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SYNOD-MUTILATION Oct-26-2009 (310 words) xxxi
Bishop asks synod for initiation ritual that respects girls' bodies
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In condemning the practice of female genital mutilation, the Catholic Church must offer alternative rituals for helping girls mark the passage to womanhood, a bishop from Tanzania told the Synod of Bishops for Africa.
The appeal from Bishop Michael Mabuga Msonganzila of Musoma came in a written submission to the synod and was published by the Vatican Oct. 23. A condemnation of female genital mutilation was included in the 57 propositions the synod presented to Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 24.
Bishop Msonganzila had told the synod that the practice of female genital mutilation is widespread in his diocese.
"Despite campaigns that have been carried out, this cultural practice for so long has been taken to be part of the initiation process to maturity and to a new state of womanhood," he said.
The values of the family and clan are explained to the girls, they are prepared to take on greater responsibility and they are educated regarding their future roles as wives and mothers, he said.
"This is good. However, should that process be done through the butchering of the most sensitive part of one's body?" he asked.
"Women are born with certain body parts for good reason, just as men are. If God wanted those parts missing, why did he create them?" the bishop wrote.
Bishop Msonganzila said the bishops of Africa must be serious in examining why the Catholic Church in Africa has had such difficulty convincing people to leave behind harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation.
Preaching is not enough, he said. The cultural value of marking the passage to maturity and the importance of a specific ritual for the occasion challenges the church to offer its faithful an alternative initiation rite, one that includes teaching about the value of the human body and about human rights, Bishop Msonganzila said.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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