AMERICA/CUBA - 1st National Catholic Mission Assembly to give new impulse to missionary activity and respond to present day challenges

Friday, 20 May 2005

Havana (Fides Service) - The 1st National Catholic Mission Assembly to be held in Havana from 24 to 28 May Missioni will bring all the missionary forces of the Catholic Church in Cuba to reflect on the path outlined by the 2nd American Mission held in Guatemala 2001. This national assembly is a major event of this “Year of Mission” promoted by the Bishops of Cuba for 2005 with the theme “Let us announce Christ accompanied by Our Lady of Charity”.
In a report to Fides Fr. Raúl Rodríguez Dago national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Cuba said the event will bring together 160 delegates representing all 11 Catholic dioceses in Cuba. Most of the delegates will be lay people who devote some of their free time to missionary activity. The Assembly aims to give new impulse to missionary activity in Cuba to respond to present day challenges, to thank God for the past and the present life of the local Church. The Assembly aims also to revive the mission spirituality and vocation of people already involved in this field so they may share their missionary ardour and help to spread it in their communities.
One of the guests will be Bishop Victorino Giraldi from Costa Rica, President of the Bishops Commission for Missions who will speak on the “Urgency of Mission”. Other talks will be given on the following themes: “History of the Church in Cuba”; “presentation of missionary situations in Cuba: results and difficulties”; “announcing Jesus Christ and building the Christian community”; “the missionary parish”; new communities, evangelisation of popular piety and religious syncretism, new forums, the family, youth, women and mission. The assembly will close on Saturday 28 May with a solemn Mass in Havana cathedral presided by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana and President of the Cuban Bishops’ Conference. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 20/5/2005, righe 24, parole 306)


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