“This is why we leave aside our usual tasks—to walk together, to evaluate ourselves, to plan together the Church that Jesus Christ wanted,” the Local Ordinary of Saurimo Archdiocese, who doubles as the President of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) said.
He advocated for “a Church in which each of us must feel like an irreplaceable and necessary part so that, with wisdom, we may accomplish all that God asks of us.”
Every member of the Church must feel indispensable to the community and act with joy and generosity, Archbishop Imbamba said, adding, “This is the joy that must shine through in everything we are, everything we do, and everything we offer. Within this framework, we are called to look within ourselves and ask whether what we are truly serving is the good, communion, fraternity, mission, and the building of Christ’s Church in this portion of God’s people.”
He went on to invite pastoral agents in his Metropolitan See to reflect on their personal commitment to the Church, posing, “Do we intensify personal and community prayer? Do we strengthen catechetical ministry? Do we encourage ongoing formation for ourselves as consecrated ministers, religious men and women? Do we truly cultivate a sense of belonging to God and the Church? Do we create structures of self-sustainability?”
The Catholic Church leader insisted that every effort must aim at fostering communion, sharing, solidarity, and action for the Kingdom of God.
“This is indeed the time to intensify every effort we make to promote communion, goodness, sharing, and solidarity—to foster that richness which comes from God, the richness that helps us seek wisdom, the splendor of the inner light, the purest reflection of God’s activity,” he said.
The Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in December 2008 as Bishop of Angola’s Dundo Diocese warned against temptations that weaken communion and harm the Church’s mission.
“It is this wisdom that must illuminate all our life and action. It is this wisdom that must keep us away from any group mentality that does not serve the Church, from selfishness that undermines solidarity, and from gossip, slander, and intrigue that discourage love, communion, dedication, motivation, and the joy of serving,” he said.
Archbishop Imbamba continued, “It is now that we are called to serve—and to serve well. It is now that we are called to build the Church—and build it well. It is now that we are called to be good witnesses and to do good. It is now that we must all say ‘yes’ together.”
He reminded pastoral agents that the hope guiding the Church should not lead them to “make calculations like the Pharisees of yesterday, concerned about the end of the world and what is to come,” but rather to focus on the present – on service and dedication to the mission.
