The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar or SECAM ( French: Symposium des Conférences Épiscopales d'Afrique et de Madagascar) is an agency of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

which includes the bishops of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

History

The SECAM was born, on the occasion of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

, to express the will of the African bishops to speak and act together, overcoming the language difference, historical and cultural. The project, submitted to the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

, was approved in 1968. The Symposium was convened for the first time during the visit of

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

in 1969.

Organization

SECAM includes a presidential council, a General Secretariat, and special committees: the Committee on doctrinal and pastoral, social and legal committee, the Committee on Finance and Administration, the Committee for African Affairs, the union of African collaboration.

Presidents

# 1969 -

Laurean Rugambwa Laurean Rugambwa (July 12, 1912 – December 8, 1997) was the first modern native African Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Dar es Salaam from 1968 to 1992, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1960. Biography Laure ...

# 1969–1978 -

Paul Zoungrana Paul Zoungrana, MAfr (3 September 1917 – 4 June 2000) was a Burkinabé Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Ouagadougou from 1960 to 1995, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965. Life and church Paul Zoungran ...

# 1978–1981 -

Hyacinthe Thiandoum Hyacinthe Thiandoum (2 February 1921 – 18 May 2004) was the first native Archbishop of Dakar (Senegal) and who was elevated to the cardinalate in mid-1976 by Pope Paul VI. Born 1921 in Poponguine, Senegal, his father was a catechist. After fin ...

# 1981–1984 -

# 1984–1987 - Joseph-Albert Malula # 1987–1990 - Gabriel Gonsum Ganaka # 1991–1994 -

Christian Wiyghan Tumi Christian Wiyghan Tumi (15 October 1930 – 2 April 2021) was a Cameroonian prelate of the Catholic Church who was archbishop of Douala from 1991 to 2009. He was bishop of Yagoua from 1980 to 1982. After serving as coadjutor bishop of Garoua be ...

# 1994–1997 - Gabriel Gonsum Ganaka # 1997–2003 -

Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya (7 October 1939 – 11 July 2021) was a Congolese prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of Kinshasa from 2007 to 2018. He became a cardinal in 2010. He was widely recognized as a champion of peace, dialogu ...

# 2003–2007 -

John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan (born 29 January 1944) is a Nigerian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Abuja from 1994 to 2019 and was made a cardinal in 2012. He has served as president of the Christian Association of Nigeri ...

# 2007–2013 -

Polycarp Pengo Polycarp Pengo (born 5 August 1944) is a prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, from 1992 to 2019. A bishop since 1983, he was made a cardinal in 1998. Biography Polycarp Pengo was born on 5 August 1944. He ...

# 2013–2019 – Gabriel Mbilingi # 2019– ... –

Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Coun ...

Members of SECAM

The regional episcopal conferences that are represented in SECAM are: *Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (Association des Conférences Episcopal de l'Afrique Centrale, ACEAC) *Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa Region (Association des Conférences Episcopal de la Région de l'Afrique Central, ACERAC) *Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa (Association of Episcopal Conferences of Anglophone West Africa, AECAWA) *Members of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (

Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa The Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) is the association of episcopal conferences of Eastern Africa and the coordinating body of the Catholic dioceses. The AMECEA was established in 1961, with Cardinal Archbish ...

