AMECEA: Goal of the SCCs Golden Jubilee is to Reawaken Spirituality, says AMECEA’s Chairman for Pastoral Department
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
At the launch of 50 years of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region, the Bishop Chairman for AMECEA’s pastoral department has underscored that the celebration is to revive the original spirituality of SCCs by the AMECEA bishops.
The golden jubilee for the model which was created in December 1973 as a pastoral priority in the region, is expected to have a series of strategic activities involving all AMECEA member conferences as directed by the AMECEA Executive Board and spearheaded by the Pastoral Departments.
“The overall goal of this Jubilee Year is to reawaken the spirituality of Small Christian Communities as envisaged by the AMECEA Bishops at the onset of the concept, way back in 1973,” Rt. Rev. Rogath Kimaryo the Bishop chairman for pastoral department disclosed at the launch of the golden Jubilee celebration for SCCs on Saturday, August 19, at Nsipe parish in Dedza Diocese, Malawi.
He noted that through SCCs, the Bishops anticipated to have “a self-reliant Church that is capable of self-propagating, self-supporting and self-ministering.”
To achieve this, he said, “the Bishops had prioritized promoting the centrality of the Bible, Communion of the people with emphasis on outreach to all especially the most vulnerable members and by providing ongoing training to the lay leadership of the church.”
According to the Bishop of Tanzania’s Same Diocese while addressing thousands of Christians who attended the celebration including Archbishop George Desmond Tambala of Lilongwe Archdiocese who was the main celebrant, Bishop Peter Adrian Chifukwa of Dedza Diocese, Bishop Alfred Mateyu Chaima of Zomba Diocese, the Secretaries General for AMECEA and for Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) and delegates from AMECEA member countries, pastoral agents in conferences need to “Undertake an evaluation on the impact and faithfulness to the envisioned plan of SCCs as a pastoral priority in the AMECEA region, and at the same time review the guidelines for SCCs taking on board the current signs of times.”
Themed “Small Christian Communities: 50 Years of Building the Church as the Family of God in the AMECEA Region,” the pastoral agents are further expected “to promote this theme in the course of the year, encourage conferences to give equal attention to both the Jubilee celebrations and the Synod processes as activities will be taking place concurrently.”
The Tanzanian Prelate also tasked the pastoral agents in the region, to “promote up to date data collection of Catholic faithful for statistics across the region, since statistics are a prerequisite for effective pastoral planning as well as institute mechanisms aimed at promoting children, youth, and men engagement in SCCs.”
Bishop Kimaryo asked the people of God work diligently and to be accountable to God and those being served, especially those at the periphery remembering that “Our work does not just enrich our own lives, but it enriches the community especially the down trodden.”
As executive board of member of AMECEA, Bishop Kimaryo on behalf of other prelates encourages all Christians and pastoral agents to remain determined and focused, to be ever creative, cooperative and to be always hard working so as to deliver expected results in a timely manner emphasizing that “Together we can achieve great things.”
“May I call upon each one of you to keep on praying relentlessly for all AMECEA member countries that are experiencing some political upheaval as well as natural calamities within the region,” he concluded.
