TANZANIA: Easter is Continued Celebration of SCCs Jubilee in AMECEA, and the Construction of a Synodal Church

Sarah Pelaji

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Geita Rt. Rev. Flavian Kassala in his Easter message for this year, says that Easter Celebration is a continuation of the journey of reflection on the construction of the Synod Church guided by the slogan “For the Synod Church: Unity, Participation and Mission.

“This Easter is celebrated in conjunction with the 50th Jubilee of Small Christian Communities in AMECEA countries under the slogan “Small Christian Communities: 50 Years of Building the Church as Family of God in AMECEA countries.”

He says that the Church as the family of God in AMECEA countries finds its origin in the ecclesial model of Small Christian communities (SCCs).

“This is the revelation of a Church that prays, meditates on the Word of God and manifests acts of compassion spiritually and physically; and that the peace of the Risen Christ fills and renews the Church structure in the form of small Christian Communities,” he said adding that “Basically, this is the construction process of the Synodal Church which is established on the basis of the Small Christian Communities.”

Bishop Kassala who is also the Vice President of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) says that the gifts of the synod which is unity, participation and mission are revealed more clearly in the life and mission of Christ Jesus in the Mystery of the Incarnation, and making all the baptized to believe that they are partners in the work of liberation and thus they are sent as missionaries to continue the work of liberation.

He urges believers to continue to pray and ask Christ Jesus to grant the Church these synodal gifts.

“May the peace of the Risen Christ fill the whole Church and be renewed in the structure of the Synod and in the form of Small Christian Communities. Policies, plans and strategies of pastoral activities in the Synod and in the Small Christian Communities bring peace and light to the believers and to the whole world. May the power of the Risen Christ remove all the obstacles that bind believers to the graves,” he says while adding, “Easter season is an invitation to believers to continue looking for the Risen Christ while carrying their perfumes.

According to Bishop Kassala, the Lenten journey of forty days in the desert, of their spiritual life and the participation of the believers in the work of liberation, help the believers to be missionaries of the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, so that together as a Synod family built on the foundation of Small Christian Communities to be able to convey the Good News of Easter to the whole world.

“It should be remembered that the Association of Member Episcopal Conference in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is celebrating 50 years since the establishment of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) as the ecclesial model of the Church in the region in 1973,” he reminded.

In Tanzania and across the region, the SCCs Jubilee Prayer has been circulated for the whole period of the Jubilee Year, July 2023 – July 2024. However, Bishop Kassala is insisting that all faithful (Lay, religious, priests) “actively participate in the growth of small Christian Communities which are the model of church that is communitarian,” he said and continued, “They are vibrant, spontaneous groups with little hierarchical structure. They are the faith-response of poor and marginalized people in the Catholic Church and society.”

Small Christian Communities take more root in the less privileged and rural areas and become a leaven of Christian life, of care for the poor and the neglected, and of commitment to the transformation of the society. These communities thus become a means of evangelization and a source of new ministries.