Among the great results attained by the IV Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, which was celebrated in 1992 at Santo Domingo, without doubt one of the most important is the ample support given to projections and to programatic lines of action in the realm of pastoral activities among the Amerindian population. The Indians were always present in the preoccupations of the Church, even if they did not always occupy the same space, or were not always looked on in the same fashion.
At the Latin American level, there are no other Church documents that give as much space and value to "indigenous" topics and to the "peoples having a proper culture that is different from the dominating culture" as in Santo Domingo. A great qualitative step was made there in regards to the way of dealing with this reality: it is no longer considered to be a problematic belonging to an insignificant sector, or a "residue from the past" (DP. 398). Not even are the Indians simply seen as "the poorest among the poor" (DP. 34), but as "the basis of our present culture" (SD. Message, 38). In fact, Latin America is "a multiethnic and pluricultural continent", possessing its own "singular identity... a point of encounter of everyday Christian life with what is characteristic to America". "As we look at the most recent historical times, we continuously encounter the live and visible footprints of a secular culture" (SD. 224, 18, 21).
At Santo Domingo, the Church did not become conscious that in Latin America live also the indigenous, the Afro-Americans and the mestizos. This was already known. Rather the Church realized that, in its most profound identity, Latin America is indigenous, Afro and mestizo. At Santo Domingo, the theme "Amerindian" was not simply one theme among many, even if there are special paragraphs on it (SD 243; 251). Rather that theme became a kind of key of discernment for all the subjects studied because it was intimately connected with the central theme: the inculturation of the Gospel. All the aspects discussed at Santo Domingo make some reference to the Amerindian theme: either directly, by talking about it explicitly, or indirectly by speaking of "our peoples", "our cultures", "the autochthonous values", " the oldest roots", "our original identity", etc.
Santo Domingo, besides collecting and deepening the few statements of Medellin and Puebla on the Amerindian, echoes the new and important problematic that has come out in pastoral care during the last thirty years, and which had never been given so much space in the documents of CELAM.
They are not only poor
The indigenous of Latin America are no longer considered to be "the poorest among the poor" as per the well-known saying of Puebla. Even if this saying is found twice in the document of Santo Domingo (SD. 167; Message, 17), this is no longer the main category into which to place them.
A people with their own identity
The Amerindians are collective subjects that have a common history, a culture and a specific life project that must be recognized, respected and supported by the other collectivities and by the Church. The word "people", or "our peoples" for the indigenous appears often in the document (SD. 8, 17, 31, 36, 85, 121, 123, 124, 138, 150, 168, 169, 172, 201, 219, 228, 229, 243, 244, 245, 248, 249, 251, 263, 284, 287, 288, 292, 299; Message: 2, 7, 22, 30, 32, 38, 39, 48). In some paragraphs the expression "communities", or "indigenous population" are used with the meaning of "indigenous peoples" (SD. 54, 172, 243; 169).
They possess human riches
Santo Domingo stresses the value of the Amerindians in a high manner. For the Church, the indigenous populations "possess many cultural riches" that are found at the "basis of our present culture" (Message 34); they are the "living footprints of a centuries-old culture"; they are the "most solid substratum of the pluricultural and pluriethnic identity of the continent" (SD. 244, 252).
Inculturation of the faith
The Amerindian religiosity is "a privileged expression of the inculturation of the faith" (SD. 36). Mary (Guadalupe...example of inculturated evangelization) is the "distinctive mark of the culture of our continent" (SD. 15). Consequently, the liturgy must "adopt the forms, the signs and the actions proper to the cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean" (SD. 53).
The Pope has sent the invitation "to give attention to indigenous vocations" and "to show a particular interest in the challenge of priestly formation of candidates from the indigenous cultures" (SD. 80, 83).
They are at the basis of the Latin American Identity
"The indigenous peoples cultivate highly meaningful human values" (SD. 245) which "the Church defends... against the demolishing powers of the structures of sin manifested by modern societies" (SD. 243). "They possess many cultural riches that are found at the roots of our cultural identity"
(Message, 34).
They are bearers of the "seeds of the Word"
From the standpoint of faith, the values and the convictions of the indigenous peoples "are the fruit of the ’semina Verbi’ that were already present and active among their ancestors" (SD. 245). The inculturation of the Gospel "... presupposes the acknowledgment of these evangelical values" (SD. 230)... "In fact, the seeds of the Gospel... had long waited for the coming of the life giving dew of the Spirit" (SD. 17). *
Theirs is an example to follow
In many aspects, the example of the indigenous peoples is worthy of imitation. In the ecological field, for example, the document of Santo Domingo asks Christians "to learn from the poor how to live in sobriety, how to share and value the wisdom of the indigenous peoples in the realm of the conservation of nature as an environment for all" (SD. 169). At the same time, the bishops suggest that we must "promote a change of mentality in relation to the value of the land viewed from a Christian cosmovision that is linked to the traditions of the poor and the rural sectors" (SD. 176; see 172) and "which makes of God, man, and world one global reality that pervades all relationships, human, spiritual and transcendent." (SD. 248).
