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P. Sydney Fones, Secretario General Adjunto de CELAM, en la jornada en Chile Fr. Sydney Fones, Deputy Secretary General of CELAM, at the convention in Chile P. Sydney Fones, stellvertretender Generalsekretär von CELAM, bei der Tagung in Chile |
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Rumbo a una iglesia misionera Towards a missionary church Auf dem Weg zu einer missionarischen Kirche |
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Publico Audience Publikum |
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Intercambio Sharing Im Gespräch |
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Misa Mass Messe Fotos: Galarce/Vinculo © 2005 |
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Chile, Cristina Quiroz de Tagle. On an exhausting visit – he arrived in the early morning hours on Friday and left in the early morning hours ononday – Fr. Sydney Fones surprised us all with his evangelizing spirit. The former superior of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Chile and former member of the General Council in Germany, accepted the invitation from Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, president of CELAM, to be the Secretary General based in Bogotá, Colombia. He is enthusiastic with the challenge of coordinating and encouraging the Latinamerican Church which is the most numerous in the World.
He was invited by the Family Federation to give the talks at their Annual Meeting and he made use of his time to the maximum. Simple, warm, and very pleasant and on a very tight schedule, he managed to meet with the different branches of the movement. He was in Bustos, in Campanario, with the Ladies, the youths, the institutes…..he wanted to shake up the whole Schoenstatt Family to get on the chariot of a new crusade to revitalize the Church. He wanted to promote the Fifth Conference which is being prepared for 2007. Is it far away? No. He explained in detail that they work with a theme which travels to the 22 Episcopates of Latin America and they should come to the conference in 2007 with their worries, their conclusions, and their diagnoses.
Río de Janeiro, Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo…..
What is an Episcopal Conference? It is a meeting of bishops where they search for paths…..they discern in prayer, imploring the presence of the Holy Spirit…..they debate and they set guidelines. They were convened by Pius XII – he was motivated by Bishop Manuel Larraín – and the first one was held at Río de Janeiro in 1955. The second one was held in Medellín in 1968. Experts and sociologists came together and a new social current came forth. The third was in Puebla in 1979 and in the light of the Second Vatican Council – strong collaborators were Schoenstatt Fathers, Fr. Hernán Alessandri and Fr. Joaquín Alliende – the Marian aspect of the continent was revitalized and it was a very fruitful document. The Fourth was in Santo Domingo and it centered on the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of the new world. John Paul II was present and insisted that without promoting humanity there can be no evangelization.
Discipleship
We are living in times of great changes and globalization, secularism, relativism, and religious plurality have weakened the Church. Although it is very strong and holy, it is losing its presence and less Catholic leadership is evident. Those who profess to be Catholic has lessen by 10%; they are still 70% but of those only 14% attend Holy Mass. It is necessary to create a large mobilization which will unite the whole continent into one vital life stream. The Church declares itself in a missionary state. The intent is to set everyone on fire and to fill everyone with enthusiasm with a new presence of Christ today. We must begin with the same strength that the first twelve disciples began with. The intention is to have all of America set sail with a type of "discipleship" which cultivates intimacy with Christ and goes out to motivate others. The four "manuals" must be Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John. The idea is to produce a new profound and efficacious stimulus which will influence and have repercussions on the media. We need to create new roads. We do not want to be the "No" Church. We want to create a world of hope with the ability to dream.
Fr. Sydney is searching for partners and wants Schoenstatters to team up with the Church…..that they be the salt and yeast of the Fifth Conference wherever they may be…..that they team up with their pastors and help them promote the CELAM proposals…..that with their experience of being disciples of Fr. Kentenich and his sense of mission, they go out searching for more disciples. We cannot disappoint him. We have to row without ceasing!
Translation: Carlos Cantú, LaFeria, Texas, USA