AMERICA/ECUADOR - Launching of the National Mission on April 23, during Bishops' Plenary Assembly

Quito (Agenzia Fides) – This April 23, the Church in Ecuador will officially begin the National Mission with a Mass in the Basilica “Voto Nacional”, at 6pm. The launching of the mission is being held during the Plenary Assembly of the Bishops' Conference, which begins on April 22, in the Bethany Social Formation Center.
The ceremony will be presided by Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, President of the Ecuadorian Bishops' Conference, and will be concelebrated by all the nation's bishops as well as delegations of priests from all the provinces of the country and members of the faithful.
The National Mission hopes to: “make our Church in Ecuador one that is both disciple and missionary ad gentes”; “remind people that fullness of life in Christ is a gift and a service that is offered to society and every individual, for their growth and so that they may overcome the suffering and conflict with a deep understanding of humanity and live in the hope we are given by the Gospel.”
The Mission also hopes to inspire “communities, organizations, associations, and ecclesial movements to place themselves in a permanent state of mission and hopes that this mission can reach out to the entire population, thus maintaining the joy of being disciples and missionaries of Christ, announcing the Gospel of Life, human dignity, the dignity of the family...”
One of the first activities of the National Mission will be three workshops on April 20-24, led by Bishops, priests, and religious communities. Later, there will be missionary days in the entire country. This is how Ecuador will be able to contribute to the commitments assumed by the Church in Aparecida (Brazil), which began with the American Missionary Congress (CAM 3), in which the Continental Mission began, in the presence of the Bishop-Presidents of the various Bishops' Conferences throughout the Continent. With the National Mission, the Church in Ecuador in communion with the entire Church of Latin America and the Caribbean, will begin a permanent process of New Evangelization. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 20/04/2009)