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I, however, call on our Christians as individuals and as communities to open their eyes to the needs of their neighbours

5.1 Logos-based devices

5.1.5 Nominalisation and passivisation objectifying the validity of call to action

5.1.5.2 Passivisation

Passivization is a grammatical process in which the Affected in an active sentence, rather than the Actor/Agent, conflates with the subject. It is the inversion of the Actor-Affected pattern leading to thematization or topicalisation of the Affected, and the weakening of the link between the Actor and process. Passivisation enhances generalisation and depersonalisation through which an author lifts responsibility.Passivization in the bishops‘ lettersis marked by Agent deletion.Emphasis is on the process rather than on causality. It is deployed as a rhetorical device aimed at objectifying the validity of the bishops‘ call to action to facilitate compliance by the audience. The verbs passivized are those of invitation to action, such as call, challenge, invite, etc. Text 67 below is an example of the use of passivization to objectify the bishops‘

call to faith so as to elicit appropriate response from the audience:

Text 67:

As children of God and more so, as members of God‘s family, we are called to walk by faith and live by faith.

(IYHF, p.20)

The text above is a call to action expressed in the passive voice. The faithful along with the bishop are called to take an action: to walk and live by faith. But the person making the call is not stated. The use of agentless passive makes the call impersonal and objective. It thus appears to be a divine call. The bishop‘s aim of objectifying the call through passivisation is to make the audience respond to it as a matter of urgency, responsibility and obligation. An appeal to

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the audience‘s religious faith (as children of God and as members of God’s family) is further meant to lure them to compliance.

Similarly, in text 68, the validity of the bishop‘s call on the audience to repent from their sins is objectified through the use of agentless passive to facilitate compliance:

Text 68:

By repentance, weare all invited to change our mentality, our way of thinking and seeing things. There has to be a radical transformation of the whole person to align the person properly in the way of the Lord. (WWF, p.58)

In the text above, the passive form is we are all invited. The agent is deleted and the emphasis is on the process, which is the invitation. Through the generalisation and depersonalisation occasioned by the use of the agentless passive, the invitation to repentance is made to appear divine rather than coming from the bishop. As such, the faithful are expected to respond to it as a matter of obligation and urgency. The urgency of the action expected of the audience is indicated by the radicality of the transformation needed.

Text 69 exemplifies the use of passivisation to objectify the validity of the bishop‘s call to love and persuade the audience to respond appropriately:

Text 69:

On the cross…we see clearly the cost of God‘s commitment of love to humanity. In like manner, we are challenged to commit ourselves to the good of others even to the point of shedding blood. (RBGN, p.27)

Agentless passive is also used in text 69 to induce the faithful to take appropriate actions of love. No agent is seen to be throwing the challenge. It thus appears impersonal and objective, and a matter of fact. Expressing love to others, just as Jesus Christ did on the cross, is thus presented as a responsibility, a natural task the faithful have to accomplish without prompting.

Theyare to be ready to make sacrifices, even sacrifice of their lives, for the good of others.

Through the use of agentless passive, the bishop makes the call to love appear objective, indisputable and divine, thus inducing the audience to take appropriate action.

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Also, through the use of agentless passive the validity of the bishop‘s call on the faithful to be loyal to the Roman Catholic Church is objectified to persuade the faithful to comply.This is exemplified by text 70.

Text 70:

We are called to embrace and remain faithful to the Catholic and Apostolic Faithhanded over once and for all to the Apostles. WWF, p.36)

Here, the passive forms are we are called and the Catholic and Apostolic Faith handed over.

The agents of the material processescalland hand over are not indicated.The generalisation and depersonalisation occasioned by this form of passivisation renders bishop‘s call to loyalty objective and indisputable. It makes the call appear to be coming from above and thus requires urgent response. In the case of the second passive form, it is understood that the agent is Jesus Christ; the Catholic Church has always taught that the Church originates from Christ himself.

5.1.6 Syntactic parallelismemphasisingideasfor easy grasp

Grammatical structures are said to exhibit a feature of parallelism when they are initiated by the same lexical items, when they occur in the same paradigm, or when they exhibit a similar syntactic pattern (Yankson, 1987). All the constituents in the same structural position are identical or equivalent in their grammatical and semantic functions.Syntactic parallelism is a form of repetition of parts of sentences to maintain a schematic syntactic pattern, to create rhythm and melody, emphasis, a contrast, to underlie the semantic connection and equality between sentences, and to make an emotional appeal on the audience.It serves the purpose of hammering home a message by placing it at the forefront of the listener‘s mind. (Yankson, 1987)

Syntactic parallelism is a prominent rhetorical device deployed in the Roman Catholic bishops‘ pastoral letters.It is used to foreground and emphasise messages of faith, repentance, love, and loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church to ensure easy grasp by the audience.

Examples of the use of syntactic parallelism in the letters are seen in texts 71- 74.

The message of love is foregrounded in text 71 through the use of syntactic parallelism.

Text 71:

There may be no easy solutions to the many problems of life as long as we continue to abhor the virtue of love.

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There may be no end to wars and tumults among the nations; there may be no end to destructions of lives and property; there may be no end to shamelessness, foolishness and ignorance; there may be no end to the culture of impunity; there may be no end to armed robbery and such destructive tendencies, yes, there will be no end to the troubles and cares of our lives until we live lives of love or allow love to influence the principles of our existence. (TML, pp44-45)

The parallel syntactic structures in the above text are: