Introduction

Your Eminences, Your Excellences,

On behalf of the priests working in CERAO, I send you my greetings of peace and grace from the CERAO Secretariat in Abuja.

We have just entered the month of March, the third month of the year 2025 and we have equally started the Lenten season. It is a month of intense spiritual activities that lead up to the Easter celebration. Therefore, I wish you a grace-filled Lenten season as you labor to care for your flock.

In pursuance of our resolve to keep you abreast with the life of your great Conference, I wish to inform you of the activities that have taken place in the last two months and update you with upcoming events.

Presidential Council

The Presidential Council of CERAO met at CCPM, in Abidjan, (Côte d’Ivoire) on 13 and 14 February 2025. The President Most Rev. Alexis Youlo and the 1^st Vice President Most Rev. Joseph Afifah-Agyekum were present at the meeting with the Secretary General and the two Deputy Secretaries General. The 2^nd Vice President, Most Rev. José Lampra Ca was absent due to his convalescence from sickness. The meeting focused on the evaluation of the previous year and the preparation for the 5^th Plenary Assembly of CERAO. The meeting was a successful one.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee of CERAO met at the CCPM, in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) on 11^th February, 2025. Present at the meeting were: Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum (Interim President), Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze, Most Rev. Jonas Dembele, Most Rev. Joachim Ouedraogo with other non-bishop members of the committee. The committee reviewed the balance sheet for the previous year, looked at the financial life of CERAO, and approved the budgets for the year 2025.

5^th Plenary Assembly

As you already know, the 5^th Plenary Assembly of CERAO will take place in Dakar Senegal from 5(Arrival) to 12(Departure) May 2025. Your Excellencies, if you are still hesitating to decide, I would like to inform you that the experience will be wonderful because Senegal is preparing seriously to make the assembly a memorable one. It is an event that you cannot afford to miss. I remind your Excellencies that each person should reserve his ticket and make a payment of 200 USD to support the Secretariat in preparing for the assembly. I have already sent you the program last week in your emails.

New Appointments of Bishops

In the last two months, CERAO was blessed with the nomination of three new bishops:

S/N	Name	Country	Diocese	Date of appointment	Ordination/Installation
1	Most Rev. Laurent Dabiré	Burkina Faso	Archbishop of Bobo-Dioulasso	18 /12/24	02/02/25
2	Most Rev. Guy M. Sanon		Bishop of Nouna	25/01/25	26/04/25
3	Most Rev. David Koudougou	Burkina Faso	Bishop of Tenkodogo	06/02/25	24/05/25
4	Most Rev. André Gueye	Senegal	Archbishop of Dakar	22/02/25	03/05/25
5	Most Rev. Ignatius Anipu (SMA)	Niger	Bishop of Maradi	22/02/25

With these appointments, Archbishop Paul Ouedraogo, Archbishop Benjamin Ndiaye, Bishop Joseph Sama, and Bishop Ambroise Ouedraogo officially became emeritus bishops. We thank them for their great service to the Church and humanity.

Conclusion

Your Eminences, your Excellences, we thank you for your support and understanding. Without your support, we cannot function well. That is why we seize this opportunity to remind those who may have forgotten the normal annual contribution for the support of the secretariat. We promise to do our best to make you proud of CERAO. We wish you God’s abundant blessings in your work and ministry to the people of God.

Rev. Dr Vitalis Anaehobi

Secretary-General

CERAO

Day: March 6, 2025

FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL’S DESK MARCH 2025

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