Santo Domingo. – The Dominican Episcopate Conference (CED) celebrated its 60th anniversary of foundation, this Thursday, September 22, with a Eucharist and a meeting attended by bishops, collaborators and executive secretaries of the National Pastoral Commissions that make up the institution.
Although it existed since 1954 as the National Episcopal Commission of the Dominican Republic, it is from September 22, 1962 that it is officially constituted when the Holy See approved its statutes “ad experimentum”. Later, in 1963 the first Plenary Assembly was held and in 1966 the first Episcopal Commissions were created.
For more than sixty years the bishops, through the broad structure of the institution, have contributed to the best interests of the Dominican people through institutional accompaniment in various national causes, the creation of different service organizations in the fields of education, health, family, human rights, social assistance and spirituality, as well as orientation documents of a pastoral and sociopolitical nature, such as the Pastoral Letters and the Messages.
During the activity, the bishops valued the work of the collaborators and executive secretaries who, with their service, carry out the mission of the institution: “Without you the conference would not proceed, because the daily work is carried out by you, thank you for being our support, you are essential for our decisions, actions and projections”, he stressed Bishop Jesús María de Jesús Moya, bishop emeritus of San Francisco de Macorís.
In the same way, collaborators and executive secretaries congratulated the Episcopate for these six decades of history: “I wish my dear bishops congratulations on this 60th anniversary, I want to highlight the part of the magisterium of the Episcopate Conference, since with their wisdom they trace the pattern of the Dominican Church; I also want to highlight the collegiate part, it is a very united conference”, stressed Freddy García Alvarado, executive secretary of the National Commission for Integral Human and Religious Formation.
About the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate
The CED is a permanent institution, in which the Dominican bishops jointly exercise various pastoral functions with respect to the faithful of the national territory. It was founded by Monsignor Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas, Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo and the first Dominican Cardinal; Bishop Hugo Eduardo Polanco Brito, bishop of Santiago de los Caballeros; Bishop Francisco Panal Ramírez, OFM Cap., Bishop of La Vega; Bishop Juan Félix Pepén Solimán, bishop of Our Lady of Altagracia in Higüey, and Bishop Tomás Francisco Reilly, CSSR, nullius prelate of San Juan de la Maguana.
Since then, the following have been presidents of the CED (1955-2022): Monsignor Octavio Antonio Cardenal Beras Rojas†; Bishop Juan Antonio Flores Santana †; Bishop Hugo Eduardo Polanco Brito†; Bishop Nicolás de Jesús Cardinal López Rodríguez; Bishop Ramón Benito De la Rosa y Carpio; Bishop Gregorio Nicanor Peña Rodríguez; Bishop Diómedes Espinal De León and Bishop Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez (current).
Dominican Episcopate celebrates 60 years of its official constitution