SECAM: Synodality Resource Team Established in Africa to Map-out Program of formation in Synodal Leadership
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The African continent has constituted a group of experts dubbed as Synodality Resource Team (SRT) to help come up with a program of formation in synodal leadership to enhance the spirit and practice of synodality in the Church.
In the meeting that took place in Kenya’s capital Nairobi after the Addis Ababa continental synodal assembly, the group of experts comprised of the clergy, Religious, the Laity and Catholic theologians from across Africa who have championed or promoted synodality in in various ways.
In a statement shared by George Sunguh a member of SRT the team is expected to “pay attention to the quality and depth of the formation of clergy and laity in synodal leadership and practice.” at the same time the developed formation program is also “meant to encourage the laity to become more engaged in the structures and processes of the Church, including informing themselves of the modus operandi (techniques) at the heart of the Church.”
Mr. Sunguh who was appointed last year a member of the Vatican’s Communication Commission of the Synod of Bishops quoted the convener of the workshop the out-going President of the Jesuits Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, who said that the formation of SRT was as a result of one of the lessons from the diocesan phase of the synodality process “that the formation of leaders in a synodal style of leadership is critical to the success of the overall goal of becoming a synodal Church.”
Additionally Mr. Sunguh said, the aim of the workshop has also been inspired by the “Working Document for the Continental Stage, no. 83, which calls for the establishment of synodal agents and teams of Synodality. That is, people with experience or willing to develop expertise to become facilitators, champions, trainers and would be available as agents and teams to facilitate sessions on synodality for communities and institutions to support their growth in the spirit of synodality.”
The significance of the two-day workshop organized by African Synodality Initiative (ASI) a partnership between the Jesuits Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), and the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), was to help members “listen to one another, discerns, and discuss how to develop formation in the spirit of synodality,” knowing that “through listening, the team would draw from the collective experience and wisdom, and depth of knowledge on synodal matters.”
The ASI was established to develop resources to assist local churches in Africa to participate in the synodality process.
Members of SRT include Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Cameroon’s Archdiocese of Bamenda, Bishop Willybard Lagho of Kenya’s Malindi Diocese, Fr. Antony Makunde, AMECEA’s Secretary General, Prof. Philomena Mwaura, a Lecturer at Kenyan-based Kenyatta University (KU), Dr. Nora Nonterah, a Lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and Sr. Anne Arabome from Marquette University.
