MALAWI: Preparations For The Holy Childhood Conference At An Advanced Stage
MALAWI: Preparations For The Holy Childhood Conference At An Advanced Stage
Sam Kalimba
Planning for the Holy Childhood Conference to be held virtually on a date to be set soon are at an advanced stage in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.
Fr. Francis Lekakeka is the Diocesan Coordinator for the Pontifical Missionary Society (PMS), which oversees the activities of the Holy Childhood in the Archdiocese who said so far they have attended two virtual meetings coordinated by Zambian PSM National Director
“I can confirm that we attended the initial preparatory meeting chaired by the Secretary General of the Society for the Holy Childhood, Sr. Roberta Tremarelli, on 16 August. In that meeting she expressed her willingness to meet Catholic Children from Malawi and Zambia. It is now at the local authority point of view that we had to sit and plan. We are happy, the National Directors for Zambia and Malawi agreed to convene such a meeting to plan for the actual meeting called upon said Sr. Roberta. This meeting took place on 13 September 2020,” said Fr. Lekaleka.
According to Fr. Lekaleka, the animation session will help Sr. Roberta to interact with our children in all the 19 dioceses of Malawi and Zambia as well as helping her to know what kind of activities the two conferences of Bishops are doing.
The next meeting will be a trial meeting of the identified child representatives. Currently, identification of child representatives is in progress. According to Fr. Lekaleka, there are tentative plans to have at least 10 children from the Diocese.
The Archdiocese of Lilongwe was supposed to host the first ever Children’s Congress, of which, Sr. Roberta was to attend in August but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Archdiocese of Lilongwe has 41 Parishes and over 500,000 registered children in the Society of Holy Childhood.
The Holy Childhood Association was founded in France in 1843 by Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson. Its purpose is to encourage all children to be aware of the needs of children living in mission diocese through the world. Pope Pius XI recognized this work as “pontifical” in his Encyclical Letter Rerum Ecclesiae on February 28, 1926. Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Letter Praeses Consilio (December 4, 1950) instituted the Annual Holy Childhood Day.
