ETHIOPIA: Catholic Bishops Conference Hosts SIGNIS Africa Congress And Assembly
A year after successfully organizing and hosting the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly, the Catholic Church in Ethiopia has had another chance to host a continental event, this time, bringing together Catholic Communicators from the continent of Africa and beyond for SIGNIS Africa Congress and Assembly.
SIGNIS is a World Catholic Association for Communication which brings together radio, television, cinema, video, media education, Internet, and new technology professionals with a mission to harness the power of the media to promote peace. According to Rev. Prof Walter C. Ihejirika, President of SIGNIS Africa, the event which is currently underway in Addis Ababa Ethiopia is the biggest conference since the inception of of SIGNIS in Africa in 2001.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, the Secretary General of Ethiopia Catholic Secretariat Rev. Fr. Teshome Fikre said that when they received the message from SIGNIS Africa last year that Ethiopia had been selected to host SIGNIS Africa Conference, the Ethiopian Conference of Catholic Bishops accepted the responsibility with great joy and pleasure.
“The experience we had last year by organizing and hosting the AMECEA 18th Plenary Assembly was very positive and encouraging. We therefore felt that the Ethiopia Catholic Secretariat would not let SIGNIS Africa down; we did it for AMECEA, we can do it for SIGNIS Africa,” he said.
The Secretariat set up a local organizing committee which worked hand in hand with SIGNIS Africa continental organizing committee.
“We are delighted that this Conference is finally happening in reality and we believe that this event will help the Ethiopian Catholic Church to better understand her role as communicator; her role as a mediator; and her role in promoting peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia,” Father Teshome continued as he assured participants a pleasant stay in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In his address to the participants of the conference whose theme was “The African Youth in the Digital World Promoting Creativity for integral development,” SIGNIS Africa President Father Walter Ihejirika indicated that the gathering was meant to achieve two important goals; firstly, to come up with practical pathways of promoting the welfare of African children and young people in the ever-changing digital world.
“The care for this vulnerable group is one of the urgent pastoral needs identified by Pope Francis and highlighted during the recent Golden Jubilee of SECAM,” Father Walter said.
The second goal of the gathering was to provide structural fortifications to SIGNIS-Africa so that it can become a unified and coordinated entity in line with the mandate given to SIGNIS by the Vatican
“Our vision is to build a strong Catholic Communications association, SIGNIS AFRICA, which is able to harness the mental and physical creativity of her members for spiritual and social development, as well as to provide viable propositions to the hierarchy of the Church in the formulation of good pastoral plans at continental, regional and national level,” Father Walter explained.
Speaking at the same function, the President of SIGNIS International Ms. Helen Osman commended SIGNIS Africa as well as the local Church in Ethiopia for organizing the event which she termed an awesome task.
She appreciated the theme of the event, The African Youth In The Digital World: Promoting Creativity For Integral Development, saying that young people are always full of energy and creativity which the Church needs to give her hope and courage to face the Challenges of modern day society.
“I appreciate that Africa as a young Church has signs of hope especially in the young lay people, in men and women who are effecting change right now, building the Kingdom of God among us. May this Assembly be a source of encouragement for them as young communicators so that more of them may join us in this noble work of telling the great story of God’s love to his people,” she added.
The Assembly which is being held at the Hub Hotel in Addis Ababa, the Capital City of Ethiopia began on September 3rd and concludes on 7th.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
