In a spirit of synodality and missionary fraternity, the Meeting of Religious Life in the Amazon was held, convened by the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), with the accompaniment of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious (CLAR) and the technical and pastoral support of UNIMINUTO University.
The virtual event brought together more than 84 participants—women and men from different religious congregations—from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, and Venezuela. It was a day of listening and discernment about the challenges, strengths, and horizons of consecrated life in the Amazon.
A meeting of languages, cultures, and spiritualities
The session was moderated by Marcelo Lemos, executive secretary of CEAMA, and coordinated by Alicia Covaleda, with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The diversity of voices and accents reflected the richness of the peoples and charisms that inhabit the Amazonian territory.
“Religious life in the Amazon is a living network that communicates beyond borders and languages. This meeting is a sign of the Spirit that continues to blow among us,” Marcelo said as he opened the day.
Sister Joaninha Madeira, from the Itinerant Network, led the moment of prayer from Manaus with the missionary prayer for Missionary Month 2025:
“We want to walk with the Spirit along the paths of the Amazon, listening to the cry of the earth and the peoples, and allowing the mission to become communion.”
Voices from the territory: realities and challenges
The interventions highlighted the diversity of experiences of consecrated life accompanying indigenous, riverine, and urban communities. The religious men and women shared their experience of a mission that evangelizes “from closeness and listening, living the faith in the same canoes and paths as the people.”
The commitment of women’s religious life, prophetic and embedded in frontier contexts, was highlighted, although it is often not valued or heard in ecclesial spaces. “We are in places where others do not go, but there is still a lack of recognition of the female voice in the Church,” said one of the groups.
Among the most pressing challenges mentioned were:
- The shortage of priests and difficulties in accessing the sacraments.
- Clericalism and the lack of participation of women religious in ecclesial decision-making processes.
- The fragility of religious communities, with few members and a scattered presence.
- The need for a more synodal Church, incarnate and committed to the Common Home.
In this regard, Sister María Inés Castellaro, representative of CLAR, stated:
“The Synod of the Amazon is not over; it continues in every religious man and woman who is present among the peoples. Consecrated life continues to be a sign of hope and generous dedication, especially where humanity is most wounded.”
Listening, discernment, and commitment
During the group work, three fundamental areas of reflection were addressed:
- Intercultural and ecological formation of religious life, which helps to respond to the cries of the communities.
- Community insertion as an evangelical witness, strengthening the prophetic presence in the territories.
- Overcoming clericalism and promoting synodality, creating spaces for participation and co-responsibility.
“The Amazon calls us to an incarnate spirituality. It is not enough to know its reality: we must feel it, breathe it, and allow ourselves to be transformed by it,” said one participant.
“Today’s mission requires itinerant hearts, open to dialogue and to listening deeply to the peoples.”
Horizons for the common journey
The groups agreed on the need for CEAMA to continue to be a bridge between experiences, communities, and congregations, promoting formation with a common language and tools that connect the Amazon Synod, the Synod on Synodality, and Querida Amazonia with the local reality.
It was also proposed to strengthen inter-congregational and inter-zonal experiences, to promote spaces for pastoral exchange, and to encourage the formation of clergy and seminarians in an Amazonian and non-clerical key, in order to move towards a truly synodal Church.
A mission that is renewed
The meeting concluded with a joint call to continue walking together, strengthening the communion between CEAMA, CLAR, and the Amazonian missionary networks.
“We dream of a religious life that breathes with the peoples, cares for creation, and makes the Kingdom visible on the margins of history,” they affirmed in their final statement.
The Meeting of Religious Life in the Amazon is thus consolidated as a space for ecclesial discernment that nourishes hope and renews the missionary vocation in the heart of the Amazon biome, opening new paths for the construction of CEAMA’s Synodal Apostolic Horizons.
