InterAmerican Committee

In Solidarity with the American Sisters of Religious Apostolic Communities

Montreal, Jun7 7, 2010: Following a resolution of the CRC 2010 General Assembly, the president of CRC, Mary Finlayson, RSCJ, officially conveys to our American Sisters of religious apostolic communities that the women and men religious of Canada stand with you in solidarity and support through continued prayer as you experience the Apostolic Visitation and the Doctrinal Assessment. Open this PDF document.

The InterAmerican Network

The Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) works in solidarity with the religious conferences of the United States and Latin America. The religious conferences in the Americas gather together every five years to share their experiences and develop common strategies to work towards meeting the challenges of living out the Gospel in the modern world.

The Statement of Mission adopted at the May 2005 Assembly gives priority to “uniting to strengthen our bonds, to make our communications more effective and to deepen the collaboration among the women and men religious from the North to the South of the Americas.” - Sao Paolo, May 6, 2005.

Among the short-term objectives established by the InterAmerican Planning Committee was that each Conference web site would:

1. have a separate page devoted to InterAmerican issues;
2. publicize and promote the work of the InterAmerican assembly;
3. post links to each other’s sites;
4. send newsletters, annual reports and periodicals to each Conference.

With the new CRC web site we now have the means of fulfilling some of these objectives. The InterAmerican Committee will be meeting again in mid-March in Bogota. The president, Alain Ambeault. CSV, and executive director, Margaret Toner, SCIC, will be attending. They will be proud to report that our link is now established.

The members of InterAmerican Network represent the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), the Confederación Latinoamericana de Religiosos y Religiosas (CLAR), and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC).

The Bishops of Jamaica Call for a Genuine National Transformation

The Bishops of Jamaica responds to the recent events that have traumatized the citizens of West Kingston and surrounding Corporate area which threatened the moral and civil order of the nation. In their message, they express their solidarity with the bereaved and underline the 'need to dismantle the culture of death and violence by intentionally creating a culture of LIFE and PEACE'. To read this timely message, open this PDF document.

The InterAmerican Conference Mission Statement

Seeking to build solidarity among the Religious of the Americas, the delegates representing the Religious Conferences at the 2005 InterAmerican Conference adopted the following mission statement.

We are a network of organizations of men and women religious leaders of the Americas, attentive to the call of God that speaks to us through the world in which we live.

We unite to strengthen our bonds, to make our communications more effective and to deepen the collaboration among the women and men religious from the North to the South of the Americas.

In fidelity to our mystical-prophetic vocation of religious life, we commit ourselves to hearing and living the Word of God – a catalyst for conversion and social/ecclesial transformation.

We are confident that a different world is possible, and we commit to joint actions that favour the creation of just, equitable, and non-violent relationships.

Adopted May 6, 2005

 

History of the InterAmerican Assemblies

The Interamerican Assemblies of Women and Men Religious came about indirectly as result of the Intermerican meeting of bishops. The first Assembly was held in 1971 in Mexico. Since then, these Interamerican Assemblies, held in different countries, have provided the members of the religious congregations with the opportunity to get to know one another better, to be in contact with the reality of religious life in other places and discuss together issues of common concern for Religious Life in America.

The history was translated from Spanish.  The original document was titled Memoria del Caminar de la Interamericana. Go to PDF document.

Historical Context

The InterAmerican Assemblies of Women and Men Religious came about indirectly as result of the Intermerican meeting of bishops. Inspired by their desire for greater collegiality and to help one another live the true missionary vocation of the Church, the bishops of Canada, the United States and Latin America came together every year to exchange views and see how they could better collaborate with one another. A delegation of men and women religious from the three regions were usually invited to attend these meetings.

At their meeting in Caracas, Venezuela in 1969, the bishops spoke at length about the role of  those who would be coming from the United States to collaborate with the Latin American Church. It was at this meeting that they determined the criteria for the selection and the training of these pastoral ministers.

Because the majority of the pastoral ministers would undoubtedly be women and men belonging to religious congregations, the representatives of CLAR who were in Caracas told the bishops that their decisions would have little or no impact if the major superiors of the congregations weren’t made aware of the conditions they had stipulated for the missionaries going to Latin America.

First InterAmerican meeting

Upon hearing this, the bishops decided to organize a meeting with representatives of CLAR and the major superiors of the congregations in Canada and the United States who would be sending missionaries to Latin America. The goal of this assembly was to study the decisions taken by the bishops in Caracas and identify the most effective way to respond to the situation. The first InterAmerican meeting was convened and took place in Mexico City in the month of february 1971.

In order to ensure continuity, the InterAmerican Committee composed of the Presidents and the Executive Secretaries of each of the Conferences of the American continent, CLAR (Latin American and Caribbean Conference), the CRC (Canadian Religious Conference), the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious of the U.S.), and the CMSM (Conference of Major Superiors of Men of the U.S.) have continued to meet once a year.