ETHIOPIA: Let us not return to our dioceses with an attitude of business as usual, Archbishop Chama challenges AMECEA Bishops
Most Rev. Ignatius Chama, Archbishop of Kasama, Zambia giving homily on Thursday 19th July, at AMECEA Plenary Assembly in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Archbishop Chama was the Main Celebrant during the Eucharistic Celebrations animated by Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops ZCCB
Most Rev. Ignatius Chama, Archbishop of Kasama, Zambia has challenged his brother bishops from AMECEA Region who are currently meeting in Ethiopia for the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly to act for the promotion of human dignity following in what they have seen and judged through the study sessions of the Plenary Assembly which ended on Wednesday 18th July, 2018.
In his homily during the Eucharistic celebration which was animated by Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Chama who was the main celebrant observed that apparently, there are many people from the region who are victims of negative diversity, whose dignity is violated each day and the world seem not to see it; he called them “the toiling masses of our region.”
“They suffer silently, being exploited, weighed down by an economic system that keeps them prisoners of the jobs that they do,” Archbishop Chama said, adding that for such people keeping their jobs is more important regardless of the inhumane working conditions coupled with pitiable salaries.
According to him, it is to such toiling masses that the Lord is extending his invitation to saying; Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.
“But how will these toiling masses who are victims of negative economic diversity hear this invitation of our Lord, so that they can experience the liberation that the Lord brings to us? How are they going to hear that message if not through our commitment to working for this region, working to bring about vibrant diversity, equal in dignity, peaceful in unity?” Archbishop Chama posed.
He explained that the Lord Jesus is proposing to the Bishops in AMECEA Region to offer an alternative system based on love, fellowship and justice; the system that make the yoke easy and the burden light.
“This is what the Lord is proposing to us. On behalf of the toiling masses, let all of us who have seen and who have judged during our study sessions act by raising our voices for justice to be done. It would be sad to see that after such a study session we all return to our dioceses with the attitude of business as usual.”
He said that the toiling masses are waiting for the Bishops commitment to share with them the new alternatives that the Lord is proposing to them during this time of deliberations; that commitment he explained is a commitment in humanity unto death just like Christ himself did.
~End~
By Pamela Adinda
