New Communication Policy Part of AMECEA’s Resolve “to strategically integrate” Digitality in Evangelization: Official

Nairobi, 21 August, 2025 / 3:11 PM

The 10-year communication policy unveiled by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is part of the members’ resolve, over the years, to  “strategically integrate” the digital culture in pastoral ministry, an official at AMECEA has said.

In his review of the 10-year communication policy that was launched on Monday, August 18 at Allamano Centre in Kenya’s Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN), the Chairman of AMECEA says the new policy document is based on the realization that the 2007 AMECEA Social Communications Policy had “long became obsolete.”

“We have a relevant policy document to guide us for the next ten years. It is a policy that embodies the commitment made by the Bishops at AMECEA plenaries and assemblies of 2014, 2018 and 2022, to strategically integrate digital technologies in the mission of evangelization,” Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde says in a preliminary section of the policy document.

The Local Ordinary of Zambia’s Catholic Diocese of Solwezi since his Episcopal Consecration in May 2010 adds that the policy document comes out as “a vision for an impactful communication role of AMECEA Secretariat”, which he says is “responsive to the communication needs of our times.”

“Pope Francis often emphasized that communication is no longer a means for sharing information but a new culture of encounter and connectivity,” says the Chairman of the association that unites the Church in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, with Somalia and Djibouti as affiliate members.

Bishop Kasonde says that the Church in the AMECEA region appreciates that Africa is not lagging behind. He says, “We are witnesses to the fact that pastoral solidarity obliges us to ensure that no Conference is left behind regarding technological advancement.”

“Together, we must join the universal Church in seeking to shape her mission with an approach that recognizes the power of digital technologies”, the AMECEA chairman says in the Policy booklet.

The Zambian Catholic Bishop says that aligned to AMECEA Strategic Pastoral Plan, the policy presents a comprehensive roadmap for strengthening internal and external communication in the region.

“I encourage all Bishops Conferences in the region to be part of this journey of making the Church’s communication ministries ever relevant in the current media landscape,” the Chairman of AMECEA says.

Bishop Kasonde says that the policy comes at the appropriate time when the digital environment is evolving rapidly and challenges AMECEA members to adapt with equal speed for effective evangelization in the region.

“AMECEA Secretariat and the Bishops Conferences in the AMECEA region cannot afford to live like strangers in the digital environment. The Church’s mission urges us to go out and meet the people in the contexts where they are,” he says.

Lauding the Bishops in the region for the strides in evangelization through communication technologies since 1967, Bishop Kasonde says that the “Catholic Church in the AMECEA region finds itself in the digital environment where the methods of connecting, informing, and uplifting communities are rapidly evolving.”

Bishop Kasonde says that “communication plays an essential role in the Church which is at the service of the mission of Christ”, especially in the current rapid digital environment.

“As the Church appreciated the digital environment, it must look at the future, aware of the changes that are rapidly taking place in the field of information and communication,” says the Chairman of AMECEA, who was re-elected during the July 2022 20th Plenary Assembly of the nine-nation eight-Conference Association that was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In a separate review of the policy, the Chairman for AMECEA social communication says that by adapting the communication policies of the Conferences to harness the digital tools in the modern world, the Bishops in the region will go a long way in fostering stronger collaboration.

Bishop Seyoum Franso Noel of Ethiopia’s Hosanna Catholic Diocese says that the collaboration will “ultimately make effective use of the digital technologies for the Church’s mission in our local context.”

“The policy also recognizes the prophetic role of the Church in the digital environment where being ethical, inclusive, transparent and accountable, are the way of being missionary, close to the young men and women who are digital natives,” Bishop Franso says.

He adds, “I am personally convinced that with the strategies outlined in this policy, AMECEA Secretariat and member Conferences will be more than prepared to meet the emerging communication challenges head-on.”

Bishop Franso acknowledges that the Catholic Church in the AMECEA region “finds itself in an environment that is governed by science and technology whose impact transcends any traditional constraints.”

He says that for AMECEA to effectively serve in the digital environment, “it is imperative to adopt a forward-looking approach – one that not only recognizes the transformative potential of communication and new technologies, but actively integrates them into its operations and missionary strategies.”