Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) – The Bishops of Mexico are currently celebrating their General Assembly which lasts from November 10-14. The general objective of the Assembly is to clarify, revive, and strengthen the mission of the laity, in the spirit of the Aparecida Document and the Pastoral Letter 2000, by formulating strategic guidelines in culture, economy, politics, and mass media, so as to launch the Continental Mission in Mexico. Among the specific objectives are: share the vision of the Bishops and laity on the challenges, ways, and opportunities for a greater participation on the part of the laity in society; discern general guidelines for participation of the lay faithful in Mexico in 4 senses: culture, economy, politics and the common good, and mass media; reach compromises between the Bishops and laity, rooted in the needs of the New Evangelization; establish guidelines for participation within the Church in Mexico, especially in certain events such as the Bicentennial anniversary and the Centennial anniversary of the Revolution, among others. The four main themes to be addressed during the Assembly are: culture, understood in the areas that pertain to the human person, e.g. the family, education, dialogue between science and faith, values, and social transformation; economy, seeing the priority of the person over material goods and work over profit, care for the environment and development within the lines of justice, as well as overcoming poverty; politics and the common good, for building a new society, values for democracy, political ethics and public policies; and the mass media, studying its influence on public opinion, the use of power, and the transformation of values and issues in society.
In each one of these themes, the following questions will be addressed: What can and should the Church do in this social sector, in order to evangelize? What tasks correspond to the Bishops? What tasks correspond to the laity?
Given the themes, in addition to the Bishops, the Assembly will also be attended by several competent members of the laity. They will offer their testimony and work on the New Evangelization of the Culture, in all its sectors, and will come from the country's 18 different Ecclesiastical Provinces. Special emphasis will be placed on the woman, indigenous peoples, and farmers. The lay delegates were chosen according to the following criteria: fidelity to the Christian message, the Magisterium of the Church, especially her Social Doctrine; active participation in social evangelization: culture, economy, politics, and mass media; capacity for dialogue and proposal; from various different social and cultural spheres; that there be ample participation of women and representation from all the Church Provinces, as well as a balanced participation in all the issues of the Assembly. All have participated in previously held meetings in their own respective Ecclesiastical Provinces.
The General Assembly began on November 10 with a Mass celebrated in the Basilica of Guadalupe, presided by Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, President of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, and concelebrated by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio of Mexico, along with over 100 Mexican bishops. In his homily, Bishop Aguiar reminded the laity that their mission in the world is not at all easy, as “we live in an anti-clerical and secularized society that tries to ridicule and limit the Church's mission to a merely cultural sphere.” However, in this situation, “Mexico shows a great thirst for justice, calls for economic equality, and opportunities for education and employment, demands ethical and moral values in order to prevent social decadence, prefers life to death, and longs for a future and for hope.” Thus, “the values of the Gospel are the response.” He then called on all present to unite their efforts and offer their own capacities in “making the Gospel the Good News for Mexico.”
At the end of the celebration, Bishop Aguiar Retes read a statement in which he announced the launching of the Continental Mission in all the dioceses in the country. “As Bishops, we assume the challenge to work in bringing a new vitality to the evangelizing mission of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 11/11/2008)
