Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cochabamba (Agenzia Fides) - “Today we are living in a time of grace.(cf. DA, 548) Aparecida offers us a beautiful itinerary for fulfilling our missionary vocation, starting with that command we receive to “go and make disciples.” Our wish is “to awaken in our continent ‘a great missionary spirit’...We need a new Pentecost...to go out to meet people.” Aware of these needs, and in efforts to offer continuity with the preceding Missionary Congresses in Bolivia, Bishop Sergio Gualberti, President of the Bishops’ Committee on Missions; Archbishop Tito Solari of Cochabamba, President of the Evangelization Area; and Fr. Eugenio Scarpellini, Secretary General for the Missions and National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, have convoked the 5th National Missionary Congress to be held April 16-20, in the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia). Its title is: “Bolivia with Christ: Listening, Learning, Preaching,” and will be an effort to recover missionary strength in the Church in Bolivia and awaken the missionary conscientiousness of all the areas of the Catholic Church.
According to organizers, the estimated attendance is expected to include around 500 delegates from the 18 ecclesial jurisdictions of Bolivia. They also consider the timing of the Congress very Providential, as it will take place in the wake of the 5th General Conference of Aparecida where a Great Continental Mission was declared for the entire Latin American continent, and on the threshold of the Third American Missionary Congress CAM 3 to be held this August, in Quito (Ecuador). Fr. Eugene Scarpellini, National Director of the PMS, sees this Congress as an opportunity to include all baptized Catholics, as its purpose is to make them aware of their baptismal commitments and their Catholic identity.
The goals of the Congress are: continue the process and workshops that took place in the regional Missionary Congresses, study the Manual for CAM3 and the Aparecida Document, prepare for the American Missionary Congress in Quito, begin preparations for the Great Continental Mission that was launched in Aparecida. The key themes for the Congress will be: “We are missionary apostles,” “The missionary community,” and “Sent on the mission.”
The Congress will begin on Wednesday, April 16, with an opening Mass and a greeting from the Archbishop of Cochabamba and the National Director of PMS. Every day of the Congress, there will be three missionary testimonies, in addition to the scheduled presentations. On Sunday, April 20, there will be a closing Mass with a missionary sending and concluding lectures. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 12/3/2008 righe 34, parole 406)
