Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
San Salvador (Agenzia Fides) - “It has been the most attended meeting in the last four years; 49 bishops from various ecclesial provinces of Central America have come together,” said Bishop Pedro Hernandez Cantarero, Apostolic Vicar of Darien (Panama) in sharing his reflections with Agenzia Fides, on the annual meeting of the Bishops' Secretariat of Central America (SEDAC). “Every one of the ecclesial provinces is living its own situation, having recently held elections or preparing for upcoming elections. Thus, the meeting has helped us to support one another and continue forward on the right foot, carrying out the mission that the Lord has placed in our hands.”
During the Assembly, Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes of Managua (Nicaragua) was elected President of the SEDAC for the next four years. Archbishop Brenes will substitute Costa Rican Bishop Jose Francisco Ulloa Rojas. Elected as Secretary General of SEDAC is Bishop Jorge Solorzano of Matagalpa (Nicaragua). With this election, “we give our moral support in response to what is taking place in Nicaragua in this moment in history. The Bishops of Costa Rica have also felt support in facing the moral persecution that is being lived out on national level,” the Apostolic Vicar of Darien explained.
Among the themes treated in the encounter are “the immediate preparation for the Great Continental Mission, as a continental commitment that several ecclesial provinces have already launched and that many others are about to launch. We were able to address important themes like climate changes and all the consequences being suffered as a result of man-made destruction, things that are already being seen, such as the extreme floods in Costa Rica and Panama right now. We have also addressed the theme of the financial crisis of our peoples. We also reflected on the figure of Saint Paul, in this his Jubilee Year, which is of great importance for the continental mission and that leads us forward in working for the good of our people in the missionary dimension, and in preaching the Gospel with every available means.”
Moreover, during this Assembly “we were granted the possibility of connecting to all the Central American provinces, in placing 85 web-transmitters, so as to communicate this message to our land, as part of the effort being made to keep the faithful informed of all the Bishops are doing for the good of our people.”
In addition, the first Central American Colloquium on Canon Law also came to a close during these days. The event was being held in honor of the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law. The theme was the experience of Church tribunals and the problem of marriage annulments in the Church. There were various talks on the issue, given by specialists from the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Dean of Faculty of the Canon Law Department at the Pontifical “Javeriana” University in Bogota (Colombia), several specialists from El Salvador who work in the Church Tribunal in San Salvador, including the Ambassador of Guatemala in El Salvador and the Ambassador of the Order of Malta, in addition to members of the Church Tribunal of Guatemala, Honduras, and Santa Ana (El Salvador). “They were two full days, which kept us all on the edge of our seats. We have seen the need to continue reflecting on these issues and inviting other people, both laity and clergy, to help to instill the use of canonical norms that will help have a more authentic pastoral work, filled with love and mercy - above all, for who feel estranged from the Church for having contracted marital separations and re-marriage without taking the proper measures within the Church and who feel Christ's presence far from them.”
“Our Church in Central America seeks to carry out the process of evangelization that makes Christ more present among us,” Bishop Pedro Hernandez concluded. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 2/11/2008)
