The people who are part of the Reimagining Board of the Latin American Council of Churches – CLAI presents a proposal to reorganize the mode of articulation and the common actions of churches and ecumenical organizations in CLAI, under a network model (CLAI Network). The proposal is based on the results of the process of evaluation and diagnosis in which possible routes were identified in order to face the current challenges in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean. This document (published at the end of this article) is the result of the process of collective building of the Board, which established a resignifying lense on the actions of the Council at a continental and national level.
“Our network inherits the duty of those who, in the distant and recent past, have given forth their ecumenical testimony in our continent, and affirms the link with other regional and global organizations that express these same convictions of faith. Amidst the present times, we procure to affirm, from the Kingdom’s Gospel, paths of justice and equality and a solidary compromise with the impoverished people and those who find themselves in situations of vulnerability or exclusion. We affirm the dignity of all people, beyond differences in ethnicity, culture, gender, nationality, or social standing, as well as the dignity of the totality of creation, and we procure, inside our possibilities and trusting in the fellowship of the Spirit, to work together so that dignity is recognised and respected in all the spaces of our society. For that we also express our disposition to collaborate with other ecclesiastical, religious, and secular institutions that share this same calling.”
Objectives of the CLAI Network: Provide a joint testimony of our faith in God, creator, father and mother, in Jesus Christ, Lord and saviour, and in communion with the Holy Ghost, according to the Sacred Text. Specific objects: I. To affirm our common faith in dialogue with our plural. II. To articulate actions of public incidence motivated by the common compromise with the prophetic voice. III. To promote the movilising of churches and ecumenic organisms for the development and exchange of experiences oriented towards a transformative ecumenical diacony.
“We promote, in exchange, that the structure and functioning of the new CLAI Network be based fundamentally on articulation and ecumenic action at the national level, where face to face ecumenic encounters and cooperation are more viable and sustainable. Each national articulation will delegate its representation for the CLAI Network at the continental level, in which cumenic dialogue and cooperation will be privileged by taking advantage of virtual platforms, except when any given initiative or project makes face o face meeting possible.”
For the functioning of the CLAI Network we propose the following structure:
CLAI Network Board of Continental Coordination: The CLAI Network Board of Continental Coordination will be the instance responsible for planning and evaluating the activities related to the meeting of its goals; to analyse and accord decisions that tend towards the strengthening of its organisation and functioning; and to appoint from between its members those who will take part of the Mobilising Committee.
The Mobilising Committee will have the duty to encourage the normal functioning of the CLAI Network in the framework of the plan of action agreed on by the Board of Continental Coordination, and to supervise the work of the Executive Team. It will be composed of five head members and two substitutes (getting as close as possible to gender parity) designated by the Board of Continental Coordination from between its members (guaranteeing a broad representation of those who are part of it), for a period of three years.
The Executive Team will be made up of at least three qualified people who will devote an allocated time of their workday to the execution of the activities planned by the CLAI Network. The time they work will be paid, be it through some project managed by the Mobilising Committee, or as contribution from the churches and ecumenical organizations that have offered candidates with the required qualifications.
(Virtual) Transition Assembly:
The days Friday 25 and Saturday 26 of March 2022, a virtual Assembly will take place to take the fundamental decisions related to the conclusion of the old CLAI structure and, if the proposals are approved, to the putting in operation of the new CLAI Network. Given Assembly will take a stand on:
• The definitive dissolution of the old CLAI institution, which implies the definitive stop of the Board of Directors’ functions, elected during the last face to face Assembly (La Havana, 2013)
• The putting forwards of the CLAI Network, replacing the old institution
• The proposal of organising and functioning of the CLAI Network
• The proposal of Orientations for the CLAI Network’s practices and Interest Agreements
• The proposal of Identity Affirmation of the CLAI Network and its annexes
• The payroll of the members of the first Mobilising Committee that will assume the responsibility to put the CLAI Network in motion
The full document can be downloaded from this link: https://alc-noticias-media-es.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/2021/09/21140213/Propuesta-Final-Reimaginacio%CC%81n-.pdf
Translation: Massimiliano Tron F