Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Fides Service) - On March 7 the Church in Spain will mark Hispanic America Day with the motto “United in Missionary Efforts ”, in communion with the American Missionary Congress held in Guatemala last November. Hispanic America Day is a day of missionary animation which the Church in Spain has held on the first Sunday in March since 1959. The objective is to commemorate the missionary work of the Church in Spain in Latin America which marked the beginning of evangelisation on that continent.
To mark the occasion the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and vice-president Archbishop Luis Robles Díaz, addressed a message to Spanish Catholics voicing esteem and encouraging them to sustain the cause of evangelisation in Latin America. They recall that Latin America received the gift of the faith more than 500 years ago, mainly thanks to Spain and that today Latin America is home to almost half the world’s Catholics. “Spain - the message says - has a rich and fruitful missionary tradition. For centuries thousands of priests, religious men and women and laity sailed across the sea to carry the light of the faith to Latin America”. Today this missionary spirit must not wane it must be renewed in order to respond to the new challenges of our day, because “commitment to mission is a sign of the vitality, generosity and hope of a particular Church.”
New evangelisation called for by Pope John Paul II is a challenge for the Church in Spain and “a call for the Church in Latin America to find ever new ways to make the Gospel present” the message says. Hence the need to increase the number of evangelisers and to promote their formation. The 2nd American Missionary Congress was a concrete response to this challenge. “This event is already beginning to bear fruit increasing missionary awareness in the Church in America at the beginning of the third millennium”. The message ends with a call to Catholics in Spain to sustain this work with prayer, economic support and concrete participation in missionary activity.
For the day the Spanish Bishops’ Commission for Missions issued a leaflet with the message of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, suggestions for the liturgy of the day, catechesis for young people and adults and information on Spanish diocesan priests on mission. At present Spain has 986 priests on mission, 407 belong to OCSHA (Hispanic-American Priestly Association) 597 to other groups. Madrid diocese has the highest number, 70, followed by Burgos with 64. These priests are distributed as follows: 76 in Africa, mainly in Zimbabwe (19) and Angola (10); 853 in America, Peru (119), Venezuela (94) Dominican Republic (91); 19 in Asia and 38 in Europe mainly in Italy. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 4/3/2004; righe 36 - parole 487)
