AFRICA/GHANA - SECAM to hold 15th Plenary Assembly in late July

Thursday, 1 July 2010

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Accra (Agenzia Fides) – The 15th Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar ( SECAM) will take place in Accra, Ghana from July 26 to August 2, 2010, according to a statement sent to Agenzia Fides. The Plenary Assembly will bear the theme: “SECAM at 40: Self-Reliance and the Way Forward for the Church in Africa” and will be the first of its kind to be held in Ghana, the headquarters of SECAM.
The Plenary Assembly which is the highest decision-making body of SECAM meets every three years to draw up major policies and guidelines for the operations of the Secretariat of SECAM. About 250 cardinals, bishops, priests, the religious and lay faithful within and outside Africa are expected to attend the Assembly.
In February of this year, the Standing Committee of SECAM met in Accra and approved the Agenda for the Assembly which will be opened by the President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, on July 27.
A workshop on the theme of the Assembly will be conducted for the bishops by the Christian Organisations Research and Advisory Trust of Africa (CORAT Africa). This will be followed by a panel discussion on “SECAM AT 40: RENEWING OUR COMMITMENT TO ITS IDEALS.” The discussion will be led by members of SECAM who are either past presidents or senior members of SECAM.
National and Regional Episcopal Conferences and other bodies affiliated to SECAM will present their evaluations and activities on the Second African Synod that took place in the Vatican in October of last year, on the theme: “The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.”
The Assembly will be chaired by His Eminence, Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, President of SECAM and Archbishop of Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. He will be assisted by his two Vice-Presidents, Cardinal Theodore Andrien Sarr of Dakar, Senegal (First Vice-President) and Bishop Francisco Joao Siloto of Chimoio in Mozambique (Second Vice-President). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 1/7/2010)