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Welcome to IMBISA IMBISA:The Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa.

known as IMBISA is an organ of Liaison and Pastoral Cooperation between Episcopal Conferences of Angola and São Tome & Principe (CEAST), Lesotho (LCBC), Mozambique (CEM), Namibia (NCBC), South Africa which is made up of Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland (SACBC) and Zimbabwe (ZCBC).

NEWSLETTER – IMBISA INFORMATION APRIL 2009

 

INFORMATION IS CENTRAL TO HUMAN ACTIVITIES

“We cannot effectively spread ideas and teachings without effective information and communication strategies and without effective information communication tools”.
This was said during a workshop organized by the National Social Communications Office, for the Diocesan Social communications Officers as well as other catholic media houses in Zimbabwe.
The theme of the workshop was Reporting Conflict, National Healing, Reconciliation and Reconstruction. The workshop was co-facilitated by Mr. Matthew Takaona from the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Sr. Veronica Dingi from IMBISA Communications Department and Fr. Edward Ndete the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Officer for Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC). This workshop noted that effective communication strategies as well as effective communication tools will make the Church more effective in spreading its teaching for the benefit of the people in society.

In his keynote address Bishop Michael Bhasera who is the bishop-in-charge of the Social Communications Commission in Zimbabwe, noted that 2008 was marked by torture, fear, murder, abductions, that tore the society apart as politics took centre stage. These experiences caused untold psychological and physical suffering among the people and the society at large. He went on to say that these experiences have also created an atmosphere of indifference and widened a gorge of enmity, tension and suspicion among those who dwell in the same locality. As Church communicators we have a role to play in the national healing process and in spreading the message of reconciliation. The damage is irreparable but the need for reconciliation, national healing and reconstruction is indispensable and the development of the country is possible if everyone embraces national healing and reconciliation.

It was also noted during the workshop that many wars raging across the globe these days are not fought militarily but through the spread of information using the most up-to-date information technologies. No organisation can move forward effectively without the dissemination of information. The Church was called on to use effective means of communications in order for it to be able to spread its social teachings which the Zimbabwean society needs at the moment. Looking at the process of national healing the catholic media was challenged to play its role in spreading the message of forgiveness, reconciliation, justice, love of neighbour, healing and peace.

The media officers were challenged to make sure that they are an alternative and respected voice of compassion and justice, by denouncing human rights violations not attacking persons, institutions or parties. They were challenged to “put off the fire of hatred, enmity and suspicion and light the fire of love, justice and forgiveness.

 

Launching of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

The Social Doctrine of the Church helps the people to translate charity into effective plans aimed at the common good of all. Bishop Alexio Muchabaiwa expressed these words during the Launch of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, at St Mary’s Cathedral in Bulawayo. The launch took place on the 12th of May 2009.

The colourful Ceremony was preceded by Holy Mass at 10:00 am that was celebrated by His Lordship Bishop Alexio Muchabaiwa the Bishop Chairman for Justice and Peace Commission in Zimbabwe. Co-celebrating were Bishops Albert Serrano of Hwange diocese, Martin Munyanyi of Gweru diocese and Rev. Fr. Martin Schupp the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo and over 40 priests from all the dioceses in Zimbabwe.

The parishioners of St Mary’s Cathedral showed their high degree of appreciation of their cultural values and this was shown by the way they blended song, dance and poetry during the entrance, gospel and offertory processions. This was accompanied by melodious hymns, drums and marimba as hundreds of people flowed into the Cathedral to witness the launching of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

In his homily Bishop Martin Munyanyi who is the Chairman of IMBISA Justice and Peace Desk emphasized that our peace should be built on Christian Principles and that the peace that Jesus gave to his followers is different from the worldly peace.

Quoting from Pope Paul XI’s  Encyclical, Development of Peoples, Bishop Munyanyi equated peace to development and went on to say whenever there is exploitation of each other,  violence of any nature and when problems are not addressed there is no peace. The people should achieve peace through the Social Teachings of the Church contained in the Compendium. He said in order to understand the Compendium we need to take everybody as the image of God. True peace should aim at working towards justice. True justice should not be based on human interests, for true justice is above human law and should involve forgiveness and mercy. He concluded his homily by inviting the people to sing with him the hymn “Make me a channel of your peace.”

Launching Ceremony; which took place after Holy Communion was introduced by a poem recited by a young man dressed in a Ndebele traditional garb. The poem whose them was that of unity, called the Church and the State to work together for the benefit of the people of God. After the poem, Bishop Alexio Muchabayiwa talked on the History and purpose of launching ceremony and he also talked about some aspects of the Compendium.

In his speech Bishop Muchabaiwa defined the word “Compendium” as a “collection’ or a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge.’ This collective work comes from Encyclicals, Bishops and scholarly thoughts that contributed to a deeper understanding of the Church’s social doctrine representing fundamental stages of Catholic thought. He went on to say that this collection was compiled systematically by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to come up with the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” we are gathered here to launch. He also informed the gathering that the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church was published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in October 2004.  The compendium was then presented to America in November 2005, Asia in January 2007 and to Africa in August 2008. It was at the presentation to the African continent in Tanzania that the Vatican through Cardinal Renato Raffaelle Martino the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace expressed his wish to have the Compendium launched to all the local Church faithful.

The Bishop told the people that he was pleased that since the presentation of this Compendium to Africa, Zimbabwe was the first country to launch the book in the IMBISA region. The purpose of launching the book is mainly to make it known to all the faithful and encourage them to use it as a guideline for social life.

Bishop Muchabaiwa concluded his speech by encouraging training of all pastoral agents on the aspects and teachings contained in the Compendium on the Social Doctrine of the Church for their apostolate of evangelization. Each person according to their state of life should be specifically trained to know their rights and duties, the meaning and service of common good, honest management of public goods and the proper manner of participating in political life in order to be able to act in a credible manner in the face of injustices”.

After the Speech 165 copies of the Compendium were distributed to the Bishops and to the different arms of the Church in Zimbabwe.

 

POPE’S VISIT TO ANGOLA

PAPA BENTO XVI ABENSOA A NOSSA TERRA /POPE BENEDICT BLESS OUR LAND
The arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Angola was received with a lot of enthusiasm by the people, both young and old. A lot of regalia was prepared, including t-shirts, caps, cloths with the Pope’s picture and the words PAPA BENTO XVI ABENÇOA A NOSSA TERRA which means POPE BENEDICT XVI BLESS OUR LAND. The posters of the Pope were found on public and private buses, cars and also on the windows of some houses in the city. There was a lot of cheer and celebration.

People lined up the streets the Pope were to use to go to wherever he had an appointment just to have a glimpse of him. People cheered as the Pope passed blessing them. The Police and the boys and girls Scouts had to restrain people from running into the streets as the Papal Mobile passed by.

The public media in Angola covered this visit extensively. There was literally suspension of other programmes. The public media only stopped screening the stories related to the Pope’s visit, some two hours after his departure.

When the Pope touched down on the Angolan soil, he started by greeting the people of Angola, the political and religious leaders in the country. He also extended his greetings to those who were watching his arrival on television and those who were listening to the radios.

As was indicated on his timetable the Pope had to meet different kinds of groups and people. His messages were therefore directed to these groups. His first message was to the civic and political leaders.

TO THE CIVIC AND POLITICAL LEADERS
He told those who had come to welcome him that he was keenly aware of the importance of “dialogue as a way of overcoming every form of conflict and tension and making every nation, Angola included, into a house of peace and fraternity. With this in view, you must take from your spiritual and cultural heritage the best values that Angola possesses and go out to meet one another fearlessly, agreeing to share personal resources, both spiritual and material, for the good of all.

The Pope expressed his solidarity with the people of Kunene Province who were affected by the floods. He also encouraged the people of Angola to use the abundant resources when he said, “Your land is abundant and your nation is mighty. Make use of these advantages to build peace and understanding between peoples, based upon loyalty and equality that can promote for Africa the peaceful future in solidarity that everyone longs for and to which everyone is entitled. To this end, I ask you: do not yield to the law of the strongest! God has enabled human beings to fly, over and above their natural tendencies, on the wings of reason and faith. If you let these wings bear you aloft, you will easily recognize your neighbour as a brother or sister, born with the same fundamental human rights. Unfortunately, within the borders of Angola, there are still many poor people demanding that their rights be respected. The multitude of Angolans who live below the threshold of absolute poverty must not be forgotten. Do not disappoint their expectations!