, AMECEA) *Regional Episcopal Conference of West African francophone (Episcopal Conférence Régionale de l'Afrique de l'Ouest Francophone, CERAO) *Interregional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa, IMBISA) *The inter-regional or national conferences of bishops: *Regional Bishops' Conference of North Africa (Regional Episcopal Conference de l'Afrique du Nord, CERNA) *Conference of Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa (Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, "SACBC) *Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (Conferencia Episcopal de Angola and São Tomé, CEAST) *Episcopal Conference of Burkina-Niger (Episcopal Conférence du Burkina and Niger); *Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi (Conférence des Bishop's catholiques du Burundi, CECA.B.) *National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (Episcopal Conférence Nationale du Cameroun, CENC): *Central Conference of Bishops (Episcopal Conference Centrafricaine, CZECH) *Episcopal Conference of Chad, (Episcopal Conference du Tchad) *Episcopal Conference of Congo (Episcopal Conférence du Congo) *Episcopal Conference of Zaire (Episcopal Conférence du Zaire, CEZ) *Episcopal Conference of Côte d'Ivoire (Episcopal Conference of Côte d'Ivoire) *Episcopal Conference of Equatorial Guinea (Guinea Ecuatorial de Episcopal Conference) *Episcopal Conference of Ethiopia (South African Episcopal Conference) *Episcopal Conference of Gabon (Episcopal Conférence du Gabon) *Inter-territorial Conference of Catholic Bishops of Gambia and Sierra Leone (Inter-Territorial Catholic Bishops' Conference of The Gambia and Sierra Leone, ITCABIC) *Conference of Bishops of Ghana (Ghana Bishops' Conference) *Episcopal Conference of Guinea (Episcopal Conference de la Guinée) *Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) *Conference of Catholic Bishops of Lesotho (Lesotho Catholic Bishops' Conference) *

Episcopal Conference of Madagascar The Episcopal Conference of Madagascar (CEM) (French: ''Conférence Episcopale de Madagascar'') is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Madagascar. Founded in 1965, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hier ...

*Episcopal Conference of Malawi (Episcopal Conference of Malawi) *Episcopal Conference of Mali (Episcopal Conférence du Mali) *Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (Conferencia Episcopal de Moçambique, CEM) *

Namibian Catholic Bishops' Conference The episcopate in Namibia is represented by the Namibian Catholic Bishops Conference of Namibia (Namibian Catholic Bishop's Conference, NCBC), established in 1996. The NCBC is a member of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (I ...

(Namibian Catholic Bishops' Conference, NCBC) *Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria) *

Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda The episcopate of the country is the Episcopal Conference of Rwanda (French: Conférence Episcopal du Rwanda, CEPR) that was established on June 6, 1980; previously existed the Assemble Bishops of Rwanda. The conference is a member of the Associat ...

(Episcopal Conférence du Rwanda, C.Ep.R.) *

Conference of Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau The Senegal has not an episcopal conference of their own, but Senegal is part of the episcopate of the Conference of Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau (French: Conférence des Bishop's du Sénégal, de la Mauritanie, du C ...

(Conférence des Bishop's du Sénégal, de la Mauritanie, du Cap-Vert et de Guinée-Bissau) *Conference of Catholic Bishops of Sudan (

Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference The Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference (SCBC) consists of all the archbishops and bishops of South Sudan and Sudan. Conference history The first meeting of the Ordinaries of Sudan held in Khartoum in late 1929, during the visit of the Apostolic ...

, SCBC) *Episcopal Conference of Tanzania (

Tanzania Episcopal Conference The Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) is the conference of bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Tanzania. Founded in 1956, the Episcopal Conference was officially recognized by the government in 1957. It includes all the Catholic bishops of ...

, TEC) *

Episcopal Conference of Togo {{expand language, topic=, langcode=it, otherarticle=Chiesa cattolica in Togo, date=November 2017 The local conference of bishops is the Episcopal Conference of Togo (French: Episcopal Conférence du Togo, CET). The CET is a member of the Regional ...

(Episcopal Conférence du Togo) *Episcopal Conference of Uganda (

Uganda Episcopal Conference The Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) or Episcopal Conference of Uganda is the local conference of Roman Catholic bishops in Uganda, established in 1960. The UEC acts primarily through the Uganda Catholic Secretariat in an effort to promote and ...

, UEC) *Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) *Conference of Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe (

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference The country's Catholic bishops met in the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, ZCBC), established by the Holy See on October 1, 1969. The statutes of the Conference were approved on March 25, 1981. The ...

, ZCBC) *

Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean The Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean (french: Conférence Épiscopale de l'Océan Indien, italics=yes, CEDOI) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church which includes the following Indian Ocean archipelagic states: Comoros, Maurit ...

(Conférence de l'Ocean Indien Episcopal, CEDOI)

References

External links