Amerindian protagonism in the fields of human promotion and the inculturation of the Gospel
Based on the afore-given premises, the indigenous peoples must be the protagonists of their own development so that "they will become the creators of their own destiny" and thus "safeguard the right that they have to live according to their own identity, with their own language and ancestral customs, standing on a full par with all the other peoples of the earth" (SD. 251).
The protagonism of the indigenous peoples is also recognized in the field of inculturation of the Gospel: "so that the Gospel, embodied in their cultures, may show all its vitality, and these peoples may enter into a dialogue of communion with the other Christian communities for a reciprocal enrichment" (SD. 299; Message 11). Through this inculturation, society is invited to discover the Christian character of these values, to appreciate them and to keep them as such" (SD. 230). "This is a work that must be concretized as part of the project of every people, which strengthens their identity and frees them from the powers of death" (SD. 139; see 36). "One of the objectives of inculturated evangelization must always be the complete and total salvation of a given people or human group, it must strengthen its identity and endow that people or group with confidence in its own specific future" (SD. 243).
In some texts, the protagonistic character of the indigenous does not come out clearly. Rather one is left to understand the Church to be the central actor of this inculturation, as viewed from the outside, which she accomplishes through her knowledge of the indigenous values and her selective assuming of those "Values (SD. 248, 254). Words are used such as "permeating" and "penetrating" with the purpose of "introducing the originality of the Gospel message into the heart of the cultures" (SD. 35; 98; 229; 254).
Consequences of this inculturation 
Along with this sense of protagonistic character in the inculturation, the urgency is seen to develop vocations among the indigenous peoples through an adequate and inculturated formation of candidates to the priesthood (SD. 80; 84; 102), an inculturated catechesis (SD. 19; 30), an incarnated liturgy (SD. 35; 53; 151) and a specific theological reflection or indigenous theology (SD. 248; 177). Concerning this point, the Church promises to "accompany their theological reflection and respect their own cultural forms that help them to justify their own faith and their hope" (SD. 248).
Autochthonous Churches
A necessary consequence of what has been said should be the theme of the autochthonous Churches, the particular indigenous Churches. Everything described here can be considered as a way that leads to the formation of these Churches. That is what the bishops intended when they met at Bogota in 1985: "The Church must collaborate in forming particular indigenous Churches that have an Indian face, an autochthonous hierarchy and organization, with a theology, liturgy and ecclesial expressions that are adequate to a cultural living out of their own faith, in communion with other particular Churches, above all, and fundamentally, with Peter" (DEMIS, Bogota, 1985).
However, the subject was not explicitly treated in Santo Domingo. There is only talk about "inculturation of the Church in order to reach a greater concretization of the Kingdom" (SD. 248). But this does not reject the depth of the radical topics that were proposed by the indigenous pastoral leadership.
Intel-cultural and interreligious dialogue
The indigenous peoples are considered interlocutors in the Church. Hence the need and the urgency of an intercultural dialogue that is "respectful, open and fraternal" in order "to support the indigenous peoples in the defense of their own identity and in the recognition of their own values" (SD. 248; 249).
On this theme are centered the anticipation of the future and one of the most radical and important statements of*1 Santo Domingo: The indigenous peoples have the right to be recognized as different also on the religious level. The Church is called to "deepen the dialogue with the non-Christian religions (traditional religions) that are present in our continent, especially the Amerindian religions which, for a long time, have been ignored and marginalized" (SD. 137; 138). This goes beyond the previous attitude which, in one way or another, foresaw that the indigenous peoples had to be integrated into the Church and, in so doing, resign themselves to losing, if not completely at least in part, their own cultural and religious identity.
... Reflections, considerations...
The conclusions of Santo Domingo are not just casual considerations. They were not spur of the moment suggestions, nor can they be understood merely as circumstancial contributions; rather, they are the result of a journey of reflection and praxis of the Latin American Church during the last thirty years, a time when the Church saw the age-old silence of the indigenous populations slowly become a voice that stirs up consciences. In just a few years, the Amerindians went from objects to subjects, protagonists of their own history and of the Church.
The Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in America" synthesizes in some brief paragraphs the urgent pastoral needs in this field. "The Church recognizes that she has the duty to get close to these Amerindians by taking their culture as a point of departure, by seriously considering the spiritual and human riches of their culture that marks the ways of celebrating the liturgy, their sense of joy and of solidarity, their own language and their own traditions... so that the "semina Verbi" that are present in their cultures may reach the fullness of Christ" (EA. 16). "If the Church in America, in fidelity to the Gospel of Christ, wishes to walk the ways of solidarity, she must dedicate special attention to those ethnic groups that, still today, are the object of unjust discrimination" (EA. 64). "...In order to reach these objectives it is necessary to prepare competent pastoral workers" (EA. 64).
In the Church significant theoretical changes have taken place as well as changes of attitude in regard to the pastoral challenges of the indigenous peoples of Latin America. Many reflections and official documents invite us to assume a new mentality and a new pastoral style. The pastoral orientations of Santo Domingo are clear.
