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Background Briefing PaperNumber 2 Latin America Mission5465 N.W. 36 Street 33166)P.O. Box 52-7900Miami, FL 33152-7900(305)884-8400March 15, 1979

his paper i s not an off ic ia l document of the Latin AmericaMission-USA, in the sense that i t has not been approvedby any legis la t ive body of LAM USA. I t has been preparedby the Administration primarily for i n t ~ r n a l use. I t may notbe quoted or reproduced without p e r m i s : ~ o n I t i s dated,and subject to revision a t any t ine.

R O M N ~ CATHOLIC RENEWAL IN LATIN AMERICA

1. The roots of Roman Catholic renewal are visible as far back as the papacy ofLeo XIII (1878-1903), who ins t i tu ted a Biblical Commission in 1902. Sometime thereaf ter the f i r s t Inst i tu te of Biblical Studies h ~ s founded in Rome.Pius XII (1939-1958) establ ished ar.other one in Jerusalem. He also authorizedthe t ranslat ion of the Scriptures direc t ly from the original texts ( rathertt- :n l imiting them to Jerome's Vulgate) and in i t ia ted a reform of theologicalseminaries.

2. The ear l ies t outward signs of renewal in the Roman Catholic Church beganappearing nearly 70 years ago in the l i turgica l l i f e of congregations inBelgium and elsewhere. The Mass began to be seen as the celebration of God'sacts of salvat ion in the midst of His people rather than just as the mysticalpresence of Christ upon the a l ta r . The l i turgica l renewal brought lay involvement and gave impetus to the Bibl ical renewal. I t surfaced visibly in LatinAmerica a t Chirnbote, Peru (Catholic Laymen's Conference), in 1953 and helpedprepare the way for Vatican I I .

3. As a resul t of Pope Pius XII's permission (1943), many Spani sh t ranslat ionsof the ScripturQS began to appear: e .g . , Nacar-Colunga (1944), Straubinger(1947), Bover-Cantera (1947), Paulinas (1964), Fuenterrabia (1964), etc .4. C0inciding with th is new in teres t in the Bible, and as a :result of the -:=fortsto reform the theological seminaries, a new brand of p r i e ~ t s began to a l ~ e a rin the Latin American Catholic Church--men who were less cynical, more al t ru-i s t ic , and ' 'ho evidenced rea l social concern along with a higher level ofpersonal ethics, more concerned to understand and teach the Bible, etc.5. The impact of these forces came to focus in the Vatican II ecumenical council ,

convened by Pope John XXIII and continued af ter his death under the leadership of Paul VI. The Council opened the windows of the Church to the freshwinds of the Holy Spir i t , and i rreversible changes were introduced. TheThird World bishops were a very s i g n i ~ i c a n t part of th is impact. In a sense,they took over the Church a t that t ime, and related i t to the needs of peoplearound the world.

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-2- Roman Catholic Renewal in Latin America6. The renewal of the Catholic Church which has taken place since Vatican I Ican be traced along four different l ines:

6.1 Theological. Five effervescent years af ter Vatican I I , a EucharisticCongress was held in B o g o t ~ Colombia, to signal the importance of LatinAmerica to the Roman Catholic Church. I t was followed by a conferenceof the Latin American bishops who met in nearby Medellin (1968) to formCELAM (Latin American Episcopal Congress). Here an honest attempt wasmade to relate the theological reflect ion of the Church to the real - l i fesi tuat ion in Latin America. A new social awareness emerged, and theTheology of Liberation derived considerable impetus from the Medellingathering. In many countries the hierarchy has t r ied to disassociatei t se l f from the establishment and to al ign i t s e l f with the poor, thepueblo.

6. 2 Ideological. 11any Catholic leaders were too impatient, however, to waitfor the theologians, and they found themselves involved in a movement ofpol i t ica l radicalness and at least unt i l af ter Medellin) of violence,The most notable of these early l e a d e : ~ s was Camilo Torres of Colombia,who joined the Guerril las and was killed in action. More typical contemporary leaders would be Bishop Helder Camara of Brazil and Father ErnestoCardenal of Nicaragua. After the recent assassinat ion of two pr ies ts inSalvador, 400 new applicants for the priesthood were reported.

6.3 Inst i tut ional . Tte most cent r i s t of the renovat i on trends in the CatholicChurch has been the Catholic Family Movement (establ ished pr ior toVatican I I ) , known in the United States as Marriage Encounter. Thismovement has t r ied to combine a new perception of the Christian experiencewith the t radi t ional doctrine and practices of the Church. A personalencounter with Christ s seen as a mystical -part of the Roman Catholicparaphernalia and does not in any sense preclude the sacraments, ther i tuals , the veneration of Mary, etc.

6.4 Charismatic. The charismatic movement, with i t s natural dependence uponthe person and work of the Holy Spir i t , is the most significant of thefour renewal trends within the Catholic C 1Urch in Latin Ame::cica today.I t i s evangelical in t s worship and Pentecostal in i t s emphasis , butCatholic in t s context. Many Roman Catholic priests and nuns arecharismatic. They are open and ecumenical in at t i tude .7. In some countries of Latin America there are probably as many Roman Catholic

charismatics as there are Protestants . But s t i l l they const i tute only aboutfive percent of the nominally Catholic population. In some places conservat ism, and even fanaticism, remain firmly entrenched.

W. Deyton RobertsVice President