Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
João Pessoa (Agenzia Fides) – More than 350 participants are taking part in the 4th National Missionary Congress of Seminarians, known as 4Cominse, which began last Monday and will continue until next Sunday. The event, organized by the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) and by the national coordination of the Missionary Councils of Seminarians (COMISE), welcomes seminarians from all over the country, both diocesan and religious, of all stages of formation.
Not only seminarians but also rectors, seminary formators, bishops and guests are among those who are taking part in the 4Cominse. "Missio ad gentes in the formation of seminarians" is the theme that is accompanying these days. The motto is the biblical verse "You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1,8).
The main objective is to encourage and improve the missionary formation of future priests in Brazil, so that mission is central to formation and helps them to acquire an authentic missionary spirit.
The initiative, which on Saturday includes a missionary experience in thirteen communities of the archdiocese of Paraíba, is supported by the collaboration of the Episcopal Commission for Missionary Action and Inter-Church Cooperation of the CNBB, the Episcopal Commission for Ordained Ministries, and the Consecrated Life by the CNBB, the Organization of Brazilian Seminaries and Institutes (OSIB) and the Conference of Religious of Brazil (CRB).
Among the speakers at the Congress: Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, OFM Conv, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU), Sr. Regina da Costa Pedro PIME, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa CP, Bishop of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES), and Msgr. Antônio Luiz Catelan Ferreira, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. Conferences, thematic panels and sharing of missionary experiences are marking the "typical" days of 4Cominse whose works were opened last Tuesday by the report of the PMU Secretary General on "Why the missio ad gentes?" in the light of Pope Francis' message for World Mission Day 2022. Father Nguyen answered the basic question of his speech by taking up some passages from the Holy Father's message and emphasizing in particular the call of all Christians to bear witness to Christ, the perennial actuality of a mission of universal evangelization and the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The missionary life of the Church was therefore at the center of the first day of reflections that continued yesterday with the in-depth study of the teachings of the Church's Magisterium on the missio ad gentes. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 14/7/2022)
