KENYA: Moving Towards Solidarity, Collegiality and Synodality, AMECEA Secretariat Implements 19th Plenary Assembly Resolutions
A section of the participants during the workshop
The AMECEA Secretariat has taken initiative towards implementing one of the key resolutions of the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly which was held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia in July 2018, which is to find ways to revitalize, strengthen and cultivate solidarity, collegiality and Synodality in the region, otherwise referred to as the spirit of ‘AMECEAness’.
According to the Association’s Secretary General Rev. Fr. Anthony Makunde, this came up as the first resolution during the third session of AMECEA 19th Plenary Assembly. It is against this backdrop that the AMECEA Secretariat, with financial support from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) organized a workshop for representatives from Member Conferences between 30th and May and June 1st in Nairobi, Kenya, which was attended by the Secretaries General from AMECEA member conferences, National Coordinators of Pastoral, Social Communications and Integral Human Development departments.
Also in attendance were delegates from the region who had come to attend the launch of AMECEA Child Safeguarding Standards and Guidelines. They included National Child protection Officers, National Coordinators of Catholic Education Department as well a National Coordinators of Health department.
Fr. Makunde in his presentation at the workshop explained that the term ‘Synodality’ came up after His Eminence Joseph William Cardinal Tobin of Newark, New Jersey in USA, presented his paper at the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly in Addis Ababa of which most of the bishops came to the conclusion that it was high time AMECEA started new ways of strengthening that spirit within its Member Conferences.
“Solidarity talks about unity, an agreement of feelings, of action among individuals who have a common interest or a common purpose. In simple terms, the AMECEA Fathers are saying that yes we have been united for quite a long time but it is high time now that we find ways to strengthen that spirit of unity that has been there since AMECEA was born,” Fr. Makunde explained, adding that Synodality is a term that came to the Plenary after the presentation of Cardinal Tobin, who is Bishop chairman of the Special Committee for Africa in USCCB, and that the term can be traced back from the Second Vatican Council, and that it means to journey together.
Africa facilitating during the workshop
He further indicated that ‘Collegiality’ is more of a theological term referring to the life marked marked by cooperation among colleagues or people of the same profession such as lawyers, medical doctors and the clergy.
“In Church context, it refers to the participation of bishops in the governance of the Church in collaboration with, and under the Pope. When combined, these three terms, synodality, solidarity and collegiality, add up to something substantial which the AMECEA Fathers are telling us. It is an appeal to all the Member conferences and to you present here, representing the conferences. It is our responsibility to find ways how we can strengthen that spirit which the bishops are calling us to work upon.”
During the workshop, participants were also drilled on the concept of self-reliance as a tool for building up AMECEAness and solidarity; as well as the role of Catholic learning institutions in the member countries on the same.
Participants made various recommendations and prominent among them was the need for AMECEA to decentralize some of its institutions by establishing them across the member conferences to enhance participation and inclusion.
It was pointed out that visibility of AMECEA is lacking in some member conferences where knowledge on what the association stands for is lacking. It was therefore suggested that AMECEA needs to create awareness of its mission, vision, objectives and activities among its Member Conferences to promote the visibility of the association.
It was also suggested that AMECEA should mobilize resources to enable it conduct at least one meeting every two years, involving all the various departments from the national conferences.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
