Catholic Women Challenged to be Agents of Hope
Catholic Women in Malawi have been urged to embrace the spirit of bring hope to the venerable including their families, communities, workplaces and the wider society as a whole.
Member of Parliament for Mzimba North,Agnes NyaLonje was speaking at the official opening of the 36th Annual General Conference for Catholic Women Organization at Mary Mount Girls Secondary School in Mzuzu.
NyaLonje said their many ways of sowing hope and among others is through preaching the Word of God, living the Word of God and through action.
”As Catholic Women,we sow hope on many platforms. For instance the home; it is through the many roles we play that sow hope in our families,the Church;through our faith that sow hope in our community,the work place;either as business women or workers in formal and informal economy,we sow hope in our colleagues,our pupils and even our customers.Likewise in a wider society be it as politicians and leaders in many other areas,we can sow hope in society at large through our collective actions.Therefore ,we can sow hope even in those people whom we have never met and will never meet either,”she said.
NyaLonje who is also a member for CWO in Mzuzu diocese said the annual gathering which runs from17th to 21st December gives an opportunity for Catholic Women to celebrate the many roles that Catholic Women play in a society hence strive to play roles that sustain society,roles that bring hope and sow hope in others.
She said as mothers,their role goes beyond the biological one of giving birth to society but they are also sows of hope through ensuring continuity of human heritage,continuity of village life,and of community life hence they are custodians of culture who hold the threads of life together and in that way provide stability and hope.
“My fellow Catholic Women,let us realize that we are key economic producers at household,village and community level.In sickness and in health we tirelessly care for our families in all their extended glory.We prevent and resolve conflicts,we mediate-we are peace-makers and peace-keepers in our communities.Not only that,we are active servants of the community,mobilizing collective efforts to address challenges that face our communities like helping those that are less fortunate,raising finds for various initiatives,selflessly giving our time so that someone somewhere may lead a better life,”said NyaLonje.
NyaLonje who also the guest of honor said the situation of the Youth,including the girl child,HIV/AIDS,plight of the growing numbers of the very poor and destitute amongst women and growing manifestation of intolerance amongst Malawians are some of the biggest challenges besetting Malawi hence the conference need to seriously consider in addressing them.
“As Catholic Women,we need to ask ourselves a number of searching questions to address these proplems.Among the questions are;what must we do differently in order to give hope to those caught up in these problem and what must we do and do differently in order to prevent these challenges arising?,”she said.
Chairperson for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi ,His Lordship Bishop Joseph Mukasa Zuza in his homely during the opening Mass marking the official opening of the conference challenged Catholic women to embrace the spirit of Love amongst themselves and to the nation at large.
He said women elsewhere including in the Church are crucial in advancing the socio-economic of the society and when they love one another and their country,the development of bothe the Church and country is achieved.
The National Chairperson for CWO,Bernadette Chiwaya said during the three day conference,delegate from all the dioceses will present reports for the year 2014 and will also deliberate on cross-cutting issues including issues of human trafficking,child labour,family in connection to homosexual and homesexuality,just to mention but a few.
Over 400 delegates from all the eight dioceses in Malawi,namely;Chikwawa,Blantyre Archidiocese,Zomba,Mangochi,Dedza,Lilongwe Archidiocese,Mzuzu and Karonga participated to the conference. Minister of Gender,Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati who is a Catholic Women from Blantyre Archdiocese also attended the conference. 
Karonga diocese is expected to host the 2015, 37th Catholic Women Organization’s Conference.