Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bogota (Fides Service) - To be faithful to its commitment for peace the Church in Colombia is convinced that there two main paths to contribute to reaching its goal, integral evangelisation and dialogue and consultation. Speaking with Fides, Bishop Jorge Leonardo Gómez Serna O.P, Bishop of the northern diocese of Magangue, explained how the Church has undertaken to help Colombians realise their dignity as children of God and help them shoulder their responsibilities towards dealing with present situations and reaching objectives, searching for ways which render possible the desired changes.
Magangué - Bishop Jorge Leonardo Gómez told Fides- is an area rich in natural mineral resources and therefore contended by armed groups. “Fighting for control of the territory these groups often launch attack and massacre innocent civilians whom they accuse of helping the opposite militia group. They rob them not only of their land and possessions but also of their human dignity and human rights”.
In this situation the diocese undertook a special mission: a diocesan plan for renewal and re-evangelisation to help people realise their dignity as children of God, that they are part of a nation and united and organised they can be a force and as such they can demand from the government and from the guerrillas respect for individuals, families and lands. Along the same lines the local Church has launched another programme of ‘pastoral dialogue’ consisting of “meetings between the bishop, priests and people with members of the armed groups in particular the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the paramilitary group Colombian Self Defence (AUC). Only FARC refused to attend these meetings ” Bishop Gómez told Fides.
“This pastoral dialogue programme has functioned in various diocese for the past 8 years. They are a means of evangelisation among brothers who are outlaws also because they profess to be Catholics” the Bishop of Magangue told Fides. The meetings begin with reading from the Gospel and a reflection on the passage. Then in the light of the Word we remind people what Jesus expects of each person: work for the good of all people and not to commit evil or do anything that makes people suffer. Then the guerrillas are asked to examine their conscience in the light of the Gospel teaching. “We explain to the men that the Church does not side with any group and this allows her to speak with authority, independence and freedom and to say what she thinks”.
“This programme of dialogue has gradually helped to stop the intensity and violence of these armed attacks” the Bishop told Fides. “At first people were afraid to come to the meetings. Gradually they realised they could rely on us and that the armed groups respect what we are trying to do and this gave them confidence and now they have the courage to tell the armed groups how they feel and to demand respect which they obtain. The government on the other hand in these years has worked more with the leadership of the guerrilla warfare but without much result. We are convinced it is important to work at the level of the people because a people which is no longer dominated by fear but it organised and determined to make its rights respected, is able to face even armed groups. This was seen about a year ago when we went with a group of about 500 people we went a place where the guerrillas held three hostages. We spoke with the militiamen for a long time and in the end, seeing the people were also convinced, they agreed to release the hostages.” (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 15/7/2004; Righe 44 - Parole 647)
