Saturday, July 4, 2015

Statement of the Choluteca Diocese

Statement of the Diocese of Choluteca [Honduras]

In an ordinary meeting, we, the clergy of Choluteca joined with our bishop, in the House of Youth, on June 16, 2015, reflected, as pastors, over the reality which our country is going through in general and in particular in the southern zone. With concern we see the following situations:

1. Corruption: this has been a scourge from which we have been suffering in our society, but which has now arrived at a horrifying situation, at the price of the suffering of poor people and bringing as a consequence the loss of many human lives. This has provoked indignation in our society.

2. The impunity: The people perceive that little or nothing has been done, although they know who have been plundering the country. The law has not been applied in an effective manner that makes the guilty return what they robbed and punishing them. This has caused the increase of insecurity in our country.

3. Lack of trust in institutions. Because they have not responded effectively to the just demands of the poor people, for which they have been created, but rather to the interests of those persons who have put them in their positions they hold.

4. Development, yes – but not yes. Our people needs development and we are conscious of this, but not as it appears in the south, at the cost of the deterioration of our environment. If development is not human, it is not true development.

5. The situation of starvation. For the lack of a rainy season, we are coming near to a difficult situation for our people, due to the destruction of the environment and of nature. Facing this, as pastors, we ask the government authorities that they concern themselves for our people without politicizing the aid, so that the aid reaches the needy persons immediately.

In the face of this reality the Word of God and the Teaching of the Church illumine us:
·      “I have seen and heard the oppression of my people and have come down to liberate them, says the Lord.” Exodus 3, 7-8. God accompanies his people and walks with them; he is not distant from human suffering.
·      “Jesus tells us that the Sabbath was made for humans and not humans for the Sabbath.” Mark 2, 23-28. Institutions are at the service of all persons and not for the advantage of a few. The option for life and for the poor cannot be abandoned.[1]
·      Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, no. 202, tells us: “The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises.”
·      A society which in all its levels wishes positively to be at the service of the human person is one in which the common good is proposed as a priority, respecting the good of all men [and women] and of each one.” Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church, no. 165.

In the face of what has been explained, we conclude the following:
We ask that the struggle against corruption and impunity be depoliticized.
We demand that respect for life and the common good be respected.
We ask that in all the social strata of society be offered formation in values: ethical, moral, civic, and Christian.
We animate all our brothers [and sisters] to struggle together for peace and justice we our people so longs for.
We encourage all to participate actively and responsibly in building a country where one lives with dignity and where their rights are respected.

We ask our Lord Jesus Christ to illumine us and we ask the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of our diocese of Choluteca, to intercede for us.

Released in the city of Choluteca, in the department of Choluteca, on June 16, 2015.

The bishop signs in the name of all the clergy

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[1] My translation of inclaudicable, a word I could not find in my dictionaries.

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