MALAWI: Church Supports Catholic Women Organization’s Golden Jubilee
Cross section of the women participating a previous event
Sam Kalimba
Church authorities in Malawi have blocked Saturday 22 July, 2023 in support of a golden jubilee of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), an affiliate of the World Union of the Catholic Women Organisation (WUCWO). All roads on this day lead to Lilongwe’s Civil Service Stadium popularly known as CIVO Stadium, where it is expected that all the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi will lead their flock in the celebrations.
According to the Organising Committee Chairperson Mrs. Mphatso Manyongwa of the Catholic Diocese of Zomba, the preparations were complete by Thursday, 20 July and it was confirmed that the celebrations would be preceded by Mass to be presided over by the ECM’s President and prelate of the host See of Lilongwe, His Grace Archbishop George Desmond Tambala.
“We are ready and we can confirm that His Grace Archbishop Tambala will preside over Mass, concelebrated with the bishops from the other dioceses. We also can confirm that under the theme ‘Women are the Pilar of the Church’ we agreed to invite a Catholic woman Professor Ngeyi Ruth Kanyongolo of the University of Malawi’s Law Department to be our Guest of Honour. We have lined up a number of activities before and after Mass such as displays of our activities in the past 50 years, narration of our history, music performed by Catholic artists and local dances performed by Catholic women from the 8 Dioceses,” said Manyongwa.
A publicist of the Organising Committee, Mrs. Josephine Chizimba of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe justified the choice of the venue basing reasons on capacity of the stadium and proximity to the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.
“We do not underate ourselves and we are sure that women and all invited guests will turn up in large numbers and therefore the stadium befits such an auspicious occasion of our life time,” she said.
The Beginning of CWO
According to information made available to this reporter, CWO in Malawi was established in 1972 following resolutions that were made during Vatican Council II (Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum Secundum), African synod of 1967, the African Laity Council meeting held in 1971 and an ECM’s 1972 Pastoral Letter. The information asserts that these high-profile meetings and the Pastoral Letter challenged the Catholic laity to reflect on their role in the Church and look into ways they could actively participate in evangelization. Women, as part of the laity had their time act.
It is on record that in around 1972, Bishop Emeritus Allan Chamgwera of Diocese of Zomba who was then a parish priest of St Pius in the Archdiocese of Blantyre mobilized and encouraged women at his parish to discover their role as women in the Church.
Role of WUCWO and the Church
In 1973, late Bishop Patrick Kalilombe of Lilongwe led a group of six women in Malawi and attended a World Union of Catholic Women Organization (WUCWO) General Assembly in Lusaka, Zambia. They were accompanied by Fr Louis Starmans (SMM) who was a CWO Chaplain at the time. The aim for attending the General Assembly was for them to learn and understand more on the role of women in the Church, which the platform provided.
CWO in Malawi is represented in the Board of WUCWO by the Archdiocese of Blantyre’s Mrs. Lucy Vokhiwa from April this year who succeeded Mrs. Catherine Nyanguru of the Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu. The first Board Member from Malawi in WUCWO was Mrs. Bernadette Chiwaya from the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.
The first Committee Served a long Term of office
In the same year (1973), the first National Executive ‘You too go into my vineyard’ Committee of Catholic Women Organization was instituted. The committee led CWO until 1993. Among other things, the committee mobilized women in various parishes and taught them about their role in the Church.
The committee faced several obstacles that undermined the growth of CWO in Malawi. Some parishes were reluctant to accept the organization. From the year 1972 to 2023, CWO was led by 11 Executive Committees which have actively intensified the activities of CWO at all levels such as deepening the faith of Catholic women, establishing and strengthening CWO in all dioceses and parishes and holistic development of Catholic women.
Structures
The Catholic Women Organization established its vision, motto and objectives. In 1990, CWO developed its first constitution which they review after every five years. CWO operates from Small Christian Communities to National level. At National level, CWO has an Executive Committee whose overseer is the Bishop Chairman of the lay Apostolate and the National Chaplain, currently the offices are being held by Right Rev. Martin Anwel Mtumbuka and Very Rev. Vincent Fredrick Mwakhwawa respectively. CWO has its headquarters at the Catholic Secretariat in Lilongwe where it established its office in the year 2018.
Governance
In 1982, CWO conducted its first general meeting in the archdiocese of Blantyre and women from dioceses of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba participated in the meeting. Later, other dioceses such as Dedza, Mangochi, Chikwawa, Mzuzu and Karonga joined the organization.
The Patron for CWO is Mary the mother of Jesus Christ and its membership is extended to every Catholic woman.
The Organising Committee Chairperson said that the Catholic Women in Malawi have worked with the Church in various establishments including peace and justice, health, and education in general and child protection and human trafficking, and responding to the call by Pope Francis in taking care for the environment and participating in the ongoing Synodality process in particular among other engagements.
CWO in Malawi clocked 50 in 2022 but reserved the celebrations for 2023.
