Southern African bishops decry threats to marriage, family

November 25, 2013

At the conclusion of their triennial meeting, the bishops of nine southern African nations decried threats to marriage and family life, the Fides news agency reported.

While the bishops of IMBISA – the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops in Southern Africa – saw an “improvement in families praying and attending church together,” they decried “the increasing secularization and de-solemnization of marriage through legislation, policies, practices and language do not confirm marriage as the earthly manifestation of Christ’s union to his bride, the Church.”

The bishops also lamented negative media influences: “the disruption of family life through excessive exposure and in some cases becomes addiction to television and the ever-proliferating menu of social media,” they said, leads to “members of families living like non-communicating silos in the home.”

IMBISA includes the bishops’ conferences of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

 

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Further information:

• Family in southern Africa threatened by poverty but also by new media (Fides)