Have we stood worthy of our call?
In Nairobi, the executive leadership of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa paused before the threshold of transition to ask the oldest question of stewardship: did we truly serve what we were entrusted to serve? Gathered at a retreat center with the July plenary drawing near, the board confronted not a crisis but a conscience — the quiet, demanding work of honest self-assessment before handing the baton forward. Bishop Kasonde's invocation of Socrates reminded his colleagues that accountability is not merely procedural; it is a form of integrity, a measure of whether an institution has lived up to its own calling.
- A four-year mandate is expiring, and the board must now answer — before the bishops of Eastern Africa reconvene in July — whether it truly delivered on the regional priorities it was charged to carry forward.
- Bishop Kasonde pressed members beyond the comfort of attendance records and steady feedback, drawing a sharp distinction between showing up and genuinely delivering.
- The invisible machinery of inter-conference communication is on trial: whether resolutions actually traveled from the center to member conferences, and whether the church in Eastern Africa moved as one body or as scattered parts.
- With only weeks remaining, the board's final gathering before July will shift entirely to preparation and handoff, making this meeting the last real moment for honest reckoning.
- The 21st Plenary Assembly will receive the board's final report — a document that will either affirm faithful stewardship or quietly expose the gap between mandate and execution.
The executive board of AMECEA gathered this week at Donum Dei retreat center in Nairobi for what its chairman framed as a moment of reckoning. The question at the center of the two-day meeting was deceptively simple: had the board done what it was asked to do?
Four years ago, at the 20th Plenary Assembly in Tanzania, the board received a clear mandate — take the regional priorities identified by the bishops and ensure they were deliberated upon and acted upon across member conferences in Eastern Africa. Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde of Solwezi, Zambia, described the board's role then as being "the midwives between the plenaries," the connective tissue of a regional church between its formal gatherings.
Now, with the 21st Plenary Assembly just over two months away, Kasonde shifted from encouragement to examination. Invoking Socrates — "the unexamined life is not worth living" — he challenged board members to judge themselves honestly: had they stood worthy of their call, achieved their goals, and done justice to their responsibilities? The question was not rhetorical.
There were genuine signs of health: the Secretariat had performed well, member conferences had engaged, and feedback had been substantive. But Kasonde seemed intent on distinguishing between participation and genuine fulfillment of purpose. This was the last full board meeting before the plenary; the next would be devoted entirely to preparation and transition.
The board's work has been largely invisible — no headlines, no viral moments — but its significance is real. Whether regional priorities actually traveled from the center outward, whether collective decisions rippled into practice, shapes how the church in Eastern Africa truly functions. The answer the board brings to July will say something not just about four years of governance, but about whether the region's church moves as one.
The executive leadership of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa gathered in Nairobi this week for what amounts to a reckoning. Two days at Donum Dei, a retreat center in the Kenyan capital, gave the board time to ask itself a straightforward question: Did we do what we were asked to do?
Four years ago, in October 2022, the board received its mandate from the 20th Plenary Assembly held in Tanzania. The job was specific: take the regional priorities the bishops had identified and push them out to member conferences across Eastern Africa. Make sure those conferences actually deliberated on the priorities. Make sure concrete resolutions came back. In the language of Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde, the board's chairman and bishop of Solwezi in Zambia, they were to be "the midwives between the plenaries"—the connective tissue holding the region's church leadership together between formal assemblies.
When the board first convened in October 2022, Kasonde had set the tone with an appeal to commitment and zeal. The work ahead would touch every nation in the region, guided by church law and constitution, spanning the full four-year cycle from one plenary to the next. It was framed as sacred work, not administrative routine.
Now, as that four-year term winds down, Kasonde has shifted his tone. On Thursday, May 7, he pressed the board members to judge themselves honestly. "Have we stood worthy of our call?" he asked. The question was not rhetorical. With the 21st Plenary Assembly scheduled for mid-to-late July—just over two months away—there is no time left for excuses or half-measures. Did the board do justice to its work? Did it achieve the goals it set? What will it have to show when the bishops gather again?
Kasonde grounded his call to self-examination in ancient philosophy, invoking Socrates through Plato: "The unexamined life is not worth living." It was a deliberate choice, elevating the moment beyond the routine business of ecclesiastical governance. This was about integrity, about whether the board had lived up to something larger than itself.
There were notes of encouragement in his remarks. The Secretariat had performed well. Member conferences had shown up to meetings. Feedback had been steady and substantive. Attendance had been encouraging. These were not signs of an organization in crisis or collapse. But encouragement and satisfaction are different things, and Kasonde seemed to be drawing a distinction between showing up and actually delivering.
He also marked the meeting as historic in its own way—the last full board gathering before the plenary. The next meeting would be devoted entirely to preparing for July, to wrapping up the current cycle and handing off to whatever comes next. This was the moment to take stock, to be honest about what had been accomplished and what had fallen short.
The board's work over the past four years has been largely invisible to the wider public. There are no headlines about regional episcopal priorities, no viral moments of church governance. But the machinery matters. The conferences matter. The communication between center and periphery, between one plenary and the next, shapes how the church in Eastern Africa actually functions. Whether the board fulfilled its mandate is not an abstract question. It determines whether the region's bishops are genuinely connected to one another, whether their collective decisions actually ripple outward into practice, whether the church is moving as one body or as scattered parts.
Notable Quotes
This is a journey we started four years ago in Tanzania after the 20th Plenary Assembly in 2022. The plenary entrusted us with this opportunity to be the midwives between the plenaries.— Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde, AMECEA Chairman
We need to judge ourselves on how we have executed the mandate we were given. Have we stood worthy of our call?— Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What exactly is AMECEA, and why does it matter that this board is reflecting now?
AMECEA is the umbrella organization for all the Catholic bishops' conferences across Eastern Africa—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and others. It's how the region coordinates on shared pastoral priorities. This board reflection matters because they're four years into a mandate, and in two months they have to report back to all the bishops at the plenary assembly.
So they were given specific work to do in 2022. What was it?
They were supposed to take the priorities the bishops identified and actually communicate them down to each national conference, make sure those conferences debated them seriously, and get concrete resolutions back. They're the connective tissue. Without them doing that work well, the plenary assembly becomes just a talking shop.
And now the chairman is asking whether they actually did it. That sounds like he's worried.
Not worried exactly, but honest. He's saying: we're about to stand in front of all the bishops and report. Before we do that, we need to look ourselves in the mirror and ask if we really delivered. He quoted Socrates—"the unexamined life is not worth living." It's a serious moment.
Did he suggest they failed?
No. He actually praised the Secretariat and said attendance and feedback have been encouraging. But he's drawing a line between showing up and actually achieving the goals. Those are two different things.
What happens at the July plenary?
That's where the board presents its final report. The bishops will hear what was accomplished, what wasn't, and then they'll elect new leadership and set new priorities for the next four years. This meeting is the board getting its house in order before that happens.
So this is about institutional continuity and accountability.
Exactly. It's not dramatic, but it's how large organizations actually function. The board is asking itself hard questions before it has to answer to the people who gave it the mandate in the first place.