AMERICA/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - 500 years on from the creation of the first dioceses in the New World, Bishops recall that “the Catholic Church has been present throughout the country's history”

Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) – The Dominican Episcopal Conference, through a pastoral letter, presented a summary of the evangelizing work of the Church throughout the history of the Dominican people. The reason is the celebration of 500 years from the creation of the first dioceses in the New World. In a pastoral document, sent to Fides, a summary is presented of the Church's history since colonial times and the challenges that the first priests in the newly discovered lands.
“The Church has been able to develop a creative imagination and give rise to a religious personality capable of living in this world and providing new pastoral methods and new religious communities to meet the challenges of changing times,” reads the letter.
The presence of the Catholic Church is an essential part of the history of the Dominican Republic, as evidenced by the Bishops in the document: “Despite its defects and its errors, the presence of the Catholic faith and of the ecclesial institution have established themselves throughout the entire history of the Dominican people, shaping its life through the experience of her teaching and through the social work of its members, despite the limits of the institutions and pastoral resources.”
The document also reaffirms that the Church was and is a missionary Church, open to external missionary cooperation and grateful for the support of many priests, religious, laity and men and women who have come from overseas to contribute with their work.
The letter also notes that, given the continuing precariousness of the public education system and of the health system, the Church has also shown itself to be deeply committed to the social needs of the nation, especially in education and health. It also says that the Church has assumed the role of prophetic and civil mediator in a society that lacks institutional features and exists permanently exposed to instability. In this regard, the letter also mentions that the Church is free, because without political ties and controls, it has reached such levels of freedom that have allowed dissent and her prophetic work.
The Episcopal Conference published the pastoral letter, “500 years of Mission, evangelising the Country” to commemorate the creation of the first three American dioceses: Santo Domingo, La Vega (both in the Dominican Republic) and San Juan de Puerto Rico, through the Bull “Romanus Pontifex” issued by Pope Julius II, 8 August 1511. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 27/01/2011)