SECAM: Bishops in Africa to Focus on “Implications of Ownership” at 19th SECAM Plenary
A section of SECAM Members; Credit, Cortesy photo
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The Catholic Bishops in Africa under their continental body the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) during their 19th plenary assembly slated for the month of July, will discuss among other areas of concern the implications of ownership of the association.
In a statement dated Friday, March 25, the Secretary General Fr. Terwase Henry Akaabiam noted that the plenary that will be held in Ghana’s capital, Accra, from 25th July to 1st August will be under the theme: “Ownership of SECAM; Security and Migration in Africa and the Islands.”
Firstly, reads an excerpt of the statement, the plenary will “focus on the implications of ownership for its members.”
Paying attention to the second area of focus about security within the continent which the Secretary General notes was also a concern raised in the SECAM Kampala Document (KD) 2019, the statement reads: “Bothered about many conflicts on the African continent, resulting in the death and displacement of millions of people, the Catholic Bishops, secondly consider security to be indispensable for building ‘a new Africa centered on God.”
Since its establishment in 1969, the symposium has been holding its plenary assembly after every three years.
The Family of God in Africa aims at fostering communion, collaboration and joint action among all the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and the Islands which comprise of eight regional associations: Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC), the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa Region (ACERAC), the Regional Episcopal Conferences of West Africa (RECOWA/CERAO), the Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt (AHCE), the Regional Episcopal Conferences of North Africa (CERNA), Madagascar and Episcopal Conferences of Indian Ocean (CEDOI), and the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
SECAM executes its pastoral engagements through two Commissions, namely: Evangelization and Justice, Peace and Development, with the intent “to bring the voice of the Catholic Church into issues of good governance and sustainable development, and to promote servant leadership across the continent and the islands, SECAM obtained Observer Status at the African Union (AU) in 2015.”
The symposium uses English, French and Portuguese as the official languages to facilitate the fostering of communion among the members of the continent.
