Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Oruro (Agenzia Fides) – On Sunday, October 4, the Diocese of Oruro (Bolivia) officially launched its Permanent Mission. During the act, Bishop Cristobal Bialasik expressed the hope that this initiative may favor “the establishment of a Church-family, school, and laboratory of communion and solidartiy.” He then encouraged the over 1,000 faithful who had come on pilgrimage from the various parishes, to transform the country into “a more just, fraternal, and reconciled nation, which builds its future on the rock that is Christ and His message.” “Today, God calls us to be His missionary disciples and calls for a clear, firm, and decided response to this time of grace, to live out a new Pentecost in all the Christian communities,” Bishop Bialasik said in the homily. He then mentioned the need for a spiritual awakening to the missionary vocation and action of the baptized, “to reach out to the people, the families, communities, and peoples, to communicate and share with them the gift of encounter with Christ.”
The Bishop of Oruro then recalled that “this new call from Christ” has been given the name “Continental Mission,” officially launched in Bolivia on April 26, in Cochabamba in the presence of all the Bishops of the Episcopal Conference, during the celebration of Holy Childhood Day.
This mission, the Bishop explained, “calls for a pastoral conversion of the community,” “making the one program of the Gospel continue to enter into the life of each person, to form men and women that our country needs, to be just, free, and live in brotherhood. The celebration of the launching of the Mission in Oruro featured symbols expressing gratitude for the gift of life, work, study, and the generosity that God has granted His People. (GT) (Agenzia Fides 7/10/2009)
