The Listening phase having concluded — of the preparation for the First Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean –, Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, President of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), published a Message in which he stresses that listening must be “a constant in our pastoral mission.”
This First Assembly “is unprecedented in history and will be a true bridge in the middle of the most important ‘watershed’ of this generation, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the many other pandemics and ideologies that affect humanity,” said Monsignor Cabrejos, who is also President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.
The Ecclesia Assembly “is the expression of a ‘kairos’ of God, namely, a propitious time to take forward the dreams discerned by the Church for the People of God and the calls of the Holy Spirit in Vatican Council II, which at this moment are ever more urgent, which had an echo in the Conference of Aparecida, of which we have a grateful memory and actualize its challenges.”
This Listening phase, said the Prelate, “has put in ‘movement’ all the local Churches of the 22 Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, where the broad participation of the People of God has been through the very many individual and communal contributions, as well as the great number of inter-disciplinary Thematic Forums carried out synchronically and a-synchronically, which enables us to pick up many points of view and initiatives as a model of a genuine desire to be heard, to take part in walking as the Church, despite the difficulties and differences.”
“The People of God has pronounced itself. It’s for us to let ourselves be questioned by their voices to make them our own and to take up the call God has made to us for pastoral conversion,” he added.
Here is a translation of the Prelate’s full Message.
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Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, President of CELAM
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
We have concluded the Listening phase in preparation of the First Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held from November 21-28 of this year in a mixed way (face-to-face and telematics), whose face-to-face phase will take place in the Casa Lago [Lake House] headquarters of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, and whose opening and closing ceremonies will take place in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
This First Assembly is unprecedented in the history of the Latin American Church and will be a true bridge in the middle of the most important “watershed” of this generation and in the midst of the crisis caused by COVID-19 and many other pandemics and ideologies that affect humanity
The Ecclesial Assembly is an expression of a “kairos” of God, namely, a propitious time to carry forward the dreams discerned by the Church, by the People of God, and the calls of the Holy Spirit in Vatican Council II, which are increasingly urgent at this moment and which had an echo in the Conference of Aparecida of which we make a grateful memory and actualize its challenges.
We have lived a first stage of the time of Listening, of preparation for the Assembly, which forms part of the path that the Holy Father himself has marked out for the whole Church, the synodal path, of the Church in the Third Millennium and connected with the processes that go “from the peripheries” to the Center, to discover the Will of God.
In his Message to launch this Ecclesial Assembly, Pope Francis underscores the novelty of this meeting of the People of God, with the participation of the laity, consecrated men and women, priests, Bishops and also members of the peripheries on a path where there is prayer, thought, speech, discussion, search and discernment of the Will of God.
Listening must be a constant in our pastoral mission and, in this first phase, it’s the source for the elaboration of the Document of Discernment for the Assembly which will give us important keys for the renewal and revitalization of our way of being Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, because today as yesterday “the joys and hopes, the sadness and anguish of the men of our time, especially of the poor and the suffering, are at the same time joy and hope, sadness and anguish of the disciples of Christ” (GS 1); therefore, we must continue to privilege mutual Listening in each one of our pastoral bodies and local Churches.
The methodological process of the Pan-Amazonian Synod of October 2019 has been a source of this process of listening of the Ecclesial Assembly directed to the whole of Latin American and Caribbean Church, forming part also of the process of the Synod on Synodality, which opens on October 9-10 of this year until 2023.
For CELAM, the contribution made by Listening is a great pastoral treasure, which undoubtedly will nourish not only the First Ecclesial Assembly, but also the process of renewal and restructuring, which has been discerned and implemented for more than two years, to walk in synodality and ecclesiality in CELAM’s actions and organizational structures, as well as in its decision-making processes and pastoral actions, but also in the service of each local Church in the Common Mission of being missionary disciples going forth.
There is no doubt that “we need each Christian community to become a powerful center of radiation of life in Christ” (DAp 362), and each is invited to look with greater depth Cf. TMI), recognizing in this process of listening and in the Assembly an instrument that we must be appropriate, embrace and carry forward in every place, in every specific Church, even beyond the experience of the Ecclesial Assembly as such, so that it bears fruits.
This Listening phase has put in “movement” all the local Churches of the 22 Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, where the broad participation of the People of God has been through many individual and communal contributions, as well as a great quantity of inter-disciplinary Telematics Forums carried out synchronically and a-synchronically that enable us to pick up many points of view and initiatives as a model of a genuine desire to be heard, to take part in walking as Church, despite the difficulties and differences.
The People of God has pronounced itself; it’s for to us to allow ourselves to be questioned by their voices and make them our own and to take up God’s call to us for pastoral conversion. Therefore, it’s necessary that we continue to be committed to the process of the Ecclesial Assembly:
1. Assuming the concrete commitments stemming from Listening, called to accompany the local Churches and those that, from the peripheries, have often not been heard.
2. Inviting those that are elected delegates to take part with enthusiasm and hope, as well as those that aren’t delegates, to follow the process of the Ecclesial Assembly from their communities, which, as we said earlier, will be in a mixed way (face-to-face and telematics).
- Accompanying, as People of God, all the processes of reflection, of discernment in the respective structures to be able to “appropriate” this path, be nourished by it, and bear fruits, projecting ourselves also to the post-Assembly phase.
As Episcopalis Communio reminds us, “every synodal process begins in the People of God and ends necessarily in the People of God; therefore, this process commits CELAM to accompany the synodal and ecclesial processes in Latin America and the Caribbean, both in their contents as well as in its renewed structures for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Dear brothers and sisters, we want to encourage all to continue being an essential part of this process, to continue being that incarnate Church that is weaved gradually, where synodality is a means. Where the People of God are the Subject, where the Church is Mother and Teacher that embraces, boosts, and accompanies, and where the horizon is the Lord’s Gospel and the building of His Kingdom.
Peace and Goodness.
Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte OFM
Metropolitan Archbishop of Trujillo
President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference
President of CELAM
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
