The members of the Chilean Province of the Congregation of the Mission, gathered together in Santiago during the days of December 12 and 13 in order to evaluate our life and our ministry, are also concerned about our spirituality and the apostolic objective of our Institute. Inspired by our Founder, Saint Vincent de Paul and mindful of the concerns of our lords and masters, the poorest and most abandoned members of society, we experience an unavoidable obligation to take a position and raise our voices in light of the present reality of the country which negatively affects those whom we have an obligation to defend and accompany.
- We are concerned about the lack of awareness, especially among civil authorities, business people and other sectors of the population, about the need to take care of our common home. This is shown by the carelessness with which the large mining companies pollute the waters, both in the northern part of the country as well as in the central and southern regions. This is also revealed by logging companies who damage the earth with the acidity of pine and eucalyptus. We must also mention the large fish farms that have been killing the underwater flora and fauna as a result of the manner in which they have increased the water temperature. All of these realities harm the small communities of farmers, herders and fishermen who are engaged in processes of subsistence production.
At the same time, the construction and maintenance of hydroelectic power plants in the central and southern regions have threatened the very existence of entire towns and villages such as Puchuncaví, Quinteros, San José de Maipo and others.
- We deplore the situation experienced by our Mapuche brothers and sisters, especially those living in the Araucanía area who have not only been dispossessed of their land but who, today, are constantly criminalized and described as violent people and as terrorists. They are forced to endure the presence of Special Operation Forces who react with disproportionate violence. The violent and unjust death of Camilo Catrillanca (the grandson of a prominent Mapuche leader) is one more symbol in a long chain of injustice and repression of a peaceful people who have a right to protest injustice and to demand respect and recognition of their culture and of their ancestral territory.
- We lament the fact that our country, under the present government leadership, has withdrawn its signature from the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as well as from other anti-discrimination documents that were intended to protect those who come to our country seeking better living conditions. All of this is a reflection of a government that has stated: migration is not a right. We are also saddened by the fact that large sectors of the population look at immigrants with misgivings, discriminate against them and applaud the extreme measures that are taken against them. As Christians and Vincentians, we believe in solidarity, in fraternity and in the universal destiny of goods. Immigrants do not come here to steal anything. On the contrary, they have come to our country in order to exercise their right to have a better life and to collaborate in the building-up of a more human society.
This Advent season reminds us of the fact that the Messiah comes among us to inaugurate a new era in which nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4); a new era in which the King-Messiah will have pity for the lowly and the poor and will save them ((Psalm 72:13). This King who was born on Christmas was born poor and born for the poor … this Savior was a migrant, who with his parents, was forced to flee into Egypt in order to save his life.
May this messianic era soften the hearts of believers and of all men and women of good will and enable them to embrace the poor and the indigent who seek justice and salvation in this nation of Chile and in the midst of our world.
Santiago, December 13, 2018
Translated:
Charles T. Plock, CM
Eastern Province, USA
