Catholic Nuns in Eastern Africa Unveil 2024 Plenary Theme, Aim to Strengthen Formation

Nairobi, 01 September, 2023 / 9:00 PM

Members of the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) have unveiled the theme for their 2024 Plenary Assembly that seeks to strengthen the formation of Catholic Nuns in the region.

The President of ACWECA told participants during the unveiling event that the theme, “Transformative holistic formation for authentic living towards a deeper evangelization in the ACWECA Region and beyond”, was arrived at after days of reflection and listening to the Holy Spirit.

“We have been here in Uganda for the past week. Our main purpose has been to come up with a theme for the upcoming Plenary in August 2024,” Sr. Rosalia Sakayombo said in her speech shared with ACI Africa on Thursday, August 31.

Sr. Rosalia added in her August 25 address, “In these days we reflected, listened to the Holy Spirit and we collectively came up with a theme that focuses on our felt need in the region – formation as critical to our consecrated life.”

During the weeklong meeting organized at Ulrika Guest House in Kampala, Uganda, Board of ACWECA and ACWECA National Conferences Executive Secretaries from nine countries paid attention to the “signs of our time”.

From left to right: Facilitator Sr. Rita Nakitende, Superior General of the Little Sisters of St. Francis; Sr. Agnes Jonas, ACWECA Vice President (Teresian Sisters, Malawi) and Sr. Rosalia Sakayombo, ACWECA President (Sisters of the Holy Spirit, Zambia).

“We challenged ourselves to listen to, and read the signs of our time, which we did and have to continually do,” Sr. Rosalia recalled the undertaking of ACWECA representatives from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Sudan was not represented.

Those present at the convocation of the theme also settled on Lilongwe, the Capital city of Malawi, as the host of the August 2024 ACWECA Plenary Assembly.

The Zambian-born Superior General of the Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit (RSHS) announced that the 2024 Plenary Assembly in Malawi will be “a two-tier celebration” as ACWECA will be marking 50 years since inception.

In her August 25 address, Sr. Rosalia called on those present to relay the message of the convocation to their national Conferences and “to put the Associations in the mood for prayer and intensive preparations for this great event in our Region.”

She thanked all participants in the Uganda weeklong meeting “for generously participating and sharing your inspirations as we brainstormed on the needs of our region.”

“We worked very well together as a Team and collaboratively came up with a theme,” the RSHS Superior General based in Zambia’s Monze Diocese, who has been President of the Kenya-headquartered ACWECA since December 2021 said.