AMECEA: Secretariat Challenged to Strive Towards Being More Relevant to the Needs of the Region

Mr. Fritz Zuger, Consultant 
from USCCB Office of 
National Collection

Mr. Fritz Zuger from the Office of National Collection at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) who is currently visiting East African Bishops Conferences has challenged the AMECEA Secretariat to strive towards being relevant to the needs of the Bishops in the region.

“AMECEA is doing a very good job serving different conferences in Eastern Africa and each one of the Bishops have particular needs according to the challenges in their dioceses. From what I have seen, AMECEA Secretariat departments therefore should continually develop programs that answer to the needs of the Bishops,” Fritz said during and interview with AMECEA Online Newsat the AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya.

“When for instance the departments of Justice Peace and Caritas produce material or information that the Bishops are looking for; anticipating even what they are looking for because the department has studied what is happening in the region and understands the various challenges in the region; if the department can deliver to the Bishops the information that can help them address particular needs, then the Bishops say ‘wow, it is great that AMECEA exists; they are giving me the material that I need right now!’” Fritz added that the departments have to continue to be swift and should always strive to anticipate what the Bishops really needs as this will make the secretariat and its departments always more relevant to the AMECEA Bishops.

He further explained that from what he has experienced, when the Social Communications Department of AMECEA helps the Bishops improve the communications in their own dioceses, then the Bishops feel the need for AMECEA and in turn support the secretariat even more willingly.

Meanwhile he emphasized the ongoing need to ensure continuity by making advanced plans such that when there is change of staff then proper handing over is done before the outgoing staff leaves.

“As we have all experienced, if a staff member leaves and there is a gap, this slows down everything. Sometimes it is not possible to have the new person come in before the outgoing staff leaves the office, however, proper handing over is very important for continuity,” he said.

Fritz also challenged the secretariat to continue to review and develop precise job descriptions for every person that works at AMECEA. He explained that a job description is a very important tool that helps an organization or institution to have personnel that matches the tasks they have been assigned to perform.

“When you have a job description that details what you are looking for then it is easier to find the person that matches these criteria,” he said. “Obviously,” he added “one might not always fit perfectly to the job they are doing but if the description is there then they can always adjust it.”

By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News

AMECEA: Need for Proper Coordination at AMECEA Conferences to Ensure Better Considerations for Grants

A delegate from the Office of National Collection at the United States Catholic Bishops Conference (USCCB), Mr. Fritz Zuger, has advised AMECEA Conferences to strive to always have proper coordination at the conference level when applying for USCCB grants.

He explained the USCCB approach to pastoral grants in Africa. “The USCCB pastoral grant program, the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, only works with episcopal conferences and regional associations of episcopal conferences. As we all know a Bishops’ conference has a secretary general and different departments. We usually work only with the secretary general or whomever he delegates to that responsibility according to the structures of the conference. That person should be the one coordinating everything about grants and keeping in touch with us,” Fritz who is currently visiting East African Conferences said in an interview AMECEA Online News at AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya.

He said that there have been situations when they receive similar grant applications from different heads of departments who are from the same conference due to lack of proper coordination. “The different heads of departments often do their own preparations and independently approach us; this means that we are working with different people from the same place at the same time,” he said.

Fritz explained that in these situations, better coordination would allow all questions discussed and solved among the departments before the requests are sent to USCCB. Then it would only be necessary to work with one principal person. This would make it easier for all involved, he said.

Meanwhile, he explained that the US Bishops Conference is sustained through the contributions of the dioceses, depending on their ability to give. He suggested that this could be a scenario that AMECEA Conferences could adopt for future sustainability. “The conference is financed by the 194 dioceses and eparchies in the United States. Every year they draw a budget of what it will cost to run the conference and the bishops approve it in their plenary meeting.” Fritz explained adding that the total cost is then divided by the dioceses and eparchies based on a particular key that is made up of a number of elements for instance the population of a diocese, the location of the diocese, the economy of the area covered by particular diocese etc.

Based on these factors the diocese is then charged with the mandate to pay an annual amount, which varies from time to time depending on other factors that might arise. He said that the bishops’ conference in the United States does not normally look for external grants because the dioceses are covering everything.

He further explained that there are about 80 dioceses in the United States that are mission dioceses that are not able to support themselves because they are poor. The conference has also established a national collection, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, from all the dioceses in order to help those dioceses in need.

“We are collecting about $10 million dollars per year from parishioners in all the dioceses to support the needy dioceses,” he said. Those dioceses can then make grant requests to help ensure their sustainability.

He advised that this is something that AMECEA bishops can consider and deliberate upon because it is a decision that can only be made by the body of the bishops.

By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News

KENYA: Apostolic Nuncio mourns the Slovakian Nun Killed in South Sudan

Most Rev. Charles Daniel Balvo during the
requiem Mass

Most Rev. Charles Daniel Balvo, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan, has grieved Sister Veronica Rackova, a Slovakian Nun of the congregation of Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit who was shot in South Sudan and died of her wounds in Nairobi, Kenya.

