The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-12-16


Catholic Church in Latin
America has moved to the
forefront of the move
ment for agrarian reform.
Echoing the calls made by
the hierarchies of several
South American countries in
recent years, the Latin Ameri-
can Bishops Council ICELAND
made a solemn appeal to
the governments and peoples
of the area to provide farm
ers with easy access to farm
ownership within the stand
ards of justice"
COUPLED WITH THE ap-
peal for just distribution of
the land was a plea for ade-
quate housing facilities for
all.
The Bishops took their
stand in a formal statement
issued at the close of their
annual meeting. The session
was held here in conjunction
with the ~Inter-American Mari
an Congress, which itself
closed with a declaration by
Antonio Cardinal Caggiano,
Archbishop of Buenos Aires,
that housing is urgent for
workers and land as the prop
erty of the farming family is
also urgent"
The CELAM sta t e m
spoke of the major apostolic
efforts being made by the
Church in Latin America. But
1t warned that the forces OPP
posing the Church are similar
ly forging ahead. Looking to-
ward the future, the Bishops
said:
THE LATIN AMERICAN
Bishops Council wishes to say
once more that it understands
the present unrest and stands
ready to cooperate towards a
true and just solution. 1t also
feels wildly the social prob
lens of Latin America and re-
iterates that our people will
find the path of love only in
the teaching of the Church.
"This Bishops Council is
particularly concerned with
the problems of housing and
agriculture, thus it makes a
solemn appeal to the leaders
and the faithful to take those
measures that will make avail
able to everyone a decent
home in which family life
may proceed properly, and
provide farmers with easy &C.
cess to farm ownership with
in the standards of justice.
ION THE SPIRITUAL side,
our studies and sessions on di-
ocesan and parochial pastoral
activity are aimed at strength
ening the life of Christ in
souls and the penetration of
the Gospel in social life.
"On the educational level,
the Latin American Bishops
Council repeats the need for
religious instruction Of young
people as an irreplaceable
basis for their complete train
ing - the very opposite from
the hopes of Secularism.
THERE is NO PLACE for
merely negative attitudes or
cowardly pessimism in the
face of doctrines and activi-
ties that threaten to destroy
the eternal values of Chris
tan civilization"
The CELAM meeting open.
ed with a message from His
Holiness Pope John XIII,
read by Marcello Cardinal
Mimmi, Secretary of the Sa-
cred Consistorial Cong r e G a.
ton and president of the
Pontifical Comm S for
Latin America. Archbishop
Antonio Samore, secretary of
the commission and secretary
of the Sacred Congregation
for Extraordinary Ecclesiasti-
cal Affairs, recalled that
CELAM was set up as a result
of a conference of Latin
American Bishops summoned
In Rio de Janeiro in 1855 by
Pope Plus XII. The aim of this
bishops United Nations" he
said, is to serve the Bishops
of Latin America by making
statistics and means of coordi-
nation available.
ARCHBISHOP MIGUEL Da-
rio Miranda of Mexico City,
president of CELAM, told his
fellow bishops that their
watchword must be, Let us
work"
Bishop Bernardino Echever-
ria Ruiz, O.F.M., of Ambato,
Ecuador, urged greater aid
for Latin Americas Indians
and that a spe-
cial congress be held to dis
cuss their needs. He said that
In his own country, Peru and
Bolivia there are seven mil