AMERICA - Lay responsibility and lay formation to renew the Church in America: theme of 34ª meeting of Bishops of Canada, United States and Latin America

Toronto (Fides Service) - Bishops representing Conferences of the United States USCCB, Canada CECC and Latin America and the Caribbean CELAM gathered for the 34th Inter-America Meeting 14 and 15 February in Toronto Canada. Participants were a total 22 delegates: 11 from Latin America, 6 from the United States and 5 from Canada. Reflecting on the theme of the meeting “Lay Catholics disciples of Jesus Christ and protagonists in the world and their pastoral accompaniment”, the Bishops discussed the role, responsibility and formation of the laity, taking inspiration from paragraphs 41 and 44 of the post synodal exhortation Ecclesia in America which stress the importance of an active presence of the laity to renew the Church in America. The theme was chosen in harmony with that proposed by the 5th General Conference of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean to be held in Aparecida (Brazil) in May 2007 on the theme "Disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ, that our countries may have life in Him”.
The delegates from America Latin America and the Caribbean spoke about the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church; the Bishops of the United States focused on the conditions of lay people as operators of the transformation of the world of today and the Canadian Bishops highlighted the need to offer formation and accompaniment to these pastoral workers. These meetings of the Bishops of the Church in America have been held annually since 1967, on issues which concern the whole continent. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 18/2/2006 - righe 19, parole 259)