Bishops of Latin America to vote today on first draft of final document

Aparecida, Brazil, May 24, 2007 / 09:42 am

The bishops participating in the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference are set to vote today on the first draft of a final document.

After spending the week working in sixteen different subcommittees, the drafting committee assembled the submissions of each group and began work on the final document.  Some groups worked late into the night on Wednesday.

Archbishop Joao Tempesta of Belem do Para said, “The texts were compared, reviewed and complemented in each of the subcommittees.”

Father David Gutierrez, communications director for CELAM, said after the vote that the bishops would have a chance “to read the document over the weekend and make the suggestions they consider necessary in order to have a final document by May 31st.”

CELAM officials told CNA the final document would include an introduction, which would be drafted at the conclusion of the meeting, a first chapter analyzing the social and pastoral reality of the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean, a second chapter on the theology of discipleship—the central theme of the conference, a third chapter on the mission of the different vocations within the Church, a fourth chapter on the call to communion within the Church, a fifth chapter on  the formation of Catholics in the faith, and a sixth chapter on the mission of Catholics in society and culture.

Next week the bishops will make proposals for the “Great Continental Mission,” a massive effort to evangelize America that has yet to be further defined.