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AMECEA, Pauline Sisters Launch Simplified Version of Synod Document with Call for Deeper Understanding of Synodality

Credit: ACI Africa
Nicholas Waigwa

By Nicholas Waigwa

Nairobi, 25 July, 2025 / 10:11 pm (ACI Africa).

The Secretary General of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has underscored the need for the people of God in the region to study and understand the Final Document of the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops, as the Universal Church explores the Synod’s implementation phase.

In his Wednesday, July 23, presentation during the official launch of a simplified version of the document at the Paulines Africa Communications Centre in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN), Fr. Anthony Makunde noted that a better understanding of the text is crucial for the successful implementation of the Synod on Synodality.

“Episcopal Conferences, the Dioceses, the Parishes, have to study the document,” said Fr. Makunde at the launch of the AMECEA book titled: “For a Synodal Church – Final Document Made Simple”.

He continued, “We are now in the third phase. It has just started and it will go up to 2028. Almost four years have been set aside for us to implement and live the spirit of Synodality.”

For the phase to be realized successfully, Fr. Makunde also encouraged the reactivation or establishment of Pastoral Councils and Synodal Committees where they do not exist and urged Dioceses and Parishes across the region to facilitate their use as “tools of living the spirit of Synodality.”

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“There is also a call to revive the formation programs for Clergy, Religious, and laity so that we may promote the spirit of Synodality,” he said.

The Nairobi-based Secretary AMECEA official implored members of Episcopal Conferences, Clergy, women and men Religious and the laity to embrace the synodal process with humility, openness, and missionary courage.”

 of the association that brings together Catholic Bishops Catholic in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, with Local Ordinaries in Djibouti and Somalia as affiliate members 

“As the late Pope Francis said, the journey of Synodality is what God expects of the church in the third millennium,” he said and went on to remind the Church in the AMECEA region objectives of the third phase of the Synod on Synodality.

He said the implementation phase would be seeking “to explore new practices and structures that promote the synodal way of living the church's mission, and enable the people of God to journey together in building the kingdom of God and witnessing the gospel values.”

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The other objective of the third phase, whose guideline the General Secretariat of the Synod, with the approval of Pope Leo XIV, has issued under the title “Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod 2025-2028” he added, is to “to identify formation pathways that will lead to a genuine synodal conversion across various ecclesial contexts.”

“The exchange of spiritual gifts, deepening communion among local Churches within the one universal Church,” is expected to continue during the implementation phase, whose guidelines offer “a structured and coordinated framework for implementation and promote a continued dialogue as the Church moves towards the next Ecclesial Assembly.”

“That's why we are here, because it has just started,” Fr. Makunde stated during the July 23 launch of the 128-page book AMECEA has authored, presenting a simplified version of the Final Document.

The initial implementation phase, he said, is set to take place at the local level “in Parishes, Dioceses and in other ecclesial structures within the Parish or Diocese setup” from June 2025 to December 2026.

“It is out of these ecclesial groupings, we are going to find forums of implementing the spirit of Synodality,” he emphasized, pointing out that the second stage starts at the beginning of the year 2027.

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Fr. Makunde added that there is going to be “an evaluation process” during the first half of the year 2027, expected to feature “assemblies within Dioceses and Eparchies to evaluate the impact of living the spirit of Synodality.”

Assemblies at national and regional levels including in “Episcopal Conferences and hierarchical structures of the Oriental Churches” to evaluate how “the spirit of Synodality has impacted their lives” are set to take place between July-December 2027.

“A continental evaluation Assembly” for the third phase of the implementation process the AMECEA SG said is scheduled for January 2028, and the process is expected to culminate with an Ecclesial Assembly in Rome, later in the year.

A “continental evaluation assembly” for the third phase of the implementation process scheduled for January 2028, and the process is expected to culminate later that year with an Ecclesial Assembly in Rome, according to the AMECEA Secretary General.

Nicholas Waigwa

Nicholas Waigwa is a Kenyan multimedia journalist and broadcast technician with a professional background in creating engaging news stories and broadcasting content across multiple media platforms. He is passionate about the media apostolate and Catholic Church communication.