Addressing journalists at Divine Word Parish in Nairobi Kenya on Wednesday 25 May after he led the Requiem Mass for the Late Sister Veronica Archbishop Balvo said that he was hoping that she would recover from her wound but unfortunately she succumbed.

He said that it was unfortunate that Sr. Veronica who had done so much to the local people of South Sudan had to meet her death in such a sad way.

“I did not know her personally neither have I been to the Diocese of Yei. I have been to Torit, Malakal, and Rumbek; In fact, the Bishop of Yei had invited me to go there in November last year but because of the Pope’s visit to Kenya that had to be cancelled. Sometimes later I will go,” he said adding that “It is very unfortunate that the soldiers who shot at her did not know what they were doing. I was hoping that she would recover but I guess it was too much for her.”

The  Late Sr. Veronica attending to her patients in 
Yei South Sudan

Sister Veronica who was the Director of St. Bakhita Health Center was shot on her hip by SPLA night patrol in Yei Municipality at around 1:00 AM on Monday 16 May. Her body has been flown from Nairobi back to Yei on Friday 27 May where she will be buried.

Meanwhile, the Apostolic Nuncio has urged the South Sudanese leaders to put into practice everything that they promised the citizens in order to end the human suffering that has been caused by the political conflicts in the country.

“The leaders have now come together and promised to work for peace; we hope that all important words they have spoken, now will be put into action,” the Nuncio said.

By AMECEA Online News Correspondent

KENYA: Fr. Joseph Healey, the Founder of AMECEA Social Communications Department clocks 50 years of Pastoral services as a Priest

Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey, MM, 
Founder of AMECEA Social 
Communications Department

Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey, founder of AMECEA Social Communications Department will be commemorating his 50th Anniversary as a Maryknoll Missionary Priest, an event which he plans to celebrate in his native country US in June 2016.

Fr. Healey or Mwana Jumuia (Member of Small Christian Community) as he calls himself is very proud of AMECEA Social Communications Department, which he pioneered in the early days of his priesthood.

He narrates the story of 50 years of pastoral service and communications during an interview with AMECEA Online News

In 1968, AMECEA became the first Regional Conference in Africa to establish Social Communications Department and I am very proud to be part of that establishment. Again in 2016, AMECEA Social Communications Department became the first Regional Social Communications Department to establish an ICT office in the whole of the continent of Africa, an achievement that is worth applauding.

I was ordained on June 11, 1966 and immediately proceeded to study journalism and international communications for two years. I proceeded to East Africa in 1968 where providentially I was appointed by the regional Bishops conference to pioneer the establishment of the department. When the Bishops during the AMECEA Plenary of 1967 said we want to start an office for social communications connected to the general secretariat of AMECEA in Nairobi, they said the best journalism schools in the world are in the US, so let’s ask an American Missionary Society to provide a person. That is how I got involved.

The whole plan was that I would come here, found the AMECEA Social Communication Office; get the office off the ground and then turn it over to the local Church. And that is what I did, 68 to 74, I was in the office for six years. And then after five years in 1973, we said let us look for counterpart training programs so Fr. Joseph Mukwaya from Uganda (who later became a Bishop) who worked at the catholic secretariat of Uganda came in the year 1973 as a counterpart working together, then he took over in 74.

When I established the office I was asked by the Bishops to do a survey in all the five of the AMECEA Countries which included, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia in order to assess the need of the local Church and everyone said they needed trainings.

Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey (Green Shirt) in a group photo 
with Participants of AMECEA workshop on
 ICT held recently in Nairobi

We came up with the conclusion that we have to train at least three individuals in order to get one. This is because you train people for instance the religious sisters in journalism and then their congregations make them a mother general or they are appointed for other duties by their congregations.

We carried a three-Week workshop in all the five countries whereby week one was for Print Journalism, week two for Broadcasting- journalism and week three for audio-visual.

Apart from training, coordination was another major activity carried out by the department. If I was to name one thing that is very successful to AMECEA Social Communications Department since then, is the annual meetings of the National Communications Coordinators from AMECEA member countries that have been going on for 45 years is one of them. It is extraordinary that this has continued till today. The idea of coordination between the AMECEA Countries is very important. Coordination means that the conferences work together to share resources and to exchange ideas.

In my second year at AMECEA that is in 1969 I went to Uganda for six months for the Pope’s visit and we got that scholarship of Blessed Pope Paul VI Communications Scholarship and we have had that for 47 years and it rotates among the AMECEA Countries and institutions.

Challenges at AMECEA

The big challenge we got was that the people trained did not stay in the communications field. Both the Clergy and the religious sisters trained left communications; you had to train three to get one.

