Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Study Seminar being held by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is already halfway over. Participating in the Seminar are 104 Bishops recently appointed to ecclesiastical circumscriptions that depend on the Missionary Dicastery (see Agenzia Fides 10/09/2000). The Seminar began on September 7 and will end next Saturday, September 20. The Bishops come from 44 countries: 24 from Africa (56 Bishops), 9 from Asia (31 Bishops), 8 from America (10 Bishops), and 3 from Oceania (7 Bishops). Agenzia Fides has collected some of their impressions from this time of prayer and reflection.
Bishop Barthélemy Yaouda Hourgo of Yagoua (Cameroon) will be installed as Bishop of his Diocese on October 1. “For me, this seminar is a grace from the Lord,” he told Fides. “It is the best way I can start my pastoral ministry, with a series of instruments and guidelines that will surely help me in carrying out my service to the Church and the faithful.”
Bishop Anthony Sharma, SJ, Apostolic Vicar of Nepal gave his testimony: “I live my pastoral mission with joy and enthusiasm. I am happy for having received the Lord’s call to serve the universal church, caring for the seed of the Gospel in Nepal. The Lord has been very good to me. He has taken me by the hand and leads me. My family belonged to the Brahmin caste (Hindu priests, ndr) and if I would have followed family tradition, I would be a Brahmin Hindu. But during my studies in India, the Lord revealed Himself to me and called me to follow Him. I am grateful to God for the gift of being His humble servant.”
Bishop Oscar Ngoy wa Mpanda of Kongolo (Democratic Republic of Congo) agrees that “the Seminar is a very important experience, especially because it allows the Bishops of Africa, Asia, and America to share their experiences. We have discovered that oftentimes our mission has the same demands and difficulties in different areas of the globe.”
Bishop Ausilio Aguilar of Colon-Kuna Yala (Panama) also mentioned the importance of sharing experiences with other Bishops: “The Seminar is very interesting, especially the themes we have been discussing. It is also very interesting to share experiences with so many other Bishops of the world, so many different situations in each continent and in each country. This experience is very enriching for all of us, this encounter for recently appointed Bishops.”
“I find this seminar very interesting, not only because of the material we are receiving, but also thanks to the talks we are hearing and for this encounter of the universal Church,” Bishop Pablo Ervin Schmitz Simon, OFM, Apostolic Vicar Bluefields (Nicaragua), told Fides. “This seminar is really intended for new Bishops, but I have been a bishop for 24 years! And yet, I am still benefiting from the experience, especially in seeing how the Church is evolving. The face of the Church is no longer European or American, but also African and Asian. It is very interesting to see the universality of the Church. This is one of the most impressive parts of this encounter, I think. And the hope to be seen in these young churches. The talks from the Cardinals who have attended and who are taking time to be with us, have been very interesting. They not only give a talk, but they also respond to the questions that arise. There is also a great openness, as is noted in the younger Bishops present who have very little time of experience and thus have many doubts, questions. All these questions arise in our meetings with the Cardinals, who respond to all of them with great peace and tranquility, trying to respond to all of the Bishops with a spirit of brotherhood.” (Agenzia Fides 15/9/2008)
