Mandatory Sessions for Priests on Children Safety among Recommendations to Zambia Bishops

In May 2019, the Nairobi-based AMECEA Secretariat launched the AMECEA Child Protection Standards and Guidelines booklet, described as “a framework for policy development that will help AMECEA Conferences develop their own policies based on local contexts.”

Attended by representatives from AMECEA Secretariat, ZCCB Secretariat, and clergy from the nine dioceses in Zambia, the Lusaka meeting acknowledged the fact that there is the need for the Zambian Church “to  take a decisive action against any form of abuse of minors; that no one was immune to abuse of a minor and therefore safeguarding was everyone’s responsibility.”

The meeting also “prioritized the need to increase reporting of abuse within the church by developing a confidential reporting mechanism that protect the survivors of abuse as well the whistle blowers.”

The recommendations from the Lusaka meeting were made to Local Ordinaries for their consideration “as they met to discuss safeguarding in the region,” the report shared with ACI Africa reveals.

For instance, the meeting recommended that “Bishops be close to their priests as their immediate collaborators, making it easier for priests to confide in them as their fathers; Bishops consider the appointment of the Diocesan Child Protecting Officers and Committees as urgent,” and the latter case, the meeting recommended that “the Child Protection Officer needs to be a priest.”

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The meeting also recommended that Bishops in Zambia “restructure offices and confessionals in churches and institutions into glassware establishments.”

“Bishops should establish a confidential reporting mechanism that allows for anonymous reporting as well as protection of the whistle blower,” the Lusaka meeting recommended.

Meanwhile, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is organizing a conference to sensitize Christians on clerical abuse in relation to children.

“Much has been done in the Catholic Church to make children safe since the clergy abuse scandal broke – and much still remains to be done,” a poster publicizing the event reads.

“While it is accepted that child abuse within the Church has a global reach, many Catholics continue to engage the issue with passive resistance. This response silences further those most harmed,” the organizers of the conference have noted in their publicity poster.

Slated to take place on October 26 in Pretoria, South Africa, the conference will be facilitated by Fr. Hugh Lagan, Society of African Missions (SMA) who is a clinical psychologist based in the United States of America and is working with Church leadership in southern Africa to develop support services.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.