Honduran Bishops Congress October 2019 message

Conferencia Episcopal de Honduras
Honduran Bishops Conference

Los Laureles, Contigo al Anillo Periférico. Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A.

MESSAGE

The bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras (C.E.H.)
to the members of the Catholic Church and personas of good will.

“I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:1)

Celebrating the “Extraordinary Month of Mission” in this month of October, we call to mind the vocation of the Church as sent to announce the Gospel of Life, and, as the Document of Aparecida reminds us, that “…the church’s teaching, norms, ethical orientations, and all its missionary activity must allow this attractive offer of a more worthy life in Christ to shine through…” (DA 361).

To evangelize is not only to joyfully announce the joy of the Gospel, that is, to announce Christ Himself, but, as a logical consequence, to denounce all which denies life, which place obstacles to personal and community development.

This has deep and serious social and political repercussions, in the face of which we, the bishops, as pastors cannot remain indifferent:

1.     With deep sorrow we confirm how “the scourge of drug-trafficking,” as Pope Francis has called it, “which has put an end to so many lives and which is maintained and sustained by unscrupulous persons,” in a reality which has permeated the institutions of our country and that, as a consequence, has resulted in a rapid deterioration of the image of our fatherland in the nations of the world.

2.     Nothing of what drug-trafficking has achieved in our country could has been attained without the collusion of the organs which, by reason of their nature, were called to defend life and provide security for all.
We ought to admit that in much of this those who are guilty are the politicians who have come to agreements with organized crime, forgetting that ethics obliges them to watch out for the common good and not for personal benefit or the benefits of their group.

3.     On the other hand, life is also threatened when the institutions do not put themselves to attending the fundamental needs of the people. Our domestic policy has been characterized by the custom of ignoring directly the people, of speaking in their name, and of finishing all this making agreements which in no way benefit that very people. An example of this is when, historically, the institutions have been at the service of a leader and not of a participative democracy based in law.

4.     Sadly and painfully, we look at the Way of the Cross of so many migrants. It is painful to recognize that what Honduras most exports are human beings moved by the hope of a better and more secure life. [It is] a hope that is frustrated in those who cannot succeed in attaining their goal and, even more, in the 87,337 fellow citizens deported up to this point in 2019. We wish to insist in the need to organize the Pastoral Ministry of Human Mobility in every parish and on all our dioceses – not only to aid those who are forced to emigrate but to defend the human right to not be obliged to do so.

5.     We profoundly lament that, being at the point of coming into force the new Penal Code, the complaints of many institutions of the country have been ignored; we add our complaints to theirs, so that that the enforcement of this code not be carried out.

It is urgent that, together will all the citizenry, the political class, the business [community], the academic [community], professional organizations, campesinos and workers, we bring forward a process of transformation of the country which has as its North Star [its guiding principle] the common and its major benefit which is peace. This task demands a serious review  of values, especially moral values, of attitudes of the actors that they have the best readiness to serve with transparency, faithful to the  of the fulfilment of the law, fighters for establishing justice – a justice which allows for the construction of a country with equity and which helps us to overcome this so sorrowful page of our history, tarnished by the weight of drug-trafficking, corruption, impunity, and the abuse of power.

Thus, we make a loud call to the conscience of all the actors, involved firstly or indirectly in the present crisis, to review the value of a healthy patriotism which ought to be above whatever personal interest, tied to the office or interests of the party.

Despite all these situations of death, our faith in Jesus Christ, who has conquered death, has to maintain our hope alive in us, conquering the temptation of frustration, to be able to believe that change is possible, always and whenever everyone fulfills the task which belongs to him, demanding in a firm and decisive manner that the institutions and the persons who rule them also do it.

We ask God, our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Suyapa, patroness of Honduras, to illumine us and give us the strength to care for, respect, and promote life -  the life which He has let us share as brothers, in this country which we ought to take on as outs, because the present and the future [of the country] and the responsibility fo all

Tegucigalpa. 11 October 2019

S.E. Mons Angel Garachana Pérez
Obispo de San Pedro Sula
y Presidente de la C.E.H.

Rev. P. Emigdio Duarte Figueroa
Secretario General de la C.E.H

[Spanish original can be found here.]