On the morning of March 25, 2025, the Executive Secretariat of CEAMA participated in a conversation with representatives of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, focused on the processes and methodologies of listening and dialogue within the Church. This meeting allowed us to delve deeper into the importance of building spaces for active listening, essential to respond to the ecclesial and social realities of the Amazon.
During the meeting, the evolution of the pastoral approach of the Dicastery was highlighted, which has gone from a structure of specialists to a network of accompaniment to local Churches. This transformation, initially promoted by Father Michael Czerny (current Cardinal/Prefect of the DSDHI), prioritizes the creation of dialogue structures that allow articulating concrete responses to the challenges of the territory.
Listening and dialogue: keys to a Synodal Church
The meeting emphasized that synodality is not only a theoretical concept, but a practice in constant construction. The Conversation in the Spirit involves attending to the voices of all ecclesial levels, from bishops to grassroots communities, and also opening up to other realities outside the Church. The richness of Latin America was recognized as an example of networking and Synodality, whose model can inspire other regions of the world.
One of the challenges addressed was the tension between the need to offer immediate responses to emergencies and the construction of long-term processes. It was highlighted that CEAMA, through its work approach, proves to be a key actor in the articulation of participatory solutions for the Amazon and for the Church in the world.
Challenges and paths forward
The conversation concluded with a call to continue strengthening a culture of continuous discernment, in which each decision is the result of a process of consultation and support. It was recognized that the Church faces a world that tends towards authoritarian and vertical structures, while its challenge is to remain faithful to a horizontal, broad and participatory model.
At the end, the Executive Secretary of CEAMA, Marcelo Lemos, thanked Mário Almeida and Cecilia Barja of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, for the opening and the link to the space, as well as the colleagues of the Executive Secretariat and the consultant Alicia Covaleda, who was present at the time to contribute more elements to the process of the listening stage and the preparation of the Synodal Apostolic Plan of the CEAMA Ecclesial Conference.