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East Africa Catholic bishops commit to young people as pastoral priority for next 4 years

July 20, 2026 · 1 min read

NAIROBI — The Catholic bishops of Eastern Africa have committed the next four years of their regional pastoral mission to accompanying young people, making them their top pastoral priority as they seek to strengthen the Church through listening, dialogue, and synodal accompaniment in one of the worldʼs youngest regions.

Announcing the decision during the opening Eucharistic celebration of the 21st Plenary Assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) on July 19, Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde said the bishops had intentionally adopted this pastoral focus because young people are central to the future of both the Church and society.

“We, the bishops of the AMECEA region, make young people our pastoral priority over the next four years for three reasons,” Kasonde, the AMECEA chairman, said during the Eucharistic celebration at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Kenya’s Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).

Kasonde, who is also bishop of Zambia’s Catholic Diocese of Solwezi said the first objective of the four-year pastoral commitment is to strengthen young peopleʼs sense of belonging to the Church.

He explained that the…

Source: Catholic News Agency · Read the full story →

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Samuel TaylorGood to see the bishops making young people the clear focus for the next four years. The bit about strengthening their sense of belonging to the Church is spot on — a lot of the young adults I see at our parish group in Sydney feel a bit adrift. Hope the listening and dialogue part actually leads to real mentoring and not just more meetings.

Вера БеляеваIn Novosibirsk we also have a lot of young people in church, but often they come once and then disappear. It is good that the bishops decided to spend four years listening and strengthening belonging to the Church, and not just holding events. I wonder how they will do this in practice in Africa, where there are so many young people.