Kigali (Agenzia Fides) - “Bread, Life, Peace, and Freedom.” These are the issues at the heart of the Fourth Continental Meeting of Catholic Action movements in East Africa which opens today in Kigali, Rwanda, on the initiative of the International Forum of Catholic Action (IFCA). The meeting is scheduled to reflect on the situation of the Church in Africa after the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in October and prospects for future guidelines in light of the specific contribution of the laity. The meeting will present the delegations of Catholic Action Movements from Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and those of observer countries: Congo Brazzaville and Central African Republic. Also attending will be representatives of associations of Catholic Action in Spain, Romania, and Italy.
The talks will be presented by many bishops, including Archbishop Simon Ntamwana of Gitega, President of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (Aceac); Bishop Thaddée Ntihinyurwa of Kigali; Archbishop Evariste Ngoyagoye of Bujumbura, President of the Catholic Bishops of Burundi and of the Episcopal Commission for the Apostolate of the Laity; the Bishop of Byumba and President of the African Bishops for the Apostolate of the Laity (Ceal), Bishop Servilien Nzakamwita .
The meeting in Kigali, which will conclude Sunday, March 14th, is the first in a series of events organized by the IFCA to be held this year in preparation for their VI Ordinary Assembly in October of 2011, in the Holy Land. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/03/2010)