Page 1 of 11

1

SECOND BIANNUAL PAN-AFRICAN CATHOLIC CONGRESS

O ON THEOLOGY, SOCIETY AND PASTORAL LIFE

Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN)

Walking Together for a Vital Church in

Africa and in the World

II Biannual Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology,

Society and Pastoral Life, July 18 to 23, 2022

The Second Biannual Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society and

Pastoral Life, was held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi,

Kenya from July 18 to 23 under the theme “Walking Together for a Vital Church in Africa

and in the World. It was a success story. The Spirit of God was indeed at work.

The five-day congress organized by of Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral

Network (PACTPAN) brought together about 200 theologians, scholars, pastoral

agents and social justice leaders from Africa, Asia, Canada and the United States of

America, Europe, and Latin America. The congress participants gathered for a joint

dialogue on themes related to Synodality: (1) Paradigms of Synodality (2) Blessed

Page 2 of 11

2

Virgin Mary & Religious Witness (3) The Role of Women and Leadership, (4) Ministry to

the Children in Church & Society (4) The Future of the Vital Church in Africa and Global

contexts.

PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES, PARTINERS AND COUNTRIES

The main participating universities and partners included The Catholic University of

Eastern Africa in Nairobi (host); Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Catholic

University of Zambia, Center d’ Etudes des Religious Africaines de L’Unversite

Catholique du Congo, DePaul University, Chicago, USA, Durham University, Durham,

England, University of Vienna, Austria, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria, Fu Jen

Faculty of Theology of St Bernardine, Taipei, Taiwan, Adamson University, Manila,

Philippine, L’Institut de Théologie de la Compagnie de Jésus, Abidjan, Ivory Coast and

Concilium.

Participating members of the People of God came from the following African countries:

Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria,

Republic of the Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,

Zimbabwe, and people in solidarity from all other continents of Europe, Asia, Latin

America, USA and Canada. we affirm the vitality of the Catholic Church in Africa as a

sign of hope for the world.

VISION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 2022 II PAN-AFRICAN CATHOLIC

CONGRESS

The VISION of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network is to bridge the

gap between pastoral practices, scientific, and multi-disciplinary works in the continent.

It is about listening to God, the cry of our Mother Earth, and to the concerns of our

people, in order to help them live flourishing lives rooted in our Christian faith and our

African spiritual and religious traditions. Our active listening explains the choice of the

theme of this Second Congress “Walking together for a vital church in Africa and in the

world” which focused on Synodality; the experiences of African women, the

marginalized and children; and the challenges and prospects of building a vital Church

in Africa.

This II Pan-African Congress (Nairobi) was significant because it was preceded by the

General Assembly (July 16-18, 2022) of the Editorial Board of the International Catholic

Theological Journal, Concilium. This is the first time that such a meeting has been held

in Africa. Concilium was founded in 1965 by Catholic theologians to promote the

Theology of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and to contribute to new ways,

trends and approaches of doing integrated and contextual Theology in response to the

signs of the times. This was indeed a unique and extraordinary gathering of some

leading theologians and scholars from Africa and worldwide.

Page 3 of 11

3

The Pan African Congress II was deemed timely, unique as well as being the largest so

far in the recent past in Africa. The rich array of professional, well established and

renown scholars, Church leaders and frontline pastoral and social agents of

transformation from Africa and global contexts was a living testimony of what the vision

of Pan African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) is all about.

In his welcome address the Coordinating Servant of PACTPAN, Rev. Prof Stan Chu Ilo

said, “The presence of a large number of delegates from outside Africa, including the

Concilium Board of Editors, representatives from the Holy See, and some of the most

important theologians and scholars in the World Church from every continent in the

world, is a priceless gift of solidarity to the Church in Africa today. The rich array of

influential scholars, practitioners, church leaders and frontline pastoral and social

agents from Africa at this Congress, are legible markers of the diversity and impact of

Christian prophetic witness in Africa today. Our gathering is truly a model of what Pope

Francis has called “a culture of encounter” or what I will rather call, Pope Francis’s

African Ubuntu for global fraternity and solidarity.”

POPE FRANCIS’ HISTORICAL MESSAGE TO MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS

Video Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the II Pan-African

Catholic Congress on Theology, Society and Pastoral Life, Nairobi,

Kenya 18-23 July, 2022 [July 19, 2022]

“Sisters and Brothers of the Pan-African Catholic Theological and Pastoral

Network:

I am delighted to hear about this meeting at the Catholic University of East

Page 4 of 11

4

Africa in Nairobi. I know that you are meeting for the II Pan-African Catholic

Congress on Theology, Society and Pastoral Life. It is a sign of hope that

theologians, laity, priests, men and women religious, bishops have taken the

initiative to walk together.

Coming together to discern what God is telling us today, not only to

meet challenging needs with certainty, but also to make African

dreams come true (social, cultural, ecological and ecclesial dreams) is

already a sign of an outgoing African Church. Continue your efforts.

In my visits to Africa, I have always been impressed by the faith and

resilience of these peoples. As I commented during my trip to the Central

African Republic in 2015, “Africa always surprises us.” Bring out the best of

you in these reflections so that the result will be a surprise, so that that

African creation that surprises us all can be born. Because Africa is poetry.

The wisdom of the African ancestors reminds us for this important call that

"mountains never meet, but people do." Let us continue on. Together.

Accompanying one another, helping one another, and growing together.

May a wisdom theology, as you propose, be the good news of mercy for the

poor and nourish people and communities in their struggle for life, peace and

hope.

May the Holy Spirit inspire you - may paths emerge from this congress that

the Church needs: paths of missionary, ecological conversion, peace,

reconciliation and transformation of the whole world.

And I bless you all.

God bless us all.

May the Virgin be with us.

And please don't forget to pray for me”.

EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATIONS AT THE BEGINNING AND CLOSING OF THE

CONGRESS.

The Inaugural Mass of the Holy Spirit was presided over by the Archbishop of Nairobi

Archdiocese, Most Rev Philip Anyolo while the closing mass was presided over by

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha Diocese, South Africa. The Rt. Rev. Sithembele

Sipuka, who is also a member of the board of advisors of PACTPAN underscored the role of the

Pan-African congress as “to help us to effectively evangelize, to make people relate to God

according to who they are as persons and as Africans so that they feel at home in being

Christian and Catholic, and then together with them in the light of their discovered dignity, they

get to address those things as true faith-filled.”.