Keeping in mind the “problematic situations” presented in the relations and the rich illumination received, the members who participated in the meeting have prepared the following Pastoral Options and the various consequences that derive from them.

OPTIONS CONSEQUENCES

1. To assume as ours the - To know and to esteem the indigenous spirituality
struggle and hopes of - To accompany their process of recuperating their identity
the indigenous countries & culture
- To assume the anti-indigenistic consequences of the surrounding society
- To accompany the struggle for their rights: health, education,
land, proper nourishment, respecting their process of
autonomy and self-determination

2. Announcement of the - To live the evangelical values
Kingdom of God to the - Inculturated and liberating evangelization
the indigenous peoples - To study, sustain and apply the Indian Theology, because it is an indispensable part of their history and identity
- To discuss the non-values of the culture that generate death.
- To sensitize the hierarchy of the Church and of our Institutes
to the values of the Kingdom that are present in the Indian
peoples and in their theologies

3. To elaborate lines and - To grow, as an Institute, in the option for the indigenous peoples
common criteria of - To acquire clear concepts of culture, inculturation
evangelization and insertion
pastoral indigenous - To elaborate a pastoral plan in communion with the Local
activities for Latin Church that will favor the continuity of a process
America - To include the representatives of the indigenous peoples, the catechists and the leaders
- To reflect upon and to evaluate continually the process of evangelization with the indigenous leaders

4. To assume the process - Enough time to study the language and the culture in
of insertion systematic fashion
- To accompany the process of insertion with apt counselors, and to respect the existing processes in order to guarantee stability and continuity
- To accept inevitable restructurations at the level of the teams, and at the institutional level
- That the institutes aptly prepare the missionaries

5. To form missionary - To choose the personnel using common criteria, people who teams for indigenistic have an indigenistic vocation to work as teams
pastoral activities in a - Integral specific preparation of the members of the team common project e.g.., to prepare the teams for as it was done the teams of
the latest openings in Mongolia and Djibuti
- Fidelity of the team to formation and spirituality meetings
- Periodical programmation and evaluation of the team
- Reflection and contemplative discourse in common
- To allocate funds for this purpose

B. LINES OF ACTION

We have symbolized the five lines of action that came up in this meeting using as basis some symbolical elements of the Indian theology we contemplated these past days.
At the center we find Evangelization, giving strength, life, unity and meaning to the other lines of action. It is the central space, the ‘umbilicus’ from which emanates the vitality and which harmonizes the actions and the totality of an open and dynamic universe.
From this vital center is born the generating force of the four pillars of the universe, of the Big House that receives the children of God Father and Mother.

Missionary Team Insertion

EVANGELIZATION

Accompaniment Communion for the Mission

1.1 To announce the Kingdom of God to the indigenous peoples with whom we work as a missionary team, attributing value to the spirituality, the mysticism and the values already present in the indigenous peoples. This must be done in a serious comparative biblico-theological study in order to enrich the cultures and favor the progressive and harmonious adhesion of the evangelical values.

1.2 Let the team expose the effectiveness of the evangelizing action among the indigenous peoples by giving priority to the buildig up of a Church that has a proper face directed by indigenous peoples and in communion with the Local Church. This way, the Gospel will be able to help develop the authentic values of the cultures, purifying them from the structures of death/sin.

1.3 To carry on the new evangelization through an interreligious dialogue, having esteem for the indigenous peoples and the richness of the Indian theology, in order to enrich and be enriched.

1.4 To announce the Kingdom of God to the indigenous peoples keeping in mind their cultural world in which exist the Seed of the Word, always aware of the evangelical values and the charism of our Institute; making ours the struggles and the hopes of these peoples; strengthening their positive aspects and looking for alternatives to the negative ones. Thus shall we be signs within the Church of our option for the Indigenous people and help the process of the awareness of their history and values.

1.5 To witness and to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ basing ourselves on the spiritual and religious values of the indigenous peoples so that they may have life in abundance.

Strategy:

-- Prayer and reflection together by the missionary team and the indigenous people on their cultural and religious values.
-- Meetings and reflection together with the elders and the traditional doctors on the symbolism used to communicate with the Beyond.
-- To come to know and visit the sacred places of the indigenous people with an attitude of sacred respect.
-- To deepen and to adapt ourselves to the sense and the concept of “unity and harmony” that are typical of the indigenous cultures that we accompany.
-- To produce catechetical material adapted to the group.

