Latin American and Caribbean 2024 Meeting: Following Jesus Today

Synthesis and perspectives

I- Introduction

The Movement of Communities of Catholic Professionals of Latin America and the Caribbean began a process of reflection and discernment between March and October 2024, which culminated in a meeting held on November 1-3, 2024. The communities worked on the question: “How are we trying to follow Jesus today? The responses received during the preparatory phase made it possible to identify key challenges. Among them, the crisis of democratic institutions in polarized societies, where power is understood as privilege and individualistic and consumerist values are reinforced. At the same time, they reflected the tensions present in the Church, marked by clericalism, lack of dialogue and opposition to the spirit of conversion which Pope Francis encourages us to address. Other disturbing aspects were highlighted, such as the lack of participation of the laity, youth and women in ecclesial movements and environments; the lack of recognition of diversity; as well as the lack of intergenerational encounters, which limits the connection of communities with new generations.

The communities highlighted the importance of professional and pastoral commitment in everyday spaces such as the family, the periphery and the world of work, where “following of Jesus” is manifested in a small way. Challenges were raised such as assuming the evangelizing task of the movement based on horizontality, fraternity and forgiveness in an increasingly dehumanized society; some lines of action were also raised, such as building community and living the Gospel while being faithful to reality and recovering the humanity of Jesus by promoting a humbler, synodal and closer way of being Church.

II-Discernment about the following of Jesus today

The meeting was held in Lima a few days after the death of Father Gustavo Gutiérrez, theologian and advisor of the Movement. Gustavo’s Easter, the memory of his theological work and his evangelizing and human witness were very present and impregnated the discernment about “following of Jesus in this time”, as well as the challenges of our Movement.

In this context, the objectives of the meeting focused on trying to understand with honesty the changes that have occurred in society, the Church and the institutions in order to propose a “coherent following of Jesus” with the proclamation of the Good News today. Likewise, it is also about finding conditions that sustain our hope in a time of uncertainty and to be able to outline concrete actions from the preferential option for the poor, in a context marked by diverse crises, thus recovering the sense of the spirituality of the Movement.

  • Being honest with the reality

Our reflections alluded to three axes, indistinctly: State, Civil Society and Church in which crisis situations of different intensity that affect the lives of the poor that challenge the commitment of the members of our Movement are translucent. Among the clearest signs of denunciation we have:

  • The reality lived by our native peoples whose habitat is seriously affected by the extractive activities developed by transnational or local companies that obtain from natural resources the maximum economic profit without caring about what will be the fate of the communities that inhabit the territories that are exploited.
  • The institutional deterioration that affects the Human Rights protection system and opens the door to mechanisms of abuse, criminality and corruption that are increasingly widespread at different levels of the States. This is detrimental to the most vulnerable populations and their environment, especially in the Amazon, because either by action or omission, the States do not respond to their most basic demands such as education, health, security, or care for the environment.
  • Individualism, discrimination, and the return to the past that pro-conservative groups seek to accentuate the distance between citizens by building barriers to dialogue and to the recognition of diversity in its broadest sense. Good politics, oriented towards the common good, appears increasingly distant in the face of the dismantling of guarantees for the defense of Human Rights and the favoring of power groups linked to criminality. All of this reflects a truncated, even authoritarian modernity that permeates the different levels of society.
  • Although some of these signs are also present in the ecclesial sphere, in this field the lack of connection and dialogue with young people stands out. Many interventions pointed out the central importance and the urgent and crucial need to work with them. The ever-decreasing participation of young people in ecclesial spaces can be explained, among other causes, by the absence of spaces for intergenerational encounter and dialogue. We should also take into account a cultural change marked by consumerism and the profit motive that distances young people from the values of the Gospel, all of which challenges us significantly because the members of our Movement began the journey of faith in our communities when we were still students.
  • Another sign is the neglect of women, distanced from the important decisions made in the Church, an aspect that remains unaddressed in the synodal process.

All this challenges our responsibility in the care of the little ones and the care of creation and places us in an attitude of searching for codes, elements and discernment to better understand reality. Never as now, in these extreme circumstances that our countries and the global space are going through, have the difficulties to see in perspective been so present. And at the same time, we feel the urgency to do things against the current and explore new possibilities – signs of hope. We have to renew our way of seeing reality, we have to work on our understanding of society, of politics and the State and, of course, of our Church and of ourselves.  As was said in the meeting, we need to reinvent ourselves, to reinvent our vision and our concepts in order to fulfill our evangelizing mission today.

