Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Quito (Agenzia Fides) – With the motto, “America with Christ listens, learns, and announces,” the 3rd American Missionary Congress (CAM 3) was celebrated in the city of Quito (Ecuador) August 15-17, 2008. According to organizers, there were a total of 3,110 participants, of whom 1,358 were from Ecuador and 1,401 from other countries. There were 1,219 missionaries from all over the world that stayed with families in Quito, as well as 955 Ecuadorian missionaries and 94 special guests including: the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences, Superior Generals of religious orders, Provincial Superiors and delegates from religious communities, Church authorities, speakers, and others. Also present at the event was Archbishop Robert Sarah, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Fr. Vito Prete, PIME, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union.
The participants were from the following countries: Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. There were delegations sent from 33 countries, bringing with them 80 Bishops, 465 priests, 250 religious, 22 deacons, and 664 lay members. From Ecuador, there were 21 Bishops, 133 priests, 307 religious, 21 deacons, 87 seminarians, and 816 lay members. The Holy Father’s delegate was Cardinal Nicolás López Rodríguez, Archbishop Santo Domingo and Primate of Latin America.
The main objective of the Congress organized by the Latin American Bishops’ Conference (CELAM) was “to promote a deepening in the faith and a strengthening of the Church, to counteract the activity of the sects, which have lured many Catholics, as well as clarify on some theological points that have been a cause of discord.” They also hoped that this event would be as a second Pentecost among the local Churches on the American continents, so that from this missionary experience, they may place themselves in a “state of mission” and be motivated in the new evangelization and the mission ad gentes.
At the end of the Closing Mass, which was attended by a large crowd of people, CELAM president Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis launched the Great Continental Mission, fruit of the 5th General Conference of Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Aparecida (Brazil) in 2007. Cardinal Antonio González Zumárraga, former President of the Ecuadorian Bishops’ Conference and President of the Organizational Committee for CAM 3, announced that the next continental missionary encounter (CAM 4) will take place in 2012 in Maracaibo (Venezuela).
At the close of the Congress, the Message of CAM 3 to Humanity, the Family of God was distributed. The document clearly states that “the Spirit is the one who leads us to unite ourselves with Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania in sharing our faith.” The missionaries also reaffirmed their desire to be missionaries in every circumstance and “continue leaving behind establishments, nets, boats, parents, land, everything; plans, successes, and personal styles that create a certain security.” In fact, “Christ as the center of our lives as disciples is the root of the missionary identity. It is what constantly creates and renews the fraternal communion and sustains the commitment we have to transform the world through our missionary service.” In a mission that is counter-cultural, one must take up “the challenge of an increase in poverty that is effecting a greater part of the world’s population and which is the result of the spread of social, political, and economic structures and systems that are unjust.”
The Mission, it said, is situated in the heart of the world and thus, “we look towards all of society as a whole, in its desires, expectations, humanism, and thirst for God. We are united to them, as we witness their suffering for the crises: economic, social, ecological, cultural, and democratic, and even more for the poverty, exclusion, violence, and persecution.”
In response to this situation, the missionaries recall that there are no ready-made solutions other than “trust in the Lord, an open heart, and placing faith in our hope, at the light of the Gospel.” “We are called to commit ourselves to the Church and society, helping to find the priorities and goals of history, living in solidarity, dialogue, and in gratitude for the missionary community.”
They end the document expressing their desire to “unite themselves to the Church in a permanent state of mission,” “be servants among the poor, consolation, and fortitude” and “give life to all of humanity, communicating the beauty and strength of the Lord, reconciling and uniting the entire human family.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 1/9/2008)
