Amazonia for the Church
(ANS - Vatican City – April 17) –
On April 12-13, the first pre-synodal council meeting of the Special Assembly
of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region was held, with Pope Francis presiding.
The theme of the synod, scheduled for October 2019, is “Amazonia: new paths for
the Church and for an integral ecology.”
The meeting was attended by the 18 members of the council and 13
experts, who examined the draft of the preparatory
document for the synod. A Salesian of Tuyuca origin, Fr. Justino Sarmento Rezende, the first
indigenous Salesian ordained to the priesthood, 24 years ago, was among the
participants. (Fr. Rezende belongs to the SDB Campo Grande Province in Brazil, based in Mato Grasso State.)
After related proposals for improvement, the document was approved by
the council and will now be transmitted, together with a questionnaire, to all episcopal
conferences and other bodies involved to start pre-synodal consultations.
“The Church is watching us. It is with us with its heart and mind,
placing in the people of Amazonia the hope of receiving important
contributions, so that the Church may be in time grow increasingly rooted at
the local and more universal level,” said a satisfied Fr. Rezende.
Fr. Rezende was also the author of one of the reports presented to the council,
which he did on April 12. In addition to expressing his joy at being able to
meet Pope Francis for the first time, he expressed his wish, on behalf of the
indigenous peoples, to “give thanks for the many missionaries, priests, and bishops
who gave their lives for us, the peoples of Amazonia and the indigenous
peoples. Some were martyred to defend us, and many of them acquired an
indigenous face, learning its culture, language, and traditions, and today they
are buried in mission lands.... Thanks to this missionary work, many lay people
in the Church, catechists, extraordinary ministers, religious, and priests have
emerged. And this is the face we must offer as a Church.”
According to the Salesian, the synod will be “a very important moment to
show the ways of the Church in our region and to propose new paths, keeping in
mind our Christian life and our commitment to the defense of nature, our way of
practicing an economy, sustainability, and pastoral life....”
“We indigenous peoples, evangelized and evangelizers, can contribute to
the enrichment of our Church,” concluded Fr. Rezende.
For Catholic News Service’s coverage:
https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?utm_source=ConstantContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Dailynewsletter&ID=182082
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