Pronunciamiento del obispo y presbiterio de la Diócesis de Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras,
sobre la situación del conflicto minero
1 de septiembre de 2018
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Statement of the Honduras Conference of Religious
CONFERENCE OF RELIGIOUS OF HONDURAS (CONFEREH)
PRONOUNCEMENT
The Prophetic
Voice of the Consecrated Life
“Console, say Yahweh,
your God, console my people.” (Isaiah 40: 1)
As a result of the political crisis which the Honduran
population is living, we, the Conference
of Religious Women and Men, declare our solidarity with the people of Honduras,
calling upon the governmental authorities to hear the cries and the protests of
the people.
1.
Respect for Democracy: enough of so much violence against the people, now that their will is
not respected, their voice is repressed, using fore which is brutal and total
disproportionate of a military invasion which, with its behavior, intimidates
and attacks the citizenry, becoming deaf to their cries and protests, causing
them to act aggressively and violently.
2.
We demand a professional police force, which takes care of the integrity
of Hondurans and which is at the service of the citizenry, ceasing the abuse of
military and police force against the people. Likewise, there is a demand for a
follow-up with a full and responsible investigation which in an immediate and
expeditious manner finds those responsible for all the killings, the disappearances
and other violations of human rights. No more impunity.
3.
We denounce the wave of repression against the social, political, and
church leaders who live with anxiety and in an environment of terror with death
threats, violation of their legitimate right to protest or the exercise of
their profession. If there is still democracy in the country, we therefore ask
for liberty and respect for life, the free expression of thought, the right of
participation, and the possibility to come to agree or disagree without discrimination
or violence.
4.
We denounce the ruses of a Congress of deputies totally biased in favor
of particular interests, lacking conscience, who, usurping the honorable
exercise of representing, are approving laws that put at risk the food security
of the people, health, free quality public education, etc., as well as the security
of the citizenry and national sovereignty. We demand that these laws, before being
approved in Congress, be made known and debated by all the people and receive
the support of civil organizations, taking into account the participation of
the sectors to which they respond according to their area.
5.
With sadness and concern we see how our youth, children, elderly, indigenous,
are being assassinated or are dying a slow death having lost their vital force:
food, health education, culture, worthy work. We are preoccupied seeing the
large number of Honduran men and women of all ages leaving the country, legally
or illegally, a forced movement of migration in dimensions every day more
alarming, obliged by state violence or common violence, for the lack of local
opportunities.
6.
Being an impoverished state, we demand that the little money there is of
the people not be invested in unnecessary expenses and that the controlling
bodies demand transparency in public administration… No more corruption.
7.
We denounce the contradictory policies of the government, to
protect the environment and on the other hand promote mining, hydroelectric
concessions which despoil the rural population of their water resources,
forests, flora and fauna, with the alleged development of the country and of
renewable resources, when they make attacks on the patrimony of the
communities, violate human rights and plunder their resources, cannot be the
option for the development of our country nor to combat climate change.
8.
We encourage the social organizations, popular forces, churches and all
men and women of good will to be now more than ever vigilant in safeguarding,
protecting and defending the nation in all its dimensions, since life is now
being threatened.
9.
We invite all men and women of Honduras to not lose this opportunity since
a crisis gives us the possibility to advance and construct, to improve and
fulfill the aspirations of a people.
10.
As religious women and men we commit ourselves to pray and to continue
accompanying those who most suffer, and weak or excluded, at the same time we
encourage those who struggle for peace and justice to persevere with boldness,
enthusiasm, and hope.
Tegucigalpa, February 12, 2018
Conferencia de Religiosas y Religiosos.
The original Spanish can be found at the JPIC Honduras website: here
Friday, February 16, 2018
Bishops' Lenten message 2018
The Honduran Bishops Conference issued a Lenten message for 2018. The original can be found at the end of the document which is my translation.
Catholic Bishops Conference of Honduras
Lent: Path of conversion
As we conclude the ordinary
meeting of the [Honduran] Bishops Conference, we, the bishops of Honduras, wish
to share with the People of God the fruit of our reflection and, at the same
time, call them to live the path of Lent with renewed faithfulness to the Lord.
Following Jesus in his path
toward Easter, Lent offers us the opportunity to renew our mind and our
attitudes, guided by the values which moved Jesus to fulfill his Mission of
offering salvation to all humanity.
The Lord Jesus invites us to
be converted to the Truth; he himself came to the world to be the witness to
the Truth, as he affirmed before Pilate, adding: “Everyone who belongs to
the truth hears my voice” (John 18:37). Conversion to Truth means accepting
that only in the Lord is the full truth; to accept that none of us possess it
completely; and that in others there is part of the Truth. That conversion
moves us to accept that by means of dialogue we can gain access to new horizons
of mutual understanding.
