AMERICA/BOLIVIA - American Missionary Congress: from the Synod of Bishops the impulse to consider America as "a unique reality"

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Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Agenzia Fides) - The evolution that led to the current American Missionary Congresses (CAM), the fifth which will be celebrated in the next days in Bolivia, starts with the Mexican National Missionary Congresses, which with the Congress of 1977 assumed an international character, making that event the first COMLA (Latin American Missionary Congress) of the missionary history. The last COMLA, the fifth, was celebrated in 1995 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (see Fides 3/7/2018).
In the wake of the Synod of Bishops for America, celebrated at the Vatican in 1997 in preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, which "considered America as a unique reality" (EA 5), it was decided that the continental missionary assembly of 1999 would have been one of the first fruits of the Synod, since it would have gathered for the first time in history all the missionaries from all over the continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Therefore, the Sixth COMLA, assuming a continental character, became the First American Missionary Congress (I CAM).

Sixth Latin American Missionary Congress and First American Missionary Congress
(COMLA 6 - CAM 1)
It took place from 28 September to 3 October 1999 in the city of Paraná (Argentina), on the theme "Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature".
Pope John Paul II in his message underlined that "the commitment to proclaim Christ concerns the whole Church, but today it is particularly urgent in America, where many circles of American society have never heard of Jesus Christ". In this perspective, he urged the Churches of the American continent to dedicate themselves with self-denial and generosity to bring the message of Christ everywhere, "the most precious treasure that the Church in America can offer the world". CAM I in its final conclusions clearly showed an increased missionary awareness.

Second American Missionary Congress (CAM 2)
The second American Missionary Congress (CAM 2) took place in Guatemala City (Guatemala) from 25 to 30 November 2003 on the theme "Church in America, your life is mission." It was based on three themes: Smallness, Poverty and Martyrdom, which characterizes the Church that lives in Central America. It wanted to be a privileged opportunity to propose a missionary evangelization not only "with and for" the poor and the little ones, but starting from them, which at the same time establishes its roots in a soil fertilized with the blood of the martyrs of yesterday and today. CAM 2 offered the opportunity to different ethnic groups and, in general, to all the African-American indigenous people and to the excluded of the Continent, the opportunity to show their face, the expression of their pain and their hope.

Third American Missionary Congress (CAM 3)
The capital of Ecuador, Quito, hosted the Third American Missionary Congress (CAM 3) from 12 to 17 August 2008, with the theme "The Church in missionary discipleship" and as a slogan "America with Christ: listens, learns and announces".
In tune with the V General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate (CELAM) celebrated in Aparecida (Brazil), "missionary discipleship" was chosen as the central theme. The conclusion of CAM 3 marked the beginning of the Continental Mission, which invited all the Churches of the continent to put themselves in a state of mission, as proposed by the document of Aparecida. In the conclusions it was affirmed that the mission Ad Gentes is "Mission for humanity", it is "service to the future of humanity!" "For this reason, as lay people, religious, priests and bishops of America, we assume with enthusiasm and ecclesial co-responsibility the Mission Ad gentes, which implies a personal conversion and the change of pastoral structures so that the Gospel reaches all men and women who have thirst for God".

Fourth American Missionary Congress (CAM 4)
The Fourth American Missionary Congress (CAM 4) took place in Venezuela, in Maracaibo, from 26 November to 1 December 2013. The theme was still that of missionary discipleship: "Missionary disciples of Jesus Christ from America in a secularized and multicultural world". The slogan: "Missionary America, share your faith".
The American continent was invited to share its faith and to reflect on the mission from a discipleship point of view, in a world that presents itself as secularized and pluricultural. The conclusions insisted on missionary formation at all levels: for the clergy, for religious life and for the laity; also on the preparation of missionaries for the mission ad gentes. The need to consider, in the missionary approach, the reality of migrants and of human mobility is also underlined. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 4/7/2018)