Africa: CEPACS prepares to celebrate its golden jubilee in Lagos, Nigeria.
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA – Nairobi.
Sharing with AMECEA Online in an interview, as preparations for the golden jubilee celebrations of the African Bishops’ communications committee are underway, Nigeria’s Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo Diocese, who is the Bishop-President of CEPACS, said the body has had many achievements as it has had its hand in so many activities concerning communications in Africa. Its successes could be likened to “salt in the soup” – unseen but present.
CEPACS -a response to Communio et Progressio
CEPACS (French: Comité Episcopal Panafricain pour les Communications Sociales) was established in 1973 as the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) initiative. This was done in response to the Vatican’s document, Communio et Progressio (The Pastoral Instruction on the means of social communication). The document was released at the direction of the Second Vatican Council. Communio et Progressio was meant to deepen understanding of the teaching and spirit of the Second Vatican Council and guide the faithful in their attitudes to the media after the publication of Inter Mirifica.
Inter Mirifica was a conciliar document that addressed the concerns and problems of the media.
According to Bishop Badejo, who is also a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication since December 2021, CEPACS aims to animate, encourage, and coordinate media activities of the Catholic Church in Africa in collaboration with regional and national offices as it fulfils its mandate to promote the use of modern means of mass communications as tools of evangelisation on the continent. At the same time, the committee ensures that the Church’s communications strategies and initiatives are disseminated across Africa and beyond.
Training of priests, sisters and laity is a priority
Highlighting some of the achievements of CEPACs over the past 50 years, the Bishop said, “Since its (CEPACS) establishment, we have had developments on the continent in terms of communications as CEPACS works through the regions, episcopal conferences, and communications offices.”
“It is through the Bishops in CEPACS and episcopal conferences that the establishment of some radio stations, televisions, and communication offices in various dioceses has come about all over Africa,” said Bishop Badejo. He added, “The awareness of the importance of training priests, religious and the laity in the area of communications and how they carry out their roles to help the Church proclaim the Gospel on the rooftops is the fruit of CEPACS,” he said.
Additionally, the Nigerian prelate said the initiative of Catholic “universities and schools in Africa training students in communications can be traced to the work of CEPACS and linking Africa with the outside world, including the Dicastery for Communication in the Vatican. Similarly, CEPACS collaborates closely with associations and organisations catering to media practitioners and professionals of different media.”
CEPACS golden celebration in Lagos 18 – 21 November 2023.
The activities of CEPACS, the Bishop said, “have been ongoing over the years and require updating. That is why we have the CEPACS assembly to celebrate these 50 years of activities, initiatives, and impacts,” he said.
The CEPACS assembly celebrations will take place in Lagos, Nigeria, from 18 November to 21 November 2023.
Asked how he has managed to revive the communications body of CEPACS after the office fell vacant for about ten years due to “conflicting perspectives” and its activities went down, Bishop Badejo revealed that, “It was challenging to revive the interest of the Bishops who were already used to working within their own regions and were making progress on their own. However, it was still important to have Africa speak one voice and have one means of making her views known at different levels of the life of the Church.”
Collaboration with SIGNIS Africa
“As President of CEPACS, even though the office was not fully established, I was able to organise programmes for communication professionals who by then were connected under the umbrella of SIGNIS, which is the worldwide association of Catholic communicators. Therefore (together with SIGNIS Africa), we managed to work together to organise at least three African assemblies of communication professionals,” he said.
Besides, the CEPACS President has managed to maintain linkages with organisations such as Vatican News - Radio Vaticana and others so that the voice of the African Church can be heard out there in the world.
“We have also tried to revive the interests of the Bishops through the collaboration agreement with the Africa Press Organization (APO), which is a media and publicity agency where the director offered his services to help the Church in Africa broadcast her voice, reflections, and activities to the whole world,” Bishop Badejo said.
In conclusion, the Bishop underlined that “African Communication professionals are key to promoting the objectives of CEPACS in giving the Church a voice.”
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