East Africa Catholic bishops commit to young people as pastoral priority for next 4 years
The bishops in Eastern Africa have decided to make young people their top pastoral priority for the next four years as they seek to strengthen the Church in one of the world's youngest regions.
2 months ago
The Catholic bishops of Eastern Africa have declared that for the next four years their chief pastoral focus will be young people, aiming to deepen the Church’s presence among the region’s largely youthful population and to address the social, economic and spiritual challenges they face. 2
The decision was announced at the opening Eucharistic celebration of the 21st Plenary Assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) in Nairobi on 19 July 2026. Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde, AMECEA chairman, explained that the plan has three objectives: strengthening young people’s sense of belonging to the Church; responding to the demographic reality that six in ten Africans are under 25 years old; and grounding the work in synodal listening and accompaniment. He cited Pope Leo XIV’s message encouraging trust in youth as “agents of transformation.” 2
The bishops framed the effort around the assembly’s theme “AMECEA’s Synodal Journey with Young People: Building Bridges of Communion, Hope, Justice, and Good Governance.” They emphasized that listening without accompaniment is “control,” while accompaniment without listening is “theory,” insisting that both must accompany the youth journey. The plan also calls for the use of new technologies and the Internet to foster dialogue amid social fragmentation. 2
Young Catholics from the nine AMECEA member countries welcomed the chance to speak directly with bishops. Delegates such as Georgette George Wani (Sudan/South Sudan) highlighted the need for guidance, teaching and accompaniment, noting that youth are the majority and will remain long after the current bishops retire. Olwormudu Tonny Blair (Uganda) linked the assembly to Pope Francis’s Christus Vivit exhortation, stressing that young people are the “now” of the Church and that investing in them strengthens evangelization. Hayat Abdi (Ethiopia) described the gathering as a historic opportunity for direct dialogue, while Brother Janivier Kagayo Theophile (DRC) urged institutionalizing youth participation through parish‑level youth offices and representation in pastoral councils. Across the board, delegates called for continued listening, mental‑health support, and concrete pathways for youth involvement in Church leadership. 3 4
Bishop Peter Kemani, Vice‑Chair of the Kenyan Commission for Youth, reinforced the bishops’ commitment at a Vatican‑News‑monitored media briefing. He described African youth as “re‑energised in faith” yet seeking answers, inclusion, and genuine collaboration in Church structures. Kemani outlined a four‑year pastoral plan that will include youth‑focused formation, mentorship programmes, mental‑health awareness, and digital outreach such as online Small Christian Communities and training for “digital missionaries.” He stressed that the Church must meet young people where they are—both in physical parishes and in digital spaces. 5
During the plenary, bishops and youth examined governance, unemployment, migration, social exclusion, safeguarding, mental health, evangelisation in the digital age, and missionary vocations. Proposals include institutionalising regional youth representation, strengthening Catholic chaplaincies, and creating mentorship networks to help young people navigate economic challenges. 5
The assembly will conclude on 26 July 2026 with a closing Eucharistic celebration and the election of a new AMECEA chairman. The bishops intend to translate the synodal discussions into concrete resolutions and a final communiqué that will guide the four‑year youth‑focused pastoral strategy across the nine‑country region. 2*
Prioritize youth participation in Church governance and evangelization
Prioritizing youth participation in Church governance and evangelization aligns with a consistent Catholic emphasis: young people must be formed early, heard truly, and empowered as agents of evangelization—not treated only as recipients of pastoral care.
Catholic teaching presents youth as a genuine evangelizing subject. John Paul II explicitly affirms that youth ministry should not only nurture young people but recognize that “young people themselves should be called upon to become the evangelizers of their peers.” The Church’s pastoral strategy should therefore enable youth to discover, early, the value of self-gift that matures a person and makes evangelization possible.
Francis echoes the same principle in Christus vivit: “young people themselves are agents of youth ministry.” They need guidance, but they should also be “left free to develop new approaches” with creativity and audacity—using their insight to address issues in their own language.
John Paul II also ties youth to long-term renewal: young people should be “leading characters in evangelization and participants in the renewal of society,” meaning the Church looks toward youth not just as a future audience but as co-workers now.
When the theme is “Church governance,” Catholic sources most directly support participation through synodality (the Church as communion that “journeys together”), rather than treating youth involvement as symbolic or purely informal. Pope Leo XIV, addressing the International Youth Advisory Body, frames the goal of youth participation as contributing the “point of view of young people” to the Holy See’s collaborators.
He clarifies what authentic participation means: it “stems from being close to the Heart of Christ” and therefore is spiritual in origin, not ideological or political. In other words, youth participation is not mainly a power struggle; it is ecclesial communion and mission rooted in Christ.
He then connects synodality to youth voice:
The Synod of Bishops’ 2024 final document similarly states that young people contribute to synodal renewal by rejecting paternalism or authoritarian attitudes and by asking to “walk together in daily life.” It also stresses that the Church should provide “thoughtful and patient accompaniment,” including experiences aimed at discernment rooted in prayer and the sacramental life.
Key implication: “Governance” can be understood in Catholic terms as discernment in common, where youth are granted real space to speak, be heard, and contribute to pastoral planning and mission priorities.
Catholic teaching repeatedly links youth participation to the need for solid formation. John Paul II tells bishops that one way to ensure active and faithful integral evangelization is to give young people “proper formation early” in their faith and life journey.
He also points to concrete signs that youth participation is working in the Church: dioceses that provide camps, retreats, youth Masses, and youth formation offices—and, most importantly, local communities that “listen to the concerns and suggestions of young people, allowing them to have an active voice in the Church.”
At the same time, he notes serious obstacles—family discouragement, illiteracy, material desire, casual attitudes toward human sexuality, drugs and alcohol, and the risk of young Catholics joining fundamentalist groups that overemphasize material riches. The response is not only activism but evangelization that helps youth understand that Christ has “words of everlasting life.”
Francis reinforces formation as accompaniment toward mission and fruit: young people should fight apathy and be “protagonists of change,” not bystanders. He frames Christian agency as resisting social and political troubles by working for the common good and serving the poor.
Key implication: Without early formation and accompaniment, youth voice risks becoming either ineffective or unstable. Catholic sources therefore treat formation and participation as mutually supporting.
The Church also gives a practical ecclesial principle: youth ministry should be focused on the parish so young people are not isolated from the broader community of faith. John Paul II explicitly says youth ministry should be focused on the parish to prevent isolation, and that supplementing parish activity with Catholic youth associations/movements can be helpful for meeting specific needs.
This approach appears again in other magisterial material: the youth apostolate should be channeled through parish groups and youth movements, while discernment is required so the associations truly reflect the character of the people.
Key implication: prioritizing youth participation does not mean bypassing established ecclesial structures; it means placing youth into real communion with the parish and the Church, while also allowing appropriate charisms and group life under discernment.
Putting these sources together yields a clear balance:
To prioritize youth participation in Church governance and evangelization is to implement a Catholic vision of synodal communion: youth are formed early, listened to seriously, and empowered as agents who can evangelize their peers and renew society from within the life of the Church—especially through parish-rooted ministry and supported charisms.