Pope Benedict XVI called on what he called modern Angola to follow the example of Dom Alphonsus Mbemba-a-Nzinga whose efforts five hundred years ago, gave birth to a Christian Kingdom in Mbanza-Congo which has continued to grow from the eighteenth century until today. He concluded by saying the main aim of his visit to Angola was to “be together with one of the oldest Catholic communities in sub-equatorial Africa, to strengthen it in its faith in the risen Jesus and to join its sons and daughters in praying that this time of peace in Angola, in justice and fraternity, may prove lasting, allowing the community to carry out the mission that God has entrusted to it for the good of its people within the family of Nations” His last words were a blessing for Angola.

TO THE YOUTH
Thousands of young people met Pope Benedict XVI the stadium Dos Coqueiros. He urged the youth to have the courage to make definitive decisions, to take on lifelong commitments. He told them that they should grow in their friendship with Jesus Christ." He went on to say "Seek his will for you by listening to his word daily, and by allowing his law to shape your lives and your relationships. In this way you will become wise and generous prophets of God’s saving love. Become evangelizers of your own peers, leading them by your own example to an appreciation of the beauty and truth of the Gospel, and the hope of a future shaped by the values of God’s Kingdom. The Church needs your witness! Do not be afraid to respond generously to God’s call, whether it be to serve him as a priest or a religious, as a Christian parent, or in the many forms of service to others which the Church sets before you."
This joyful occasion was however disturbed by the death of two young people and a number of others who got injured in a stampede at the entrance to the stadium.

TO THE WOMEN
"We Feel the Need for This Feminine Complementarity"
The Pope met the women at the Church of Santo António Parish of Luanda.  Thousands of women where already gathered at the Church more than three hours before the Pope’s arrival. When he finally arrived, he was greeted with a lot of ululating clapping of hands and singing. Poems and hymns which were especially composed in honour of the Angolan woman in particular and the African woman in general were recited.  Two women gave speeches to the Holy in Father in which they drew attention to the aspirations and hopes of so many of the silent heroines among the women of Angola. After their presentations they gave the Pope some gifts and one of them was a model of the Parish of Santo Antonio. After the presentation of the gifts the Pope then addressed the women and all those who were in attendance. He started by appreciating the role of all those who work for the promotion of women.
He then told that, “God has entrusted the wellsprings of life to you; I invite you to live and to put your trust in life, because the living God has put his trust in you.  He called everyone to “an effective awareness of the adverse conditions to which many women have been and continue to be subjected to”.

Quoting from Genesis Chapter 2, the Pope said God noticed that man needed a helper and he fashioned one for him in whom he (God) incorporated the order of love, which had seemed under-represented in creation. He went on to say, “my dear friends, this order of love belongs to the intimate life of God himself, the Trinitarian life, the Holy Spirit being the personal hypostasis of love. As my predecessor Pope John Paul II once wrote, "in God's eternal plan, woman is the one in whom the order of love in the created world of persons takes first root" (Mulieris Dignitatem, 29).

The Pope also said that man and woman are both called to live in profound communion through a reciprocal recognition of one another and the mutual gift of themselves, working together for the common good through the complementary aspects of masculinity and femininity.
Pope Benedict XVI also noted that, “It is almost always women who manage to preserve human dignity, to defend the family and to protect cultural and religious values. He also noted that “history records almost exclusively the accomplishments of men, when in fact much of it is due to the determined, unrelenting and charitable action of women.

The pope concluded by paying tribute to two extra ordinary women of Angola; Teresa Gomes who in 1975 – 1976 protected the parish of Our Lady of Grace of Porto Amboim from closure and also its structures, when it was invaded by fierce ideological ad political propaganda. She tried every possible means to restore the celebration of the mass in the Church. She died in 2004 in Sumbe.

He also paid tribute to Maria Bonino who was an Italian pediatrician who offered her expertise as a volunteer in several missions throughout the continent of African. She became the head of the pediatric ward in the provincial hospital at Uíje, caring for the daily needs of thousands of children who were patients there, Maria paid the ultimate price for her service by sacrificing her life during the terrible epidemic of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever, to which she herself succumbed in March 2005.

The holy Father concluded saying that  “since the dignity of women is equal to that of men, no one today should doubt that women have "a full right to become actively involved in all areas of public life, and this right must be affirmed and guaranteed, also, where necessary, through appropriate legislation”. He also noted that the presence of a mother in the family brings stability and growth of the same family.

 

 

Pope’s Mass with the Bishops of IMBISA in CIMANGOLA
The Sunday Mass which was called Mass with the Bishops of IMBISA, was attended by more than one million people. Crowds were seen carrying stools, plastic chairs, food and water walking towards Cimangola for the Holy Father’s second and final mass in Angola. The mass was celebrated at an open space and television/video screens were put up for the crowds who could not see what was happening at the Altar. However these screens were insignificant considering the number of people who were to use them.

During his homily, Pope Benedict XVI said the evils in Africa had "reduced the poor to slavery and deprived future generations of the resources needed to create a more solid and just society." A just society is what many people in different countries of Africa are crying for.
He called on the Angolans and all the people of African to acknowledge the presence of God within them, and to bring his love and forgiveness to all people around them. He noted the suffering experienced by the Angolan people as a result of war, and the consequent destruction of "families, whole communities, the fruit of men's labor, the hopes which guide and sustain their lives and work!" He added that "this experience is all too familiar to Africa as a whole. He went on to say that, "When God's word -- a word meant to build up individuals, communities and the whole human family -- is neglected," the apparent results are destruction and injustice.  He told the gathering that "God is calling us to acknowledge the power of his presence within us," to take as our own "the gift of his love and forgiveness, and to become messengers of that merciful love within our families and communities, at school and in the workplace, in every sector of social and political life."

The comments of the Holy father during this Eucharistic celebration showed that if there is no conversion and change of heart by the people and leaders of Africa, there will always be conflicts and loss of life and properties. Africa needs to return to the Lord, respect each other, respect life and work towards the development of this continent.

FAREWELL ADDRESS
Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the Angolans in their efforts to build a future of forgiveness, solidarity and justice, and he also appealed to politicians to care for the most needy in the country.
Addressing the President of the Country, politicians, bishops of Angola and those from the IMBISA region and the other delegates who were at the airport to witness his departure, the Pope commended the Church of Angola for being  “able to take up its own cross and that of others, bearing witness before everyone to the saving power of the Gospel message,  its commitment to bringing peace and promoting fraternal charity that respects the ideas of each person.  He appealed to those who can influence policies asking that the "just realization of the fundamental aspirations of the most needy peoples should be the principal concern of those in public office."

"Our hearts cannot find peace while there are still brothers and sisters who suffer for lack of food, work, shelter or other fundamental goods," noted the Holy Father.  "If we are to offer a definite response to these fellow human beings, the first challenge to be overcome is that of building solidarity."

He explained that the solidarity he is talking about should be between generations, between nations and between continents, and "should lead to an ever more equitable sharing of the earth's resources among all people."

He concluded his speech by calling on all Angolans; "to never tire of promoting peace, making gestures of forgiveness and working for national reconciliation, so that violence may never prevail over dialogue, nor fear and discouragement over trust, nor animosity over fraternal love. "This is all possible if you recognize one another as children of the same Father, the one Father in Heaven."

The Pope’s visit to Angola was a time of renewal for the church and the young people were very happy to see the Holy Father in their own country. The relationship between the Church and the State was applauded by many delegates from the neighbouring countries.

Migration & Internal Displacement in IMBISA Region

Southern Africa is a region that has been plagued by political and social instability as of recent years. There are no proper wars that will fit the definition but there is no peace and these strive have led to a lot of internally displaced people.

Internal Displacement: The region has also experienced cases of internal displacement in a number of countries.  Botswana has its internally displaced people who are the Basarwa who were moved from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to Xade and Kaudwane. These people are disadvantaged in many ways, they cannot access development projects, they are lowly paid or not paid at all by those who employ them, and they are often used as cheap labour for heading cattle for other ethnic groups.  The Basarwa have little or no representation on any national democratic forum.
Due to difference in culture and language from the majority of the Batswana, the Basarwa have difficulties participating in formal education and therefore have extremely low levels of literacy. Their history seems to have been that of dispossession and oppression from the powerful neighbour.

