The Archbishop Primate of Mexico says so precisely because he sees in this a sign of something that is still being generated in the Church, and also a challenge for his nation and for all of Latin America, always called to further deepen a faith that will lead to encounter with Jesus. In this line, the prelate emphasizes the need for the faithful people to know more and allow themselves to be questioned by the Word of God, thus arousing the action of the Holy Spirit. This is how he has perceived it in the accompaniment that, together with his brother bishops, they carry out in all the dioceses of the nation, in communion with Pope Francis and the Church, participating in the Synod on Synodality convened by the Holy Father and which takes place between 2021 and 2023.
“Synodality has come to discover for us a methodology and a spirituality that must be multiplied, transmitted and downloaded to the parishes. I think there is a well-established conscience on the part of the Mexican episcopate, and we need to lower it so that it becomes an expression of the life of our faithful in the different parishes of the country”, explains the cardinal.
This pastoral style of communion It is a path shared by all the people of God and it has been seen providentially favoredaccording to the archbishop for him Global Evangelization Projectan initiative promoted by the Episcopal Conference of Mexico after the Pontiff visited this nation in February 2016 and asked all bishops for common action.
Youth, family and social awareness
This is how this strong time of discernment in the Archdiocese of Mexico is already showing remarkable fruits. In addition to the proposals they will contribute to the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2023, the local Church has collected a plurality of voices from the faithful and identified three great priorities for his evangelizing action. The first is aimed at the new generations, which is why it seeks to provide the youth ministry of a vocational aspect, not only regarding the promotion of the priesthood or the religious option, but to create spaces so that young people can discover what God has given them life for. The second priority is aimed at work with families, so many of them “wounded by different factors, such as violence, addictions and the separation of very recent marriages that have grown a lot. There are several factors that we must attend to”, details the cardinal.
Finally, the third pastoral insistence seeks strengthen the awareness of social responsibility in the People of God, something that is highly relevant in a country marked by social gaps, as well as by the enormous challenge of welcoming the innumerable caravans of migrants who, coming from Central America and Haiti, use Mexico as a natural corridor to reach the United States. The humanitarian emergency that this has generated for years has found a generous response from Catholics.
Hand in hand with awareness work which since the 1980s has been carried out in Mexico by the Institute of Christian Social Doctrine, today the apostolate of pastoral agents allows 42 shelters for migrants to operate throughout the territory. “Little by little this has been permeating and I think that is helping us a lot so that our educational and social service institutions are aware that this is the best exercise of their discipleship as faithful of Jesus Christ”, concludes the bishop.
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Cardinal Aguiar: “Multiply, transmit and download to the parishes”