From 18 to 22 July, Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will be in Nairobi, Kenya, for the 21st Plenary Assembly of AMECEA (the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa), to be held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa from 19 to 26 July. The event, which will bring together approximately 140 bishops from the nine member Episcopal Conferences (Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, as well as the associated regions of Djibouti and Somalia), has as its theme this year, “AMECEA’s Synodal Journey with Young People: Building Bridges of Communion, Hope, Justice, and Good Governance.”
For Cardinal Czerny, this mission in Nairobi is not merely an institutional commitment, but a genuine homecoming. Before departing, the Cardinal remarked: “Looking forward to meeting with AMECEA and reflecting together on the challenges facing the Church and all God's people in Eastern Africa, I am happy to return to Nairobi where I spent 8 intensely busy and happy years as director of the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN).”
Indeed, starting in 2002, Father Michael lived and worked for years in Africa, where he founded and directed AJAN (the African Jesuit AIDS Network), a network that provided pastoral care, education, and emergency healthcare to people affected by HIV/AIDS in nearly thirty countries across the continent. This experience has profoundly shaped his personal and spiritual journey, and has forged a special bond between Cardinal Czerny and the Church in East Africa, and in particular in Nairobi – a city where he lived and worked day in and day out alongside the most vulnerable communities.