In Lesotho there are people who were displaced to give way for major dam construction, mining and other projects that take place in different places of the country. There is a group of people, who were displaced to give way for dam construction and the company that moved them, built beautiful homes for them but still these people are not happy. They feel life was better in the mountains because they owned fields, they did not need fertilizers and pesticides for their crops and they had animals which later died because of inadequate pastures. In the new resettlement place they have to share fields with other people and share the produce.

In Zimbabwe we have also seen the internal displacement of the people from their areas of origin to others, due to the Land Reform programme, Operation Murambatsvina/Operation Restore Order and the politically motivated conflicts. 

In some of our countries there are people also who are being internally displaced to give room for development and tourism projects.  The major challenge is that sometimes these people are moved to places where there are no resources needed for their survival. The biggest challenge of the large numbers of internally displaced people is that governments end up failing to provide their needs and this leads to high rates of starvation, preventable diseases and human rights abuses.

The internally displaced people are a group that needs our special attention as Church because in many countries of our region there are displaced people who are not protected by any law because they do not qualify the definitions of different categories of migration and this makes them more vulnerable.

Xenophobia Attacks: While the region was slumbering we were all caught unaware by the xenophobic attacks that took place in South Africa were thousands of people lost their properties and a number their lives and many were injured. This act showed that the Church needs to do more in its teaching about charity, sisterhood and brotherhood. No one can force people to like each other but it is our mandate as Christians to be with the victims of human failures and help them build up their lives, broken relationships and broken homes.

In many cases the Church finds itself overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs to be done, in the face of dwindling financial and well prepared human resources. In order for the church to be able to deal with the consequences of forced migration there is need for well trained people for this ministry. People who will be able to notice early signs of conflicts and put in place early interventions before the situations are out of control. Our times seem to be calling us as Christians to re-think the strategies we are using in our social action.

Collaborative Structures: There is need for collaboration between the Church of origin of the migrants and that of destination; the two sides need to know how to play their roles. There could be an arrangement to have pastoral agents that accompany these people and also pastoral agents that receive them when they get to the foreign country. The presence of pastoral agents who know the language, culture, and background of the displaced people helps them to adjust to their situation with some comfort and also helps the agents from the country of destination to understand the migrants and to be more efficient and effective in their service delivery. In the case of internally displaced people, concerned dioceses could consider working together in the same manner.

There is need for pastoral care of these people on the move, they also need tools for a sustainable quality of life in Christ Jesus. Many of the displaced people are hurting, angry and they do not trust people. They need God to alleviate their suffering. This can only be done through the love and care of those who are in ministry with the uprooted people.

The Church has been known for its hospitality. Christ called Christians to welcome the stranger (Mt. 25: 31–45). Hospitality is a mandate for the Christians. As Christ followers, to welcome a stranger is not only about being prayerful, kind or about being nice, it is a justice issue. The Church therefore has a duty to be an advocator and defender of the migrants’ rights. Jesus did not call the Christians to welcome the stranger who are in their country legally, with passports and valid visas or those who speak our particular languages, but all the strangers.

The Church has a responsibility to inform public opinion on causes of migration and its effects.  People in governments and in positions of power are our Church members but the church’s engagement with them is limited. Governments in Southern Africa will not listen to the Church but they manage to sweet talk the church leadership into accepting what they want done. Education and awareness are the tools to engage the government, information between the two institutions should be kept moving to keep the two in a constant and health dialogue. By Sr. Maria Veronica Dingi, CPS

 

Standing Committee Meeting
The IMBISA Standing Committee members held the first meeting for 2009 in February, from 17th – 20th.  In his opening speech the president of IMBISA stated that the meeting was taking place at a time when the Zimbabwean people are looking forward to the formation of a new inclusive government and therefore we should pray for the country, the people and the Church in Zimbabwe. He also noted that this is a very important year where Africa is preparing for its second Synod which is a time of grace and change.

The standing committee discussed the Papal visit to Angola, the Synod of Africa in Rome and the IMBISA Plenary in 2010. The discussions centred on the theme of the next Plenary. Some Conferences had given their contributions towards the theme and Dr. Ranga Zinyemba was given the task of putting together what people in the meeting had expressed and motivating this information. The different departments of IMBISA gave reports of their activities, after which the Bishops encouraged them to always work in collaboration with the national offices so that there is a real communion between the conferences which was the purpose of the formation of IMBISA as a regional body. Difficulties in communication were highlighted as one of the Secretariat’s challenges.

 

New office Bearers:- Mozambique Bishops’ Conference

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Mozambique elected new office bearers during their last Plenary meeting. The new President of the Conference is Bishop Andrice Lucio  Maundula of the diocese of Xai Xai and the Vice President is Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula  The Secretary General is Bishop Ernesto Maguengue of the dioces of Pemba.
The Commission for Social Communications remained with Bishop Januario as the Chairperson, Justice and peace went to Bishop Paulo Mandlate, Refugees and Migrants to Bishop Adriano Langa of the diocese of Inhambane and the Biblical Ministry to Bishop Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula.

 

JUSTICE AND PEACE DESK

 

Regional Workshop
IMBISA as a region has seen a lot of strive; from open conflicts to silent strive between people who hold different opinion. Some people have attributed the strive within the region to bad governance that leads to unfair distribution of resources which in turn make people compete for these scarce resource.

In July 2007 the IMBISA Bishops held their General Plenary Assembly on the theme of Good Governance for Development. During this Plenary they articulated the areas that needed attention in the different societies of the region. The justice and peace commissions in the region took over from where the Bishops left and carried out different awareness programmes and workshops on good governance issues.

The IMBISA Justice and Peace desk held its 5th Conference in Maseru Lesotho from 20th – 26th July 2008. The conference gathered 40 participants. The theme of the conference was “Good Governance for development in view of reconciliation, justice and peace.  Around the same time Angola Justice and Peace Commission also held its Pro-Pace Congress during the same dates. The main purpose of the Lesotho conference was to share best practices and also to prepare a Regional plan for the period 2009 -2011.

All the national Coordinators of the Justice and Peace Commissions gave country reports that focused on good governance, human rights, gender streaming, Trade Justice, human trafficking and many others. Through the country reports, discussions and sharing of information, it became clear that the Justice and Peace Commissions in the region are working at different levels, some are doing extremely well in their programmes, others are struggling to establish themselves and have an impact in their respective countries. The country reports also showed that a lot of justice and peace work was being done in the various IMBISA member countries and each commission was focussing on the pressing social, economic and political issues of their specific countries.

The participants came up with the following as the strategic issues for Justice and Peace initiatives in the region for the next three years:

1. responding to emerging issues of governance in individual countries of IMBISA Region,
2. assisting individual Justice and Peace Commission in developmental and operational challenges,
3. improving communication between IMBISA Justice and Peace Desk, the National Catholic Commissions for Justice and Peace and other regional and continental bodies such as AMECEA & SECAM,
4. addressing issues of economic justice, including trade justice and
5. Effective representation of justice and peace issues at the Africa Synod in October 2009.

At the end of the conference the participants came up with the vision and mission statement of IMBISA Justice and Peace Desk which was derived from the general IMBISA vision and mission statement. The vision statement reads: IMBISA Justice and Peace envisions a region characterised by good governance at all levels and the mission statement reads: Through effective Justice and Peace groups in all parishes in the region and in collaboration with Justice and Peace bodies throughout Africa, IMBISA Justice and Peace works to ensure good governance, peace, reconciliation and economic trade justice.

Angola
The Episcopal Commission of Justice and Peace of Angola and São Tome e Principe (CEAST) has taken as the guideline of its mandate the words of Pope Paul VI, which are “to deepen understanding on doctrinal and pastoral problems linked to justice, peace and human rights and to favour social justice among nations, conscientise Christians and society in general for them to have a clear knowledge of these issues and to work for realisation of those values in the lives of the peoples.”

The commission is involved in different activities which are; peace building, judiciary and human rights education, economic justice issues and democracy building. 
The main aim of these projects is to help the citizens to participate in issues that have an effect on their lives and also to take an active part in the political life of their communities and also seek solutions together to communal as well as individual problems encountered in their community, province and country at Large. The project on Democracy building is the one that sees the running of the Pro Pace congresses.
During these congresses the people engage in serious debates and these debates have shown that there is still a lot of political intolerance, partisan tendencies by traditional authorities and lack of education on democracy and also extreme poverty.

