Catholic Women in Africa Encouraged to Make a Difference in the World

CANAA || By Benedict Assorow, SECAM || 02 September 2015

His Eminence, John Cardinal Njue of Nairobi, Kenya has exhorted Catholic women in Africa to go out and make a difference in their communities and society in general by expressing their faith openly in all activities that promote the culture of justice, peace and reconciliation and development in Africa.

Addressing the closing session of the Pan-African meeting of Catholic Women in Nairobi on Wednesday, September 2, Cardinal Njue also asked the women to be vigilant and strive to defend the Church in the face of new forms of ideologies and attacks that are being used by some organisations and individuals with the aim of destroying the Catholic Church.

The theme of the meeting was: The African Woman Moving Towards the African Year of Reconciliation.

“I encourage you to uphold your dignity as women, as mothers and as wives to use your persuasive power to defend the Church at all times and for the  promotion of peaceful co-existence on our dear continent-Africa,”  the Cardinal  appealed.

He urged the women to return to their countries and families more renewed and more reconciled with their husbands and children.

“A woman is the image of God’s love like man is the image of God’s paternity,” Cardinal Njue reminded the dozens of women from eighteen African countries, inviting them to live the sacraments of their faith and to remain close to the Church “through prayer, the observance of the Word of God and in [their] daily endeavours.”

He assured the women of his prayer and that of the bishops of Africa in their lay apostolate.

An explanation on a SECAM poster for the celebration of the African Year of Reconciliation from July 29, 2015 to July 29, 2016 was presented to the Cardinal by Father Edouard Mombili, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC).

Afterwards, a copy of the poster was given to Cardinal Njue by Father Samuel de Jesus Paquete, Second Deputy Secretary General of SECAM.

The three-day meeting was organised by SECAM with the support of MISSIO, Aachen, Germany, and the Solidarity Fund of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), two of the Partner Agencies of SECAM.

The conference was hosted by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA).