KENYA: IYCS Africa Region Applauds AMECEA For Support
Rev. Fr. Anthony Makunde, AMECEA Secretary General & IYCS Chaplain
The Africa Regional Coordinating office of the International Young Catholic Students Movement (IYCS) are proud to be associated with the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) where the Secretary General of the Association is by default the chaplain of IYCS Africa Region.
Speaking to AMECEA Online News, the outgoing Africa Regional Coordinator Innocent Odongo expressed that it is only the Africa Region out of the five regions that has a Secretary General of a regional Association of Bishops as their chaplain.
Since IYCS Africa Region is based in Nairobi, Kenya, which is under AMECEA Region, the Secretary General of AMECEA, Rev. Fr Anthony Makunde, accompanied the IYCS Africa Region as the Regional Chaplain.
“By being the Secretary General of AMECEA, he becomes our chaplain and gets appointed as IYCS Africa Regional Chaplain. However, the overall international chaplain is appointed from the Vatican which then gives him the power to give formal appointment to the regional chaplains,” Odongo explained, adding that the AMECEA Secretary General is their direct link and a bridge with the Catholic Church hierarchy.
Former AMECEA Secretary General
and Former IYCS Chaplain
“There are a lot of things that we do in terms of faith and spirituality therefore when we need assistance in formation for our group members more so in specialized areas such as the Catholic Social Teachings; we don’t have to struggle to get a facilitator because our chaplain is there to take care of that and for this, we have been very lucky and are grateful,” Odongo indicated.
The AMECEA Secretary general being at the helm of a Regional Bishops Secretariat is rightfully placed to spearhead the agenda of the youth among the bishops and this goes beyond the AMECEA region.
“When we need assistance from the Vatican, we go through our chaplain; we only have to present our proposal to him and he would advise us accordingly, then he is able to forwards it to the Apostolic Nuncio in Nairobi on our behalf who eventually forwards it to the Vatican. In the same way if we need a letter or anything from the bishops or from the National Conference, it is the chaplain to help us in this kind of communication.”
Odongo further intimated that so far their chaplains, starting with Msgr. Pius Rutechura to Rev. Fr. Ferdinand Lugonzo and now Rev. Fr. Anthony Makunde, have made their operations, programs and activities run smoothly.
General and Former IYCS Chaplain
“We feel accompanied, we feel the presence and the support of the Church and we are very grateful for the dedication of AMECEA to IYCS in the personality of its Secretaries General.”
The Africa Region Coordination Office is based in Nairobi Kenya and has a total of 34 member countries in Africa. The region is subdivided into five sub-regions namely Eastern Africa, Western Africa Francophone, Western Africa Anglophone, Central Africa and Southern Africa Region.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online New
