Caracas, Venezuela, Apr 15, 2008 / 12:50 pm
During the closing Mass of the 3rd National Missionary Congress convened by the Venezuelan bishops, the Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, said, “Young men and women are needed who desire to give their lives completely to the service of the Gospel.”
After encouraging participants at the Congress, most of whom were young people, to intensify their missionary activity “with apostolic zeal,” the cardinal called on the faithful to respond as the baptized to the call of the Lord Jesus to be disciples and missionaries in the different settings of society, in order to promote the marvelous fruit of the “spiritual renewal” that Venezuela needs so desperately.
Cardinal Urosa also noted the need for young people “who want to be priests and religious”. He held up as an example, fulltime missionaries like Mother Candelaria, a well known missionary, “whose example is popular today, as she consecrated herself to the Lord with an intense spiritual life, with full dedication to the affairs of God and showing charity to neighbor.”
More than 700 delegates from dioceses around Venezuela participated at the Congress. The Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, Archbishop Giacinto Berloco, urged participants to give greater priority to ministry for the family, young people, education, ecology and indigenous communities.