VATICAN - Priorities for the Bishops of Equatorial Guinea: evangelisation ad gentes, family pastoral, ongoing formation for clergy and laity

Saturday, 31 May 2014

Mongomo (Agenzia Fides) – “Situated in the heart of central west Africa, the Church in Equatorial Guinea is one of the oldest in the sub-Sahara region. Our faithful here are the heirs of great missionary work undertaken by countless men and women of God who dedicated their life to the Gospel and to whom must go our immense gratitude ”. Meeting with the Bishops of Equatorial Guinea at Mongomo, in the afternoon of 30 May, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, recalled the history of the evangelisation of this territory affirming that the local Churches of Guinea “were and continue to be fundamental points of reference for the entire society each with its own pastoral and educative structures”. However today, also due to the scarcity or religious personnel, “it is an arduous task to accompany spiritually in an adequate manner the nation’s rapid economic progress”. He then encouraged the Bishops to give primary importance to the mission to announce the Gospel and to set precise common goals, to be pursued with ever greater dynamism, instilling in their co-workers a profound “sensus Ecclesiae”. The human and social difficulties of the people must therefore always be considered in the light of the spiritual and pastoral aspect. He urged the Bishops’ Conference to tackle difficulties within the Church. “Besides these, we must face with courage and clarity also other important pastoral matters, such as impulse to evangelisation ad gentes, pastoral care for families and the ongoing formation of the clergy; and, in particular, the challenge of the proliferation of religious sects”.
The Prefect of the Vatican’s Mission department reaffirmed that a principal task of the Bishop is discernment regarding candidates for the priesthood and the religious life, and on this subject he mentioned cases of priests committed mainly to achieving economic security and others who travel abroad to study and fail to return to the homeland. The result is obviously a scarcity of well trained clergy for service in the diocese. At the same time, those priests who devote themselves generously and selflessly, often under difficult circumstances, must be sustained with ongoing formation for the ministry ”.
Lastly Cardinal Filoni urged the Bishops of Guinea to turn more attention to the situation of their seminaries, in order to guarantee “higher and more complete formation of candidates to the priesthood” providing an adequate number of competent and well prepared formation staff and also to guarantee sound Christian formation for the laity, to enable them to take active part in evangelisation and the mission of the Church. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 31/05/2014)


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