"I hand over to you the fruits of the African Synod." With
these words at the end of the Eucharistic Celebration at Uhuru Park in Nairobi,
Kenya on 19 September, 1995 Pope John Paul II handed over the bright red booklet
of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, The Church in Africa, to a wide range
of leaders of the Catholic Church in the AMECEA countries. Later the pope said:
"The Synod is over. The Synod has just begun."

    The following Sunday at Embakazi Parish in Nairobi Tom
Petronek preached on the importance of getting the fruits of the African Synod
down to the grassroots level. He handed over copies of the Pauline Publications
Africa edition of The Church in Africa to the leaders of the nine Small
Christian Communities (SCCs) in the parish who, in turn, held up the booklets in
front of the whole congregation. The fruits of the African Synod began to be
harvested.