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| Rt. Rev. Tesfaselassie Medhin, Bishop of Adigrat Ethiopia |
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Ethiopia will officially host the AMECEA 19thPlenary Assembly in June-July 2018. The Information was released by Rev Fr Ferdinand Lugonzo, the Secretary General of AMECEA and confirmed by Rt. Rev. Tesfaselassie Medhin, Bishop of Adigrat Ethiopia, during the AMECEA Executive Board meeting held at AMECEA secretariat from 26- 28 May 2015.
Speaking to AMECEA Online News, Bishop Medhin said that Ethiopian Catholic Bishops Conference joyfully accepted the invitation to host the 19th AMECEA Plenary Assembly in 2018.
“Preparing AMECEA Plenary is quite a task in terms of logistics, and organizational activities, but it is more an event of many blessings and grace because it brings together the whole Regional Catholic Church, Pastoral Agents from every category of the society that includes the Cardinals, Bishops, priests, brothers sisters, families, laity council and youth. In this way the whole Body of Christ is represented with some issues that are of concern to the Catholic Church,” Bishop Medhin Explained.
He said that upon accepting to host the plenary, the Ethiopian Bishops Conference established a committee of four Bishops who would work with the National Secretariat led by the Secretary General of the Conference to initiate the organizational work.
The four Bishops are, His Eminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus, Chairman of AMECEA and Archbishop of Addis Ababa, Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin, Bishop Delegate to the AMECEA Executive Board and Bishop of Adigrat, Bishop Abraham Desta, Member of CUEA Council and Apostolic Vicar of Meki and finally Bishop Markos Ghebremedhin, Apostolic Vicar of Jimma-Bonga.
“In terms of numbers, the population of Catholics in Ethiopian is not as large compared to other AMECEA Countries, such as Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, but we are proud of our identity as Catholics and we are eagerly looking forward to host the plenary,” Bishop Medhin said. He went to say that the Catholic Church in Ethiopia plays a very important role in the society.
“It is not a matter of statistics because we reach out through our pastoral, social, development activities and programs which serve about 15% of 90 million population of Ethiopia.” he said. The services include education, health care, provision of social inputs, the ecumenical and interreligious activities. Through witnessing to these experiences, the Catholic Church is respected and its contributions and role as a Church are well recognized by the state.
“As you know Addis Ababa is the Capital City of the African Union, it is the third highest diplomatic missions hosting cities in the world after New York and Geneva. It houses the African Union headquarters, the United Nations of African Commission, the Head Office for European Union and many other international organizations that have their seats there. So, for Ethiopia to host AMECEA 19th Plenary Assembly in July-August, dates not fixed 2018, it is expected to be an event of Joy.”
Source: Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News