91 are the participants of Central Americans at the first Regional Assembly of the continental phase of the Synod organised by Celam
In San Salvador, the land of the martyred bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, canonised by Pope Francis in 2018, is progressing within the framework of the continental phase of the Synod of Synodality, the first of four Regional Assemblies organised by the Latin American Episcopal Council (Celam), under the guidance of the General Secretariat of the Synod.
A total of 91 people, men and women, are participating in the Central America-Mexico Regional Assembly (CAMEX) – not including the coordinating team – which began on 13 February and will last until 17 February. They come from Costa Rica (17), El Salvador (9), Guatemala (5), Honduras (10), Mexico (36), Nicaragua (9) and Panama (5).
Representativeness and inclusiveness
“We have sought a composition of the Assembly that is representative of the different states of life [or vocations], bishops, priests, men and women religious, deacons, lay people, belonging to various groups and ministries”, says Father Pedro Brassesco, Assistant Secretary General of Celam, who adds that “we have taken particular care to represent what we know as the margins or sectors of the peripheries, which perhaps have not been sufficiently heard during the first phase of the synodal process”.
Indeed, of the 91 participants in the CAMEX Regional Assembly, 50.53% are lay people; 16.49% are religious men and women; 15.46% are bishops; 15.46% are priests; and 2.06% are permanent deacons (see infographic). Among these members, 12.08% come from the peripheries.
Working groups
The second day of the Assembly began with a moment of spirituality inspired by the icon of the widened tent. Dolores Palencia, who is the facilitator of the meeting, guided the listening, dialogue and discernment that took place in the 10 working groups simultaneously, which lasted the whole day.
For María José Bolaños, representative of the CAMEX region’s Youth Ministry, “at this continental stage of the synod, being here as a young person represents hope, it represents many dreams of being a synodal Church that walks with adolescents and young people”.
The young Mexican explained that “this methodology of spiritual conversation has been very encouraging and a very creative way of learning to be an active listener, that is to say, that as young people we can listen to others, but we can also be listened to”.
“We are doing something new”.
At the end of the afternoon there was a sharing in common to share the experience of the working group that was carried out in three blocks, taking on some guiding questions, always in a spirit of prayer.
The Eucharist celebrated to conclude the day’s work was presided over by Archbishop Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, who in his homily affirmed that “synodality is not a fashion; synodality has led us to become more united as a Church”. The Archbishop of Yucatán (Mexico) also underlined the importance of this moment in which “we are doing something new” and recalled that in Latin America and the Caribbean “we have been pioneers in this synodal journey”. Proof of this is the creation of the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America (Sedac) and of Celam itself, in the middle of the last century, as well as the five General Conferences of the Latin American Episcopate and, more recently, the First Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Mexico in November 2020.
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