  • A Movement involved in the care of creation

One of the aspects that occupies considerable energy of several of the members of the movement and that is seen as one of the challenging thematic to be taken up with greater determination is the theme of Creation and the Earth. Integral ecology constitutes a central thematic that goes hand in hand with that of the preferential option for the poor. It is essential to understand the close link between the two and their centrality for our action. From the perspective of the encyclical Laudato Si, and the incorporation of the concept of integral ecology, we see that those most harmed by the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources are the poor. The native peoples have had to organize themselves, especially women, to defend their lands and resist projects of annihilation of their habitats, peoples and cultures.

As a result of this reflection, the Movement and the Church in general have to promote the care of the common home through personal commitment, as well as to commit ourselves to the causes of those who feel in their own flesh the loss of quality of life, of their lands and their culture.

  • Called to cultivate bonds of friendship

As a Movement we have drawn from the committed experience of what it means to fight for the values of the Kingdom, translating this into the struggle for justice and fraternity, generating the encounter with every person of good will who directs efforts for the transformation of our society towards a more humane and just reality. We strengthen ourselves in the task of building bonds of friendship and solidarity, which we live with those who suffer from the throwaway culture. We must remember, as Gustavo Gutiérrez said, and the Aparecida document also reminds us, that it is not enough to be friends among ourselves, that we share many things in common, but above all, we must “be friends of the poor”, who today are indigenous people, women, youth, children, members of the LGTBIQ+ communities, whose clamor summons us to eradicate the condition of dependence and humiliation they suffer.

Thus we see that the following of Jesus requires us to build fraternity by having the poor at the center of our commitment. The task will be richer and more effective when, as a Movement, we provide more opportunities for intergenerational encounters, when we are capable of transmitting the memory and building together our own story for this time between the older and younger generations. Without denying the efforts of joint work between communities and local Movements, we have reflected on the importance of taking on the challenge of fostering encounters and offering support to the initiatives of young students. We will have to promote accurate and effective actions in this regard.

It seems important to us that this willingness to meet should also be expressed in the effort that the Movement must make to find points of convergence with other related movements, with which it is necessary to join efforts to mark this line of transformation and find mutual support.

  • The challenge of looking far ahead

This has implications of perspective. It is key to change the way we see, the way we talk, the way we communicate, particularly communication with and through young people. How do we understand reality, in short time or long term? The prologue of the second edition of Gustavo’s Theology of Liberation is called “Looking far away” and invites us not to lose sight of the deep social and economic inequalities that structure our society in the transforming action of our commitments. And yet, in this perspective, there is much to be done from the small, the close. This “today” demands to be present also in the small battles, with the little ones and, to sharpen our sensitivity and our friendship with the simplest, to see from them how we are going, where we are going, being able to develop together a strategic look. To this end, we have insisted on an honest and profound understanding of reality. And from there to develop the power of love as opposed to the power of domination, from there to see the signs of the times, being attentive to how God is manifesting himself in the times, the facts and the current circumstances.

  • Signs of hope

Uncertainty can be at the same time an opportunity to build signs of hope. The testimonies presented at the meeting are revealing of hopeful changes that are being developed by members or communities of our Movement. Thus, we propose a minimum route for the following of Jesus today, as artisans of hope (Pope Francis):

  • It is crucial to build alliances and articulations with other Catholic organizations for the prophetic denunciation and work on controversial issues with impact on the lives of the poor and society such as: integral ecology, the recognition of native peoples and their rights; environments of participation and free of violence for women, children and LGTBIQ+ community.
  • Within the framework of synodality, to which Pope Francis encourages us, we reaffirm the importance of community life and the equal participation of all members -young people, women- by their mere condition of baptized in the mission of announcing the good news in our society.
    • There is consensus on the priority of working with our young people, certainly because of their importance as protagonists of a history of exclusion and limited opportunities for development, but also because our movement has its origins in communities of students who embrace with greater conviction the challenge of building a just and fraternal world.
    • We are called to rethink, to reinvent the movement. Historically, we have organized ourselves in communities and these are acquiring flexibility according to the context and the dynamics of everyday life. It is essential to create new communities so that the Gospel finds resonance and meaning in those who desire a world of justice with greater opportunities to live with dignity.
    • In times of crisis, it is increasingly difficult to achieve structural changes, hence the importance of working from the micro, from the closest. Small projects that make sense in the big picture. Therefore, we should not underestimate, but rather encourage, what members of our communities have been able to achieve at this time and at these levels.

Lima, November 3, 2024

Compiled by the Latina American Coordination Team

To read in Spanish HERE