Colombia Catholic Church highlights youth, family for nation building
Bishops recognize the need for strengthening the family unit and ensuring that youth receive proper education to prevent them from engaging in violence
The Catholic Church in Colombia is to use its resources to ensure that the family and young people receive the relevant support to enhance the Church’s mission of evangelization and become authentic protagonists in nation building.
"The purpose is to highlight that the family, living its vocation to be a community of life and love, is the protagonist of human life in all its dimensions. We need families to increasingly assume their irreplaceable vocation of being promoters of human life, builders of society, protectors of the common home and active subjects of evangelization", according to the of Marriage and Family Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, while also recognizing their role as main formators of Colombians willing to contribute to the construction of a better country.
It cited the teachings of Pope Francis on the family saying that the family is the irreplaceable protagonist of the hope of humanity and of the Church's evangelizing action. Therefore, this mission of the family "is not a concession that is given to it, but corresponds to its very nature, since developing its vocation and mission, it plays a main role in human, social, ecological and ecclesial events... The source of its transforming force lies in its own identity of being an intimate community of life and love, called to receive the gift of God's Love to irradiate it in different environments”, the commission said.
Family is of utmost importance in Colombian society, as it is in many other cultures throughout Latin America largely due to the religion's Catholic influence. Family is the fundamental building block of society and community for the majority of Colombians. Nonetheless, Colombian society has a high frequency of infidelity in marriage with almost 66% of men and women admitting to having an affair at least once, making Colombia is the most unfaithful nation in all of Latin America. Given that the majority of Colombians are Catholic, social researchers say that although Colombians may not legally divorce, relationships can end and people do go their own ways.
Right to education
The commission also pointed to the urgent need for education essential to prevent children and adolescents from repeating the violence that plagues the region. The country is witnessing much violence the border areas between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela that do not have adequate infrastructure or services and suffer from the persistent conflict in Colombia, particularly affecting children and young people.
"The presence of the army frightens the civilian population because moments of confrontation between the guerrillas and the military generate violence and the latter, in turn, cause displacement," Juan Casas, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Colombia, told Fides. “Children play at being soldiers or guerrillas. With a broomstick they pretend to have a rifle in their hands. Or they hood up with a sweater. They reproduce what they see. But sadly, those games can become reality,” Casas said.
Hence, there is urgent need to build spaces for peaceful coexistence. "The school, with its structures, the football and basketball fields, becomes a protective space and that is how we work with the civilian population to guarantee a safe space that cannot be touched", said Casas.
The Catholic Church in Colombia is currently participating as a "permanent companion" in peace talks between the Colombian government and the active left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla rebel group, hoping to end nearly 60 years of conflict. The ELN group is primarily active in the Pacific region and along the 2,200-kilometer border with Venezuela.
Colombians have suffered much due to the conflict between the state and various groups of left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers in which more than 450,000 people were killed. Moreover, the learning losses and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to make it more difficult for children to effectively exercise their right to education.