Representatives of Church Leaders in Africa and Germany to Meet in Madagascar on “strategizing pastoral activities”

Representatives of Church Leaders in Africa and Germany to Meet in Madagascar on “strategizing pastoral activities”

CANAA || By Father Don Bosco Onyalla, Nairobi || 21 May 2018

A seminar bringing together representatives of the Catholic Bishops in Africa and their counterparts from Germany has been planned beginning this week in the largest island in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, focusing on evangelization strategies in African and in Germany.

The week-long seminar, which is the eighth of its kind, will see Church leaders from Africa and Germany discuss “Integral Human Development as a paradigm for strategizing pastoral activities” in Antananarivo, the capital city Madagascar from Tuesday, May 22 through Monday, May 28, 2018.

The details of the seminar are contained in a Press Release from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) sent to CANAA Monday, May 21.

According to the Press Release, “Meetings between the German and African Bishops, represented by the Standing Committee, have become a tradition since 1982 … The meetings have contributed to the deepening and intensification of the relationship between the local Churches in Africa and the Church in Germany.”

The President of the Republic, the Apostolic Nuncio, the German Ambassador, and the Catholic Bishops in Madagascar who form the Malagash Epsicopal Conference are among the dignitaries the two delegations are expected to meet while in Madagascar.

Below is the full text of the Press Release by SECAM Secretariat in Accra, Ghana.

PRESS RELEASE: Monday, 21st May 2018, Accra, Ghana

SECAM MEETS WITH A DELEGATION OF THE GERMAN BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE IN MADAGASCAR

Members of the Standing Committee of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and the German Bishops’ Conference (GBC,) will from the 22-28 of May, 2018 meet in Antananarivo, Madagascar, for a Seminar centred mainly on Integral Human Development as a paradigm for strategizing pastoral activities.

Meetings between the German and African Bishops, represented by the Standing Committee, have become a tradition since 1982. They meet once every four (4) to five (5) years to discuss on mutually agreed issues as part of an effort to promote pastoral solidarity between Germany and the African continent, and also to discuss issues relevant to promoting the growth of the church in the two Conferences. The meetings have contributed to the deepening and intensification of the relationship between the local Churches in Africa and the Church in Germany.

The Seminar in Madagascar will be the VIIIth (Eight) time that the two bodies will be meeting. The German delegation will be led by His Eminence Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich. The SECAM delegation, on the other hand, will be led by the SECAM President, Most Rev. Gabriel Mbilingi, Archbishop of Lubango (Angola).

While in Madagascar, the two delegations will pay a coutesy call on the Republican President of Madagascar. They will also meet the Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar and the German Ambassador as well as the leadership of the Malagash Epsicopal Conference.

Finally, SECAM joins the Church in Madagascar to congratulate His Excellency, Desire TSARAHAZANA, Archbishop of Toamasina, on his appointment as one of the Cardinals to be created in the next Consistory on 29th June 2018. The names of those to be created Cardinas were announced by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, on Pentescoste Sunday, 20th May 2018.

ISSUED BY

SECAM SECRETARIAT