Another popular activity that is carried out by the commission is Judiciary education and human rights awareness campaigns. Through these the citizens have gained some understanding of what a democratic society should look like and how it should operate and the fundamental laws that are important in their lives. The people have been encouraged and empowered to go through law enforcement agents in cases of conflict rather than taking the law into their own hands. The results of this effort are that, there is now an increase in the number of people who use Lawyers to resolve their grievances. Through this project the commission has been able to offer services in prisons, offering legal representation for the prisoners who are not able to do it by themselves or who are being treated unjustly and have no idea on what to do next or have no means to help themselves. 

The commission also runs two programmes on Radio Ecclesia; and the programmes are on Citizens and Justice whose objective is to raise awareness of the citizens on the Administration System of Justice in Angola, to empower the people to develop their opinion on issues that affect them and be able to analyse them and give their own informed input, to promote a democratic culture and to preserve values of peace.  The other programme is called Renewal of Hope, and it deals with disarmament of the civilian population. These two radio programmes run for one hour each.
The media such as Newsletters, Reports, Pastoral letters and radio programmes are used by the Commissions to reach their audiences both internal and external.  One of the major outcome of these activities has been a remarkable improvement on tolerance of opposing views.

 

 

LESOTHO
Lesotho Justice and Peace Commission exists to continue the mission of Christ as laid out in Luke 4:18-21, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me….he sent me to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives…”  The Commission’s work is informed by the gospel values as well as the Social Teaching of the Church.

The Justice and Peace Commission of Lesotho was set up by the  Bishops’ Conference in 1972 and was given the mandate to promote and foster research, education, advocacy and action on social justice and human rights, integrating them to the lives of the Catholics and the Basotho in general.

The commission is involved in a variety of activities such as Advocacy training, human rights knowledge and protection, gender empowerment, civic education on governance issues, radio shows on parliamentary proceeding to encourage citizen participation through phone-in programmes on the Catholic Radio of Lesotho, promoting dialogue between Civic Society organisations and Community Councillors, with the view to improve citizen participation and service delivery in different areas of the country.
The Justice and peace commission is also running a project of the care and support of orphaned and vulnerable children. The project is known as MOVE which stands for Mountain Orphans and Vulnerable Children Empowerment and is aimed at ensuring that the children in the mountains grow up in the communities where their rights are respected.

The Commission has been strong in promoting citizens’ participation in governance issues by strengthening community based organisations and local government. They were also successful in conflict management between the elected authorities and chiefs over allocation of land.

After having realised that the world economic dramatic changes also affect Lesotho, the Justice and peace commission carried out workshops on trade justice, to give participants an opportunity to debate and understand what is taking place in the world and how these changes affect them and their families and also to enable them to engage farmers and producers of goods and services in advocacy and deeper discussion on trade, economic policies and legislations.

 

South Africa
The South Africa Catholic Bishops Conference, Justice and Peace Commission is a vibrant commission and runs five programmes that attempt to address areas of good governance, namely democracy and reconciliation, economic justice, Environmental Justice, Gender and Training. These programmes are more targeted at service delivery within local government and as such empower the Justice and peace network to be involved in social justice advocacy.
The Commission also has three desks that are under its coordination namely the Land Desk which is aimed at raising awareness within the Church around land reform and capacity building for community groups, the SADC Trade Desk, which focuses on trade policy monitoring, review analysis in the SADC region, together with other partners and the Counter Trafficking in Persons Desk which focuses on awareness raising on human trafficking through first hand experience sharing, training and production of awareness resources.

The Justice and Peace Department has quite some impact and this is shown by the number of people and groups who visit the justice and peace offices to learn more on the work of the Commission.  Some members of Staff are also asked to give interviews on different media concerning different issues that touch issues of Justice. More workshops are being carried out in different dioceses for different strategic people such as for the clergy, religious, pastors and parish representatives.

SACBC Justice and Peace commission has identified five priority issues to focus on in the following years, ending June 2011. The priority issues are economic justice and food security, climate change, environmental destruction and pollution, gender relations, good governance, crime, xenophobia and refugees. The commission has engaged itself in policy advocacy and campaigns on labeling of Genetically Modified (GMO) products.  Through its SADC Trade desk the commission has produced a training manual on Trade and Economic Justice, which is used for training community groups.  The Justice and Peace Commission has also successfully organized Regional Certificated Training of trainers for Justice and Peace groups in Justice and Peace Spirituality, Social Teachings of the Church, Pastoral cycle, Communication, Facilitation, Advocacy and Lobby, Conflict resolution and organizational Development skills.

Solidarity: The SACBC Justice and Peace department has shown solidarity with those in “crisis” whom they could reach. The conference initiated the call of 22 June 2008 as a regional day of solidarity and prayer for the people of Zimbabwe, the department was also engaged in collaborative effort with the Muslim “Gift of the Givers Foundation” in gathering donations for the Gaza people. The Coordinator of the department paid a solidarity visit to Sri Lanka, where he met and had discussions with authorities working for Justice and Peace and Caritas.

Through its Trade Justice desk the department conducted a research on the effect of globalization on rural women with the aim of bringing out critical discourse on trade and food security matters in the region and also creating a link with South African government in order facilitate dialogue between the state and groups of women involved in subsistence agriculture and economic literacy.

 

Mozambique
In Mozambique the Commission of Justice and peace was set up by the Bishops’ Conference just after the country attained its independence. The main goal of the setting up of this commission was to promote Justice and Peace and to fight all forms of discrimination, exclusion and ignorance of Human Rights and duties.

The justice and peace commission is now working on a programme called “Building a Better Mozambique” The main activities of this programme is training in fundamental Rights of citizens as they are in the Constitution of the country and this training is aimed at empowering communities and individuals to act against violation of their rights.  There is also training in Electoral laws and the aim of the training is to empower the citizens to actively participate in the electoral processes that have an impact in their lives and to encourage them to go for voting because it is their right and that it is also their way of having a voice in the political process of their country. 
Conflict resolution is another training that takes place in different communities to enable them to mediate between communities, families or different parties conflicts.

The commission also carries out the Basic Needs Basket (BNB), analysis whose objective is to monitor the monthly prices of basic food products so as to be able to analyse the relationship between the cost of living and the family income. After the analysis the commission develops advocacy programmes to speak on behalf of the poor people in the country.

The commission has encountered challenges in the area of economic justice, where they have found issues of material dispossession of widows by relatives of the deceased husbands and the domination of women by men, especially with respect to access to resources.  The Justice and Peace commission has been working at community level and lobbying the authorities to address these and other economic justice challenges. 

Through the work of the Justice and Peace structures some members of different communities have been trained and are now able to deal with land and other conflicts that arise in different communities. Many are able to assist in upholding the rights of the widows and those who are HIV positive and are abandoned.
The strength of the department of justice and peace in Mozambique is in the fact that all the 12 dioceses of the Conference have Justice and Peace structures down to the parish level and that ensures grassroots participation.

Swaziland
The Catholic Church in Swaziland views Justice and Peace as its ministry which is directed towards the transformation of structures, policies and practices that diminish the integrity of creation and a possibility of a quality life for all. The main objectives of the Commission are to work towards a more just society where the basic human rights of all people are respected, to raise awareness among the people about suffering, poverty and its causes, divisions in societies and the social implications of faith, to assist the Church in preaching and promoting action for justice and peace in support of the poor,  the disadvantaged and the oppressed. The commission strives to build a people who are informed, confident, skilled, reflective, committed to advocate for a better society and are active participants in issues that govern their day to day lives. The commission sees the education as the best tool that can be used to empower people, i.e. educating them on social justice issues. 

Since 2008, the commission got a volunteer Secretary who works in the office for 5 days. There has been good collaboration between the commission, the National Office and the other dioceses in terms of training. The commission was also able to send a two member delegation to observe the harmonized Elections in Zimbabwe. They have established desks which they coordinate which are; Environmental Justice, Trade and Economic Justice, Gender, democracy and reconciliation desk.  These are expected to be fully functional so as to be able to cover all the aspects of the people’s lives.

 

Zimbabwe
Justice and Peace work in Zimbabwe has evolved around civic education, gender mainstreaming, human rights, peace building, lobbying government against the death penalty, popularizing the SADC, AU and UN charters, lobbying government for pro-poor budgets and championing the formation of the Victim Friendly Court in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice. Victim Friendly Court is for the cases that involve minors or children, who can not stand confidently in a normal court.

