Ecclesia in America: More than half of the world's Catholics are in the American continent

December 11, 2012. (Romereports.com) Representatives from Latin America, Canada and the U.S welcomed the 15th anniversary of the Synod on the Americas with a very clear objective: to strengthen and unify the ties of the Church throughout the continent. The name of the congress is called 'Ecclesia in America.'

CARD. MARC OUELLET
President, Pontifical Commission for Latin America
“We know that after the Aparecida meeting, Latin America started a continental mission.  I think that North America needs to take on that same missionary spirit, through the help of testimonies from Catholics in Latin America and vice-versa. There is a need for greater exchange between the North and the South and we believe this congress will help us reach that goal.”

To find that communion, the Church agrees that Our Lady of Guadalupe has become a symbol of strength and unity throughout the continent. In fact during the meeting, she is described as a key example of the New Evangelization. Especially in a continent where social and economic inequalities are so present.

MSGR. WILLIAM EDWARD LORI
Archbishop of Baltimore (USA)
“One of the challenges is secularism, because it's very depersonalizing and it's a secularism  that leads men and women today away from fundamental truths and values. And in that way, it undermines love and our openness to God and the things of God.”

It's also very symbolic that the Congress itself is taking pace in Rome as the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization are carried out. The end of the meeting comes on December 12th, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

CARL ANDERSON
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
“As we know more than half of the Catholics in world today live in the Western Hemisphere. And so this is a great challenge as Blessed John Paul II recognized many years ago, to get Catholics  in North America and in South America to work together to build one Christian atmosphere.”

And now hundreds of participants from cardinals, bishops and lay people from the North and South America, are coming together in the hopes of backing the Church and strengthening its ties.