Africa
Africa
The Region of hope and great challenges, where the Federation is present from the moment of its foundation.
The beginning of the biblical apostolate on the African continent was due to the initiative of Fr. Adrian Smith, wf, who started that form of pastoral work in Lusaka, Zambia.
With the creation of the CBF this process took more dynamism. Since the very beginning, since the year of it’s foundation the CBF was present in Africa – before 1975 already 8 Bishops Conferences (or biblical institutions representing them) were members of the CBF (WCFBA). Recognizing this contribution of the Federation to the Church in Africa, in 1975, the Bishops of Africa organized within SECAM officially requested the CBF (WCFBA) to start an Africa service for the promotion of the biblical apostolate in Africa. Fr. Adrian Smith, wf, from Zambia was the Director of the English-speaking Africa Service from October 1975 till September 1978, when was succeeded by Fr. Wynnand Amewowo. Fr. Dieter Skweres, svd, from Togo was the Director of the French-speaking Africa Service from January 1978, when the service was created, until December 1979, when was succeeded also by Fr. Wynnand Amewowo. Thus Fr. Wynnand Amewowo was responsible for both the English- and French-speaking Africa Services as from 1979 on.
In 1981 SECAM decided to give the unified Africa Service (English- and French-speaking) a permanent structure through the creation of the Catholic Biblical Centre for Africa and Madagascar (BICAM) and it was formally fulfilled in 1983. The first Director of BICAM, Fr. Wynnand Amewowo, moved from Lomé to Nairobi in June, 1983. In 1996 BICAM became a full member of th Catholic Biblicale Federation. In 2003 the office of BICAM was transfered from Nairobi to Accra.
Catholic Biblical Federation currently has 58 members in Africa with 29 Episcopal Conferences and 29 associate members distributed in 31 countries of the African continent.
Coordinator
Vacant
Region video
Updates from Africa
Bibles for young people and for vulnerable families in Kenya
The Missionary Servants of the Word from Kenya, under the auspices of the Catholic Biblical Federation, have successfully completed a project that is made possible by the funding provided by Aid to the Church in Need International. The project aims to distribute over 1500 Bibles in diverse languages across Kenya.
Three-day session of the Episcopal Council of Biblical Apostolate in Togo
From Friday May 3rd to Sunday May 5th 2024, the Episcopal Council for Biblical Apostolate (CEAB) held its first ordinary session of the year 2024 at the Daluag Prayer Center in Dapaong (Togo - West Africa).
New Bible translations in Togo.
Father Jean Prosper Agbagnon SVD presented to Mgr Moise Messan TOUHO, Bishop of Atakpame, in the presence of Mrs Estelle AKOUEGNON, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Togo (ABT) and Shepherd Macaire GBIKPI, ABT Communications Officer, two new translations of the Bible into local languages: the Old and New Testaments in Ewe with the Deuterocanonical books, and the New Testament in Ikposo.
