Bishops in Eastern Africa Engage Retired Teachers to Facilitate Understanding of Synod on Synodality Document

Nairobi, 27 July, 2025 / 11:22 AM

Members of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) are engaging retired teachers from various regions to help facilitate the easy understanding of the Final Document of the multi-year Synod on Synodality.

The aim, according to the Coordinator of the Department of Social Communications at AMECEA, is to help lay people who may find the technical and theological terms in the document difficult to understand.

Fr. Andrew Kaufa spoke to ACI Africa on Wednesday, July 23 during the launch of AMECEA’s book, “For a Synodal Church – Final Document Made Simple”, at the Paulines Africa Communications Centre in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).

In the interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Kaufa said that the newly launched book was just the first in a series of initiatives that AMECEA has come up with to create a deeper understanding of the document on the Synod on Synodality.

“This is the first one,” he said of the simplified version of the Vatican document, and added, “The next one, which will probably come out next month or September, will now be a handbook on how to teach people on synodality.”

“We have already engaged a few retired teachers,” he said about AMECEA’s plan to deepen the understanding of synodality, adding that the teachers who have been brought on board “are working on the lesson plan.”

“At the end of the day, we'll have another tool very easy for anybody to teach or to facilitate a discussion,” the AMECEA official said.

He added, “We are producing the tools, we are translating the tools, and we are training the people so that our Dioceses can have a pool of people and tools for the training on synodality at the implementation phase.”

Fr. Kaufa said that his experience with a past synod, when he was still a Theology student and had a problem understanding the document that came out of the assembly of Bishops inspired him to help the people of God to understand the synod on Synodality.

“The idea came to me because when I was a student of theology at Hekima College some years back, the synod had just taken place and I remember that as a student it was difficult to understand the final document, the Ecclesia in Africa, when Pope John Paul II had released it,” he recounted, adding that it was thanks to his university lectures who produced a simplified document that he was able to understand the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa.

 “So when this document (on the synod on Synodality) came out, I immediately thought how useful it would be to help the lay people who may find the technical, theological terms in the document difficult,” Fr. Kaufa said.

One of the key aspects of the AMECEA’s “Final Document Made Simple” is the inclusion of a methodology on how to use the Vatican document. 

“We have added a guideline for people who want to use it as individuals, as a family, or as a Small Christian Community. The methodology is on page 11 of the simplified document,” he said.

The simplified also looks at the main themes that have come out in the Final Document, and how they apply to the Church in the AMECEA region.