ACWECA Assembly opens an opportunity for Catholic church to engage with stakeholders

Lilongwe August 19, mana: President for Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Rev. George Desmond Tambala said the five-day-assembly for Association Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) will facilitate the church to engage with different stakeholders.

Speaking during the Opening MASS for ACWECA Plenary Assembly on Monday at Civo stadium in Lilongwe, Tambala recognized the need of hosting the sisters’ meeting, saying it will enable sisters to make decisions that would assist the church to engage with stake holders.

“For us it is a privilege and we are greatly honored to host this meeting of sisters. The primary expectation that we have is that through their discussion they will be able to come out with a decision and solutions that will help us as a church to engage with different stakeholders in the church,” he said.

He said the discussion would also focus on solutions for the problems associated with youth generation in the country in order to alleviate suicide cases in the country.

“The youth for example, are not only Catholic youths but they are from all over Malawi and would like to see how they can be at the service and also we do engage in other areas like in health and in social work.

“We already have some tools but at least from their side as sisters, they will be able to provide some tools which we can engage the youth and women in various sectors but also those who are in very vulnerable situations such as those that are losing the meaning of life and committing suicide.

In her remarks, the president of ACWECA, Rosalia Sakayambo said it is high time they look back where the association started and reflect on it and thank God as it is a 50-year celebration.

“There is a lot that have been put in place for us to discuss. Remember I said that we have this meeting for five days and in those five days we have a time first of all to look back on the last 50 years and also on the last three years because our plenary assembly always comes after three years but it’s only that this is a special one that it is falling in the year of the jubilee.

“So the jubilee time, is a plenary time to look back and reflect to thank God. Those things go together; we thank God for his faithfulness to us. We have stayed for 50 years now as an association and you would know that as an association the needs now are different unlike when it just started,” Sakayambo said.

She urged people to use the time for realignment and reflection with God’s spirit as it is the one to enable them in progressing.

The Papal Nuncio to Malawi and Zambia, Gian Luca Perici applauded the huge gathering of the people from different parts of African continent who came for the Mass occasion.

Representative for National Laity, Dr. Mary Shawa lauded the priests by honoring them by the decision they made for hosting the assembly in Malawi.

The ACWECA is comprised of ten African countries and the opening Mass was held under the theme: “Transformative holistic formation for authentic living towards a deeper Evangelisation in the ECWECA Region and beyond”