KENYA: KCCB Bishops engage Caritas Member Organizations in Discussion of Pertinent issues of the Country

On 24^th May 2016, the Catholic Bishops in Kenya held a half-day session with the Caritas Internationalis Member Organizations (CIMOs) who are stationed in Nairobi to discuss pertinent issues related to Management Standards, Sustainable Development Goals and Kenyan Elections.

The meeting, which has been dubbed as very timely and important, was spearheaded by Ms. Catherine Ogollah (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development – CAFOD, Regional Representative) took months to plan and rightfully took place just before the beginning of the Bishops’ retreat.

The sessions that were moderated by AMECEA Justice Peace and Caritas Coordinator, Antony Mbandi began with the very important topic of the work of Caritas in the country which was presented by Paul Healey (Trocaire Kenya Country Representative). From the discussions, the Bishops appreciated the work of the agencies and also asked for increased synergy building towards improvement of livelihoods in the country.

The second session was the presentation of the Caritas Internationalis Management Standards (CIMS) which was done by Margaret Mwaniki from Caritas Africa and Lane Bunkers from Catholic Relief Services. The standards, which were endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015, are meant to support the Bishops mainly in the Caritas work to improve operations while creating a level of standardization across the different dioceses and conferences. While recognizing the strides made in developing the standards, His Holiness had the following to say:-

, “As I said in the last General Assembly, I thank the Lord for Caritas and its valuable service in the world. I also congratulate the Governance bodies and the General Secretariat of Caritas Internationalis for developing and approving the Management Standards and Code of Conduct for the member organizations.

These instruments must now be applied to strengthen the transparency and credibility of Caritas. Let us remember that we are accountable to God, to the Church, to the donors and in particular, to the poor with whom the Lord identifies Himself. By serving them with humility, dedication, self-denial and professionalism, we promote the Church’s mission of forming one human family, caring for creation”.

This message from the Holy Father resonated with the Bishops as they felt that the standards would greatly improve the work of Caritas across the region. They however felt there was a great need to continuously build capacity for the agents of the church especially on the Catholic Social Teachings so as not to lose the “face” of Christ in our social engagements. They also requested that a mechanism be put in place to walk with the dioceses through capacity building in the CIMS and other capacities.

The third session was on Sustainable Development Goals in which the Church has been very much involved in the development. After the discussions the Bishops concluded that there is need to walk with the national governments to ensure that the SDGs are implemented to the letter, spirit and understanding of the gospel.

The fourth and final session was on Kenyan elections where the Bishops were presented with options for engagement across the country and also the volatility that is being experience across the nation. From the engagement, the Bishops agreed that there is need to continue engaging in dialogue with both the government and the opposition leaders with an intention of ensuring that tensions are reduced and that confidence is built towards the election process.

While making his concluding remarks, Most Rev. Martin Kivuva, Archbishop of Mombasa and President of Caritas Kenya, thanked the Caritas fraternity for their support and hoped that this was just the beginning of many more sessions and engagement between the conference and the CIMOs.

The Chairman of the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rt. Rev. Phillip Anyollo asked that the CIMOs avail all the presentations to the Bishops and thanked the CIMOs for a well-timed engagement with the Bishops.

By AMECEA Online News Correspondent, Nairobi