AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Bishops, shepherd of God’s people have “the duty to look at the signs of the times in the reality of the country and to take care to illuminate, on the basis of faith, the situations in which the people of God live”. Bishops’ Conference plenary discusses Problems and challenges of Colombian society

Tuesday, 6 July 2004

Bogota (Fides Service) - “Evangelisation and Christian Initiation” is the theme of a plenary assembly of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference opened yesterday 5 July at the Conference’s offices in Bogota. Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Sáenz, Archbishop of Bogota and President of the Bishops’ Conference said in his opening address that Bishops “as shepherd of God’s people have the duty to look at the signs of the times in the reality of the country and to take care to illuminate, on the basis of faith, the situations in which the people of God live. This duty obliges the search and analysis of the causes of the main problems and challenges facing Colombians today”. From this point of view the bishops are giving ample space to identifying the causes which generate separation of life and faith and opportune pastoral strategies to deal with it. Experts on human behaviour suggest different reasons for explaining this ‘divorce’, “the Church is certain that distance from God lead to incoherence and a break between life and faith ”.
Recalling Pope John Paul II’s exhortation to the Bishops during their recent ad limina visit in Rome to make evangelisation a priority, Cardinal Rubiano said that a country like Colombia for years in a situation of civil conflict which causes so many innocent victims and generates poverty, insecurity and undermines capacities for integral development, the Church’s priority work of evangelisation is directed to promoting peace and reconciliation. In this way it helps to build society on solid Christian principles of truth, justice, love and freedom, promoting forgiveness born from sincere desire for reconciliation with God and with others. In fact “the high rate of credibility which the people reserve for the Bishops is a consequence of the Church’s firm proclamation of the Gospel and her disinterested and transparent commitment at the service of the common good and the nation” the Cardinal added.
The President of the Bishops’ Conference said that the word which best describes the situation in the country is “conflict” (= violence, terrorism, exclusion, forced migration, corruption drug trafficking, poverty, unemployment). To this situation the Plenary Assembly give special attention to make a joint analysis “in order to give guidelines which in the light of the Gospel facilitate the building of a fraternal society of solidarity and help find solutions to conflicts to achieve peace with social justice”.
Among the questions which, according to the Bishops of Colombia, are essential for reconciliation and peace and on which the local Church is working, Cardinal Rubiano mentioned: negotiate peace among parties in conflict; humanitarian agreement for release of civilians held by FARC, not to be mistaken for exchange of prisoners demanded by the guerrillas; forced migration, impoverishment and unemployment problems ever more acute. Ten years ago, in1994, there were 600,000 displaced persons from rural areas, today an estimated 2 million people come under the mechanisms of state protection. More than 36,000 are legal refugees in other countries, and some 40,000 more are on the waiting list. Compared to a rich minority, millions of men and women have no social benefits. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 6/7/2004; righe 38 parole 545)


Share: