By Stella Zulu
The President of the Episcopal
Conference of Malawi, Archbishop George Desmond Tambala, who is also the
Archbishop for Lilongwe Archdiocese,  has
asked Religious sisters under the Association for Consecrated Women in Eastern
and Central Africa (ACWECA) to engage in a deeper reflection about consecrated
life which he said its primary purpose is to be with Jesus Christ.

Archbishop Tambala said this today during
the Opening Mass for the 19th Assembly for ACWECA at CIVO Stadium in
Lilongwe, an event which also marked the celebration of ACWECA’s 50 years of
Existence (Golden Jubilee)

“My dear Sisters, the primary purpose
for consecrated life is to be with Jesus Christ, when this fails, there is no
consecrated life. There is a lot of noise in the world today and if we are not
careful, we will get lost. As consecrated Women and Men, which voice do we
listen to?” Asked Archbishop Tambala

He continued that, consecrated life
faces many challenges including the temptation of admiring, looking and caring
for its comfort which he said makes it forget its purpose of evangelisation. He
said this has to be reflected upon seriously as the Assembly has come at a time
the Church in Malawi is engaging in various activities that would make the work
of  evangelisation effective.

“Are we comfortable that we don’t want
to get down the mountain to meet and care for people? Let us take down the
tents we build around ourselves and fulfill our Spiritual and Gospel
values”.  Said the ECM President

In her remarks, the President for
ACWECA, Rev Sr. Rosalia Sakayombo said the Assembly will look back at the last
50years of its existence and thank God for his faithfulness which has enabled
the association to stand until now.

“We have stood the test of time for 50
years now as an association, when ACWECA started, the needs were different from
what they are now, and that is why in these few days we will look back and
reflect and say where are we being called to in the next years? What is the Church
asking of us so that we become more and more relevant among the needs of today?”
Said Sr. Sakayombo

She continued that ACWECA’s mission is
implanted in the middle of people and therefore there is need to realign its
work to the challenges that people are facing today but also reflect on issues
that are affecting formation in order to identify challenges affecting
religious life currently.

“Sisters come from families and issues
of broken families, suicide, and improper use of the media affect the sister’s
lives. Therefore, we want to learn how others have lived their lives amid all
of these.” She said.

Sr. Sakayombo also thanked Catholics in
Malawi for their financial and emotional sacrifices made during the
preparations of the meeting which she said will make the Assembly a success.

The ACWECA’s 19th Assembly
is is being held under the theme Transformative
Holistic Formation for Authentic living towards a deeper Evangelisation in the
ACWECA Region and beyond. In attendance during the opening were the
Apostolic Nuncio to Malawi and Zambia, His Excellency Guan Luca Perici, ECM
Arch/Bishops, Bishop Gabriel Msipu from Chipata diocese and the Secretary
General for AMECEA, Rev Fr. Anthony Makunde among others.