AMECEA Secretary General Highlights “some gaps” in Operations of Lay Associations, Ecclesial Movements

“Pope Francis reminded us that these groups should maintain a strong connection with the local parish and participate in the overall pastoral activities of the local church to avoid becoming isolated,” the Tanzanian-born Catholic Priest said. 

He went on to highlight rivalry and the attitude of competition as gaps that characterize members of the associations of the Laity and movements, who he said succumb to the temptation of self-glorification. 

“We sometimes hear this language, ‘we are spiritually better than the rest who are not members of our Group,’” Fr. Makunde said, adding, “This is a gap that needs to be addressed as we journey together in a synodal way.”

The Nairobi-based Secretary General of the association that brings together Catholic Bishops Catholic in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, with Local Ordinaries in Djibouti and Somalia as affiliate members identified the lack of spiritual accompaniment as another gap in the functioning of associations of the Laity and other Church movements. 

“This is homework that needs to be addressed as we discuss how to be a synodal church in mission,” Fr. Makunde said referring to the gap of pastoral and spiritual accompaniment of the Laity in their respective associations and movements. 

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He also highlighted “frictions” between the Laity in their associations and movements with the Clergy as a challenge, adding that this gap “can be addressed at this particular time in the synodal journey.”

The experience of members of associations and movements isolating themselves entirely from the Parish community is also a gap, the member of the Clergy of Tanzania’s Catholic Archdiocese of Mbeya said, adding that this phenomenon can be “verified in several groups within our parish and areas whereby they are not in cooperation with the other groups.”

In Catholic Parishes, Fr. Makunde went on to say, there “is a little understanding of the role and place of Lay Associations and Ecclesial Movements.”

The little understanding and sometimes misunderstanding of the role of the associations and movements of the Laity, he said, “cuts across” church members, from “the clergy, to the laity, and also even to the members of the groups themselves.”

In his presentation during the July 11 virtual event, the AMECEA Secretary General underscored the need for members of the associations and the Ecclesial movements of the Laity to foster collaboration, first among themselves, and then beyond their membership, being in communion with members of Small Christian Communities (SCCs), parishioners, the Diocese and the entire human race. 

Members of the associations of the Laity and other Church moves need also to prioritize “working together with the dioceses and to provide the much-needed inspiration and creativity for the work of evangelization.”

He added, “For us in Africa where we still have the primary evangelization, we need the effort, the charism in every baptized person.”

“We recommend Parishes and Dioceses to support the groups with spiritual and pastoral accompaniment, and to also give them space so that they may express their charism in the places where they are needed most, particularly in the peripheries,” the Secretary General of AMECEA said during the July 11 webinar.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.