preserve the culture of life from the womb to the tomb.
With the formation of the National Catholic Health Council (NCHC), we are certain of a
more coordinated approach to health related matters, complementing the efforts of
government in the service of the Liberian people especially in the most abandoned parts
of the country. We encourage you to continue these invaluable services to our brothers
and sisters without discrimination.
EDUCATION
We are cognizant of the fact that our recent history has had an adverse effect on our
education sector.
In agreement with the Second Vatican Council declaration on Christian education
(Gravissimum Educationis, no. 1), we know that every person has an inalienable right to
education. Thus we recommit ourselves to complement government’s responsibility to
provide quality education in our country. However, we strongly recommend the
equitable provision of subsidies to schools in the private sector.
We highly appreciate the endeavors of the men and women helping to mold the minds
and spirits of our sons and daughters in our schools. We strongly call on them to be
honest, dedicated, upright and dutiful in the discharge of their responsibilities. We
especially appeal to our Religious Education teachers to dutifully and conscientiously
prepare our children not only for exams but also and most importantly for life;
inculcating in them basic life skills and the values of the Gospel.
SOCIAL WORKS
We affirm with gratitude the enormous work being carried out by CARITAS, the social
arm of the Church.
We laud the efforts of our partners, the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Action
for Overseas Development (CAFOD), CARITAS Internationalis (CI) Caritas Germany,
MISEREOR, and all those helping us to reach out to the most vulnerable and needy of
our society. In view of the fact that charity is the supreme law of the Church (cf John
13:34; 1 Cor 13), we renew our resolve to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged
throughout our country at all times.

3. JUSTICE and PEACE
The promotion of the fundamental and inalienable rights of all remains a primary
concern of the Church. Over the years, our Justice and Peace Commission has been and
continues to be in the vanguard of the defense and the promotion of human rights.
Founded in November 1991, during one of the darkest moments of our history, the
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) was one of the lone voices that spoke
against the moral, social and economic degradation of our nation to the extent that its
founding father, His Grace Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis is referred to as “the
conscience of the nation”.
We remain dedicated to this noble cause as enshrined in the Second Vatican Council
Document, The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, no.1): “The joys and
hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time especially of those who are poor
or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ”.
MASS MEDIA
We recognize the indispensable role of the media in the spread of the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We appreciate our brothers and sisters of the Fourth Estate working
assiduously for the dissemination of information.
However, we call for a responsible use of the media. Freedom of expression does not
negate responsibility. We denounce the irresponsible use of the media especially on
some of our Radio Talk Shows, most of which are characterized not by issues of national
concern but by attacks of personality. We also caution all, especially our youth, for the
responsible use of the social media.
In addition, we recognize that there are laws that tend to prohibit the exercise of free
speech and freedom of expression. We must reform them rather than use these laws
against our citizens.

4. SOME NATIONAL CONCERNS
A. Family
We reaffirm the traditional teaching of the Church on the family. We believe that
marriage is a sacred union between a man and woman as ordained by the Creator
(cf Gen 1 &2; Mat 19,1-6). When in the society, marriage and family life are not
guaranteed their proper development in peace, that society is condemned to
socio-political, cultural and moral instability.
We denounce any attempt by anyone or any institution to promote same sex
marriage, abortion and contraceptives. Thus we call upon all, especially our
government to reject the acceptance of this incipient culture of death as a pre-
requisite for developmental and financial aid.
However, we are very much aware of the difficulties and challenges faced by
families today. In line with the Holy Father’s recent Post Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation on the Family (Amoris Laetitia), we recall that Jesus “never failed to
show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individual like the Samaritan
woman or the woman caught in adultery” (AL 38). Thus, we appeal to pastors to
“reach out to everyone, to help each person, find his or her proper way of
participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experience being touched by
an ‘unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous mercy” (AL 297)
B. Religious Freedom
During our discussion on the Church’s mission with people of other faiths, we
were concerned about the tendency to undermine and threaten religious
freedom, tolerance and peaceful co-existence among our people. Acknowledging
our commonalities and differences, we reaffirm our commitment to promote
religious freedom and peaceful co-existence as enshrined in our constitution. We
therefore call on all Liberians to join us in our efforts to promote peace and the
respect for the fundamental rights and dignity of every person. We renew our
commitment to collaborate with all those united to the church by faith, men and
women of good will and continue our engagement with people of other religions.
C. Taxes
We recognize our duties as citizens and institutions to pay taxes in order to
promote our national and developmental agenda. In doing this, we complement
our government as dutiful citizens.
Unfortunately, in recent times the Church and ordinary citizens continue to
experience undue hardships which undermine our capacity to assist our

5. government in service to our people. Donated items to our institutions are taxed
exorbitantly; procedures are cumbersome leading to unnecessary delays in
clearing goods from the ports. Policies are inconsistent and cost unpredictable,
thus leaving room for extortion. These conditions make it difficult, if not almost
impossible, to perform our humanitarian duty to our people. We therefore call on
our government to review its policies and procedures to ensure that our services
to the Liberian people remain uninterrupted.
D. Political Parties: We are grateful to God for granting us peace as a nation. We
have had two peaceful elections as we continue to reconcile and heal the wounds
of the war. Multi-party democracy is gradually becoming entrenched with its
attendant challenges. However, some equate multi-party democracy with the
proliferation of parties. A culture of multi-party democracy will be enhanced not
by the quantity but by the quality of political parties. We therefore caution our
nation that the decision to establish political parties must be grounded in a clearly
articulated vision and political will to improve the lives of our people. It must be
founded on the desire to promote respect for the rule of law and respect for
human rights. We must establish political parties on the basis of a sincere desire
to serve rather than to be served (cf Mark 10,45), to sacrifice rather than have a
sense of entitlement. The proliferation of parties is being dominated by personal,
family and ethnic interests rather than by the collective national interest. This
kind of tendency must be discouraged
Conclusion
As we continue to implore God’s forgiveness during this Extra-Ordinary Jubilee Year of
Mercy, we reiterate our thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. We entrust
you and our nation Liberia to the maternal care of Mary our Mother. May she, Queen of
Peace and Queen of Liberia continue to intercede and pray for us.
Signed:
Archbishop Lewis Zeigler
Metropolitan Archbishop of Monrovia/ President of CABICOL
Most Rev. Andrew Karnley
Bishop of Cape Palmas
Most Rev. Anthony Borwah
Bishop of Gbarnga