San Jose de Costa Rica (Fides Service) – Promote, animate and increase missionary spirit so as to increase awareness of the evangelising mission of the Church and the duty to respond to mission “ad gentes”. These are the objectives of the archdiocese of San Jose de Costa Rica which has organised 4 to 6 July the first archdiocesan meeting on missions in preparation for the second all American Mission Congress (CAM 2) in November Guatemala City. The meeting which will take place at the college seminary of San Jose archdiocese will be attended by about 400 delegates from different dioceses, bishops, priests, missionary groups religious involved in missionary work or anxious to learn more on the world of mission.
The programme of the meetings includes assemblies, workshops, prayer with the missionary Rosary, missionary testimony and a Missionary Exhibition where the different congregations and groups will present their activity. The themes to be studied and discussed are particularly important:
“Mission in the Acts of the Apostles”, “Missionary Figures in Costa Rica”, “Witness and mission”, “The Holy Spirit, main agent of mission”, “steps of mission in the recent history of the Church”, “the Pontifical Mission Societies”, “Mission ad gentes”, “Missionary experiences in Central America”, “the Popes and mission”, “Redemptoris Missio encyclical by a missionary Pope ”, “The Rosary and mission”. The meeting with close with a solemn concelebration of the Eucharist presided by Bishop Vittorino Girardi of Tilaran (Costa Rica). (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 2/07/2003; lines 20, words 254).