Andrew Kaufa, smm
Church institutions in different countries in the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) and other parts of Africa have complied with the directive by the governments to contain the spread of Coronavirus as many countries on the continent continue to report an increase of conformed Covid-19 cases in their day to day status updates.
Following suit with many other Conferences and dioceses on the continent, the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba in South Sudan has on Monday March 23, 2020 ordered all parishes and schools to remain closed for the next one month. On the same day, a protestant church in the country, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS) also announced suspension of all church activities for the next one month in a bit to combat the spread of Coronavirus.
In Nigeria, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja Most Rev. Ignatius A. Kaigama has on March 24 called upon all priests, Religious and laity in the Archdiocese to understand the health and pastoral implications of the Covid-19 virus, urging them to review the pastoral measures on liturgical gatherings which were announced earlier announced.
“The Government instructed among other things that ‘leaders of different faiths have been encouraged to restrict service activities that involve mass gatherings of more than fifty of their adherents,’ and added, ‘All Abuja and Lagos residents are strongly advised to stay at home, avoid at home, avoid mass congregation of any kind as well as non-essential outings until further advice is given,” says Most Rev. Kaigama.
Against this background, a number of Conferences on the continent are becoming very cautious if not discouraging on-site common celebrations of the Holy Eucharist, the Station of the Cross and Benediction, among other prayer gatherings, urging the priests and laity to find safer ways of praying together, more especially using the television, radio and online platforms, in the way the Vatican has responded in Rome.
An overview of statements from different regions of the Catholic Church in Africa including AMECEA, Africa indicate that the pandemic has offered many bishops, priests, the Religious and laity both a challenge and an opportunity to adopt use of digital technologies and use them for prayer.
How is the Catholic media responding? According to the information gathered by AMECEA Social Communication Department, the response is so far promising. A good number of National Communication Coordinators in AMECEA region and beyond have indicated that, apart from encouraging the faithful to participate during Masses aired on EWTN and other television channels from abroad, Catholic radios and television stations in their respective dioceses and Conferences have started live-streaming of liturgical services including daily Eucharistic celebration via Internet through YouTube and their Facebook accounts.
“As long as the Coronavirus pandemic lasts,’ announced the Director of Catholic Television of Nigeria (CTN) Fr Patrick Alumuku, “we shall broadcast the Holy Mass from Abuja but to all Nigeria, West Africa, Central Africa and South Wet Africa sub-regions.”
“These Masses can be watched in the entire demographic area covering 500 million people in the African sub-regions mentions above,” continues Fr Alumuku adding, “CTV will stream all the Masses on Facebook and can be watched worldwide.”
“All Catholic radios in Uganda are now doing live broadcasting of Masses. The Catholic Television broadcasts recorded Masses on daily basis,” says Fr Philip Odii, Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) Social Communications Secretary.
“Lumen TV in Zambia is streaming and most Catholic community radio stations are also doing the same,” says Fr Winfield Kunda the Social Communications Secretary for Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB).
“All our Catholic radio stations in Kenya have been encouraged to have daily Masses on air,” says Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Acting Social Communications Coordinator Sr Adelaide Ndilu while Fr Godino Phokoso from Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) says, “Luntha Television and Radio Maria Malawi have also taken that direction as the other stations are working on it.”
As of March 26, 200, Coronavirus tracker in Africa shows that there are over 2,815 confirmed Coronavirus cases in Africa with Algeria (302), Burkina Faso (146), Egypt (456), Ghana (132), Morocco 225), Senegal (105), South Africa (709), Tunisia (173) recording the highest numbers,
In AMECEA region, the trucker confirmed cases, as of March 27, 2020, was as follows: Eritrea (4), Ethiopia (12), Kenya (31), Tanzania (12), Uganda (14), Sudan (3) and Zambia (12), with Malawi and South Sudan reporting no case so far despite the fact that all the neighboring countries have confirmed the presence of the cases.
Fear of Coronavirus in AMECEA countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan has forced governments to close borders and airports including land crossing, restricting in-traveling to only returning nationals.
According to world Health Organization, the best way to prevent and slow down the transmission is to ensure that the people are well informed about the disease, its causes and how it spreads but also to emphasize about social distancing and taking personal hygiene matters seriously more especially using alcohol based hand sanitizers and regular washing of hands with soap.
Pastoral workers are therefore encouraged to use any means possible to reach out to the faithful with the messages – mainstreaming the messages during homilies; using the social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp and SMS; encouraging the Christians to pray together and celebrate the word of God in their homes.