{"id":292578,"date":"2011-06-30T11:32:40","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T09:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/bishop-friends-of-the-focolare-movement-in-kenya-madagascar-and-cameroon\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:43:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:43:12","slug":"bishop-friends-of-the-focolare-movement-in-kenya-madagascar-and-cameroon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/bishop-friends-of-the-focolare-movement-in-kenya-madagascar-and-cameroon\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement in Kenya, Madagascar and Cameroon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"“Rediscovering God’s plan for today” <\/strong>was the theme for the three conferences of Bishops Friends of the Focolare Movement which were held in May and June. The central topic was one which was of common interest to all: the desire to experience fraternal communion among Bishops, entering more deeply into the spirituality and life of communion. Different characteristics and nuances of each country were highlighted at each of the meetings. Sixteen Catholic bishops from South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya gathered on 23-27 May at one of the Focolare\u2019s little towns in Nairobi, Kenya, called Mariapolis Piero. They had many opportunities to share both personal and pastoral experiences, with a look at some of the challenges being faced by the African continent today. For more information about the Kenyan conference go to: Nairobi: Meeting for Bishop Friends of the Focolare<\/a>. \"\"The May \u2013 June event in Moramanga, Madagascar was very well attended with nine bishops who had come from all over the island, the fourth largest island of the world. Among them were Bishop Antonio Scopelliti who had first arrived on the island as a young missionary, and Bishop Amgatondrazaka who for many years has been a promoter of communion among bishops, priests and laity. But there were also various bishops who are natives of Madagascar itself, such as Archbishop Michel Malo (Archbishop of Antsiranana) and the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Eugene Martin Nugent.   The final event took place in Cameroon. It began on 7 June in Bamenda and ended on 11 June in the village of Fontem. Two Chiefs of the Bangwa tribe were there to welcome the bishops. They expressed their delight at receiving these distinguished visitors to a land that bears witness to the \u201cnew evangelization\u201d that has been launched by the experience of unity among the Bangwa people and the Focolare. During their visit to the hospital, college, and carpentry workshop, the bishops appreciated the simple daily Gospel life, and especially the \u201clove with which the activities are carried out.\u201d The memory of Bishop Paul Verdzekov<\/strong> was very alive among them. He died last year, leaving behind a powerful life witness that was rooted in focolare spirituality. \u201cHe was a father for all of us,\u201d said Bishop Ntep, bishop of\u00a0 Ed\u00e9a, Cameroon. After having visited his tomb, they celebrated Mass at the cathedral in the presence of many of the faithful for whom his memory is still very much alive. The bishops used these days to discuss topics that are of great interest to them: effects of the Economy of Communion in Africa<\/strong>; formation of formators<\/strong>; and the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini<\/strong>. Another important topic was that of Inculturation<\/em><\/strong>. In this regard, Bishop Ntalou, bishop of Garoua, Cameroon said: \u201cJust as you need the effort to know the \u2018seeds of the Word\u2019 in our cultures, you also need the effort to know the light of the Gospel, because it is in Jesus, and in Jesus alone, that we find the fullness of salvation.\u201d \"\" <\/strong>During the final farewell, Bishop Bushu<\/strong>, bishop of Buea, Cameroon, seemed to summarize what everyone else was thinking: \u201cI thank God for this week, for having lived in His presence. . .\u201d<\/em>. \u201cHoliness is a gift, not an activity,\u201d <\/strong>concluded Cardinal Vlk, underscoring how everything is a gift from God: \u201cOur true identity lies in living in harmony with this gift (that we have) received.\u201d At each of the three meetings, the culminating moment was the \u201cPact of Mutual Love\u201d<\/strong>, which the bishops made with each other during a Eucharistic celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three international events brought together bishops from 14 African nations. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, emeritus archbishop of Prague (Czech Republic), and Bishop Augustine Dolphin, emeritus bishop of Berbera, (Central African Republic), promoters of the initiative, were there to give us news when they returned to Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}