Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - In continuity with the 1st American Mission Congress CAM 1 (COMLA 6) held in Parana Argentina in 1999, a few months after the promulgation of the post synodal Exhortation Ecclesial in America and the happy experience of the Great Jubilee 2000, the Church in America once again looks to the vast horizons of universal mission.
The 2nd American Mission Congress will take place in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in the heart of the American continent, a nation which, with the other central American countries, unites the north and the south of the ‘new world’.
The Church in Guatemala has played a primary role in the history of the Church on this continent and it continues to be of great importance both in the present and in the immediate future. Proof of this importance is also the fact that the Holy Father, during his Pontificate, has made three memorable journeys to this noble nation (1983, 1996, 2002) which suffered for many years the tragedy of a bloody civil war brought to an end 29 December 1996.
On the occasion of his second Apostolic Visit, the Holy Father rendered homage to “hundreds of catechists and several priests who risk their life, and some even give their life, for the Gospel”. In this regard we cannot forget the sacrifice of Bishop Juan Girardi auxiliary of Guatemala, assassinated in the capital, always committed to defending the weakest members of society and promoting the process of national reconciliation. The heritage of these “heroes of the faith” said Pope John Paul II, “is the urgent task of evangelisation. On no account may any place or any person be left without the good news of the Gospel”.
These examples “of unlimited dedication to the cause of the Gospel”, the testimony of a great number of Saints with whom the Lord has blessed the Church on this continent and in the Caribbean, show us that the indispensable premise for the particular Churches in America to assume responsibility and commitment in solidarity for mission ad gentes, lies in accepting and living to the full the call to holiness at the individual and community level. “Holiness, the Pope reminds us in the post synodal exhortation Christifideles laici, “must be called the fundamental presupposition and irreplaceable condition for everyone in fulfilling the mission of salvation within the Church” (n. 17).
The Church in America is not only “the missionary hope of the Church”, but it is already “the Church’s joyous missionary realisation”. The are numerous signs of mature responsibility ad gentes in a growing number of particular Churches on the continent: sending of fidei donum priests to other dioceses, Apostolic Vicariates or Prelatures in their own country, on the continent and also to Africa and Asia; the consoling missionary reality of the laity, numerous catechists, Church movements and new communities; ‘Sister Churches’ and ‘Churches in Solidarity’ programmes, with which some diocese, with more resources, share these with needier Churches.
Nevertheless, precisely because the missionary potential of the Church in America is so enormous, greater effort must be made to help American Catholics to unite their efforts to give impulse to first evangelisation and the planting of new Christian communities among people who do not yet know Christ, and who are the majority of humanity.
The Church in America needs the prayers of everyone so that as she celebrates the 2nd American Mission Congress she may be inspired to more generous evangelizing activity even beyond her own frontiers. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (Fides Service 27/10/2003 EM lines 48 Words: 648)
