.. .. .. . regular churchgoers are growing older all the time and that their number is constantly diminishing; that recruitment of priests is stagnating; that scepticism and unbelief are growing. What, then, are we to do? There are endless debates over what must be done in order to reverse the trend. There is no doubt that a variety of things need to be done. But action alone fails to resolve the matter.

On this point, the encounter with Africa's joyful passion for faith brought great encouragement. None of the faith fatigue that is so prevalent here, none of the oft-encountered sense of having had enough of Christianity, was detectable there. Amid all the problems, sufferings and trials that Africa clearly experiences, one could still sense the people's joy in being Christian,

No doubt if Europe substituted happy-clappy evangelism for a technology based economy and a social support system of public services, we could all participate in the sort or destructive tribalism, social divisions, neglect, civil wars, poverty and disease which characterises theist dominated areas of Africa.