Group photo of the participants of the CEPACS meeting. The bishops in the photo are: ( in the front row: from Left to Right) Bishop Charles Kasonde of Zambia- AMECEA, in black cassock; Archbishop Joseph Ake of Cote d' Ivoire-RECOWA-CERA; Bishop Louis Portella Mbuyu, First Vice-President of SECAM; Archbishop Jean Marie Speich, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana an Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, President of CEPACS.
Stakeholders at the meeting of the Pan-African Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS) held at SECAM Secretariat, Accra, Ghana have reiterated their commitment to making the organisation “dynamic as the umbrella body for the animation, coordination, formation and training of media practitioners at all levels.”
The stakeholders also recognised the efforts of the new chairman of CEPACS, Most Rev Emmanuel Badejo, Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria, for reviving CEPACS and pledged to support him accordingly. This was contained in a communiqué released at the end of the summit with the theme ‘Engaging the
Modern Means of Communications for promoting Evangelisation in Africa with
particular reference to Justice, Peace, Reconciliation and Development.’ and was made avialabe to CEOAFRICA news desks.
The meeting appreciated the message of the Holy father, Pope Francs, conveyed by the Apostolic Nuncioto Ghana, Archbishop Jean-Marie Speich, “reminding us of the power of communication “to build bridges, to enable encounter and inclusion, and thus, to enrich society.
Part of the communiqué reads: “We support the new Chairman of CEPACS Most Rev. Emmanuel Badejo, Bishop of Oyo, Nigeria, for reviving CEPACS. We therefore pledge our commitment to keep CEPACS dynamic as the umbrella body for the animation, coordination, formation and training of media practitioners at all levels. We wish that this spirit of commitment and dedication is extended to the entire regional Bishops’ Conferences on our continent.
“We acknowledge with appreciation, efforts of the secretariat in evangelisation for the good of the church on the continent. We urge SECAM to affirm the policy of mandating all the offices of SECAM Secretariat to include media and publicity components in all their projects and programs.
“We recognise the good service being undertaken by the Catholic News Agency for Africa (CANAA), a project of SECAM, through its biweekly online Newsletter. We appeal to the Church leadership in Africa and all people of good will to support this laudable project. Free subscription can be obtained by emailing:canaa.coordinator@gmail.com.”
The stakeholders also appreciated efforts of the host, stating that “We invoke the Holy Spirit who inspired the Blessed Virgin Mary, the star of evangelisation, to inspire our effort and grant us success.”
