UGANDA: Bishop appeals to prelates in Africa to promote Church’s self-reliance
SECAM's Golden Jubilee Theme: Church-Family of God in Africa, Celebrate your Jubilee, Proclaim Jesus Christ your Saviour
Rt. Rev. Sithembele Sipuka, Bishop of Mthatha Diocese in South Africa and 2nd vice president of SECAM, has appealed to African Catholic Bishops to put their efforts and resources together to develop the Church in the African continent.
While delivering his homily during the official launch of the year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) on 29th July, 2018, at Rubaga Cathedral in Kampala, Bishop Sipuka urged his fellow bishops and faithful to stop lamenting about poverty in Africa, but cooperate and work together to develop the Church.
“In relation to us the bishops of SECAM, today’s Gospel is teaching us that while we are not able to do everything we want to do due to lack of funds, if we put together the little monies we have, we can do wonders. If each bishop can make his contribution of five barley loaves every year in the form of five hundred dollars, we would enable SECAM to do a lot more than it has been able to do in the past fifty years,” said Bishop Sipuka.
He also cautioned the prelates against continued donor dependency syndrome, saying that this limits them to run only the donor funded programmes.
“As you know, because we do not all contribute our five barley loaves, we tend to run programmes that the donors want and not those that we ourselves want to run,” he said.
“This is not to say that we will not need the assistance of our donor partners anymore, but what I mean is that when we too bring our barley loaves together, the word ‘partner’ will begin to have its true meaning. Now it is said out of courtesy to avoid offence, but in truth we are not partners, we are beggars,” the prelate added.
Reflecting on Pope Francis’s encyclical ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, where the Holy Father expresses sorrow about many pastoral workers, including Consecrated men and women who are concerned more about their personal freedom, Bishop Sipuka cautioned Pastoral workers against the temptation of materialism that leads into corruption tendencies, individualism, self-seeking, love of money and, power and comfort.
He said that materialistic tendencies have made many pastoral agents to see their work as a mere appendage to their life and relaxation than about evangelisation.
“Some Pastoral workers fall into a lifestyle which leads to attachment to financial security or to desire for power or human glory at all cost, rather than giving their lives to others in mission,” Bishop Sipuka quoted Pope Francis’s Encyclical, urging his fellow bishops to carefully select and form the next generation of pastoral agents at the dawn of the 50 years of the existence of SECAM.
The prelate also appealed to the bishops to use their influence to engage with governments at national, regional and continental level on broad issues of human rights and environment in order to fight against poverty, diseases, social injustices, war and corruption.
He emphasized the importance of urging the faithful to work hard in order to fight poverty and to grow food crops for consumption in their homesteads in order to increase food security.
Chairman of AMECEA with Most Rev. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga
of Kampala Archdiocese at the launch of year-long Jubilee
celebrations of SECAM
Earlier during Holy Mass, Most Rev. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Archbishop of Kampala Archdiocese welcomed the visiting Bishops from SECAM’s eight regional conferences to Rubaga Cathedral where he briefed them about the history of the Cathedral, which he said hosted Blessed Pope Paul VI in 1969 when he inaugurated SECAM.
SECAM was born out of the will of African bishops during the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) because the bishops wanted to establish a forum in which they could speak with one voice on matters pertaining to the Church in Africa. The establishment of SECAM is, therefore, a result of the bishops’ resolution to build a continental structure in order to bring forth the African vision to the whole Church. His Holiness Pope Paul VI presided over SECAM’s inauguration in July, 1969 in Kampala during his first visit to Africa.
Meanwhile, SECAM President, Most Rev. Gabriel Mbilingi, also the Archbishop of Lubango Archdiocese in Angola, unveiled the SECAM’s Golden Jubilee logo, theme and prayer at the end of the Eucharistic celebration. He said that monthly thematic celebrations will be held in all Catholic Church Dioceses across Africa until July 2019, under the theme: “Church-Family of God in Africa, Celebrate your Jubilee! Proclaim Jesus Christ your Saviour.” The jubilee celebrations will be held on 28th June, 2019.
SECAM comprises of eight Regions of Catholic Episcopal Conferences in Africa and Madagascar, including the AMECEA.
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By Jacinta W. Odongo, Media Officer, Uganda Episcopal Conference