The Justice and Peace Commission holds workshops in different dioceses at different levels, that is; deanery, level parish level and small Christian Communities level. Due to the economic and political instability in Zimbabwe, the commission has faced many challenges, but the major ones have been scarcity of resources and failure to gain access to certain areas or groups of people.  To go over this the commission has decided to train local volunteers residing in different areas to organize and facilitate workshops in their respective residential areas.

At the moment the priority for the commission as well as the whole Bishops’ Conference is national healing and reconstruction. There are a lot of consultations going on and some activities already going on such as prayer meetings and workshops to try and bring people together before the actual healing and reconciliation exercises are put in place. This has been found not to be an easy task.
The Diocesan Commissions are in the process of carrying out prayer meetings and workshop as a way of preparing the ground and this programme targeting the most affected rural and some urban areas. 

There are many views among the Zimbabwean population about how the national reconciliation and healing should be carried out. One view is that the perpetrators of violence should own up to their crimes and then people should decide to forgive them or to ask the law to take its course, the other view is that just to empower people to sit together and tell each other I wronged you and I need forgiveness and the other acknowledging that they have forgiven them and strive to leave as neighbours again. Which one will the church and its commissions advocate for?

Botswana
Justice and Peace group in Botswana is still a group in its formative stage. Through the work of part time volunteers the group engages itself in a number of collaborative and networking activities with civic groups of Botswana Civil Society Forum which include Non-governmental Organisations, Trade Unions and Faith Based Organisations.

The group also networks with the Botswana Civil Society Coalition for Zimbabwe which focuses on the Zimbabwe Situation, trying to find how the people there can be helped.

The main focus of the Justice and Peace group is to make justice and peace the main agenda for the two dioceses of the country and to ensure that the various groups are well resourced to be able to be proactive rather than reactive, to have skills root out instances of injustice timely.

 

Meet the People in the Justice & Peace Ministry

IMBISA Justice and Peace Commissions envisions a region characterized by good governance at all levels.  Through effective Justice and Peace groups in all parishes in the region and in collaboration with other Justice and Peace  bodies throughout Africa, IMBISA Justice and Peace Commissions work to ensure good governance, peace, reconciliation and economic trade justice. In order for this work to go on as it is at the moment, there are dedicated men and women who have accepted to carry out the vision of the bishops of the region.

Regional Office- IMBISA: The Bishop Chairman for IMBISA Justice and Peace is Bishop Martin Munyanyi of Gweru Diocese in Zimbabwe and he has been working with Fr. Antonio Nunes Wuawaya as regional Coordinator and Sr. Edinella Muchingamwa as Regional Assistant Coordinator.

Southern Africa Catholic Bishop’s Conference (SACBC): The Bishop Chairman of the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission is Bishop Barry Wood, he works with Fr. Mike Deep as National Coordinator, Mr. Kabelo Selema and other Staff members who man the different desks of the Commission. Before the appointment of Fr. Mike in 2008, Mr. Kabelo Selema was in charge of the Commission.

Botswana: Botswana as a country falls under the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) and therefore its national office is run from South Africa. However there is a group that works within the country itself. This group is led by Rev. Gaboatse. Their mandate is to work on the Justice and Peace issues in the country ad they report their activities to the National desk.

Swaziland: Swaziland like Botswana falls under SACBC, but there is a group that works for Justice and Peace issues in the country. The group is led by Fr. Pius Magagula being assisted by Mr. Reginald Magagula. They also have some other Staff members who work on different issues.

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop’s Conference (ZCBC): The Bishop Chairman of the ZCBC Justice and Peace Commission is Bishop Alexio Muchabaiwa he works with Mr. Alouis Chaumba as National Coordinator, Mr. Tarsicius Zimbiti as Assistant National Coordinator and other Staff members who man the different desks of the Commission.

Lesotho Catholic Bishops’ Conference (LCBC)
The Bishop Chairman of LCBC Justice and Peace Commission is Bishop Paul Khoarai of Leribe Diocese. He works with Mr. Francis B. Mohapi as National Coordinator and other Staff members who man the different desks of the Commission.

 

 

Mozambique Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CEM)
The Bishop Chairman of CEAST Justice and Peace Commission is Bishop Paulo Mandlate, he works with Mr. Ermelindo R. Monteiro as National Coordinator and other Staff members who man the different desks of the Commission.

The regional office extends special gratitude to those who have been working and are still working towards a just and peaceful region. They also welcome the new members who have just been appointed to work in the different Justice and Peace Commissions of our region. Best wishes in your new apostolate.  By Sr. Edinella Muchingamwa, HLMC 

 

The Church and the Migrants

The Catholic Church has shown that in its practice of religion they do not leave out the social aspect of the person. It has always embarked on activities that are aimed at developing and attending to the needs of all people regardless of their religious, socio-economic or political association. The church has in the past provided chaplains for different sectors of society such as prison chaplains, university chaplains, hospital chaplains, armed forces chaplains etc. At the moment the church has gone further to offer pastoral care for the travelers that use the different means of transport.

In the IMBISA region, the Episcopal Conference of Angola has introduced what they call Apostolate of the Sea, and this commission provides Pastoral care to the sea farers. Some conferences have chaplains at their major airports that assist travelers.

Through the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People the church has produced a document on the guidelines for the pastoral care of the Road. The document is published in five languages and is divided into four sections; the pastoral care of road users, pastoral ministry for the liberation of street women, the pastoral care of street children, and the pastoral care of the homeless.

The aim of the document is to guide and coordinate all the ecclesial bodies in the world of the pastoral care of the move or on the way and to encourage and stimulate Episcopal conferences of countries in which this form of pastoral care does not exist, to organize it.

 At the launch of this document, Cardinal Martino stated that the Church and State, each in its own field, should diligently work to create a generalized public awareness on the question of road safety and promote adequate education among drivers, travelers and pedestrians. The Church is also interested in the religious formation of car drivers, professional transporters, passengers, and all those people who, in one way or another, are associated with roads and railways. The way of going about serving these people can depend on the context of each local church while driving their guidelines from the document produced by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

Challenge to the Church
In order for the Church to rise up to this challenge there is need for the formation of people who work with the migrants. It is important for them to be able to understand the factors that push women into prostitution, the strategies used by intermediaries and traffickers to make them submit to their will, the paths along which they move from their countries of origin to those of destination and the institutional resources, both human and material needed to solve the problem. This understanding will help the Church in giving effective responses to the problem.

The Church through those who minister to the people on the move has the responsibility to defend and promote the human dignity of those exploited and to work towards their liberation by providing economic, educational and formative support.

Liberation of Street women: Many women who live in the streets of the world are abused and exploited and are in need of liberation by those who can make decisions which they themselves are not able to make because of their situation.
The church is still a credible institution in many societies of our world and therefore its leadership must prophetically denounce the injustices and violence perpetrated against street women and invite people of good will to commit themselves to the defense of their human dignity, and if this is done it will definitely bring sexual exploitation to an end.

 

 Pastoral care of street children:
The street children have become a common feature the world over. Some have grown up to become street families. According to the International Labor Organization, there are 150 million children living on the streets in the world.  Some of the causes of the street children have been stated as disintegration of families, abuse by care givers after the death of parents, conditions of extreme poverty, displacement of families to make way for development projects without a good and better alternative for the families that are affected, migration in search of better prospects for life and migration which uproots people from their familiar environment and disorientate them.

According to Archbishop Marchetto,  "In order for children to have a future in life, it is of fundamental importance to infuse in them a feeling of self-confidence, self-respect and dignity ... in order for them to develop a genuine desire to resume studying ... and to create dignified and gratifying life projects, through their own efforts and not dependent upon others."
The question that comes to mind after this suggestion is that, how can this be done? Where does one start? In the case of Africa and particularly our Region of IMBISA, we note that for anyone to somehow break through the circle of poverty they need to have some relevant education, which people on the streets cannot afford.

A person’s confidence is developed through the ability to contribute to one’s welfare. As it is people on the streets entirely depend on those who give them some few coins which they put together until they are enough to buy something to eat or something to wear or blankets to cover themselves at night. These little handouts will not enable the street children/people to create a life project from.  The suggestion that, it is necessary to seek out and meet the young people in the places they gather, on the streets, ... and in the 'hotspots' of our metropolises," is one way the church can reach out effectively to these people, because it gives the opportunity for those in ministry with these people to have an experience with these people and be able to journey with them from their familiar ground to where they need to be.

