NEWS STORY: American bishops stress unity at synod conclusion

c. 1997 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ At the prodding of Pope John Paul II, North and South American bishops have declared that despite vast cultural, political and religious practices, they are”one community”that can be a powerful voice for change. With the quest for Christian unity a big question mark at the end of […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ At the prodding of Pope John Paul II, North and South American bishops have declared that despite vast cultural, political and religious practices, they are”one community”that can be a powerful voice for change.

With the quest for Christian unity a big question mark at the end of the millennium, the prelates Thursday closed the monthlong Synod of Bishops for America by also recognizing they would have to demonstrate solidarity as Catholics if they are to find commonality with other Christians.”We have a new continent, which is one America,”declared Archbishop Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a Colombian and co-president of the bishops’ assembly, called by the pope to revitalize evangelization on the two continents.”There is unity in diversity,”said Archbishop Francois Gayot of Haiti.”Despite geographical and cultural differences, communion was the resolve of the synod meeting. That was something really extraordinary.” The message crafted by bishops and sent to the pope highlighted the problems of the two continents playing center stage at the parley _ the importance of the family, the growing disparity between rich and poor, debtor nations, the problems of immigrants, abandoned children and abortion.


In an apparent reference to the United States, the statement decried”aggressive secularism”marginalizing religious men and women who aspire to public office and said Catholics in many parts of the Americas face repressive obstacles in spreading the gospel.

There was no specific mention in the document of Cuba, where the pope hopes to advance religious freedom in his first visit to the island in January.”The meeting enabled us to see more clearly the human life of this continent,”Hoyos said.

In addition to the message, the 242 bishops and other invited observers at the meeting drafted 76″propositions,”or recommendations, for the pope’s consideration.

The pope is expected to visit at least one, and perhaps up to five, sites in the Americas next year to formally close the synod and to issue an”apostolic exhortation.”The synod has unanimously agreed to request the pope visit the shrine of Guadalupe, Mexico.

The pontiff attended many of the synod sessions, particularly in the early phase during which bishops and lay experts delivered short statements. But he often appeared tired at the meetings, several participants said. Still, he met individually or in small groups in his private apartment with all of the assembly members, often dining with them.

In their message, the bishops used sometimes blunt language to describe the social, economic and ancestral problems of the hemisphere. In reference to African Americans, they wrote,”the wounds of those terrible centuries of slavery still sting the soul.” The impoverished, they wrote, had a special voice at the synod.”The cry of the poor has been heard with special attention,”the message said.”We look with dismay and alarm as the gap widens year by year between those who have an abundance and those who have only the barest of resources.” It took to task”abuses inâÂ?¦globalization,”such as drug trafficking, the arms trade and political and business corruption.

But the document was careful not to alienate the liberal or conservative wings of the synod.


Drafted by a six-member committee and headed by Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, the message stayed clear of the term”neo-liberalism,”which has been used throughout the synod in conjunction with growing globalization.

It also refrained from using the term”sects,”another loaded term that has received ample discussion at the meeting. For some the word has come to mean non-Christian groups preying on the uneducated while the Catholic Church, has used it to mean non-Catholic Christian denominations, like Protestants.

Left unclear, as well, was whether the bishops would find a common voice on the nagging question of debt relief for poor countries. The bishops agreed to call for debt forgiveness, and said such reductions should”truly result in benefit to the poor.” The message suggested reforms in debtor countries should be forthcoming but left unclear whether debt forgiveness should depend on government reforms.

The bishops agreed on a new emphasis to increase vocations in priestly ordination and consecrated life, though it did not indicate how it would do so.

They said more missionary exchanges between the North and South would facilitate the”new evangelization”John Paul has called for at the close of the millennium and agreed they needed to better utilize multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel.

DEA END HEILBRONNER

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