Global Church Confronts Colonial Legacy: Calls for Structural Reparations and Healing after African Tour
Original framing: “Archbishop Mullally ends Africa tour with calls for healing from church’s role in slavery - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
Women’s collectives in Senegal, youth climate activists in Kenya, and diaspora descendants in the Caribbean have articulated specific demands for land, education, and cultural autonomy. Their testimonies reveal intersecting oppressions that a singular apology cannot resolve.
The Archbishop’s tour surfaces a symbolic apology that, without structural follow‑through, risks becoming a performative gesture.
By linking indigenous cosmologies, rigorous historical accounting, and scientific data on lingering inequities, a multi‑layered reparative agenda emerges that demands joint truth commissions, funded restitution, and transformative theological education. Marginalised voices—especially women, youth, and diaspora communities—must steer the design and monitoring of these mechanisms, echoing successful memory work in post‑conflict societies. Ultimately, the convergence of cross‑cultural wisdom, artistic expression, and future scenario modelling can reconfigure the church’s global role from a legacy of extraction to a catalyst for equitable development.