AMERICA/PUERTO RICO - CELAM Assembly: "Christ must be the center of our meeting, of our reflection, of our pastoral care"

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Aguadilla (Agenzia Fides) - "Christ must be the center of our meeting, of our reflection, of our pastoral work", stressed Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, Archbishop of Trujillo, President of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), in the message announcing the work of the 39th Ordinary General Assembly of CELAM, from May 15 to 20 in Aguadilla, diocese of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
The General Assembly, which will be attended by the Presidents and Secretaries General of the Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, will also have to elect the new members of the CELAM Presidency for the next four years, from 2023 to 2027.
"I want to ask you to pray intensely during this week, to ask the Holy Spirit to guide this Assembly in which Christ must be the centre", the Archbishop requested in the video message. "Collegiality, ecclesiality and synodality" is the motto that will guide the work, which will focus on the synodal path and the priorities of the Church in Latin America. In fact, the Assembly will take care of discerning the signs of the times, taking stock of the four-year period that is ending and looking towards the next. For this, it will be necessary to analyze the challenges posed by the Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean in the framework of the Synod on Synodality.
To achieve this objective, it will be essential to analyze the major trends in the Latin American and Caribbean reality, define the challenges for the pastoral care of the Church, as well as delve into its synodal and regional nature, all with a view to discerning the needs a quick response must be given. It will also reflect on the implementation of the renewal and restructuring process of the Latin American Episcopal Council, according to the mandate received, analyzing the results achieved.
Monsignor Rubén González, Bishop of Ponce and President of the Episcopal Conference of Puerto Rico, invites us to live this CELAM Assembly as "an experience of prayer, where we share our life of faith, and ecclesial communion, according to our condition as disciples and pastors". Therefore, "as pastors, it is up to us to reflect on the major trends of the Latin American and Caribbean reality and the challenges for the pastoral care of the Church".
The President of the Episcopal Conference of Puerto Rico, informed that at the end of the CELAM Assembly the Bishops of Puerto Rico will launch a three-year period of preparation for the 50th anniversary "of the canonical coronation of the Venerable Original Image of Our Lady Mother of Divine Providence as principal patroness of the entire Puerto Rican nation". On Friday, May 19, the sacred image, which is located in the Cathedral of San Juan, will be transferred to the Spirituality Center of Our Lady Mother of Consolation in Aguadilla, where a Eucharistic concelebration will take place. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 11/5/2023)