Ten women who impacted the Church in Africa in 2021
A look at some of Africa’s most outstanding laywomen and women religious
It has become more and more apparent that women play an ever more important role in the Catholic Church, especially across the African continent.
Enlightened by their Catholic faith, some of them, religious and lay, distinguished themselves in various areas and by fighting to address a number of issues in 2021.
La Croix Africa takes a look at some of the most outstanding women in the French-speaking part of the continent who stood out over the past year.
1- Sister Josée Ngalula
Congolese-born Josée Ngalula is a 61-year-old Sister of St. Andrews who made news on September 29, 2021 when she became the first African woman ever to be appointed to the International Theological Commission.
She has been a professor of theology for 25 years and has published several books. She is undoubtedly one of the greatest female theologians on the African continent.
Ngalula is an impressive figure who has worked vigorously and discreetly for many years to help develop the Catholic Church in Africa.
In an interview with La Croix Africa last November for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, she spoke about her pastoral work with victims of sexual abuse in the structures of the Catholic Church.
2- Aïssa Doumara
In March 2019, Aïssa Doumara, 50, became the first winner of the Simone Veil Prize for gender equality.
A victim of a forced marriage at the age of 15, this Cameroonian Catholic laywoman has been fighting violence against women for 20 years through the Association to Combat Violence against Women (ALVF).
In particular, she helps victims of Boko Haram at the Women's Life Center in Maroua, in the far north of Cameroon.
3- Sister Veronica Openibo
Superior General of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, founded in the 19th century in England, Sister Veronica Openibo made an impact at the Vatican’s Summit on the Protection of Minors in February 2019.
This Nigerian nun has been raising the alarm about sexual abuse in the Church for nearly 20 years.
And in front of the pope and the presidents of all the world’s national episcopal conferences, she gave a strong speech pointing to clericalism and the need for transparency in the Church.
4- Maryse Quashie
Maryse Quashie is a Catholic laywoman and a lecturer in educational science at the University of Lomé, Togo.
She is also one of the spokespersons for the Mouvement Forces Vives "Espérance pour le Togo" (Hope for Togo) -- a civil society organization involved in citizen actions for freedom and justice -- of which she is a founding member.
Maryse is also a founding member of the Togolese Human Rights League, a pioneer organization in Togo, which has been under a one-party regime since 1989. In August 1991, she participated in the national conference, of which she was a member of the presidium.
In 2021, she became part of the national team set up in Togo to lead the work for the 2023 synod.
5- Sister Marie Stella Kouak
Sister Marie Stella Kouak is a nurse in her fifties who has dedicated her life to the service of people living with or affected by the HIV in Dapaong, northern Togo.
A Hospitaller Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she says this work is true vocation.
"I felt the call to leave the world and dedicate myself to the poorest," she confided to La Croix Africa in 2019.
"I meet Christ in the sick, in the suffering families," she said.
6- Marie Angélique Savané
Marie Angélique (Sagna) Savané, 74, is a Senegalese politician. A sociologist, she is also one of the pioneers of the feminist movement in West Africa.
She has worked in several United Nations structures and founded the African magazine Famille et Développement (Family and Development, 1974-1978).
Married to the Senegalese politician Landing Savané since 1968, she is actively involved in the Catholic Church.
7- Sister Noëlie Djimadoumbaye
A native of Chad and a member of the Xavier Sisters, Djimadoumbaye is a geographer and theologian.
She is currently completing a doctorate in moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology (Centre Sèvres) in Paris, with a focus on ecology.
Sister Djimadoumbaye is also a member of the Jesuit Center for Research and Social Action (CERAS) in Saint-Denis, France.
She recently published a book titled Lumière dans Notre Nuit (Light in our Night), a collection of messages from the episcopate from 1965-2020.
8- Sister Angèle Bipendu
At 49 years old, this Congolese nun and doctor from the Sisters of the Redeemer congregation was, in 2020, on the front line in the fight against the coronavirus in the Bergamo region of Italy, at the time particularly affected by the first wave of COVID-19.
She is particularly known for the personal visits she made daily to provide psychological and spiritual support and medical assistance to infected people.
9- Sister Christiane Baka
Christiane Baka is a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Peace in Côte d'Ivoire.
She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Institut Catholique of Paris and a master's degree in theology from the University of Poitiers. She is a teacher-researcher and dean of the faculty of philosophy at the Catholic University of West Africa in Abidjan (UCAO-UUA).
In 2021, she was appointed as one of the members of the contact team set up at the national level in Côte d'Ivoire, to lead the work for the Synod on synodality.
10- Francine Aïssi-Houangni
Francine Aïssi-Houangni, 53, is an influential businesswoman in Benin and a fervent Catholic.
In 2017 she became the first-ever female vice-president of the parish council of Saint Michel de Cotonou, the largest parish in Benin.
A year earlier, she teamed up with the John Paul II Pontifical Institute in Cotonou to create the Amoris Laetitia Family Listening and Guidance Center, named after Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation.
The center aims to promote the family through women, education (through the granting of scholarships to underprivileged children) and the promotion of social, human and religious values.