AMERICA/CHILE - Bishops of Chile examine “the challenge of putting the whole Church in a permanent state of mission.”

Santiago de Chile (Agenzia Fides) – November 16-20, the town of Punta de Tralca will host the 98th Plenary Assembly of the Chilean Bishops' Conference. One of the themes will be: "the situation on the eve of national parliamentary and presidential elections." According to the press release issued, the Bishops will face "the challenge of putting the whole Church in a permanent state of mission." To do so, they will have to assess the progress of the “Continental Mission,” an initiative from the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean (Aparecida 2007), which invites the community to come out of churches and parishes to meet the people, hear their stories and their life context, to communicate the joy of Christ. The bishops will analyze the experience of this process at a national and diocesan level, and reflect on the contribution that the Church, through this renewal of the community, will offer Chilean society in commemorating the bicentennial.
The Assembly will end on Friday, November 20 with a Eucharist presided over by Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, who supported Cardinal Antonio Samorè in the process of Papal mediation between Chile and Argentina for the old maritime dispute, and who is now in Chile to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of peace and friendship between the two nations. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 16/11/2009)