SECAM: Orientation Meeting for Synod Delegates from Africa Set to Throw Light on the Upcoming Assembly
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
As delegates from across the globe prepare for the first phase of the upcoming XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops slated for October in Rome, officials from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) have organized an orientation meeting to enlighten representatives from the continent on the do’s and don’ts for the assembly.
In a message shared with AMECEA Online Thursday, August 10, the Secretary General for SECAM Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior noted that at the end of the four-day orientation and reflection which is expected to take place in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, “Participants would be well prepared for the Synod in Rome.”
According to Fr. Simbine, a Mozambican cleric of Xai-Xai Diocese, the seminar anticipated to bring together 50 participants from the continent, out of whom 13 are from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region, which is one of the eight regional conferences of SECAM, should first of all help the delegates familiarize themselves with one another since they are from different countries within Africa and its Islands.
The seminar is set to “recap some of the fruits from the Continental Synodal Assembly and help the participants prepare adequately by familiarizing themselves with the Instrumentum Laboris,” reads part of the message as SECAM Secretariat refer to the working document that will be used by delegates as a guiding tool for the discussions during the assembly.
The orientation is also expected to offer participants the opportunity to share their expectations for the October assembly as well as introduce them to the Spiritual Conversation Method and its application to concrete issues and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church in Africa.
Additionally, Fr. Simbine highlighted further, the upcoming meeting which is scheduled from Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th is meant to “abreast participants with information on communications issues during the Synod.”
The synod themed “For a Synodal Church: communion, Participation and Mission,” will for the first time comprise of lay people including women and youths with voting right unlike the past years.
