AMERICA/GUATEMALA - Year of Faith: a pastoral Letter denouncing violence

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Escuintla (Agenzia Fides) - It is time to "move from sin to life" with this invitation the Pastoral Letter of the Diocese of Escuintla begins, on the occasion of Lent in the Year of Faith 2013. In the text sent by the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala to Fides Agency, His Exc. Mgr. Victor Hugo Palma Paul, says: "We must confess that in our land of Escuintla there is sin: due to the indifference towards the poverty of brothers and sisters, family irresponsibility, in the abandonment of children and youth, in the climate of violence without justification, in the materialistic and selfish mentality that leads to forgetting God."
The Bishop says: "The climate of atrocious violence that our people live, the lack of respect for life and dignity of every human being unfortunately occur every day in the streets of the second most violent department of Guatemala, Escuintla. When someone is injured or killed by organized crime, there is fear and no one denounces the fact".
The letter, entitled "The love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor, 5:14), invites us to experience the Year of Faith by taking up the path of love to change this situation. The message proposes valuable tools to do this: personal prayer and community participation in the various activities of popular religiousness which keeps alive the Christian community throughout history. The text concludes with an invitation to participate in the pastoral life of the Church, especially in parishes, nucleus organized of the great Catholic community.
Guatemala, and the area of Escuintla, is considered the second most violent in the country for the amount of people murdered. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 26/02/2013)


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