AMECEA: Chairman for Pastoral Department Says Pastoral Coordinators Are “Hub” of Church’s Mission
AMECEA Pastoral Coordinators Pose for a Photo during annual meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22nd-24th November 2022
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Pastoral Coordinators from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region have been reminded that their work which is a ministry of compassionate presence is at the center of the Church’s pastoral welfare.
During their annual meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 22nd to 24th November, the Chairman of AMECEA Pastoral department who was recently appointed by the Executive Board to head the department Bishop Rogath Kimaryo urged the participants that in their demanding ministry, they need to be mentors as well.
“You are the hub and centre of the pastoral welfare of the Church,” the Local Ordinary of Same Diocese, Tanzania said in his opening message adding that the national pastoral coordinator also need to be mentors of other pastoral agents.”
As bishop’s collaborators, the member of the congregation of the Holy Spirit (CSSp) narrated, prelates who have power and authority needed to carry out their pastoral ministry and exercise pastoral leadership cannot act on their own. “They fulfill these responsibilities in collaboration with the priests, religious, and lay faithful of the diocese.”
He acknowledged that the success of a bishop’s evangelization work in the conferences “largely depend on the success and proper execution of the pastoral mission,” hence the need for the pastoral agents to be “creative, vigilant, aggressive, visionary planners and executors of pastoral programs.”
Base on this mission Bishop Kimaryo said, “your work therefore does not just enrich your own lives, but it enriches the chief shepherd (Bishop), and the community especially the down trodden. It is therefore imperative that you be accountable firstly to God and those for whom we serve, especially those at the periphery.”
The Bishop who after his appointment as the Chairman of AMECEA’s pastoral department disclosed his plans to first coordinate with the head of the department to learn more of its operation knowing that “pastoral care is the life of the Church which touches every aspect,” had based his concern on the ongoing synodal process asking the region to put together ideas which touch on synod topics “as we talk of our involvement in the life of the Church from bottom-up and listen to everybody, discuss about them and have a renewed Church.”
With this in mind he asked the national pastoral coordinators to “network and collaborate in the spirit of synodality.”
Acknowledging that Covid-19 pandemic halted pastoral activities and was a period of uncertainty when drastic decisions had to be passed, most of which touched on people’s faith,” the Bishop said most of the faithful felt abandoned a situation which has made some of them “not fully recover from the traumatizing experience while some have developed a resentment for church gatherings and are not willing to come back to church again.”
Despite of the challenges he said in reference to the Gospel of Luke the Evangelist, “We have the obligation and duty to bring back the faithful to church. We retain those that have remained faithful as well as “go for the lost sheep.”
The Bishop appreciated the Pastoral coordinators for their commitment in their missionary work describing them as “people on a journey,” who will have various encounters as “Some days on this journey are better than others.”
“Sometimes it may feel like you work hard, and it is not appreciated. But I want to assure you, that by entrusting you with that responsibility, your journey, achievements, successes and value are noticed,” The Tanzanian Prelate encouraged the participants appreciating the extra time of working “to plan, execute and complete reports for programs and projects that are time bound.
He further asked all the participants to pray for all AMECEA member countries experiencing political upheaval including Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and the Republic of Ethiopia and also countries that have been hit hard by the severe drought which has affected many areas of the region including Kenya and Malawi.
“May Mary, who is a model of the Church in the matter of faith, charity, and perfect union with Christ, the pillar and ground of the truth, pray for us and the success of our deliberations,” the Bishop concluded.
