Malawi’s bishops head to Nairobi for AMECEA Plenary

Catholic bishops from Malawi will travel to Nairobi later this month for the 21st Plenary Assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), running from 19 to 26 July.

AMECEA, the regional body that coordinates the National Episcopal Conferences of nine member countries — Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, with Djibouti and Somalia as affiliate members — has served since its establishment in 1961 as a forum through which the region’s bishops’ conferences collaborate on pastoral ministry, social justice, education and peacebuilding. Its secretariat is based in Nairobi.

Confirming Malawi’s participation, Fr Patrick Kamba, National Coordinator for Social Communication and Research at the Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (MCCB), said the country’s bishops would this year be accompanied by youth representatives from Malawian dioceses, reflecting the youth-centred focus of this year’s plenary.

“This plenary is youth-centric and it offers a significant opportunity for our Church,” Fr Kamba said.

“The youth have a greater role to play not only in Eastern Africa but globally if the Church is to grow and be meaningful to all Christians and non-Christians.”

The inclusion of youth delegates signals a deliberate shift in emphasis for this year’s gathering, at a time when the Catholic Church across the region, as elsewhere, continues to grapple with questions of engaging younger generations amid changing patterns of religious practice and affiliation.

The Catholic Church in Malawi is currently served by 12 active local bishops, including two archbishops, across eight dioceses.

The country last hosted the AMECEA Plenary in 2014, when Lilongwe welcomed delegates for a gathering .