During more than thirty years I was directly involved in the process of reflection on the Indigenous pastoral problematic, both through my direct work in the indigenous communities and through my collaboration with the Colombian Bishops Conference, and also with DEMIS-CELAM. This experience brings me to admit that the local Churches and the religious missionary congregations have assumed very little of the richness of this painful journey of reflection. The exceptions confirm the rule, exceptions that are the fruit of the efforts of individuals rather than the work of institutions.
I believe that deep down there exists a chronic problem in the area of formation. Pope John Paul II requests that "competent pastoral workers" be formed (EA. 64).
We must admit that the formative programs for missionaries in seminaries, religious houses and theological centers do not offer enough space for an adequate and specific preparation in the field of the indigenous pastoral problematic. Adequate programs are not being promoted for the formation of pastoral agents in the area of the first proclamation and the inculturation of the Gospel. In this field, formation is rather deficient and superficial, often left up to the good will of the missionary in his/her pastoral praxis. "We do what we can..." is the eternal refrain.
In the evangelization of the indigenous peoples, the identification or confusion between "first proclamation" and catechesis still persists. Efforts to orient indigenous pastoral activities towards first proclamation are still very scanty. Very meager too are the endeavors to learn how the indigenous think, starting from a real intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The theological reflection as it is conceived and set up, offers no possibility of dialogue with the indigenous religions. Consequently, the missionaries keep on repeating over and over again the same mistaken models of the first evangelization in Latin America: catechesis and Christianization.
Too often inculturation is considered only from the standpoint of the liturgy, and ignores indigenous symbology. Many workers in indigenous pastoral activities venture into producing certain adaptations produced by a mentality that is external to the indigenous cultures, according to the pastoral mode of the moment, and they end up producing nothing but folkloristic adaptations.
The inculturation of the Gospel passes through the philosophical thought of a people and is the result of a specific theological reflection. A complete inculturation of the Gospel and of the Church among the Amerindian peoples requires the promotion of the systematization of their thought, and the support of the formation of indigenous pastoral agents, and requires a theological reflection that is based on their points of view, so that it can come to maturity in an autochtonous liturgy. After 500 years of evangelization in Latin America the Church still has the challenge of emerging among the Amerindian peoples with a specific countenance.
As far as the formative aspect is concerned, there still is a chronic lack of qualified anthropological and linguistic preparation of the pastoral agents. The errors of the past keep on being repeated. No critical analysis of the culture is done, the ways of thinking and the philosophy of the indigenous peoples are not studied in depth. At most, incompetent translations are used.
The mission among the indigenous is often considered a self-fulfillment of the pastoral agents rather than a service done in view of their growth. Proof of this are the continuous reassignments of the personnel from one place to another, a true religious nomadism. The projects relative to human promotion and evangelization change especially with the change of missionaries: this can be considered a real social calamity that forces the indigenous communities to continuously adapt to the taste or the personal attitudes of the new pastoral agents.
The local individual Churches do not have a diocesan project of pastoral activities. This happens sometimes because the pastoral work with the indigenous populations is not easy, and at other times because they do not have enough personnel that is prepared for that job, or because of economic problems. Consequently, they delegate this job to religious and missionary congregations who generally consider themselves to be the only ones competent to do this type of work. The congregations, on account of their own juridical structure, find it difficult to insert themselves into the particular Churches. The local Churches continue to ignore the programatic lines of Santo Domingo that concern indigenous pastoral work.
Pastoral agents find it difficult to recognize that the indigenous peoples march toward their own common project that aims at the recuperation of their own identity, of their culture, of their land and of their autonomy, rights that have been recognized, at least in principle, by the constitutions of several Latin American countries. The juridical and anthropological context of indigenous pastoral work is ignored.
Many pastoral agents who work in schools for the indigenous have no specific preparation in that area, and they do not know the general principles that regulate the bilingual and intercultural education of these ethnic groups. Unfortunately, the general attitude still persists in many missionaries of simply categorizing the Indians as "the poor", and they think that it is sufficient to teach the Amerindian how to read and write. Obsolete didactic materials are used, translations of programs of low quality, thus depriving the indigenous children and students of the best that pedagogy can offer in the formation of the ability to think. The result of such an inferior education will always be to form dependent individuals who are barely capable of imitating the worst aspects of the dominating majority groups of society.
The indigenous voice, once isolated and dispersed, has gradually affirmed itself, thanks not only to the support given it by the Church, but especially thanks to their desperate need to survive and to the tenacity and the organizational force of the indigenous themselves. "They have begun to open their eyes, they have begun to see, they have begun to loosen their own tongue and to recuperate their own voice, to speak with courage, they have begun to stand up and walk, they have begun to organize themselves, they have begun to perform actions of transcendental importance for themselves, for the countries of America and for the whole world" (Mons. Leonidas Proano, 1989).
One question remains: "What will be, in the future, the answer of the ’ad gentes’ missionaries ’to this challenge?