AMERICA/BRAZIL - CELAM 5 in Aparecida - Bishops' Conference presidents address the assembly: “We cannot wait for the faithful to come to us we must go out to them, on a new mission to call everyone to live the Church as the family of God ”

Wednesday, 16 May 2007

Aparecida (Fides Service) - The agenda of 5th General Conference of the Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean which opened in Aparecida, Brazil on May 13 includes reports from the presidents of the respective Bishops' Conferences of the different countries as well as interventions by Prefects and Presidents of Vatican Congregations in Rome. Here are some of the questions presented in the reports.
Chilean Bishop Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar of the dioceses of Valparaíso and vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Chile said in his intervention that the numerous signs of desperation noted among the Chilean people call for a necessary and indispensable "courageous examination of conscience with regard to our fidelity to the Gospel, to the commitments and guidelines given by previous CELAM General Conferences... to assess in the light of the Gospel our style of life and activity, the content and pedagogy of our pastoral ministry ".
The president of the Peruvian Bishops' Conference, Bishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, emphasised that on the continent of America "the heritage of the Catholic faith has not yet been fully and solidly planted once and for all. It is exposed to erosion due to infidelity, fatigue and the little faith of those called to live and proclaim it. The Church's process of conversion towards the Lord and her journey of purification and renewal never stops it is continual". Our heritage Bishop Cabrejos said, "challenges our human and Christian conscience when we observe the great problems in Latin America and concretely in Peru" such as poverty, religious sects, violence, scarcity of concrete commitment. In this situation the Bishop recalled the "urgent necessity to educate our faithful to read and meditate the Word of God, to educate them to live and participate in the Eucharistic life and this calls for specific catechesis, more effort in vocations pastoral and family pastoral care. We cannot wait for the faithful to come to us we must go out to them, on a new mission to call everyone to live the Church as the family of God ".
Bishop Carlos María Collazzi of Mercedes, president of the Bishops' Conference of Uruguay, said he hoped the conference would identify pastoral options to "promote the process of Christian initiation, help those already baptised to rediscover it. The need for new evangelisation drives us to announce the Kerygma with ardour... we must continue to announce the Gospel, clarify what is meant by "mission", give special attention to young people women, indigenous peoples and Afro-Americans".
On behalf of the president of the Bishops' Conference of Argentina, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio s.j. said "the Catholic tradition of our country is challenged by religious pluralism and a proliferation of religious groups", and that superficial evangelisation was the reason why "part of that baptised country has little sense of belonging to the Catholic Church."
Bishop Álvaro Ramazzini Imeri, president of the Bishops' Conference of Guatemala, reported on the situation in his country highlighting difficulties common to the whole continent and asked how to fulfil to the best of our ability our responsibility towards God who pins his hope on us and before us? How to keep alive the spiritual and dynamism pastoral which emerged from Rio de Janeiro, not forgetting the providential Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America?
Bishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, speaking on behalf of the Bishops of El Salvador, said it was their hope that the Conference: "will help the pilgrim Church in Salvador to become a community of disciples and missionaries to render present the Kingdom of Christ in society thus transforming it and offering everyone the means of reaching eternal salvation". Among the priorities he mentioned to foster a life of holiness, prayer, Sunday Mass, listening to the Word of God and he stressed the need to support the formation of pastoral workers in every parish.
Expectations mentioned by the President of the Bishops' Conference of the Dominican Republic, Bishop Ramón Benito De La Rosa e Carpio, included: diocesan and national plans for discipleship and mission; an outline of the profile of the priest; precise guidelines for formation of seminarians and how to intensify the Church's preferential option for the poor. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 16/5/2007; righe 54, parole 711)


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