The Secretary General of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa & Madagascar (SECAM) has urged participants in the ongoing Plenary Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to share the African experience of the Synod on Synodality.
In his Thursday, March 2 address to participants, Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior said the Plenary Assembly “is a moment of feast for the Church in Africa and its Islands.”
“This Synodal Assembly is the culmination of a journey which started in October when our synodal process reached the continental stage,” he said.
The SECAM Secretary-General added, “We have reached the final moment of this continental stage and have gathered here to share and bring together the experience of the African process of this ongoing synod.”
Discussions during the Plenary Assembly, Fr. Simbine said will allow participants to “listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church in Africa and in the whole world.”
He highlighted the three key moments that will guide the discussions during the Plenary Assembly.
The first moment, the SECAM Secretary-General said “will be to learn the method that will guide our work, the method of spiritual conversation, the method that will help us to listen to each other and to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying..”
The second moment of the assembly “will be to help us enter and understand the Document of the Continental Phase, which is one of the main elements of study and reflection in this plenary, Fr. Simbine explained.
The Mozambican Catholic Priest further said the third moment of this assembly “will be to gather the fruits of the action of the Holy Spirit during our prayer and reflection on this Document of the Continental Stage (DCS) and to draft what we can call the African Synod Document.”
During the Plenary Assembly, participants, in prayer and reflection are invited to “identify the strong insights, questions, and tensions from our understanding of DCS that could be addressed to grow as a synodal missionary Church.
