Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - This Sunday, March 2, the Church in Spain will celebrate the Missionary Day for Latin America, with the theme: “Latin America, mission continent.”
“Sixty years ago, the Metropolitan Conference of Spain took major steps in responding to one of the most urgent challenges in the mission of the Church: the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ. From that missionary desire, and fixing its gaze in America, for many historical and cultural reasons, a work began called the Hispano-American Priest Cooperation Work (OCSHA),” says the Message of the Day’s Presentation from Bishop Ramon del Hoyo of Jaen (Spain), President of the Bishops’ Committee for the Missions. Since then, over 2,300 diocesan priests have served in evangelizing that continent.
“The Spanish dioceses have never ceased looking towards those beloved lands, to whom our forefathers brought the Gospel,” the Message says, “There are 100s and 1000s of religious, priests, and laity that have carried the torch of the light and love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that continent.”
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, has also sent a message in honor of this Day, recalling the fact that “every faithful Catholic of Latin America and of the entire world should be a disciple and missionary.” This urgent invitation “is to Christians of Latin American countries and is extended to the Christians of other parts of the world, but has, especially for the pilgrim people of God in Spain, special resonance.” However, Spain “is not the only source of missionary vocations. It has also been a destination chosen by priests who decide to leave their homelands to exercise their ministry in Spain and collaborate with the evermore complicated and wide-encompassing pastoral work with immigrants.”
According to the facts offered by the Bishops’ Committee for Missionaries, in 2007, 18 priests were sent to the Americas by the OCSHA, mostly to Peru. There are currently 878 Spanish priests in the missions, 360 of which belong to the OCSHA, and 518 to other groups. The dioceses with the most priests in the missions are: Madrid, 77; Burgos, 54; Pamplona-Tudela, 48; Toledo, 47. There are currently 75 Spanish diocesan priests in Africa, mostly in Zimbabwe (17) and Angola (11), and 785 in the Americas: Peru, 128; United States, 87; Venezuela, 78; and Brasil, 73. And in Asia, there are a total of 18 Spanish priests, mostly in Japan (9). (RG) (Agenzia Fides 25/2/2008 righe 33, parole 404)
