Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bogota (Fides Service) – The organisation and programme for the celebration of the 2nd American Mission Congress CAM2, which the organisers hope will be a truly “Mission event for the Church in America”, is now complete.
Congress days will consist in a main teaching-conference by personalities of the Church and the missionary world to consider from different viewpoints the needs and challenges of mission in a globalised world. Conferences scheduled include: “Mission ad gentes today” Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples; “Mission starting from humility, poverty and martyrdom” Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Madariaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras); “Mission, proclaiming the Gospel of Life to all” Mrs Adelaida Sueiro and a team of lay women from Peru; “Mission and the challenges of the world today” Bishop Francois Lapierre of Saint-Hyacinthe (Canada) and lastly “Beings missionaries ad gentes in the 21st Century” Bishop Victorino Girardi, Tilaràn (Costa Rica).
Special time will be given to testimony from Christian and missionary communities threatened by groups with economic and political power in Central America favouring inequality and preventing authentic and integral human development. Emphasis will be given to the liberating and transforming power of the Gospel especially for the poor and the weak as Rev. Victor M. Ruano, Vice Rector of the Theological Pastoral Institute for Latin America and the Caribbean said at a meeting to define Congress organisation held in Bogota (Colombia).
To facilitate reflection and discussion and ensure full participation of every participant, the organising committee has established 9 thematic centres, each with 300 congress participants. Each thematic centre in turn will be divided in groups of 30 participants who will divide in sub-groups of 6 persons. A most important role will be played by group co-ordinators who will lead group work according to methods indicated. The week leading up to the Congress the 90 selected co-ordinators will attend an intensive course of preparation to ensure that the objective of full participation is reached.
Central American Missionary progress has been revised and enriched and restructured in its contents. The re-elaborated text approved by the Central American Bishops will be concrete expression of the Central American Church’s mission ad gentes commitment
Congress Handbook for information and active participation in this missionary appointment: notes on previous mission Congresses; map of missionary city congress hall, list of services offered etc. (R.Z.) (Fides Service 28/10/2003; lines 35; words 452)