Pastoral care of the homeless:  The street dwellers are a multitude with derogatory names, such as street children, street families, street mothers and fathers, etc. without a voice, unable to find resources to improve their future, let alone their day to day lives. They are viewed with suspicion by the majority of the people, many thefts are blamed on them.

The  Catholic organizations, ecclesial movements, women and men religious congregations, lay movements, Episcopal conferences’ migrations offices/desks, etc. have been going out to seek these our brothers and sisters in need, creating solidarity with them and supporting life giving initiatives. They have done and are still doing a lot, trying to solve their sisters and brothers’ problems, accompanying them and trying to relief their misery.
Pondering on the situation in our Southern Africa Region, one wonders whether a time has come for new strategies to be employed by the church personnel to respond to the problem of street and homeless people, migrants and women who are exploited.  Are our times in Southern Africa challenging our strategies as a Church and calling for their renewal? By Sr. Maria-Veronica Dingi, CPS

 

SECOND SPECIAL SYNOD FOR AFRICA

Preparation Gains momentum.

The Holy Father Benedict XVI called for the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops and it is three months away. The event which is due to be held at the Vatican from October 4 to 25, 2009, has raised a lot of interest on the continent. The theme of the Synod is: "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace. 'You are the salt of the earth. ... You are the light of the world'. These few months before the Synod itself are characterised by preparations at different levels. The Catholic Commissions for Justice and Peace have taken a keen interest in the Synod because of its theme which is related to their field of work. They have been and are still carrying out workshops to conscientise people as well as to prepare presentations to the Synod. At continental level they have already prepared their recommendations to the Synod and are ready to be passed on to the relevant commissions. Some Ecclesiastical regions like AMECEA had a whole General Plenary Assembly discussing the topic of the Synod.

This second special Synod has raised a lot of interest. Some people are attributing it to its topical and relevant theme and others to good media coverage.

Preparations are still going on around the continent of Africa, at the moment the different Episcopal Conferences are working on the newly published “Instrumentum Laboris” which was given to the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Africa in March 2009 in Cameroun, by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

 

 

SIGNIS World Congress 2009
The World Association of Catholic Communicators (SIGNIS) is holding its 2009 World Congress  in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The World Congress coincides with the Special Synod for Africa and has a very  similar theme; Media for a Culture of Peace – Children’s rights, Tomorrow’s Promise. The aim of the congress is to highlight how the media can contribute to the building of a culture of peace through the creative empowerment of tomorrow’s’ generations. The Congress will also try to inspire and give new impetus to Catholic media Professionals, to make a culture of peace and children’s rights a priority in their work.
The Congress will take place from 17 – 21 October 2009. As a World Association of Catholic Communication professionals, SIGNIS is committed to using the media as instruments for peace building, development and promotion of the human dignity, therefore the Association is committed to promoting “peace through and in the media”.

SIGNIS-Africa Delegates Meeting
The new and old SIGNIS-Africa delegates met  at the Carmelite Retreat Centre, in Johannesburg, South Africa , from the 2nd – 6th of February 2009. The aim of the meeting was to finalise the SIGNIS Africa Statutes and to plan for the SIGNIS World Congress, that will take place in Chang Mai Thailand in October 2009. The delegates also took time to plan for the Africa Assembly whose venue was tentatively named as Abuja in Nigeria.
The Delegates had also a brain storming session with some media practitioners in South Africa about the training possibilities in Africa what could be done and what could be improved. Many ideas were put forward and the group agreed to prepare a database of the resources we have in Africa in terms of Human Resource/Experts, Institutions and Finances and then after that a way forward will be looked into.

The delegates visited Radio Veritas which is the only Catholic Radio Station that is on air in South Africa although for a few hours.

Some of the delegates waiting to  participate in a programme at Radio Veritas.

TRAINING
IMBISA and AMECEA social communications departments have been partnering in different projects mainly in training for some time now. The partnership started in the early 1990s when they produced a communications manual called Communication for Pastoral Formation, which was divided into three Volumes in English and Portuguese, Volume one being on Basic Human Communication, second volume on Communication and Society and the third volume, Church, Communication and culture. These manuals were published by the Pauline Sisters in Nairobi, Kenya.  The partnership was aimed at pulling resources together, financial and media expertise to benefit the two regions.

In 2008, end of May into June the two departments held a workshop on Media Management in Lilongwe, Malawi. The aim of the workshop was to provide a learning opportunity for the National Communications Directors to review, discuss, share best country experiences and practices  and make recommendations on how best to administer communication efforts in the two regions. The presence of the communicators in Malawi was also aimed at boosting and encouraging communication efforts in the country.

The workshop was officially opened by Bishop Antony Pagani of Mangochi diocese who is the Bishop in charge of social communication at Malawi Episcopal Conference. In his address he called on the communicators to be people of dialogue through promoting dialogue that will result in peace and solidarity among stakeholders. He stated that dialogue is a powerful tool that fosters understanding and love among the people.
Bishop Pagani told the communicators that there is need that communications within the Church communities acquire a new approach with an open mind towards questions regarding the world media. Media people/practitioners should communicate the truth of God on behalf of God himself, on behalf of his son and on behalf of the Catholic Church and they should not be afraid of being opposed by the world.

The methodology of the workshop mixed group discussions and plenary sessions. This method ensured complete participation by all the participants and it enabled them to express their views, compare experiences and learn from each other.

Role of Church Media: The Media management workshop also served as an opportunity for the Catholic Communicators to take stock of the purpose of their existence and their contribution to the society. A number of questions were asked that led to a deep reflection by the whole group with the assistance of the Facilitator. The group agreed that media management for them is a practice that involves planning and organizing of human, financial, physical and informational resources to attain the communication goals in an efficient manner. The question that follows this is then, why are we in the Media as the Catholic Church?  The answer that was given was that; as church we would like to reach more people with the good news, address social issues, empower the poor, give alternative content, give a voice to the voiceless,, share knowledge and information, educate, entertain and give an independent and gospel based analysis on social issues.

In the light of the above purpose media as a social institution needs to be evangelised by the church. Calling media an institution means we are agreeing that it has become a way of life for the people, a system or an organisation that has been in existence for a long time and has been accepted as part of society.

The media has been applauded for providing information, socializing communities, keeping the communities in touch or connected and setting the agenda for the communities by offering what the communities should be discussing and what they should leave out as less important.

Where the secular media have been found wanting is in the agenda setting role. The kind of information that is presented for the people to discuss and to feed on is all bad news and violence to the point of creating conflict between communities by the kind of language that is used. There is a lot of good news, on development, humanitarian assistance, education, etc but these are rarely put on the agenda for the communities to discuss, appreciate or just as information about what is going on around them.
This gap in the media is what the church media should fill in and try to give alternative information. The Church media needs to set a peace building and reconciliation agenda that is badly needed in many countries of Africa and the world over. Analysing social issues is another role that the church should seriously engage in because usually the analyses that are given are incomplete, biased or openly promoting a certain ideology.

 

The Church media professionals would do better to give an alternative voice and point of view to the people.
However we should be able to celebrate with some Catholic radio stations and magazines which have become popular on our continent because of telling the truth and also being perceived as lacking bias. The church should ride on that wave while it still lasts and make its voice heard on behalf of the voiceless.

Way Forward: After having looked thoroughly at the way the Church is managing its media institutions and noting the loopholes which need to be addressed, the participants came up with resolutions and recommendations to be shared with the other Church media personnel and the top management in the church media institutions. ( See back Page )

 

Catholic Media and Peace building Seminar

“The Catholic Church is still a credible institution”
The Church is still a credible institution and therefore should effectively play its part in the Communications media field, because the Church in itself is communication. This was said by one of the participants to the joint SECAM and SIGNIS-Africa seminar on Catholic Media and Peace building in Africa. Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and SIGNIS-AFRICA, which is a continental association of Catholic Communicators, held a joint Seminar whose aim was to exchange information and plan together how the Catholic media can be more pro-active in facilitating peace building in Africa. The workshop had a lot of practical exercises to try and determine the pre-requisite to peace building and reconciliation. Exercises that showed some of the causes of conflicts were also carried out. It was realised that sometimes conflicts are created because people do not listen to what is said and therefore cannot perceive correctly what is being said.

