During the recently concluded 18th AMECEA Plenary which took in Malawi’s Capital City Lilongwe, the AMECEA Justice and Peace Desk was raised to a department. The Desk which has been under Pastoral Department since its establishment in the year 2002 and whose major task is to implement the Resolutions of the AMECEA Plenary of the Bishops pertaining to Justice and Peace will now include development issues in its functions.
Mean while, Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace
Coordinators from the eight countries of AMECEA met in Lilongwe Malawi during
the 18th AMECE Plenary. During the meeting, the outgoing Chairman of
Justice and Peace in the AMECEA Region Rt. Rev. Martin Mtumbuka acknowledged
the good work the Coordinators are doing in their respective conferences
despite the many challenges. He appealed for closer coordination and
cooperation saying that since different people are capacitated in different
ways, learning from one another would add value and make the work more easy. He
further called on the coordinators to work towards solidarity and offer support
to the countries that are facing political turmoil in the region. Bishop Mtumbuka urged
the Coordinators to be a model by keeping the standards they ask of others.
On their part, the Coordinators felt that there is
need for frequent meetings so that they can know what is happening around the
region and beyond. They committed themselves to offer humanitarian assistance to
South Sudan which is going through crisis since December last year.
