AMECEA: Bishops Strategize on the implementation of “Africae Munus”

AMECEA Bishops have strategized and commit themselves to implement a Church document which was released by Pope Benedict XVI to the local Church in Africa last November in Benin during a workshop held in Limuru, Kenya from March 5 to 9, 2012.

The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Africae Munus was the outcome of the Second African Synod (Special Assembly for the Catholic Bishops in Africa), held in Rome in October 2009 under the theme: The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.

The theme of the workshop was: Shaping the destiny of the people in the region.

The bishops said in a statement released at the end of workshop, “Our mission is to establish mechanisms through which as part of the wider Catholic Bishops in Africa, we shall be able to see to it that the Church document is implemented to the letter.”

The 70 delegates to the workshop included: archbishops, bishops, priests, religious men and women as well as lay people from the nine countries of AMECEA (Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa.

They had converged to deliberate on how best to implement the papal document. The bishops welcomed the Pope’s concern for Africa and more so in matters pertaining to reconciliation, justice and peace, which they observed, were the core concerns.

“We plan to use some of the Church’s existing institutions such as the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Kenya to facilitate the implementation of this document,” the bishops reiterated in their statement.

The workshop sessions were facilitated by Fr Ferdinand Lugonzo, AMECEA General Secretary. AMECEA member countries are nine namely: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Malawi and Zambia.

Source: CISA News