Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guatemala City (Fides Service) – “As the date of the 2nd American Missionary Congress - CAM 2 (25-30 November, in Guatemala City) involving the entire continent of America, approaches, in the six central American countries responsible for its preparation and celebration the number of initiatives have increased considerably”: emeritus Bishop Gerardo Flores Reyes, Verapaz (Guatemala) who is a member of the Guatemalan Bishops’ Commission Missions, tells Fides Service.
Bishop Flores Reyes refers for example to the work of hundreds of thousands of pastoral workers mission animators all over the region who have been visiting families. Many dioceses and parishes are holding missionary congresses, missionary weeks, marches and pilgrimages…as part of the Missionary Holy Year proclaimed by the Bishops of Central America starting with the first Sunday of Advent 2002 to the feast of Christ the King on 23 November 2003. On May 31 Santa Ana diocese in El Salvador, held a missionary party for thousands of people from 14 parishes with their Bishop Romeo Tovar Astorga. In Ixil, a remote area of Quiché diocese, Guatemala, from 3 to 5 June some 8000 people took part in a missionary celebration with their priests, catechists and mission animators.
One important initiative is the missionary pilgrimage of images of the Crucified Christ of Esquipulas with that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, people in America are very devoted to both these images. It started in November in Panama and has been touching all the dioceses in central America. Bishops of the dioceses already visited in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, say the spiritual fruits (change of heart, reception of the sacraments, commitment to a Christian life) are far more than foreseen even by the most optimistic. People came into the streets in masse to welcome the holy images, they filled the churches and welcome the missionary message with great availability.
“News, comments and request for information about preparations for the Congress are coming in from all over America - Bishop Gerardo Flores Reyes tells Fides Service- . We are happy about the imminent celebration of the national missionary congress in Peru, and the one already celebrated in Ecuador, and the one which will take place from 17 to 21 July in Brazil. We have also heard about large celebrations in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. All these initiatives intend to increase missionary awareness among the people, which is essential in the Church” says Bishop. Gerardo. “There is also great enthusiasm in Canada and many other countries on our Continent. Every country has already sent to the Central Commission the enrolment papers for their delegates to CAM 2 and many have asked if they may send more than the established number”. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 11/6/2003; lines 35; words 477)
