On 5 March 2020, 19 religious women and men participated in the 2020 Arica Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) Contact Persons Seminar held at the Generalate of the Missionaries of Africa. The main topic of the seminar was, “How the contact persons could support the Antennas around the world?”

Fr. Chika Onyejiuwa, CSSp, the Executive Secretary, introduced the advocacy work of AEFJN, then added the current situation of Antennas. Br. Christian Roberti, CSSp, from the Belgium Antenna, Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAFR from the German Antenna, Sr. Begoña Iñarra, MSOLA from the Madrid Antenna, Fr. Armel Fopa from Cameroon Antenna shared about their activities. After the talks from four Antennas, Sr. Pilar Trillo, LSA, the Contact Person of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, shared how her Congregation commits to AEFJN actions. 

After hearing from six speakers, the participants broke up into two groups for group discussion with the guide question “How can your Congregation contribute to the work of Antennas? What is your role as a Contact Person in this action?” The groups reported in the plenum about their discussion.

After the reporting, it was informed that the AEFJN Executive Committee would study the different comments and take concrete action with the Contact Persons to support the Antennas in Europe and Africa.

The seminar was an excellent opportunity for the Contact Persons, Executive Committee, Secretariat, and Antennas to get to know each other, and learn the work of Antenna. It was also an opportune time to discuss different ways of collaboration. The Executive Committee is grateful to those who participated and contributed for the Seminar.

Fr. Daisuke Narui, SVD, for the AEFJN Executive Committee