Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santiago (Agenzia Fides) - To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Fidei Donum Encyclical and to respond to the mission impulse given by the 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida in May, the Bishops' Commission for Mission and the Pontifical Missionary Union office in Chile have organised the First National Mission Congress to be held 23 to 25 October in Santiago, according to a report from Chilean National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Fr. Jorge Patricio Vera (vedi Fides 3/10/2007). The Congress is especially for priests and men and women religious missionaries from other countries on mission service in Chile, for consecrated and lay persons sent from Chilean dioceses to other Churches at home and abroad, for diocesan mission delegates, diocesan PMS directors, the directors of the National Missionary Council CONAMI, the missions departments or secretariats of religious congregations, Chilean Church Movements and Centres of Missionary Formation.
The main purpose of the Congress is to encourage reflection on collaboration and solidarity among Churches and to identify new ways to strengthen communion and co-responsibility in mission service. Specific objectives include: remember and give thanks for these fifty years of Fidei Donum mission in Chile; read the Fidei Donum Encyclical in the light of Vatican II and post-concilar missionary; identify ways to intensify the spirit of mission and foster arrival and departure of Fidei Donum MIssionaries; discuss a missionary proposal for Chile in the light of Aparecida.
Themes for reflection during the First National Mission Congress include: "Fidei donum: the gift of gratuitousness for the Universal Church"; "Fidei donum in Chile: fruits of gratuitousness"; "The Challenge to give new impulse to Fidei Donum service in Chile"; “The Missionary challenge proposed by Aparecida”. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 8/10/2007; righe 23, parole 305)