In the present scenario, the Church still trains professionals not only in communications but in various fields; however, the trained personnel never get to stay due to a number of reasons among them getting better greener pastures either with the government or NGOs, resulting to a high turnover of staff. However, that is okay because we are providing staff to institutions in the AMECEA countries and hopefully they are taking with them their Catholic Values. We need quality people in the media. We used to give scholarship to local citizens, and we said let us put them under contract after their training to work for the Catholic Church for three years, but some of those bonds were broken and that was very disappointing. But, I think that to get good Catholics in secular media is also important. So I would like to see many Catholics in secular institutions, even though it means that we have to train many more.

Another major challenge that we faced at the time and which I think is a challenge to date is the network of diocesan communicators. We had planned from the beginning that each of the national office would be connected to AMECEA, and in each national office there is a connection with the dioceses. However, the network is not working, communications are quite limited because the responsibilities are often given to priests who have many other responsibilities. The networking with and among the dioceses is still a very big problem which needs to be addressed.

Fear

I am a little nervous when I see public relations taking over what you consider proper communications. In the really sense Public relation is not communications. If AMECEA Social Communications Department changes to Public Relations Office then I would be totally disappointed because the media aspect of it gets lost and we are just trying to sell AMECEA as a product globally. I realize that public relations is important but we have to get the media people in the Catholic Church right because they need to understand the content better.

Recommendation

Fully embrace the digital strategy.  Don’t see the dioceses doing well in the digital strategy. We need to go digital, The Church needs to embraces digital technology in its apostolate.

By AMECEA Online News Correspondent, Nairobi

KENYA: KCCB Bishops engage Caritas Member Organizations in Discussion of Pertinent issues of the Country

Group Photo of  Caritas Internationalis Member Organizations (CIMOs)
 with Kenyan Bishops During a joint Meeting in Nairobi

On 24^thMay 2016, the Catholic Bishops in Kenya held a half-day session with the Caritas Internationalis Member Organizations (CIMOs) who are stationed in Nairobi to discuss pertinent issues related to Management Standards, Sustainable Development Goals and Kenyan Elections. 

The meeting, which has been dubbed as very timely and important, was spearheaded by Ms. Catherine Ogollah (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development – CAFOD, Regional Representative) took months to plan and rightfully took place just before the beginning of the Bishops’ retreat.

The sessions that were moderated by AMECEA Justice Peace and Caritas Coordinator, Antony Mbandi began with the very important topic of the work of Caritas in the country which was presented by Paul Healey (Trocaire Kenya Country Representative).  From the discussions, the Bishops appreciated the work of the agencies and also asked for increased synergy building towards improvement of livelihoods in the country. 

Participants of  Caritas Internationalis Member Organizations (CIMOs) 
meeting with Kenyan Bishops during the sessions

The second session was the presentation of the Caritas Internationalis Management Standards (CIMS) which was done by Margaret Mwaniki from Caritas Africa and Lane Bunkers from Catholic Relief Services.  The standards, which were endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015, are meant to support the Bishops mainly in the Caritas work to improve operations while creating a level of standardization across the different dioceses and conferences.  While recognizing the strides made in developing the standards, His Holiness had the following to say:-

, “As I said in the last General Assembly, I thank the Lord for Caritas and its valuable service in the world. I also congratulate the Governance bodies and the General Secretariat of Caritas Internationalis for developing and approving the Management Standards and Code of Conduct for the member organizations.

These instruments must now be applied to strengthen the transparency and credibility of Caritas.  Let us remember that we are accountable to God, to the Church, to the donors and in particular, to the poor with whom the Lord identifies Himself.  By serving them with humility, dedication, self-denial and professionalism, we promote the Church’s mission of forming one human family, caring for creation”.

This message from the Holy Father resonated with the Bishops as they felt that the standards would greatly improve the work of Caritas across the region.  They however felt there was a great need to continuously build capacity for the agents of the church especially on the Catholic Social Teachings so as not to lose the “face” of Christ in our social engagements.  They also requested that a mechanism be put in place to walk with the dioceses through capacity building in the CIMS and other capacities.

Group Photo of Caritas Internationalis Member 
Organizations (CIMOs)  in Kenya during their 
meeting with Kenyan Bishops in Nairobi

The third session was on Sustainable Development Goals in which the Church has been very much involved in the development. After the discussions the Bishops concluded that there is need to walk with the national governments to ensure that the SDGs are implemented to the letter, spirit and understanding of the gospel.

The fourth and final session was on Kenyan elections where the Bishops were presented with options for engagement across the country and also the volatility that is being experience across the nation.  From the engagement, the Bishops agreed that there is need to continue engaging in dialogue with both the government and the opposition leaders with an intention of ensuring that tensions are reduced and that confidence is built towards the election process.

While making his concluding remarks, Most Rev. Martin Kivuva, Archbishop of Mombasa and President of Caritas Kenya, thanked the Caritas fraternity for their support and hoped that this was just the beginning of many more sessions and engagement between the conference and the CIMOs.

The Chairman of the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rt. Rev. Phillip Anyollo asked that the CIMOs avail all the presentations to the Bishops and thanked the CIMOs for a well-timed engagement with the Bishops.

By AMECEA Online News Correspondent, Nairobi