By Paschal Norbert
ACCRA, AUGUST 11, 2023 (CISA)- The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) will from August 15 to 18, 2023, hold an orientation seminar for participants from Africa to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome in October.
The preparatory meeting scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, brings together 50 participants from across Africa to acquaint themselves with the Synod on Synodality before the larger world meeting in Rome, according to a press release by SECAM dated August 11, 2023, and signed by the Secretary General, Fr Rafael Simbine Junior, also a delegate to the October Synod.
The release lists seven objectives for the Nairobi meeting, which is to enable all participants know each other, recap some fruits from the Continental Synodal Assembly; familiarize themselves with the working document Instrumentum Laboris and facilitate a conversation on some of the issues of pastoral interest raised in the aforementioned document “so that participants can reflect on appropriate responses to them,” among other objectives.
According to SECAM, “at the end of the orientation and in addition to personal prayer and reflection, it is expected that all participants would be well prepared for the Synod in Rome.”
In April, Pope Francis decided to amend the composition of the Synodal Assembly to include 70 non-bishop members; priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and lay women and men, with a right to vote in the upcoming General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October.
Thus, according to a communique issued by the General Secretariat of the Synod, the modifications to the participants and composition of the Synodal Assembly are based on the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio, and “will not, however, change the episcopal nature of the Assembly.”
The first modification states that archdioceses that are not part of an Episcopal Conference may elect a bishop and the second modification directs that the ten clerics belonging to Institutes of Consecrated Life, elected by the respective organizations representing the Superiors General, will no longer be present at the assembly.
“They have been replaced by five women religious and five men religious belonging to Institutes of Consecrated Life, elected by the respective organizations representing the Superiors General. As members they have the right to vote,” the secretariat explained.
The third modification that will see the pope appoint 70 non-bishop members, half of whom he has requested to be women and also to include young people, directs regional episcopal conferences to propose names of individuals “who represent various groupings of the faithful of the People of God (priests, consecrated women, deacons, lay faithful) and who come from the local Churches.”
Africa Delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
The majority of Africa’s delegates are from the Regional Episcopal Conferences of West Africa (RECOWA/CERAO) and include Bishop Coffi Roger Anoumou of Lokossa, Benin; Archbishop Gabriel Sayaogo of Koupéla, Burkina Faso; Bishop Marcellin Kouadio Yao of Daloa, Ivory Coast; Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown, Sierra Leone; Archbishop Vincent Coulibaly of Conakry, Guinea; Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu of Ho, and Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Cape Coast, both in Ghana; Bishop Hassa Florent Koné of San, Mali; Bishop Dominique Banlène Guigbile of Dapaong, Togo; Bishop Anthony Fallah Borwah of Gbarnga, Liberia; and in Nigeria, Bishop Donatus Aihmiosion of Uromi, Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja, and Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferemce of Nigaria (CBCN).
Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula of the Catholic Diocese of Xai-Xai, in Mozambique and Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, of Alexandria, head of the Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church, Egypt, are among nine President’s Delegates at the Synod in October.
Dr Sheila Leocádia Pires, the Communications Officer for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is Secretary of the Commission for Information that is headed by Dr Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.
Cardinal Souraphiel Berhaneyesus of the Catholic Archdiocese Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of the Catholic Archdiocese of Asmara in Eritrea, and the Patriarch of Alexandria Egypt are Africa’s delegates from the Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region will be represented by Bishop Markos Ghebremedhin of Ethiopia, Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde of Mombasa, President of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri, Kenya, Archbishop George Desmond Tambala of Lilongwe, Malawi, Cardinal-elect Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, South Sudan, Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi OFMCap of Dar-es-Salaam and Bishop Flavian Kassalaof of Geita, both from Tanzania, Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok of Lira ,Uganda, and Archbishop Ignatius Chama of Kasama in Zambia.
The Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa Region (ACERAC) is to be represented by Bishop Emmanuel Dassi Youfang and Bishop Philippe Alain Mbarga from Cameroon; Bishop Nestor-Désiré Nongo-Aziagbia from the Central African Republic (CAR); Bishop Nicolas Nadji Bab of Laï, Chad; Bishop Ildevert Mathurin Mouanga of Kinkala, Congo-Brazzaville; Bishop Juan Domingo-Beka Esono Ayang, Equatorial Guinea, and Archbishop Jean-Patrick Iba-Ba of Libreville, Gabon.
Bishop Georges Bizimana of Ngozi , Burundi; Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani, and Bishop Pierre-Célestin Tshitoko Mamba of Luebo, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and Bishop Edouard Sinayobye of Cyangugu in Rwanda are to represent the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC).
Cristóbal Cardinal López Romero of the Catholic Archdiocese of Rabat is to represent the Catholic Bishops of North Africa under the Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa (CERNA).
Pope Francis has directly chosen nearly a third of the 364 voting delegates, including Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Korhogo, Ivory Coast, and President of the Episcopal Conference of Ivory Coast (CECCI), Bishop Muandula, and Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu of the Catholic Archdiocese of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu , the archbishop of Kinshasa, DRC, and President of the SECAM is to represent the continental forum of Catholic Bishops.The Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) will be represented by Bishop Joaquim Nhanganga Tyombe of Uíje, Angola, Archbishop Anton Dabula Mpako, Military Ordinary of South Africa, Archbishop Inácio Saure of Nampula, Mozambique, Bishop John Joale Tlhomola of Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho, Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda of Windhoek, Namibia, and Bishop Raphael Macebo Mabuza Ncube of Hwange, Zimbabwe.
Bishop Alain Harel of Port Victoria, Seychelles, and Bishop Jean Pascal Andriantsoavina from Madagascar will represent the Episcopal Conferences of the Indian Ocean (CEDOI).
From Africa Continental Assemblies, Pope Francis also selected Fr Vitalis Chinedu Anaehobi,Nigeria, Secretary General of RECOWA, Michel Jean-paul Guillaud, Sr Ester Maria Lucas, Sr Josée Ngalula,DRC, Dr. Norha Kofognotera Nonterah, Ghana, Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Emmanuel Orobator,JCAM, Sr. Marie Solange Randrianirina, Sr. Solange Sahon Sia, and Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior, Secretary General of SECAM.
Pope Francis also appointed Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon, Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi of Lubango, Angola, and Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga, Arcbishop of Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR) as members of the Ordinary Council of the synod.
The Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ), Fr. Gebresilasie Tadesse Tesfayeis from Ethiopia is also among the delegates representing religious orders. Theologian Fr Paul Béré, Sr Anne Béatrice from Ivory Coast, Fr Anthony Makunde, the Secretary General of AMECEA, and Sr Paola Nelemta Ngarndiguimal from Chad are in the category of experts and facilitators of the Synod.
The 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, commonly referred to as the Synod on synodality, is an upcoming synod of bishops of the Catholic Church which will conclude in October 2024 and has as its theme “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission”.
