MALAWI: AMECEA Chairman expresses gratitude to the regional governments for religion freedom

Most Rev.
Tarcisio Ziyaye, Archbishop of Lilongwe and chairman of AMECEA has expressed
profound gratitude to the presidents of AMECEA Countries for allowing freedom
of religion.

Speaking
during the Eucharistic Celebrations to mark the opening of the AMECEA Plenary
in Lilongwe, Archbishop Ziyaye also thanked the Episcopal Conference of Malawi
for choosing Lilongwe as the venue for the plenary.

Below is his
speech in full.

Your
Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of
Malawi

All the Government
Officials

            Your Eminences

            Your Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio
to Zambia and Malawi

            Your Graces

            Your Lordships,

            Rev. Fathers, Religious Men and
Women

            All the Delegates, Partners and
Invited Guests,

            Dear People of God

I wish to
start by thanking our Heavenly Father for enabling us to officially open the
18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly with this beautiful and edifying Eucharistic
Celebration. In this Holy Mass we have expressed our gratitude to God as a
Family. Indeed we are a Family of God irrespective of our religious, social,
cultural and political differences. Your Eminence, John Cardinal Njue, thank
you very much for leading us in this Holy Mass and for the inspiring homily.

We the
Family of God in the AMECEA Region are gathered in this beautiful city of
Lilongwe in our 18th Plenary Assembly. We have chosen the Theme: “New
Evangelization through True Conversion and Witness to Christian Faith”. This
Theme draws our attention to the core business of our being in this world, that
is, announcing to the nations the Good News of God our Father. It also reminds
us of the need to always strive for change of heart and embrace true values of
the Gospel preached by our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, this theme invites us
to greater commitment to the witness of our faith in all walks of life be it
religious, professional, family or political. We cannot draw a dichotomy
between who we are, what we do and the faith that we profess.

As we gather
in Lilongwe for these ten days of our Plenary Assembly our reflections and
prayers shall revolve around these key issues of evangelization, conversion and
witness.

We express
our gratitude to Your Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of
the Republic of Malawi for accepting our invitation to grace the opening of the
18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly. Allow Your Excellency, on behalf of AMECEA to
congratulate you for your election and subsequent swearing in as the –
President of the Republic of Malawi. We promise you our prayers as you govern
this great nation.

Through Your
Excellency, we express our gratitude to all the people of Malawi for the warm
welcome and generosity in hosting the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly. We
sincerely thank you for the sacrifices you have made to ensure that this
Plenary Assembly is a success.

We also take
this chance to express our gratitude to all the governments of the nations
within the AMECEA Region for ensuring that religious freedom is respected and
for providing a conducive atmosphere within which AMECEA Bishops continue to
carry out their mandate in the interest the people. At the same time we also
regret the many occasions where religious freedom has not been respected and
where the Church has not enjoyed a favourable atmosphere within the countries
of our region. In a special way we express solidarity with the people of South
Sudan as they continue seeking for ways to establish true peace of this
youngest nation on the globe.

To all
people of good will, we extend our gratitude and promise that AMECEA will
continue serving this region in the spirit of communion with the Universal
Church and solidarity.

                                          

I thank you
all.

AMECEA Social Communications