Advertisement
The faculty member of the Kenya-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) who guided law students in the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot competition where they scooped the Best Regional Memorial for Africa Award, 2020 edition, has shared with ACI Africa about the benefits of the prize.
Plans are underway in Africa to mark the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter on the environment, Laudato Si’ through a series of activities, which the Global Catholic Climate Movement in Africa (GCCM Africa) is spearheading amid COVID-19 restrictions, officials involved in organizing the weeklong event dubbed “Laudato Si’ Week” have told ACI Africa.
Saturdays are usually busy days for Ben Wanjala, the moderator of St. Kizito Small Christian Community (SCC) at St. Austin’s Parish in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, Kenya.
Catholic-run institutions of higher learning in Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon and in other African countries have taken to technology-based virtual learning to help students interact with their lecturers in the safety of their homes as various governments on the continent take precautionary measures against the spread of COVID-19, the new disease caused by coronavirus.
With deaths related to the novel coronavirus hitting over 3,000 and 64 countries, including 10 African nations confirming cases of the virus, different Church and secular events scheduled to take place on the continent have been cancelled or postponed. Below are some of the events that have been cancelled.
Following last week’s closure of a Kenya-based Catholic medical institution, the leadership of the facility has, in a Wednesday, March 11 statement, defended its credibility, blaming the state of things to biased and contradictory reports from multiple agencies.
A year after the inaugural global summit on the Protection of Minors in the Church that saw the Holy Father instruct Bishops’ conferences across the globe to review and strengthen child protection guidelines, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has been having a three-day meeting aimed at assessing the progress and impact of the policies in the various member countries.
In an effort to respond to Pope Francis’ call that all local churches across the globe set working systems to address sexual crimes committed by clerics and religious, the Institute of Canon Law at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) has expanded admissions into its Canon Law training.
At an ongoing training spearheaded by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa focusing on self-reliance and sustainability in various Church institutions in the East African nation of Uganda, a Bishop has underscored the need for stewardship, calling on the beneficiaries, most of them clergy, to be accountable for the resources of the Church.
At a meeting bringing together a section of Church personnel serving in Bishops’ conferences that constitute the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA), a Zambian Prelate has called for the sense of novelty and creativity in the day to day tasks characterized with “inevitable challenges.”
In a collective statement issued at the conclusion of their three-day maiden consultative meeting, the Catholic Bishops in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have outlined their short-term intention to remain within their respective regional Bishops’ conferences and the long-term one of delinking their national conferences to form a sub-regional Bishops’ Conference comprising the three Southern Africa nations.
At the opening of the ongoing Sub-regional consultative meeting, the first-ever, that has brought together Catholic Bishops in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Zambian President Edgar Lungu who officially opened the gathering lauded the initiative of the Church leaders saying the convention is in line with the desire to unite the three countries, which have a lot in common.
In an effort to promote sustainability and self-reliance in local Churches across the Eastern Africa region, representatives of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) under the institution’s capacity building project are currently in Zambia for a two-week training in financial management of Church institutions, the Coordinator of the project has told ACI Africa.
With the legal effect of the new Apostolic Constitution governing institutions that offer Vatican-approved degrees into its second academic year for many such academic and formation entities in Africa, heads of these Church institutions of higher learning across the continent including Chancellors, Rectors, Presidents and Deans of faculties met in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi to strategize the aligning of the administration of their respective facilities with the new norms contained in the document of Pope Francis, “Veritatis Gaudium” (the joy of truth).
While Africa is seen to gradually and steadily become the axis of global Catholicism, the mushrooming of religious sects on the continent seems to be posing threats to the process of evangelization, Catholic Church leaders from various regions of Africa who have been in Nairobi for meetings have told ACI Africa.
Against the backdrop of accusations of child abuse by clerics in a number of countries across the globe resulting in, among other declarations, an “all-out battle” against the abuse of minors by Pope Francis, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) has reached out to the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) in a recent meeting that concluded with recommendations, which if realized, the safety of children in the landlocked Southern Africa country will be guaranteed.
The just concluded conference that saw African scholars present research papers around the theme “Christianity, holistic health and healing in Africa” at a time when health matters seem to preoccupy people on the continent more than before has been described as “timely”.
A participant at last week’s three-day annual writers’ conference at a Kenya-based Catholic institution who presented a research paper based on a review of literature has identified lack of funds and time to conduct empirical research as reasons that informed the decision.