CISA NEWS REPORT:
ABIDJAN, July 10, 2012 (CISA) -A two-day working session of a Steering Committee of a Forum on Culture and Development in Africa is currently taking place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to finalize arrangements for the holding of a Workshop on the theme: Culture and Development in Africa.
According to Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications, SECAM, the Workshop will take place in November 2012 in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. It will be organized by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Culture (PCC).
The need for the setting up of a Culture and Development Forum in Africa came about following a recommendation of a meeting that was organized jointly by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Culture in Abidjan, in September 2010.
The main challenge from that meeting was that Africa needed to appropriate the process that will bring about a structured dialogue between Africa and the Holy See on matters of culture and development.
Culminating from this the SECAM Standing Committee in October, 2010 approved the formation of a Steering Committee to look into how such a Forum can be organized and formalized. The Standing Committee mandated the Department of Evangelization of SECAM to manage the process.
The Steering Committee of the Forum is under the Chairmanship of His Eminence, Theodore Adrien Cardinal Sarr, First Vice-President of SECAM and Archbishop of Dakar, Senegal. Bishop
Barthelemy Adoukonou, Secretary of the PCC is representing his Council at the meeting.
The Committee’s purpose among others is to prepare the Church in Africa to form an Ecclesiastical Subject with a vision and mission for an enlarged Forum on Culture and Development in November this year. It will also work out a holistic and unifying approach to culture and development on the continent of Africa with particular reference to the resources and the challenges of the Church on the continent.
The Workshop in Tanzania is expected to come out with concrete proposals of the desired name, structure and modalities under which the proposed permanent Forum will function.
About sixty participants of the workshop will be drawn from all the Episcopal Regions of SECAM. They would include bishops, priests, and lay people. Religious Congregations- both men and women- operating in Africa will also be represented.
Other members of the Steering Committee attending the meeting include Rev Fr Joseph Komakoma, First Deputy Secretary General of SECAM and in-charge of Evangelization; Fr Leonard Santedi, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Rev Sr Teresa Okure, SHCJ Professor, Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Rev Fr Edouard Ade, Professor at UCAO in Benin; Rev Fr Anthony Makunde, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference of Tanzania; Rev Br Hilaire Raharilalao of Madagascar and Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications, SECAM.
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According to Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications, SECAM, the Workshop will take place in November 2012 in Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. It will be organized by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Culture (PCC).
The need for the setting up of a Culture and Development Forum in Africa came about following a recommendation of a meeting that was organized jointly by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Culture in Abidjan, in September 2010.
The main challenge from that meeting was that Africa needed to appropriate the process that will bring about a structured dialogue between Africa and the Holy See on matters of culture and development.
Culminating from this the SECAM Standing Committee in October, 2010 approved the formation of a Steering Committee to look into how such a Forum can be organized and formalized. The Standing Committee mandated the Department of Evangelization of SECAM to manage the process.
The Steering Committee of the Forum is under the Chairmanship of His Eminence, Theodore Adrien Cardinal Sarr, First Vice-President of SECAM and Archbishop of Dakar, Senegal. Bishop
Barthelemy Adoukonou, Secretary of the PCC is representing his Council at the meeting.
The Committee’s purpose among others is to prepare the Church in Africa to form an Ecclesiastical Subject with a vision and mission for an enlarged Forum on Culture and Development in November this year. It will also work out a holistic and unifying approach to culture and development on the continent of Africa with particular reference to the resources and the challenges of the Church on the continent.
The Workshop in Tanzania is expected to come out with concrete proposals of the desired name, structure and modalities under which the proposed permanent Forum will function.
About sixty participants of the workshop will be drawn from all the Episcopal Regions of SECAM. They would include bishops, priests, and lay people. Religious Congregations- both men and women- operating in Africa will also be represented.
Other members of the Steering Committee attending the meeting include Rev Fr Joseph Komakoma, First Deputy Secretary General of SECAM and in-charge of Evangelization; Fr Leonard Santedi, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Rev Sr Teresa Okure, SHCJ Professor, Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Rev Fr Edouard Ade, Professor at UCAO in Benin; Rev Fr Anthony Makunde, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference of Tanzania; Rev Br Hilaire Raharilalao of Madagascar and Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications, SECAM.
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