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On the 7th day of November 2024, the CCPM in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast which is an ancillary of the mother house of the CERAO-RECOWA in Abuja was agog with the arrival of the Laity delegates from all parts of the West African subregion for their three days Assembly. The Assembly took of today, the 8th of November 2024 with varied activities lined up in their jampacked program.

The group organized their general assembly in association with the CERAO-RECOWA Commission for the Laity under the chairmanship of Bishop Francis Xavier Gnambodé GNONHOSSOU, who doubles as the Chairman of the Laity, Family and Life Commission in the CERAO-RECOWA.  This Association of the Laity under the Aegis of CRLAO has in attendance their first President, Mr. Valentine DAMBO.

The gathering was greeted by the noble presence of Bishop, Alexis Touabli YUOLO, the President of RECOWA-CERA, Bishop Joseph AKA, who was the Secretary of the bishops in West Africa and now the Bishop of Yamoussoukro, bishop Boniface ZIRI, who is in charge of the Laity in the episcopal Conference of Ivory Coast, Fr. Celestine Sagna, the Director of CCPM and Fr. Vincent de Paul BORO who is the frontline organizer and the Deputy Secretary of CERAO-RECOWA. Others in attendance were the members of the laity from all the West African countries. We had also the representatives of the ECOWAS, the members of the Clergy of Ivory Coast. The women of the Church in Ivory Coast and their counterparts were represented. Some key sodalities came to witness this event.

In his Welcome address, the Director of CCPM, Fr. Celestine Sagna charged everyone to feel at home since the center belongs to every one of us. He reminded the Laity of their duties in the Church and admonished them never to vacillate. The president of the Assembly, Mr. Valentine DAMBO decried the barrier in Language which has deprived them of socialization engagement with one another. He therefore advised all the members from the English-speaking side of the divide to struggle to speak French while the French-speaking endeavor to speak English this time. He recalled the various roles of the laity in the Church rooted in the documents of the Church and indeed on the allocutions of the Holy Fathers beginning with Pope Pius.

Various participants intervened with words of encouragement, prominent among them was the Secretary Emeritus of CERAO-RECOWA, Bishops Joseph Aka who greeted the participants with love and called on them to continue the good work that he started together with all of them before the Church pulled him to the upper staircase. Taking up from him, Bishop Boniface took the participants down memory lane on the essence of the Laity. It was not by accident that the Holy Mother created this association. He therefore called upon every member to happily contribute his or her quota to move the Church forward.

At this point, the president of RECOWA-CEARO took up the stage in his usual oratorial disposition. He borrowed a leaf from the admonitions of Bishop Aka and reminded members that there is no greater joy than when brothers and sisters come together. He underlined that outside the intellectual activities in this session, the greatest achievement of this assembly is the coming together of brothers and sisters from all sides of the West African nation. He convinced the Laity that they were the eyes, hands, and legs of all the bishops. He alluded to salt, indicating that if we are the salt of the earth as Jesus said in the gospel, we must also understand that salt has no value except in food. It is only in the food that the taste of the salt is witnessed. He concluded by informing members that they are expected to reach out to the faithful and witness the gospel message. He underlined the fact that salvation does not begin and end in the spiritual realm. It is important to know that often there are other aspects like economic salvation, social salvation, and even political salvation.

Concluding the first stage of the gathering, Mr. Philip from Senegal who was serving as the master of the ceremony thanked the president and asked to assist them in soliciting the support of their various bishops in the West African Sub-Region.

Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu
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