Brazzaville: SECAM addresses challenges and perspectives for the Church in Africa and the society

The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) is gathering with the Secretaries General of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and its Islands. Opened on Thursday, July 25 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, this meeting will provide an opportunity to share experiences and address the challenges and perspectives for the Church in Africa and the society.

The Secretaries General of the regional and national Episcopal Conferences of Africa and its Islands are meeting in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, from July 24 to 29. Organized by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) based in Accra, Ghana, this gathering is taking place at the headquarters of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of the Central African Region (ACERAC). About fifty delegates are taking part in this meeting, which will end on Sunday, July 28, with a solemn mass marking the SECAM Day, celebrated every year on July 29.

The session began with a mass celebrated in the ACERAC chapel by Most Rev. Bienvenu Manamika Bafouakouahou, Archbishop of Brazzaville, President of the Episcopal Conference of Congo (CEC), followed by the solemn opening ceremony, under the aegis of Mgr Lucio Muandula, First Vice-President of SECAM.

The opening ceremony consisted of three presentations: the welcome address by Mgr Manamika Bafouakouahou, the speech by Mgr Muandula in place of Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa and President of SECAM, and the presentation of the main points and objectives of the meeting by Father Rafael Simbine Junior, Secretary General of SECAM.

The purpose of the gathering is “to share the ecclesial, socio-economic and political situations of each country or region, including achievements, challenges and future prospects,” said Father Rafael Simbine Junior.

Towards 2050

The meeting also aims, he added, to prepare a draft document on “The Vision of the Church-Family of God in Africa and its Islands for the next 25 years – from the Jubilee of 2025 to the Jubilee of 2050”, which will be the main topic of the next SECAM Plenary Assembly, scheduled for July 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Coming from all over the continent, the participants of this session also reflect on issues related to evangelization, the ongoing formation of the people of God, co-responsibility in the Church as the family of God, climate and environment, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, and evangelization through the media.

At the end of the meeting, the participants will commemorate on July 28 in the Basilica of Sainte Anne of Congo, the SECAM Day, which is usually celebrated on July 29, the day of its foundation in 1969. The event coincides this year with the celebration of the 80th anniversary of this majestic building in Brazzaville constructed in 1943.

The first meeting of the Secretaries General of the National and Regional Episcopal Conferences members of SECAM was held in Kinshasa in 2011. These meetings were initiated by Father Léonard Santedi Kinkupu, Rector of the Catholic University of Congo (UCC) in the DRC, at the time Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO).

Aristide Ghislain Ngouma and Charles Ayetan