EUROPE/SPAIN - Studying new ways to support missionary work

Burgos (Agenzia Fides) – The main goal of the XXV Symposium of Missiology in Burgos, Spain, from 2 to 4 March, was to find new ways to support missionary work: so said the director of the Institute of Missiology for the Faculty of Theology in the North of Spain, Fr Eloy Bueno de la Fuente, presenting at the opening and the conclusion of the event. Fr Eloy added that, through the Symposium dedicated to “missionary cooperation”, “a new theological and pastoral perspective” was sought for missions. Speaking at the opening, the director of the Institute of Missiology indicated that currently there is “a great international movement” by society and and there is work in volunteering to act as “support for missionary work and for evangelisation.”
Father Vito Del Prete, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU), spoke on the morning of 3 March on the “future of missionary cooperation.” Father Del Prete emphasised that “missionary cooperation and the work of evangelisation go together, hand in hand” and that “today, cooperation does not mean assistance of support for the mission but rather direct participation in the universal mission and a solid commitment to evangelisation.” In this regard, said that “if there is an reawakening of the true apostolic spirit, the Pontifical Mission Societies will also grow and develop, and many more people will be taken about the cause of missions.”
The Symposium, which ended yesterday, 4 March, was attended by: Fr Francisco Pérez Herrero, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the North of Spain, in Burgos; Fr Roberto Calvo Pérez, Professor of Missionology; Fr Alfredo Sánchez Alberca, Professor at the “Universidad de San Pablo CEU” and member of the Groups of Missionary Animation; Fr Vicente Altaba Gargallo, Episcopal Delegate of Caritas Spain; Fr Rafael Serrano Castro, Secretary General of Manos Unidas; Fr Anastasio Gil García, Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Missions of the Spanish Bishops' Conference. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 05/03/2011)