Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abuja (Agenzia Fides)- The associations of French speaking and English speaking Bishops conferences of west Africa, up to now two distinct bodies have decided to merge.
During a Meeting 5 to 9 December in Abuja, in Nigeria, the members of The Catholic Bishops of the Association of the Bishops' Conference of Anglophone West Africa, AECAWA, and the Conference Regionale de L’Afrique de l’ouest CERAO, will deliberate on theme : The Church in West Africa, the Family of God, Go be my Witnesses, they will elect a president and a vice president who with 10 other bishops (5 from each regional Conference) and a Secretary General will constitute the Executive Committee to manage the new structure till at a time when the existing AECAWA and CERAO will ultimately dissolve into one single body.
In their first ever joint meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in the Jubilee year 2000, the conferences of bishops of AECAWA and CERAO had expressed great desire and preparedness to work together for the growth of the Church and the development of the people in the region. A joint committee was set up with the task to look into the logistics for the desired unification, draft the statutes for the body and organise a constituent Assembly for the same purpose. The two conferences have since then intensified relationships which include the participation by representation of each conference in the plenary assembly of the other, attending each others functions, training of seminarians across the language barriers etc., Fr Ralph Madu
Secretary, Catholic Media Association of Anglophone West Africa (CAMAWA) reported to Fides.
The AECAWA members are the Catholic Bishops of Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and the CERAO members are the Bishops of Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 4/12/2007 righe 23 parole 277)
