Bibliography: leaves 221-244 / The purpose of this thesis is to examine the mission of the ‘Church as family’ and to explore its implications in terms of levels of inclusion and participation of church members in the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo. The background of the study is the 1994 African Synod that suggests the ecclesiology of the mission of the ‘Church as family.’ The study helps the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo to evaluate the implementation of the ideal of the mission of the ‘Church as family’ and draw implications for nuclear, single parent, child-headed, reconstituted and extended families within the church. The study explores Shorter’s culture model to examine how cultural practices, symbols, values and belief systems can be used as an analytic framework for the human dimension of the church. A qualitative research methodology that involves 36 participants in semi-structured interviews, three focus group discussions in urban, semi-urban and rural parishes and participant observation was used to collect data from parishioners, priests and religious of the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo. The study reveals that each family type contributes to Evangelisation as proclamation of the Good News and inculturation differently thereby enriching the ideal of the mission of the ‘Church as family.’ Furthermore, the study shows that guilds, associations and commissions help to strengthen families through spiritual, psychological, social and economic support. Findings also indicate that the Trinity is the theological foundation of the family and it finds acceptance in African communal setup. Family types in Masvingo Diocese are analysed using the notion of the Trinity to show that dignity, equality and respect among family types can be used to strengthen the ideal of the mission of the ‘Church as family.’ At pastoral level, economic, social and cultural obstacles to family ministry stand as a challenge to the full implementation and realisation of the ideal of the mission of the ‘Church as family’. In the light of the research, recommendations for mission strategies were suggested at different levels that involve Diocesan administration, priests, religious, catechists and parish leaders. Recommendations for further researches were also suggested for areas that seem to be important yet outside the scope of this study. The theological, pastoral, and cultural issues raised in this study combine to help the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo to become an authentic expression of the mission of the ‘Church as family’ of God. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The study addresses from a sociocultural-historical, in particular a missiological and medical perspective the question if Catholic hospitals in Matabeleland, affected by the dramatic down-turn of Zimbabwe’s economy since 2000, did whatever they could to continue offering quality services to their patients. It starts with a portrayal of the emergence of secular modernity in the North-Atlantic World, as regards its view of the world as solely governed by natural laws, and of people as capable of taking destiny into their own hands, unperturbed by spiritual forces. The question is explored how the Christian Occident could end up there, following its development through the Middle Ages, and its expansion by missionary activity, by preaching the Word, but also by military force. Next, the achievements of pre-1900 Western medicine are examined, to identify if/how missionaries in Africa could have benefited. The study describes how professional medicine did not become part of the early Zambesi Mission, not because of its curative shortcomings, but for spiritual reasons, insofar as the Jesuits did not follow the European trend to let worldly well-being take the place of eternal salvation. Vis-à-vis their other-than-modern view of life, suffering, and (self-)sacrifice, the promises of medicine appeared just trivial. Submissiveness to authority, both ecclesiastical and worldly, is identified as the core principle that informed the Jesuits’ educational approach towards Africans in all their efforts at conversions. The missionaries thereby colluded with colonialist thinking, in not attempting to make their pupils grow into self-confident, independent thinkers in their own right. In this educational tradition, grafted onto a pre-modern local culture, the study finds the reason why Zimbabwean medical staff, as managers of their clinics or hospitals, have shown little readiness to proactively prioritise the intrinsic needs of their institutions and push for corrective measures, prepared even to challenge their superiors when encountering aberrations in the health system, locally as well as higher up. The study asks if the Church could have opted for a different educational approach, considering the prevailing socio-economic and cultural framework conditions; finally, which options present-day Zimbabweans have to choose from, regarding their country’s future development. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)