 

Below is a picture illustrating a misunderstood instruction:

The instruction was hold your brother/sister’s hand and put it down as many times as you can in 15 seconds. The responds to this instruction was a tug of war no one wanted his/her hand to be put down. They understood, it was competition but it was not. They just supposed to exchange putting down each other’s hand.

The participants also grappled with what comes first; Mercy, Peace, Truth or Justice, reconciliation

Br. Alfonce Kugwa (Zimbabwe) explains why Justice has to come first.

During the Seminar the Communicators were taught how to use the Social Communications tools at their disposal to encourage peace building in the different societies they serve.

After all the deliberations and discussions the participants noted with concern that peace in Africa should be considered a priority issue so as to enable the continent to develop and the role of the Church cannot be overemphasized. See back page for their final Communiqué

SIGNIS AFRICA MEETING
After the combined Seminar SIGNIS-Africa went on to have their General meeting. The meeting discussed the Statutes and the Membership of SIGNIS Africa. The delegates were divided into language groups and were given copies of the Draft Statutes to go and look at them, discuss, correct or add the missing important items. The meeting came out with to versions of the Statues in French and in English. A team was put in place to harmonise the two and pass the statues on to the SIGNIS Africa Assembly of Delegates who will look at the Statues again and polish them before the World Congress in October 2009.

Election of new SIGNIS-AFRICA Delegates: The participants took the opportunity to elect new office bearers of SIGNIS-Africa, who will take Office in October 2009. The results of the elections came out as follows:

President:             Dr. Lino Pungi from Democratic Repbulic of Congo
Vice-President:     Fr. Ralph Madu from Nigeria
Fr. Paul Samasumo   Zambia
Fr. Chris Townsend   South Africa
Mrs. Marie-Louise     Senegal
Fr. Luca                  Madagascar

(From left to right) Fr. Ralph Madu, Vice-President-elect, Fr. Paul Samasumo, Dr. Lino Pungi President-elect, Mrs. Marie-Louise, Fr. Chris Townsend and Fr. Luca

 

Website Design and Policy Making Workshop

Information and Technology has been a very helpful and efficient way of moving information from one place to the other. No organisation can survive without the use of the new media technology. Information has become a much needed commodity for society because information enables people to learn, make informed decisions and be able to take part in discussion processes that touch their lives. Information production and dissemination is now central to the survival of our societies and therefore the church should not be found wanting in this area.
Cognisant of the above the communication officers from the IMBISA Region met to review their work through sharing of information on different activities of each conference in the communications field and to gain skills in the new media technologies through training in Website Design and Policy Making. The workshop took place in March 2008 at the Carmelite Retreat Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The facilitator explained to the participants that every website should have clear goals before it is designed and presented to the audience. As Church we should be able to articulate our purpose of being on the internet, the pros and cons and to also see who will benefit from our information. He also noted that there is no need of creating a web-site in a country where you know most of your audiences are not going to be able to access internet facilities. In such a scenario other means of passing on information should be explored.

The participants were able to review the internet usage in each of their countries and below are the results of that search. From what is shown on the table one can realise that the majority of the countries in our region are still legging behind in the use of internet. Out of the Estimated population of 102,693,914 people only 7.2 million use internet. This was attributed to the lack ICT infrastructure in our countries.

Internet Usage and Growth

The above scenario calls on the Catholic communicators to try and reach out to those seven million people and also to put the Southern Africa Church on the world map through providing Church information on the internet for the access of all who can access the internet.

Five out of the six conferences of IMBISA were represented. This was the first part of a three phases workshop on Website Design, a second and third phases of the same workshop will be organized, sometime this year.

Regional Communications Policy: The National Communications officers also started the process of drawing up a regional Communications Policy which will be used by everyone in the region. The aim of this policy is to enable all the catholic communications offices in the region to speak with one voice and act in unison. This part of the workshop was facilitated by the communications officer of the Education Commission of SACBC. The regional communications coordinator was later tasked with seeing the completion of the policy and bringing it back to the Regional meeting for final approval.

Before the end of the workshop the coordinators took time to draw up a Draft Job Description of a National Catholic Communications Officer, which can be adapted by different countries to suit their own particular situation and communication needs.

The Refugee Service Department held their 13th Annual Conference in Bertoni Conference Centre, Gaborone, Botswana from the 15th -21st June 2008. The Theme of the conference was Lobbying for Good Governance & Democracy for Participatory Integral Development of Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced People (IDP) in their Countries of Origin and Host Communities. This Conference was a platform for generating new ideas, information, concepts, opinions on how to raise the interest of society and governments on issues that affect the Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced People (IDP).

In his keynote address, Bishop Patrick Mvemve, the chairman of the IMBISA Refugee Service encouraged delegates to give more attention to the pastoral care of the refugees. He also stated that those who work with refugees should lobby for their employment if they have the needed skills. He called on the Church to be pro-active and ensure that the refugees and migrants are not short changed wherever they are.

During the official opening mass of the Conference which took place at the Cathedral in Gaborone, the faithful donated many goods, food and non-food items during the offertory. The goods included blankets, clothes, rice, cooking oil, television sets etc. These goods were taken to Dukwi Refugee Camp which is in the diocese of Francistown by some of the delegates to this conference.

The conference noted that there is a lot of work that is being done by the Church on the issue of Refugees and internally displaced people. This was revealed through country reports which lined up different activities carried out in the different countries of IMBISA, however the Church still needs to work extra hard and to walk with the Refugees, migrants and Internally Displaced People and assist them until they are able to return to their homes and home countries. (See back page)

 

 

IMBISA (Inter Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa) has seen an increase in the number of Bishops appointed in the different conferences between January 2007 and March 2009.  Eleven new Bishops have been appointed in the IMBISA Region and five retired. Three new dioceses have been erected, all in Angola. The new appointments bring the IMBISA Bishop’s total to 97 and the dioceses to 89. See the table below for the distribution of the new Bishops and new dioceses.

 

New Dioceses
Diocese of Viana: On June 6, 2007, the Holy Father erected the new diocese of Viana in Angola. The new diocese will cover an area of 17,206 square kilometers and has a population of 1,659,000 and of these 500,000 are Catholics. The new diocese will be served by 37 priests. Viana’s territory was taken from the archdiocese of Luanda, therefore making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. Bishop Joaquim Ferreira Lopes O.F.M. Cap., of Dundo diocese was appointed as the first bishop of this new diocese.

Diocese of Caxito: The Holy Father also erected the new diocese of Caxito whose area 25,133 square kilometers and has a population 500,000 of which 214,000 are Catholics. The diocese will be served by 14 priests. Caxito’s  territory was also taken  from the archdiocese of Luanda, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church.  Fr. Antonio Francisco Jaca S.V.D., provincial superior of the Verbite Fathers in Angola, was appointed the first bishop of the new diocese.

Diocese of Namibe
On the 21st of March 2009, the Holy Father erected the new diocese of Namibe in Angola and also appointed Fr. Mateus Feliciano Tomas, chancellor of the archdiocese of Huambo and pastor of the cathedral, as first bishop of this new diocese. The diocese has an area of 57,097 square kilometers and a population of 1,195,779, of these 270,294 are Catholics. The new diocese will be served by 12 priests and 27 religious. The new diocese’s territory was taken from the archdiocese of Lubango, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. The bishop-elect was born in Chinguar, Angola in 1958 and ordained a priest in 1983. His Episcopal ordination will be announced later.

 

 

We, the delegates who met at the 13th IMBISA Refugee Services Annual Regional Conference, 15th – 21st June 2008 at Bertoni Centre in Gaborone, Botswana, deliberated on the theme “Lobbying for Good Governance and Democracy for Participatory Integral Development of Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced People in their Countries of Origin and Host Communities”.

Cognizant of the challenges of the tasks ahead as we encounter we recommend the following:

Immediately

1. The Establishment within each Bishops Conference of an Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care of migrants and itinerant people, that will deal with all issues regarding refugees, migrants and IDPs.
2. That the Catholic Church constantly remind government authorities  on the need for participatory integral development of refugees, migrant and IDPs, in host countries
3. The formation of joint committees made up of members from the Church of origin and the church of destination to deal with the problems that are being faced by the refugees, migrants and displaced people

Short-term

1. The Church leaders to engage in dialogue with the governments of the country of origin to create conditions that discourage migration.
2. The formation of Committees made up of members from the sending Episcopal Conference and the receiving Episcopal Conference to deal with the problems that are being faced by the Refugees, migrants and displaced people.

