AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Missionary Congress begins: “Bolivia has been blessed with the gift of so many missionaries that have come to share their faith and now it is Bolivia’s chance to go out and share its faith.”

Cochabamba (Agenzia Fides) - The 5th National Missionary Congress in Cochabamba (Bolivia) began yesterday, with great enthusiasm. The theme for the Congress is: “Bolivia with Christ Listens, Learns, and Announces.” There are some 700 participants, among whom are lay faithful, youth, men and women members of religious orders, priests, seminarians, and Bishops gathered from all over the country.
Before the official opening ceremony of the Congress, there was a press conference held in the Don Bosco School in Cochabamba, with Bishop Sergio Gualberti, President of the Missions Committee for the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference (CEB), Fr. Eugenio Scarpellini, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and Sr. Cilenia Rojas, National Coordinator of the Missions Committee and the PMS for the CEB. Bishop Gualberti indicated that the Church’s goal is that Catholics go out from their parishes, to the remoter areas, to announce the saving Message to all people. He also mentioned that during this 5th Congress, the theme will be the Continental Mission that is being launched across Latin America. Regarding the present state of the mission in Bolivia, Bishop Gualberti stated that the Bolivian Church is showing a great deal of vitality and that these moments in history have witnessed a greater awareness among the laity, who have begun to take their missionary responsibility seriously, in virtue of their baptism. “I hope that one day, Bolivia may not only think about its internal mission, but also go outside its borders. Bolivia has been blessed with the gift of so many missionaries that have come to share their faith and now it is Bolivia’s chance to go out and share its faith,” he said.
Archbishop Tito Solari of Cochabamba said that he had high expectations for this Congress, in terms of the Church in Bolivia, as it is the first Congress after Aparecida. He also pointed out that this missionary event “is a source of encouragement, a chance to rekindle the Church’s missionary fire in all its dioceses, so that we may renew our commitment to evangelization; that we may become evangelizers, disciples of Jesus Christ.” With the great turn-out of young people at the Congress, the Archbishop of Cochabamba hopes that many may “be able to tell Jesus: I give my life to You, for others.” The main event of the opening ceremony was the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Julio Terrazas, concelebrated by various Bishops and priests. During his homily, the Cardinal said that “if we are Christians, we are missionaries; and there is we cannot be missionaries if we are not well-founded, with clarity upon this rock of our faith that is Christ the Lord.” He also pointed out that “we do not bring just any message, we bring the message that Christ brought in His Father’s name, that we may bring it to all people.” It is a message that we must make our own, the Cardinal explained, and enrich it with the spirit of Aparecida, “the event in which we have paused to listen to the word, to know what it is that the Lord wants of our people who are baptized, although poorly committed to the duties of their baptism.” Cardinal Terrazas also mentioned the importance of “educating ourselves towards peace” in the current situation of the country. However, “we cannot speak of change or transformation if it is not in God, God who is love, because it is the only one that can change human existence, the one that we must announce, and the love that we must all serve,” the Cardinal concluded. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 17/4/2008; righe 43, parole 587)