Lent is a path of conversion
to social justice, by which we go forward constructing the Reign of God and
which demands that society and the state struggle against corruption and
impunity and reject every violation of Human Rights, especially the right to
life. We unite ourselves to the complaint/protest [reclamo] of the
people of Honduras for the more than 30 victims killed in the protest
demonstrations caused by the present political crisis, which is justly added to
so many complaints/protests [reclamos] for the negligence and lack of
will of the state's justice system to fulfill its obligations.
Lent is, above all, a way of
conversion to the love that is Charity, which makes us see the neighbor as
brother [or sister], to love enemies and pray for those who persecute us, as
Jesus says in Matthew 6:44. Conversion to Charity puts us in solidarity [nos
hace solidarios] with the necessities of the poor and the pain of the
families of all the victims of violence. Charity which also converts us into builders
of a new society, for “It is love which builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:2). And it
is about building a future where Charity gets in the way of/blocks [impida]
the increase of evil. Or, as Jesus says and which Pope Francis recognizes in
his Lenten message for this year, “As evil grows, love gets cold in most all
the people” (Matthew 24: 12).
This is a warning which we
ought to take seriously and that should move us to respond to the questions
which Pope Francis gives us: “How is charity growing cold in us? What are the
signs that show us that love runs the risk of being turned off in us?” Among
the many serious effects which we can recognize when love grows cold, Pope Francis
considers the ecological crisis. Therefore he affirms in Laudato si’, number
217: “The ecological crisis is a call to a profound interior
conversion.” That is to say, we also
need an ecological conversion to save the planet. Therefore, the care of our
common home will be a priority theme for reflection in the pastoral life of our
Church this year.
We ask our Lord that the Lenten
path may be full of blessings and enriching experiences and that the
traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will serve us not
only to prevent [impedir] our love growing cold but also to inflame it [our
love] with the passion [ardor] which lets us produce the fruit of the
Holy Spirit which is “charity, joy, peace, understanding of others, generosity,
kindliness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control” (Galatians 5: 22-23a).
May Mary, Our Lady of Suyapa,
who every year continues to inflame the hearts full of love [for her] of all
those who gather to venerate her, accompany us also in the Lenten journey so
that we may be, with her, at the foot of the Cross, when it is needed.
Tegucigalpa, 9 February 2018
[Catholic] Bishops Conference
of Honduras
[Conferencia Episcopal de
Honduras]
Monday, January 15, 2018
Honduran Bishops' open letter, January 15, 2018
Honduras Bishops Conference
OPEN LETTER TO MISTERS JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ AND SALVADOR NASRALLA
Respected citizens:
It is our commitment, as pastors (shepherds) of the Catholic
Church, to promote dialogue and peace on behalf of the common good. We believe
in the value of dialogue and, as Church, we want to accept the recent call at
the national level. For this to be valid (worthwhile), it ought to include two
important characteristics: (1) that it be “sincere, effective, creative, without
conditions, and involve all sectors of society,” as we affirmed in our
communiqué od December 20, 2017; and (2) that it have palpable objectives to resolve
fundamental matters, which can be achieved in the short term, with concrete
commitments to fulfill them by the political actors of our country.
The post-election situation of Honduras, categorized as a
political crisis, is known at the national level and is the cause of international
concern. In the face of this recognized situation, we cannot no ought we
prolong a crisis which paralyzes the country and which does not bring about
profound changes in the heart of the society. The way out is an inclusive
dialogue, with the presence of representatives of all sectors of society and a
dialogue by means of an analysis of all the challenges which urgently needed to
be responded to, for the purpose of overcoming the current crisis which has
broken out [been unchained] since the elections of last November 26.
The absence of dialogue between the two of you deepens the
political crisis in the country, which will make unfeasible the great dialogue
which the population supports and hopes for. If, in the short term, real,
rational, and altruistic agreements aren’t achieved, the violence will escalate,
there wlll be more military and political repression, and the number of
fatalities [dead victims] will increase; the country’s economy will be
paralyzed, poverty will increase, the population will be even more divided,
which could lead to a situation of ungovernability.
Because of all this, respectfully and earnestly [from our
hearts], we ask you to sit down to talk to find ways out of this situation full
of anxieties, or that you accept arbitration mediated by one of the
institutions of which Honduras is a member, to facilitate a political dialogue which
is sincere and without conditions, which reconciles [conciliates] positions
without political advantages for anyone, for the purpose of arriving at
decisions which better benefit all the society. If you do this, you will be
giving an authentic [good faith] demonstration of love for Honduras.
We believe that this means would make possible the necessary
and urgent dialogue which all of us hope for.
We ask the Lord to illumine your minds and soften your
hearts so that you can find paths toward the reconciliation which ur country
needs.
Tegucigalpa, January 15, 2018
Attentively,
The Honduran Bishops Conference
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