Churches On The Border

By: Katty Huanuco, CCVI

Representing the Red Kawsay (Religious Life Against Human Trafficking in Peru) I participated in the “Meeting: Churches on the Border” organized by the Ecclesial Panamazonica Network with the goal of taking on an integral perspective in regards to the Amazon.  

‘I ask you in the name of God, protect our mother earth,’ Pope Francis said in his message to the Ecclesial Panamazonica Network (REPAM), a network which was founded to take actions to respond to the particular challenges facing the Amazon territory through a uniting and collaborative vision.  This is one way the Church has responded to the call of the encyclical Laudato Si. 

The Amazon crosses into a number of different countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela.  The REPAM has seven main foci in its work: human rights, communication for social transformation, investigation and mapping, formation and pastoral methodologies, international networks, alternatives to development, and churches on the border. 

This event was held in the city of Quito, Ecuador, and for me it was truly a marvelous experience, not just for the valuable information that I received from REPAM, or the beauty of the Ecuadorian Amazon and the brave stories I heard from missionaries that I met during those days, but also and above all because it confirmed our intuition that our world is demanding more articulated and holistic answers and vision to the problems we are facing today. 

The two work days helped us to really feel a part of REPAM and take on a more active role in responding to the conditions of the territory; and to confirm the urgency of making the focus of Churches on the Border in REPAM a priority, recognizing the  urgent need.

I am grateful to the Red Kawsay for the opportunity to attend and to my Congregation for the trust they place in me.  With all that I heard, experienced, and lived in those days, we can truly say, “we are REPAM.”  Attached here is a picture of some of the priests and women religious who work against human trafficking in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.