Pretoria, 30 May, 2025 / 11:16 PM
The Sixth Annual General Meeting of the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar (COMSAM) has concluded in South Africa with a call on members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) in Africa to spearhead the application of the multi-year Synod on Synodality, which concluded with a Final Document, and the ongoing Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year being realized under the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope”.
In a message read out at a Friday, May 30 press conference, COMSAM members emphasize their desire to build a Church that listens to everyone, alluding to the theme that guided the multi-year initiative that the late Pope Francis extended to 2024, “For a synodal Church: Communion, participation and mission.”
“As Consecrated Persons, we are called to show the world the way to synodality and hope,” they say in the message that the newly elected COMSAM President, Sr. Rita Yamba of the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul (FSP/Pauline Sisters), read out following the May 23-30 Symposium and Sixth Annual General Meeting.
The FSP member in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said that the delegates to the COMSAM meeting illustrated the need for ICLSAL member to offer hope with the image of a “tree” that provides shelter, fresh air, and medicine that heals.
“We want to be for our contemporaries that tree in whose shelter they can rest, that tree that can purify the air around them, that tree that can heal them of their illnesses, and that tree that can nourish them,” COMSAM members have said in the message read out on May 30.
They address the link between the Synod on Synodality and the ongoing Jubilee Year 2025, saying, “A synodal church is a sign of hope for the world because it's a church that listens, works with the most disadvantaged, the wounded of life, and seeks communion in love and solidarity.”
COMSAM members further express their commitment to “deepen our relationship with Christ so that, seeing the world through His eyes, we can influence and build Africa and Madagascar.”
“We commit ourselves to more justice and peace and the protection of the weakest in Africa and Madagascar by getting involved in setting up justice and peace, and the integrity of creation,” they add.
COSMAM members also pledge to “stir up hope at the heart of our Institutes and Congregations,” and by “encouraging the emergence of communities that promote peace, that join the poor and destitute in their fight for more justice, peace and fraternity.”
They encourage ICLSAL members in Africa to become “catalysts of communion, agents of ecclesial conversion, spaces of prophetic witness, adopting the values of Palaver, Ubuntu, and the values of the African tradition.”
COMSAM members further call for “a new spiritual culture, a new pastoral style that trains and listens to lay people, embodying our charisms to take over in collaboration.”
They also express their commitment to collaborating “with our Bishops to build our Church in Africa,” and to “work together towards the autonomy of our Congregations as a prophetic witness to create an abundance of goods.”
COMSAM members go on to assure Pope Leo XIV of their “obedience, support,” and above all, their “humble prayers.”
COMSAM is a Vatican-endorsed confederation that SECAM established in 2005. It brings together Conferences of Major Superiors from across Africa and its islands to support, strengthen, and empower the Consecrated on the continent. COMSAM works in close partnership with the Vatican Dicastery for ICLSAL, the department of the Roman Curia that is responsible for matters concerning women and men Religious.
COMSAM aims to foster collaboration, provide formation, and encourage mission engagement among ICLSAL across linguistic and cultural boundaries in Africa.
The May 23-30 event in South Africa’s Catholic Archdioceses of Johannesburg and Pretoria brought together women and men Religious leaders from across Africa to reflect on the theme, “Hope, Synodality and the Empowerment of Consecrated Life in Africa.”
In his homily during the concluding Eucharistic celebration on May 30, Bishop Masilo John Selemela called on ICLSAL members in Africa to reclaim their missionary identity in a world marked by suffering, despair, and declining vocations.
“We are actually called to journey together for the transformation of the world... All of us are united by one thing. We are all missionary disciples of Jesus Christ, called to transform the world and to witness to the gospel values by the way in which we live,” Bishop Masilo said.
The Auxiliary Bishop of Pretoria Archdiocese identified “the biggest challenge that depresses” as being “the declining number of vocations in the world.”
“Maybe, perhaps, we have carried our mission, not so much as disciples, but as modern NGOs. And God is not calling us to be NGOs; God is calling us to be missionary disciples,” he said.
The Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in September 2022 underscored the need for spiritual renewal and authentic witness, saying, “We must always put our trust and faith in the Lord, knowing that with God, everything is possible.”
“We must take responsibility. We must be the Church that accepts to witness in a responsible, loving, and compassionate manner,” he said.
Meanwhile, in her closing remarks, Sr. Yamba expressed gratitude to the outgoing President and her team for their “exemplary development and their remarkable leadership over the past few years.”
The newly elected COMSAM President said the Assembly’s theme “reveals a capital importance and arouses a deep resonance in us.”
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She emphasized collaboration rooted in synodality to strengthen the Church’s mission and Gospel witness across Africa and Madagascar.
“It is essential that our work is constantly guided by love and service in order to manifest an irreproachable professional ethic,” Sr. Yamba said, adding, “We submit ourselves to God to guide our efforts and guarantee the good functioning of our Confederation.”
She continued, “We recommend the protection of Mary, Our Lady of Africa, that she obtain protection and benevolence from the Holy Trinity at the beginning of this new stage.”
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