Amazon: “Put ourselves in the shoes of those who live there”

vaticannews

as reported CELAM DNAMonsignor Rafael Cob García, bishop of the apostolic vicariate of Puyo, Ecuador, who has just been appointed president of REPAM – the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network – of which he was vice president, considers his new position “a special mission to work in defense of life in the Amazon and the rights of the peoples who inhabit it”.

The bishop of the vicariate of Puyo highlights that the Church has assumed “the responsibility of caring for the creation that God has left us”, insisting that “the Church of the Amazon has been awakening in terms of that incarnation and that inculturation in evangelization ” .

REPAM Pastoral Plan

Looking to the future, Monsignor Rafael Cob García sees the need to continue “with the Pastoral Plan that REPAM made, which runs until 2024, taking into account all that discernment that there was and the considerations that were made in search of continuing the pastoral orientations ”. A path of listening and defense, of “continuing to weave networks and building alliances, strengthening synodality and also ecclesiality”.

continue the path

When asked about what this appointment means for his life, Monsignor Cob García stated:

The Amazon a world reference

When asked what REPAM has meant in the life of the Amazon in these eight years since its foundation, the president recalled that this Network “was born in Brasilia in 2014, but the seed of this network was precisely here where we live, which is in Puyo, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. That also encourages and excites us, seeing that a seed has continued to grow, has borne fruit”.

The president of REPAM also affirms that “the Amazon is a world reference, with an essential importance in the balance of the planetary climate. That is why our eyes are on the Amazon, at all levels, locally, nationally, internationally, we are all concerned that there is truly a balance on this planet Earth. Similarly, we are all concerned that this lung of humanity, which is the Amazon, truly be defended and cared for, because we see how it is crumbling through the threats that the praise yes It already tells us, how is deforestation, extractivism without control, pollution”.

caring for creation

Monsignor Cob García refers to the four points that will be addressed in the new stage of REPAM:

Maintain and strengthen network identity

“The first thing is to maintain and strengthen this network identity, to weave together. It is not an institution with statutes that is subject, but rather has great freedom of movement, and that is ultimately to articulate all those contributions that come from many places”.

Work with mysticism and spirituality

“The second point is to see that this work, because it belongs to the Church, is a work with mysticism and spirituality, because we are called, as the Pope asks us and we saw it in the Synod, to an integral conversion, where nature and society advance. together, knowing that from the periphery we illuminate the center”.

Strengthen communion

“The third is to strengthen communion. There is some concern that perhaps the episcopal conferences of the Amazonian countries are still poorly integrated into the problems of the Amazon. We must strengthen and work much more in that communion and concern to also integrate all the ecclesiastical jurisdictions and also the episcopal conferences of the Amazonian countries, which is a great challenge that remains for us to do “.

Strengthen the work of the nuclei in communion

“The fourth point would be to strengthen the work of the nuclei in communion with the new institution that emerged as a result of the Synod, which is the CEAMA. How to make that path of truth, of fraternity, of walking together, because we have common ideals, and that requires a lot of discernment from us and also mutual communion so that we strengthen the Church in the Amazon”.

The legacy of Cardinal Hummes

Taking into account that Monsignor Cob García assumes a service that was occupied, when REPAM was founded, by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, recently deceased, he was asked what his figure and teachings mean for him:

“Cardinal Hummes is a reference for us and an example to follow, because he was a character with a passion for the Church and for the native peoples, for the poor, and that is very latent and very evident in his life. A passionate pastor in defense of the rights of the poor and of the Amazon.”

And he added that Cardinal Hummes “has left a great mark on the Amazonian Church and has been a providential man within the Church and in this renewal that the Church has undertaken with Pope Francis. We will never be grateful enough for the work that Cardinal Hummes has done for the Church and for the Amazon.”