AMERICA/COSTA RICA - “The evangelising mission of the Church has been consolidated on the Continent, mission ad gentes is becoming a determinant and incisive force which is renewing the Church”: CAM 2 Conclusions approved and consigned.

San Jose de Costa Rica (Fides Service) - “The evangelising mission of the Church has been consolidated on the Continent, mission ad gentes is becoming a determinant and incisive force which is renewing the Church as it grows in awareness of its missionary nature”. This statement is part of the Conclusions issued by the Second America Missionary Congress CAM 2 approved and officially consigned at the end of the 4th Central American Meeting for Presidents of Mission Commissions, National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Pastoral Vicars and diocesan Delegates for Mission held recently in San Jose di Costa Rica, brining to a close the long itinerary of preparation and celebration of CAM 2.
In the conclusions CAM 2 proclaims with joy, fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church shown by individual Christians and communities all over America, as an experience of holiness and giving of life to the point of martyrdom. Nevertheless they lament “divorce between faith and life of no few Christians and communities in America, which generates discouragement among pastoral workers and disorientation among the faithful, seriously hindering the evangelising mission of the Church and the transformation of inhuman conditions in which most of the American peoples live ”.
In this context the document underlines “three strongholds of the Church in America” which, notwithstanding, are signs of peace: “The Church in Latin America has retained its option for the poor promoting the process of insertion in the world of the excluded, and raising her voice as a prophet for the voiceless, defending life even with the witness of martyrdom ”.
One theme highlighted by the participants at CAM 2, also because of its fundamental importance, was the urgent need for integral missionary formation for all pastoral workers (lay people and ordained ministers) wherever they are, in every Christian community and in every particular Church. With regard to the contents of this formation CAM 2 says it must be “based on Sacred Scripture, Church teaching and the situations of our peoples giving priority to missionary theology, pastoral and spirituality so as to help every baptised person rediscover his or her missionary identity and impregnate the temporal realities of the world with the values of the Kingdom of God”.
CAM 2 voices concern for the role and the influence of the media on people’s lives: “Centres of financial, economic and political power monopolise the media (…) and this enables them to manipulate our peoples, threatening their cultural and local identity and generating a culture of materialism, individualism, and religious sectarianism”. Recognising “the great value of the media, as a tool for announcing the Gospel to all peoples”, CAM2 recommends that “special attention be given to the formation of media operators to enable them to use these means correctly and professionally ”. (R.Z) (Agenzia Fides 2/3/2004; righe 35 - parole 451)
Soon available Photo Dossier with 600 glimpses of CAM 2.