AMERICA/BRAZIL - CNBB to launch national “1 Million Bibles Campaign”

Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) – Saturday, March 6, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), in collaboration with the Commission for the Continental Mission in Brazil, will launch a national campaign in Teresina (PI): the “1 Million Bibles Campaign,” which will have as its theme: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19) and the slogan: "Disciples and Servants of the Word of God." The goal of the campaign is to bring the Word of God to all people in Brazil who cannot afford to buy a Bible and other subsidies for evangelization.
The launch will be presided by the Secretary General of the CNBB, Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa. Also present will be the Bishop of Teresina and President of North-East 4 of CNBB (Piauí), Bishop Sergio da Rocha. After its initial launching, the Campaign will also be launched in the Diocese of Picos (PI), in the presence of Bishop Plinio José Luz da Silva and in Campo Maior (PI), in the presence of Bishop Eduardo Zielske.
"We have great expectations in the North-East 4 region of the state of Piaui, to launch the National Campaign. Every diocese in the region has already received campaign material. The Bishops discussed the criteria for distribution and use. Since we are the first to hold the campaign, we hope to soon be able to share the results with the other regions," said the Bishop of Picos, Bishop Plinio Jose.
The first phase of the campaign is the submission of a project of evangelization for the Archdioceses and Dioceses of CNBB. After the committee analyzes the project and has approved it, we will proceed to the free distribution of Bibles, including transport. "Situated within the Brazil Continental Mission Project, this new campaign is a service that the CNBB offers to all regions of the archdiocese, diocese, and pastoral realities of the faithful, movements, and other associations of the Church in our country, as well as to all missionary disciples, called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ," said the Secretary General of the CNBB, Bishop Dimas.
The Director of the Bishops' Commission for Pastoral Ministry and Missionary Action and the Executive Secretary of the National Missionary Council (COMINA), Father Altevie Silva, said: "The path opened by the Conference of Aparecida shows that the Word of God is a letter of love to his people. Thus, in the Brazilian context of poverty and misery in which many cannot even afford to feed themselves, the “1 Million Bibles Campaign” tends to satisfy the desire of the Word for those who cannot afford it. The prayerful reading of the Bible is the soul of the Continental Mission. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/03/2010)