Bishops of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal conclude plenary

The West African Bishops of the regional Episcopal Conference of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal have concluded their plenary session, this week, in the Diocese of Tambacounda, Senegal.

The Bishops were first led into a reflection of the theme “The Bishop as animator of the Church-family of God in his diocese," by Fr Théophile Bonang of the Diocese of Tambacounda.

The Bishops prayed together and discussed several issues in a spirit of collegiality and solidarity. More importantly, the Bishops discussed the family in light of the recently held extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family that took place in Rome earlier this year.

The Bishops’ plenary further elected a new executive board as members of the permanent council. The executive now comprises the Bishop of Kaolack, Benjamin Ndiaye as President and José Camnate the Bishop in Guinea Bissau as Vice President. Archbishop Paul Abel Mamba, the Bishop of Ziguinchor was elected as a member.

Another important task of the Bishops was to review progress of the Catholic University of West Africa on the construction of a campus in the town of Coubalan, Senegal. The Catholic University of West Africa was established by the regional episcopal conference in 2006. It now has each of its seven faculties located in a different country.

On the sidelines of the Bishops’ regional plenary, was a management training session which the Bishops undertook. This was to better prepare them deal with various current challenges facing the church.

The issue of Ebola in the West African region was also discussed.   Earlier in the week, at the start of the plenary, Cardinal Adrien Sarr of Dakar led the visiting Bishops as well as local priests and the religious at the Cathedral of Mary Queen of the Universe, in Tambacounda to officially open the Year of Consecrated Life.

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