AMERICA/DOMINICAN REP. - Pastoral plan 2021: Congregations should participate in processes of missionary renewal

Tuesday, 6 October 2020 missionary animation   coronavirus   media   episcopal conferences  

Facebook

Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) - In view of the fundamental challenges the Church and society are facing in this time of health and economic crisis, the Dominican Bishops' Conference (CED), in collaboration with the National Institute for Pastoral Care (INP), hosted the thirty-eighth Pastoral Meeting, at a national level.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting took place in the presence of a small number of Bishops and pastoral workers from the 12 dioceses in the country, but was simultaneously broadcast via the Zoom platform. During the meeting, the pastoral work of the current year was evaluated and the pastoral plan for 2021 was discussed.
At the opening of the meeting, the Vice-President of the Bishops' Conference, Mgr. Héctor Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez, MSC, invited those present to join forces so that pastoral planning for 2021 is capable of "eliciting confident responses to the suffering, pessimism and oppression caused by the pandemic, manifested in the precarious physical and emotional health and economic crisis that is seriously affecting the harmony and peace of the Dominican family".
In his speech, the Bishop of the diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, Mgr. José Dolores Grullón Estrella, emphasized: "We live in the Church a pastoral style by the side of the people, reflecting both the human warmth of relationships and the simplicity of preaching, simplicity in the communication of the Gospel. As far as communication is concerned, therefore, no church should be afraid of resolutely entering, with all its might in the continuous processes of renewal of the mission and abandon obsolete structures that no longer promote the transmission of the faith".
Fr. Ramón Alfredo De la Cruz Baldera, Grand Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University "Madre y Maestra (PUCMM)" spoke on the subject of “Technology at the service of Evangelization” in view of the new challenge of the Pastoral Plan. Among other things, he emphasized that digital media make the Church live "in a community, that learns and celebrates in semi-presence". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 6/10/2020)


Share: