2015-10-09 11:42:00

AMECEA Secretaries General and Catholic Chancellors meet in Addis


A joint meeting of secretaries general and vice chancellors of Catholic Universities in the eastern Africa region has just ended in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting was organised under the auspices of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA). 

At the meeting, the AMECEA secretaries general and vice chancellors of Catholic Universities in the AMECEA region evaluated the first phase of the capacity building training in leadership and management project and found it to have been successful.

The project which is funded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and coordinated by the AMECEA Secretariat has been in place since 2012. The project supports training facilitated by local episcopal conferences and the local Catholic Universities in collaboration with the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). According to a report presented by Christine Mbugi, the project coordinator, all the conferences in the region except Eritrea participated in the trainings. “All the conferences have been keen in taking part in these trainings and also contributing to the success of the sessions. This shows us the value of the trainings to the local Churches,” said Mbugi.

In the discussion that ensued, participants suggested that a more organised link between the secretariats and the Catholic Universities could bring about even better results for the second phase of the project. The communication gap between organisers and the local Churches was also identified as a major challenge in implementation that needs to be addressed. The secretaries general and vice chancellors also agreed on the importance of encouraging more Church structures to take part in the capacity building trainings to achieve the goal of strengthening the local Churches and serving the people better. The participants further decided that national episcopal conferences in the region should plan on how to maintain the sustainability of the project independently in order to ensure a significant number of pastoral agents receive the necessary training needed for them to move forward.

Fr. Hagos Hayish, C.M., Secretary General of the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat, said that after the training session in Ethiopia the Secretariat was able to identify some of the challenges the local Church was facing and as a result was able to build on existing merits. He said, “The challenges were addressed and the Church in Ethiopia could claim to have benefited from the training.” Other conferences that have taken initiatives after the trainings are Tanzania in strategic pastoral planning, Uganda in peace building management and South Sudan by sending their priests for further studies to CUEA.

Fr. Ferdinand Lugonzo, AMECEA Secretary General, said that based on the comments of the participants the implementation of the second phase of the project would address the challenges on the ground for maximum results. Fr. Lugonzo also announced that the theme of the second phase of the project that is to take place between 2016 and 2018 would be “Family Apostolate, Youth Ministry and Chaplaincy”.

During their stay in Ethiopia the secretaries generals and vice chancellors visited the Metals and Engineering Corporation in Bishoftu town. They also planted trees at the Catholic University of St. Thomas Aquinas as a way of recalling the occasion.

By Makeda Yohannes in Ethiopia)

(e-mail: engafrica@vatiradio.va








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