By Andrew Kaufa, smm
For some years now, member episcopal conferences in Eastern Africa such as Malawi, Zambia and Kenya have been experiencing flooding, droughts. Right now, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia have to deal with ravenous swarms of locusts which is spreading in East Africa. All these emergencies result in hunger and food insecurity in grassroots communities. These need strategic interventions, underscoring Caritas’s importance to the Church in AMECEA region.
The question cited above immediately came to mind when on Monday February 17, the Holy See Press announced that Pope Francis has approved the changes to the governance statutes and internal rules of Caritas Internationalis (CI) which, in fact, have been in effect since May 2019. What exactly does this mean to Caritas Africa or to regional organizations of Catholic bishops such as the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA)?
In the first place, a few things must be clear to us. Firstly, according to the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the amendments are in response to the need to re-define the purpose and order of this umbrella international organization of Catholic relief service in relation to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Secondly, the CI headquarters shall continue to be in Rome from where it coordinates emergency operations and formulates development policies. Thirdly, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle continues to serve as its President while he serves in the new post as Prefect For the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples.”
Following all that, it must be acknowledged that the status of a regional CI organization such as Caritas Africa and its relationship with the regional and national offices needed to be clarified. This, as some have pointed out, was necessitated by the new context and the changes that have taken place since the organization’s inception by Pope Pius XII in 1951.
Coming back home, a few delegates speakers at Caritas Africa meeting which was held in Nairobi in August 2019 also expressed that there was need for amendment of the CI Statutes, citing the following as questions that needed to be addressed:
a) How best should Caritas Internationals relate with continental sub-divisions such as Caritas Africa within the Symposium of Member Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM)?
b) How best should Caritas Africa relate with regional offices within SECAM?
c) Above all, how best must the regional offices of Caritas relate with the respective Bishops’ conferences at national level?
Also, so many changes are taking place in Rome as Pope Francis continues with his reform agenda, some of which directly affecting CI as an organization. In the process, focus was also on the coordination of this confederation’s activities at all levels: General Secretariat; continental level such as Caritas Africa; regional levels within SECAM; and national level. In short, there was need to re-align the coordination of the activities of this umbrella Catholic charity organization.
So, what should be the expectation of the Church in AMECEA region? One would guess that with the Holy Father approving the changes to CI’s statutes and regulation, answers will now be found regarding how best the CI must coordinate its activities at all levels; the legal status at each level; the roles and relationship within the confederation at all levels.
At the organization’s 20th General Assembly in 2015, As Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle noted that Caritas Internationalis is an organization which is appreciated for its charity activities which complement the Church’s commitment to the preaching the of the Word of God and to the life of the Sacraments. Indeed, it is important to AMECEA region where the Catholic bishops are obliged to listen to the cries of the poor, the vulnerable and excluded the role of Caritas cannot be ignored.