Missionary teams:

2.1 The regional governments must organize and enable the teams of missionaries that work or will work with a certain indigenous people to become aware of the need of giving witness with their lives; the need of preparing themselves for that kind of work in a specific way that includes the study of appropriate disciplines; and also the need to face the field’s experiences – in order to reach a qualified pastoral service.

2.2 The regional governments must form and support the teams of missionaries who live and work together, keeping in mind their human qualities, their formation, their studies, the charism of the Institute and the qualifications of each member in order to become examples of communion among the indigenous communities and give evangelical witness through a qualified kind of work.

2.3 To accompany us and value us members of the missionary teams as human persons, welcoming the gifts of each one from the standpoint of the charismatic and apostolic values, so that we may become happier and more serene witnesses to the Kingdom of God.

2.4 To revitalize the family spirit in every apostolic activity. Show this family spirit in the complementarity of one another, in the desire and the capacity of working as a team with all the present pastoral agents so as to live in a fraternal spirit and in a witness-giving attitude – which are necessary elements in the work of evangelization.

Strategy:

-- To set up a specific length of time of preparation with adequate contents.
-- To program periodical encounters of programmation, evaluation, rest, prayer, reflection…
-- To favor exchanges between the teams and the indigenous communities.
-- Both regional governments must support the teams.

Insertion:

3.1 To insert ourselves, as individuals and as teams, into the real world of the indigenous peoples, basing ourselves on constituent elements of their cultural identity and the challenges of interculturality, so that our encounter with them may produce spiritual and cultural growth.

3.2 The regional governments should guarantee to the missionary teams a process of insertion in the vital dialectics, and to assume the struggles, the hopes and the rights of the indigenous peoples (health, education, land, apt nourishment…), keeping in mind their legitimate autonomy, in order to favor a proper spiritual and cultural identity.

Strategy:

-- As a team, to study and reflet in depth on the history, the values and the cultural expressions of the peoples with whom we work.
-- To look for qualified external challenges and to appreciate the internal experiences of the individuals.
-- To take the necessary time before undertaking new actions-activities. (To exercise historical patience.)
-- To study the language and the idioms of the peoples.

Accompaniment:

4.1 While the team does its programming, it should keep in mind the dynamics that are proper to every indigenous people: this should be done from a Gospel perspective, from an anthropological and social angle and in the light of the signs of the times. This will give adequate answers to their exigencies and desires and be consistent with the values of their tradition and culture.

Strategy:

-- To meet with the indigenous community to reflect on the socio-cultural, economic and political changes.
-- To program qualification workshops that will help awaken the critical conscience in front of the changes that take place.
-- To favor daily life.
-- To participate in formative local and national meetings.
-- To participate in ceremonials and celebrations.

Communion for the Mission

Covenants

5.1 To promote communion, exchange and mutual support at the level of the missionary teams and of the indigenous peoples, keeping in mind a vision at the continental level. Supporting the creation of covenants of the indigenous peoples with alternative sectors at the national, continental and world level – covenants that aim at the globalization of solidarity. To work with a Catholic spirit of communion and the hope of creating another world which is attainable, a world stemmimg from the indigenous peoples: We will thus give life to an IMC, MC and Consolata Lay Missionary Latin Amerian identity and make visible the unity of the Indigenous historical project.

Strategy:

-- Meetings between missionaries and the indigenous peoples.
-- Participation in continental meetings of reflection-action.
-- Exchange of material and personnel.
-- Accompaniment by our general councilors, of the IMC-MC continent.

FINAL PROPOSALS

• Through proper studies, to form some Consolata missionaries and Consolata missonary sisters in the Indian theology in order to be able to accompany the study towards an inculturated indigenous pastoral work in the various regions.
• To present to the General Chapters a document that contains the orientations of the Continental Meeting of Indigenous Pastoral Activities.
• Those who participated in the Meeting on Indigenous Pastoral Activities should become the first sensitizers of the Local Church and of the formative houses in the regions.
• To hold Meetings on the Indigenous Pastoral Activities every three or four years.
• To revitalize the family spirit in every apostolic work.