Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - The National Missionary Council (COMINA) met at the headquarters of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Brasilia, to discuss plans and actions, including missionary work initiated this year in Haiti. “COMINA is the coordinating body for the missionary dimension and brings together the great missionary forces of the Church in Brazil, which are the CRB (Conference of Religious in Brazil) and the CNBB (Episcopal Conference). It makes its contribution to missionary consideration and also confronts the challenges,” said the President of COMINA, Bishop Sergio Castriani of the Prelature of Tefe (AM).
According to the President, among COMINA's course of actions, the missionary projects in East Timor (completed this year) and in Haiti should be emphasised. We must also recognize the progress in the missionary formation offered by the Cultural Missionary Centre where several courses and conferences were organised, such as the first Missionary Congress for seminarians. For Bishop Castriani, all these activities fall within the project 'Brazil in the Continental Mission'. “The Continental Mission in Brazil is not only a series of events, but the missionary vitality of the whole Church in Brazil, with gestures such as the Congress, the project of one million Bibles, and the popular mission,” he said.
In the note sent to Fides, the Bishop added: “The idea of the Continental Mission has taken shape in the Country. In Brazil we speak, we breathe, we reflect the mission. This does not mean that in practice it is all done, but people became convinced that mission is essential for the Church. The renewal of commitment that we seek, passes through the mission,” highlights Bishop Castriani.
The President of COMINA explained that in Brazil's case, the Conference of Aparecida was not a point of departure, but of arrival for the mission: “In Brazil, a landmark for missionary vitality was the Congress held in Belo Horizonte in 1995 (Latin American Missionary Congress 5). Already by that time we had missionary projects. Aparecida adds a new dimension when it proposes discipleship connected to the mission.” (CE) (Agenzia Fides 01/12/2010)
