Angolan Bishop Antonio Jaca of Caxito.

Extra! Extra!

Brackettville's Catholic Community is not alone in this issue!

"Angola: Church struggles to combat witchcraft.

"Bishop sees need for better Evangelization"


Snipped adapted from The Catholic World Report, November 2010.

"Popular belief in witchcraft is a very serious problem in Angola, reports Bishop Antonio Jaca in an interview with the Fides news service..

"Bishop Jaca attributed the influence of belief in witchcraft to ignorance, illiteracy, and a failure of evangelization.

"He reasons that someone who believes in witchcraft is a person who has not been sufficiently evangelized, whose faith is not strong enough to make Christ the only answer in his life..."

Here the bishop tells us directly:

"We have begun to re - evangelize the country. It is not an easy task because we have seen that although the churches are full on Sundays, the population is not sufficiently Christianized. The faith is not strong enough to combat threats such as the sects and the old beliefs like witchcraft."

Then, switching back to the reporter:

"The influence of witchcraft, Bishop Jaca argued, is aggravated by poverty, misery, the difficulties of life in a country that remains desperately needy, eight years after the end of a long and costly civil war..."

Well put, your excellency! :)