Conference to Awaken Latin America, Cardinal Says
Jan 22, 2007
Aims to Form Discipleship and Missionary Spirit
ROME, JAN. 21, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America will address a continent that is majority Christian, but that lacks catechesis, says the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga explained that the conference, which Benedict XVI will open May 13 in Brazil, seeks to "awaken" Catholics of the "continent of hope."
The cardinal said this in an address he delivered Tuesday, where he explained the theme of the conference: "Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ so That Our Peoples Will Have Life in Him -- 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.'"
"Many thought that the theme of discipleship was very generic. Why not speak of the widespread poverty in Latin America? However, the more we reflected, the more we realized that this theme of discipleship … is not generic," the cardinal said.
Lacking disciples
"We realize that we have baptized persons who are not sufficiently disciples," Cardinal Rodríguez added. "This has led [the episcopal council] to open a center of biblical pastoral care. So headway is being made with 'lectio divina,' the prayerful reading of the word of God.
"We found an enormous response in youth. The 'lectio-surfers' have been born, young people who reflect on the Word of God through the Internet.
"It is said that Latin America is the continent of hope, and of the greatest number of Catholics, but I give it nuances: baptized, yes; catechized, much less so."
Catechized missionaries
The cardinal explained that this catechesis gives rise to missionary zeal. "The great sending of the Lord Jesus is a command not only for those missionaries who are going to Africa, but for each baptized person.
"The missionary heart must be revived. I repeat this everywhere: the missionary heart has fallen asleep among the baptized. We are happy to be known as … 'the majority in the Church,' but we are asleep.
"We must feel happy to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are even afraid to set up the nativity scene … we must be missionaries -- intrepid -- like St. Paul."
Referring to the final part of the theme, the cardinal added that social issues are implied in "life in Christ. "
In this "human, Christian life of charity, the whole issue of social life enters, the evangelization of culture, of politics, of the economy," he said. "Life without ethics is leaving us without meaning, trapped in circles of violence."
Conference to Awaken Latin America, Cardinal Says