SECAM: Conversation in the Spirit Calmed Down Tempers During the Synod in Rome: Delegate
Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Bamenda Archdiocese, Cameroon
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
At a post-synodal webinar that brought together a section of African delegates who were just from the monthlong XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which took place in Rome from October 4-29, one of the delegates appreciated the methodology used in the synodal assembly on Spiritual conversation and acknowledged that the method calmed down tempers.
“This synodal assembly introduced the element of conversation in the spirit. This was a very special moment when the spirit spoke to each one of us in our hearts. We understood from this conversation in the spirit that it was not our arguments we were passing, we were not to defend ideologies, or promote personal agendas,” Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Bamenda Archdiocese in Cameroon and a member of the Ordinary Council of the Synod, appointed by Pope Francis, narrated to online participants on Wednesday, November 15, and continued, “when we put down our heads to reflect there was only one focus: the spirit of God as the protagonist of the synod.”
According to the Archbishop who is the president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC), the Synod participants discovered the conversation of the Spirit when they were given time to reflect on their own quietly for four minutes.
“This calmed down tempers, nobody was shouting to the other, nobody was talking as if he/she knew it all, but we were all bringing out what the spirit said,” he expressed referencing the Book of Revelation (2:29), that the synod participants were hearing what the Spirit was saying to the Churches.
The Archbishop who was the keynote speaker during the webinar themed ‘Walking the Synodal Path: Reflections on the Synod on Synodality – Voices from Africa’ stressed, “what the Spirit was telling us, was not what we wanted the Church to be, and it was not what we wanted the Holy Spirit to do for us, but it was all about listening to what the Holy Spirit was telling us, this made this synod to be very special.”
The Wednesday Post synodal webinar was convened by the 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).
Emphasizing the uniqueness of the just concluded synod, the Cameroonian Prelate said, “Everyone who was in that meeting experienced something very special. The way we conversed with one another, the light-hearted way in which we took things, the way we were able to interact with each other, the moments of the celebration of the Eucharist, and the moments of sharing with one another. That was a very special grace for the Church.”
Additionally, the Archbishop who had attended the Synod on Young People in 2018 continued, “We experienced very deep communion with one another. We were able to share and all who participated in the synod were able to interact with Pope Francis like friends or schoolmates.” Besides, “We shared freely, we shared without reserve, we shared without being afraid of any subject and everyone was able to interact in this process… We experienced that deep communion of the spirit, deep communion of the faith and this was a very special moment for each one of us.”