Long-term

1. The Church to lobby for enactment of laws that are Refugee, migrant and IDP friendly for example, equal employment opportunities, access to health and education, free movement and decent shelter.

1. STAFFING

1. The Communications Commissions should employ qualified, motivated and trustworthy  human resource and not be tempted to get cheap labor.

2. NETWORKING

1. Pro-actively engage and network within Catholic media, the secular media, other church media, communication organizations and regulatory bodies at local and international levels.
2. Engage at a continental level and with donors for the Catholic church to avoid duplication and proliferation
3. Avoid duplication of communication activities such as other commissions/departments hiring communication officers and outsourcing media work.
4. Bench marking forums in Africa for Africa such as editors and producers forums

 

3. TRAINING

1. Training of the human resource in the communication offices so as to remain at the forefront of media
2. Organize a 2 week course to cover topics such as New Media, Convergence, Management Trends, Human Resources.
3. Organize a 1 week course for Communication non-Directors on; Time Planning, Personal Vision, - Who am I as a Communicator?, Marketing and New Media
4. Come up with a digital conversion working group to inform and facilitate the impending change.
5. Come up with a television working group to study, recommend necessary  action towards acquiring platform on either DSTV or G-TV or even establishment of own regional (AMECEA-IMBISA) digital TV.
6. Strengthen and continue with the AMECEA/IMBISA workshops

4. TECHNOLOGY

1. Communication Coordinators should adapt and acquire modern media technology
2. Engage with SIGNIS in providing and advising in the acquisition of digital equipment

 

5. MEDIA PRESENCE

1. Catholic media should make itself more visible and sensitize the church leadership on media issues and the importance of their availability

 

6. SUSTAINABILITY

1. Catholic media and communication offices should continue to be innovative and business minded in order to be self sustaining.

 

7. CONTENT

1. Improve on the content by identifying the gaps and analyzing issues in order to be the alternative voice for society.

 

 

 

 

 

We, Catholic Communicators of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, at the end of our one week workshop/seminar organized by the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, (SECAM) and the Africa Region of the World Catholic Association of Communication (SIGNIS Africa), on Peace Building and Good Governance, held at the Conference Centre of the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC), Kurasini, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania; resolve and hereby issue this communiqué:

1. That we are grateful to Almighty God for this unique opportunity to come together to discuss this very important issue at a time that peace is strongly desired on our continent. We reiterate that the role of the Church in this perspective cannot be over emphasized. We therefore implore Him to touch the hearts of our leaders, so that Africa can become a haven for peace.

 

1. That there is the need for all stakeholders in  Africa  – governments, religious bodies, civil organizations, corporate organizations and all Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora, to give priority attention to the issue of peace building and good governance in Africa. This is the only way for meaningful development on the continent.

1. That conflicts and wars in the different regions on the continent are as a result of inordinate ambitions of political leaders and their allies, both within and outside the continent, corruption, ethnic chauvinism, religious fanaticism and the get-rich-quick syndrome of a few people in the different countries of the continent who find themselves on the corridors of power.

 

1. That there is an urgent need to put an end to the various wars and conflicts in the different parts of the continent as they have hindered development, ravaged the continent and made the majority of Africans poorer despite the fact that the continent is blessed with abundant human and natural resources.

1. That for the desired peace in Africa, there is the need for all war- lords on the continent to have the fear of God in their hearts, respect the dignity and right to life, imbibe the spirit of true forgiveness and love and give room to true reconciliation with due consideration for truth, equity and justice.

 

1. That, while commending the bishops of the various Catholic Episcopal  Conferences on the continent for being the voice of the voiceless in the  condemnation of injustice and  inhumanity, we urge them to re-double their efforts and give concrete support for effective communication for evangelization to be more effective in Africa. For this we also wish to  thank and commend the Pontifical Council For Social Communications for its efforts in encouraging Episcopal Conferences to integrate Social Communications in their Pastoral Plan.

 

1. That there is the need for the Catholic Church to make communication evangelization the cornerstone of the pastoral work of the Church on the continent. In this perspective, there is the need for the Church in Africa to devote more human, material and financial resources to communications because the Good News and our Lord Jesus Christ, the communicator par excellence form the cornerstone of evangelization. 

 

  (8)  That communication programmes be introduced into the curriculum  of Seminaries and Religious formation houses on the continent, and that lecturers in these institutions of learning as well as serving priests and religious should be well equipped through organized training programmes in the realm of Social Communications.

1. That as Catholic communicators, we are resolved more than ever to mobilize all resources for the promotion of peace, true reconciliation and good governance on the continent through effective use of our professional tools to promote truth, respect for   human dignity, justice and peace as well as promote African cultures that develop these values. We also stress the need for more collaboration between the Communications Department and other departments of the Episcopal Conferences, especially that of the department of Justice and Peace.

 

(10) That we are grateful to the President of SECAM; the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference; the President of  SIGNIS World; Catholic Media Council, Germany; and the Seminar facilitators for making the Seminar a success. We also wish to express our appreciation to the Pontifical Congregation for the Propagation of Faith and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), for their financial support. We assure them of a new dawn for communication in the evangelisation efforts of the Catholic Church in Africa, particularly in the area of peace building and good governance.

Integrity in Public Life

Transparency, accountability and good governance in our Region

IMBISA SECRETARIES GENERAL COMMUNIQUE

 

IMBISA is the Inter-regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa comprised of the following countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé e Principe South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Inspired by the spirit of the recent African Synod of Bishops in Rome and as a follow up on the IMBISA Plenary on Good Governance, in Angola 2007, the Secretaries General of IMBISA gathered in Harare, from 16th – 18th November 2009, to deliberate on how the Church leadership can play a role in eliminating corruption, promoting good governance for the common good.

We live in a region rich in history and natural resources. We believe that the blessings of God are still abundant, especially with the recent peaceful elections in Botswana and Mozambique. We look forward to the same trend in Namibia on the 27th – 28th November 2009.

While we appreciate these and other blessings we note with sadness that many of our people suffer and live in abject poverty. Some of the causes of this suffering and poverty are natural disasters but many are man-made, such as bad governance, corruption and human irresponsibility.

In this communiqué we are addressing Political and Religious Leaders at all levels in our region and all People who love their countries.

The following are some of the areas of concern identified by the Secretaries General:

1. Lack of accountability and transparency
2. Ignoring the rule of law
3. Awarding tenders to political friends or family members
4. Unethical practice in procurements of goods and services
5. Excessive militarisation
6. Bribery in both public and private sectors
7. Patronised justice systems
8. Poor service delivery at national,  provincial and  local government levels
9. Lack of participatory and servant leadership
10. Discrepancy between high and low salaries and
11. Development that is not sensitive to the environment and integrity of creation.

 

In addressing these areas of concern, we note that the Church is an integral part of society. We therefore need continual personal conversion and institutional renewal as a way of achieving good governance and transparency.

Political leaders are elected by the people not to enrich themselves but to work for the common good.

Civil servants are employed to SERVE the public.

Nurses and doctors have to combine efficiency and compassion.

Teachers have to remember that the future of the next generation is in their hands.

The military and the police should not be instruments of political parties in power but are there to protect the citizens and defend the whole nation.

Independent institutions such as the Electoral Commission and the Judiciary must jealously guard their independence and resist being dictated to by the political authorities.

Political Leaders should challenge each other and use the mechanism available such as the African Peer Review.

We urge governments in our region to secure the right of access to public information and participation in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.

 

We reiterate that our region is not helpless. Its destiny is in the hands of those who live in it, politicians, governments, religious communities and all citizens in general. We need active collaboration to achieve the ideals of a corruption free, peaceful and prosperous society.

May God bless our region!

Secretaries General of IMBISA:
Bishop Ernesto Magengue                                   Mozambique
Fr. Vincent Brenann                                            South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland
Fr. Fredrick Chiromba                                         Zimbabwe
Fr. Thomas Manninezhath                                   Namibia
Fr. Emile Tsasane                                              Lesotho
Fr. Richard Menatsi                                            IMBISA

Place:                            Harare, Zimbabwe

Date:                             19th November 2009

 

Signed By:                     Fr. Richard Menatsi

(Director of The Inter–Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa - IMBISA)