AMECEA Chairman Praises Respect for Religious Freedom in AMECEA

Your Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi

All the Government Officials

            Your Eminences

            Your Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio to Zambia and Malawi

            Your Graces

            Your Lordships,

            Rev. Fathers, Religious Men and Women

            All the Delegates, Partners and Invited Guests,

            Dear People of God

I wish to start by thanking our Heavenly Father for enabling us to officially open the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly with this beautiful and edifying Eucharistic Celebration. In this Holy Mass we have expressed our gratitude to God as a Family. Indeed we are a Family of God irrespective of our religious, social, cultural and political differences. Your Eminence, John Cardinal Njue, thank you very much for leading us in this Holy Mass and for the inspiring homily.

We the Family of God in the AMECEA Region are gathered in this beautiful city of Lilongwe in our 18th Plenary Assembly. We have chosen the Theme: “New Evangelization through True Conversion and Witness to Christian Faith”. This Theme draws our attention to the core business of our being in this world, that is, announcing to the nations the Good News of God our Father. It also reminds us of the need to always strive for change of heart and embrace true values of the Gospel preached by our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, this theme invites us to greater commitment to the witness of our faith in all walks of life be it religious, professional, family or political. We cannot draw a dichotomy between who we are, what we do and the faith that we profess.

As we gather in Lilongwe for these ten days of our Plenary Assembly our reflections and prayers shall revolve around these key issues of evangelization, conversion and witness.

We express our gratitude to Your Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi for accepting our invitation to grace the opening of the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly. Allow Your Excellency, on behalf of AMECEA to congratulate you for your election and subsequent swearing in as the – President of the Republic of Malawi. We promise you our prayers as you govern this great nation.

Through Your Excellency, we express our gratitude to all the people of Malawi for the warm welcome and generosity in hosting the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly. We sincerely thank you for the sacrifices you have made to ensure that this Plenary Assembly is a success.

We also take this chance to express our gratitude to all the governments of the nations within the AMECEA Region for ensuring that religious freedom is respected and for providing a conducive atmosphere within which AMECEA Bishops continue to carry out their mandate in the interest the people. At the same time we also regret the many occasions where religious freedom has not been respected and where the Church has not enjoyed a favourable atmosphere within the countries of our region. In a special way we express solidarity with the people of South Sudan as they continue seeking for ways to establish true peace of this youngest nation on the globe.

To all people of good will, we extend our gratitude and promise that AMECEA will continue serving this region in the spirit of communion with the Universal Church and solidarity.

                                    

I thank you all.