Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - “In reaffirming the our commitment to form disciples and missionaries, we make the firm resolution to place more attention in seeing to the sound instruction of beginners, those in Christian Initiation, and in the maturation in the faith,” said Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Texcoco, President of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, in a statement issued upon the celebration of the 86th Plenary Assembly of Bishops, in which the launching of the Continental Mission in Mexico was announced.
“Today, at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” the Bishop said, “the disciple par excellence and our instructor in evangelizing, we the Bishops call all the priests, religious, and laity to take up the commitment to place the Church of Mexico in a permanent state of mission, in order to confirm, renew, and revive the Gospel message which has firm roots in our history, through a personal and community encounter with Jesus Christ, that promotes disciples and missionaries” (DA, 11), as “to know Jesus Christ through faith is our joy; following Him is a grace, and transmitting this treasure to others is a task that the Lord has entrusted to us, in calling us and choosing us” (DA, 18).
“May no one sit back with their arms crossed!,” Bishop Aguiar said, recalling that all of us area called to participate in the mission. “Being a missionary means being an announcer of Jesus Christ, with creativity and courage, everywhere that the Gospel has not been sufficiently announced or received, especially in difficult and forgotten places, and places beyond are national boundaries.” According to the President of the CEM, there is a need to “move from a pastoral plan of conservation to one of missionary spirit.” Thus, the mission, “becomes a change of mentality, in pastoral conversion. This firm missionary decision should reach out to all ecclesial structures and enter into the pastoral plans for all dioceses, parishes, religious communities, movements, and Church institutions.”
In addition, in the opening sessions of the Plenary Assembly, a talk was given by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, who spoke on the document entitled “Towards the Continental Mission,” which will serve as a basis of study during the Assembly. “The great partoral guidelines of Aparecida call for a new spirit,” Cardinal Errazuriz said. “They invite us to be, like the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, a great Cenacle without boundaries, a house of persistent and trusting prayer.”
The Cardinal concluded his talk by expressing his hope that “the Spirit of Christ may set your hearts on fire with the joy of being Christians and of having received from Jesus the grace and responsibility of being pastors of His People, and for the laity, of being instruments in the Church's mission. May this knowledge guide you as you plan the Continental Mission, which is meant to awaken missionary spirit in society, so Christ can be made known at the dawn of this century.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/11/2008)
