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| Group Photo of the workshop participants with Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth and Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey, MM |
Archbishop of Kisumu, Most Rev Zacchaeus Okoth has said that SCCs are a new way of life in the Archdiocese as they are introducing new ways in their pastoral work.
Archbishop Okoth was giving his closing remarks during the closing of the Small Christian Communities (SCCs) Trainings held in Kisumu from 9th -11th 2017, in which he particularly praised the SCCs for being a source of vocations to the priesthood and religious life and nurturing these vocations.
The training whose objective is to revitalize and re-energize SCCs as an instrument of evangelizing and pastoral development target priests from the Archdiocese of Kisumu and was attended by over thirty priests.
Rev. Fr. Joe Healey, MM who was among the facilitators and driving force behind the growth of SCCs in AMECEA Region drew three important messages from the training.
Message No. 1:
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| Participants during group discussions |
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| Archbishop Okoth of Kisumu addresses the workshop participants |
I shared Pope Francis’ challenging teaching that dramatic changes are occurring in the Catholic Church worldwide – a shift from the traditional pyramid model (with the popes, bishops and priests at the top and the lay people at the bottom) to the inverted pyramid model of church: The Tablet (7 January, 2017) states:
Pope Francis' reforms should not be seen as personal projects, but a continuation and revitalization of the reform movement that began with the Second Vatican Council. The Catholic Church, Francis explains, is an inverted pyramid, with the People of God at the top and its priests and bishops, including the pope, below: a church that sees leadership as service, that engages in a dialog with the world and offers it the medicine of mercy.
Message No. 2:
St. Boniface Catholic Church, Aluor Parish, Gem in Kisumu Archdiocese, Kenya offers an interesting Case Study of one new way that the SCC is the actual physical “place” of evangelization and pastoral ministry. The parish priest Kenyan Father Anthony Futah explains how his pastoral visitation program involves using a “Mobile Office.” The parish has 75 SCCs. Every week from Tuesday to Friday he visits one specific SCC for a whole day. He brings his office files and registers SCC members for baptism, confirmation, marriage, etc. He does pastoral counselling and discusses various pastoral cases in the SCC. There is time for the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the day concludes with Mass.
Message No. 3:
From Monday, 8 May, 2017 to Thursday, 11 May, 2017 we had a Workshop on “Small Christian Communities (SCCs) Today” for priests in Kisumu Archdiocese, Kenya. It was part of a series of on-going formation programs for priests. The objective of this workshop was to re-energize SCCs as a means of evangelizing and to bring back the communal vibrancy of our faith within the neighborhoods. It took place at the Ukweli Pastoral Center in Kisumu.
One talk was on “Lay Ecclesial Ministries in Small Christian Communities in Eastern Africa.” Over the years the lay ecclesial ministries in SCCs in Eastern Africa have evolved in responding to the contemporary signs of the times. After Vatican II for many years in the Catholic Church there has been a lively debate about the use and meaning of the word “ministry.” Certain people did not want to use the name “minister” for a lay person, but it is more widely accepted now. The popular usage today includes the legitimacy and importance of non-ordained lay ecclesial ministries officially recognized by the Catholic Church. In some cases there is an official installation or induction.
There are various leadership models, types and styles of lay ministry. In the spirit of being a new way of being and becoming church, the emphasis is on service rather than authority, especially servant leadership. A lay minister is a servant of the servants. A lay minister is not a boss. There are two distinct roles. Sometimes this lay ministry is to animate, facilitate and coordinate activities within the SCC. Sometimes this lay ministry represents the SCC at the outstation, sub-parish and parish levels.
Two major paradigms shifts have occurred in the Catholic Church. First, SCC members (the great majority are laymen and lay women) are now pastoral agents of evangelization and pastoral ministry (real “subjects” and not just the “objects” as in the past). Second, SCCs in the neighborhoods are themselves are the place (or locus) of evangelization and pastoral ministry.
In the SCCs in Kisumu Archdiocese we are suggesting to introduce the official name of "lay ecclesial ministries" for the different offices.
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