Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Portoviejo (Agenzia Fides) - The people of Ecuador are making an intense effort in the face of the debate taking place in the Constitutive Assembly on crucial issues such as the legalization of abortion, the recognition of homosexual unions as a marriage, and the elimination of God’s name from the new Constitution. “Faced with this situation, the Church could not remain silent,” said Sister Inmaculada Doncel, Superior of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother in Chone (Diocese of Portoviejo), who in response to the Bishops’ appeal have taken an extremely active part in the effort to block these decisions.
As the religious sister explained to Fides, the Ecuadorian Bishops’ Conference, along with other institutions such as CORPEDUCAR (Ecuadorian Corporation for Quality Education), CONFEDEPAL (Ecuadorian Confederation of Independent Lay Schools), CONFEDEC (Ecuadorian Confederation of Catholic Educational Institutions), CEPAFEC, CONESA (National Council of Salesian Education), and “Fe y Alegría” (Movement of Integral Popular Education and Social Promotion), organized the collection of signatures on a national level. With these signatures, the faithful of Ecuador were able to present various petitions at the National Constitutive Assembly 2008. Among them were: to invoke God’s protection in the Preamble of the Constitution, to guarantee the right to life from conception until natural death without exceptions, to guarantee the protection of the family (recognizing the union of man and woman as the only foundation for a family, to guarantee freedom of education and the right of parents to choose their children’s education.
At the Parish Church of San Cayetano, where these Sisters are working, the collection of signatures began as soon as the news reached them. The youth of the parish themselves decided to go two by two visiting the university, hospitals, health centers, schools, markets...to inform the people on what was happening and collect signatures. At the university, there was a panel organized with six experts on the issue to give talks and offer the university students information on abortion from a medical, psychological, legal, social, economic, and moral point of view. With this Forum began the “Pro-Life Day” that included various activities, including an outdoor Mass in front of the parish, located in the heart of the city. The Mass was followed be a pro-life march with a “serenade to mothers” in the city’s Plaza Civica, with the theme: “Thanks, mom, for having chosen life.”
All the signatures collected were presented in the city Eloy Alfaro in Montecristi, headquarters of the Constitutive Assembly, by the President of the Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Antonio Aguerri to the Assembly’s President Alberto Acosta, in the presence of a multitude of young people and professors from various schools who had met there. A total of 61,700 signatures were presented. The Parish of San Cayetano alone contributed 9,537.
In addition to the Pro-Life Day, pro-life groups have also begun to be formed in the universities and high schools. In the last month, members of several youth groups have taken advantage of their weekly formation meetings to study these themes, through talks and videos, as they themselves will be the ones visiting classrooms to speak on the issue to their classmates. Another phenomena that has arisen is the “Fraternidad blanca” (“White Fraternity”), in order to promote the pro-life spirit among children, who among other commitments promise to pray for this intention.
As Sr. Inmaculada Doncel explains, “it is vital that Catholics do not remain indifferent. We are glad to see the positive response of so many young people who have been courageous enough to meet this challenge with responsibility and generosity, having contributed to the defense of life and the truth.” The Sister added that thanks to this action taken, “many people have become aware of the sacred value of the human person, the greatness of this dignity from the moment of conception. It has also been a cause for unity with our non-Catholic Christian brethren.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 27/05/2008; righe 52, parole 646)
