He posed, “Surely, numbers play a role, but what is more important is the heart. What is it that you want to achieve together as mothers, together as women?”
The Zambian Catholic Archbishop reminded women of their uniqueness and their distinctiveness.
“We see women being prized and treasured by Jesus Christ our Lord throughout the gospels; we see women being esteemed for their faith and their contributions in the early church,” the Catholic Church leader, who has been at the helm of Lusaka Archdiocese since April 2018 said, adding that women are honoured in the Bible because they are created in God’s image and likeness.
Referring to the dignity bestowed upon women from the biblical point of view, Archbishop Banda said, “This is the more reason you ought to take pride in who you are; you are a gift of God.”
The 61-year-old Catholic Church lauded women for contributing to positive change in local communities, and added, “They are doing all these for the better glory of God Himself, but we need to recognize them amongst ourselves; failure to that, we are going to demotivate them, and they won't go ahead.”
“Let us also reach out with a word of appreciation or public proclamation of the graces of God through our mothers, through our sisters, through our aunts, our grandmothers, our daughters, and especially in their diverse professions; they are doing a good job,” he said.
The Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal ministry in July 2007 as Bishop of Zambia’s Solwezi Catholic Diocese also invited the women under his pastoral care to be each other's keeper, especially the oppressed, the hurting, and those denied opportunities to thrive.
“I think of all women that bear the brunt, all the women that rise early in the morning to go and look for merchandise and thereafter; they spend the whole day in the sun, trying to make ends meet. Let us pray for them, that God may continue to strengthen them,” he said.
Archbishop Banda emphasized the need for mothers to speak words of life in their homes, especially to their daughters. He said, “Let us also pay attention to the unique gift our girls have in the home. Let us encourage them; let us do all that we can for the betterment of our young girls.”
He cautioned mothers against forgetting the boy child, who he observed is increasingly being sidelined on the periphery of society.
