AMECEA communications secretaries conclude meeting

National social communications secretaries under the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) have concluded a workshop in Nairobi Friday which had as its aim the formulation of an ICT policy. The workshop also sought to evaluate the AMECEA weekly online newsletter.

The four-day workshop brought together communications directors, coordinators and Catholic media personnel from within the AMECEA region of the Bishops’ Conferences of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan/South Sudan, Zambia, Malawi and Ethiopia.

The Chairman of AMECEA Social Communication, Bishop Charles Kasonde of Zambia, presided over the official opening and closing ceremonies at the workshop.

“During the 18th AMECEA Plenary held in Lilongwe, Malawi (July 2014); Bishops of AMECEA resolved to establish an ICT policy at the regional level that will trickle down to conferences and dioceses,” Bishop Kasonde said.

According to the Bishop, the twofold objectives of the workshop included, “creating a discussion forum for accelerating the building of ICT infrastructure and capacities” within the AMECEA Bishops’ Conferences.

“The ICT policy would provide some guidelines to all ICT activities at the conference level and for the region, and help our officers in-charge of communication to design new media strategies in order to promote efforts of evangelization,” the Bishop explained.

According to the Bishop, the ICT policy to be adopted by those participating at the workshop will, “apply to all individuals working for the Church and those using Church communication facilities” within the AMECEA region.

Bishop Kasonde further acknowledged the contribution of the workshop participants to the AMECEA online newsletter saying, “Most of you have contributed to its existence by sending stories from your respective conferences. It is time to evaluate where we have come from, where we are and how best we can move forward with our primary objective of information dissemination and sharing,” he emphasised.

The AMECEA online News was established as the voice of the Catholic Church in the AMECEA region on 5 June 2013 and is published every Friday.

Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the AMECEA Secretary General, Father Ferdinand Lugonzo, the Pastoral Coordinator of AMECEA, Father Fabian Pikiti recognised the value and influence of modern media technologies to humanity and their role in evangelization.

“We are living in the age of Information and Communication Technology or digital world and the Church cannot remain aloof to this reality,” Father Pikiti observed, adding, “It is time for us, as Church, to find ways of maximising the use of ICT for evangelization. Since evangelization is about the proclamation of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ for the purpose of salvation, ICT becomes for us an effective tool for this purpose.”

“Without the use of social media, the Church will not be present in the world of the digital generation, the young people,” Father Pikiti continued.

He expressed the hope that the workshop would enhance the capacities of those working in the communication departments of the Bishops’ Conferences within the AMECEA region.

The participants expect to learn new information on ICT and online journalism, the role of ICT in evangelization and to share communication experiences of the represented Bishops’ Conferences during the workshop.

(By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, CANAA)

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