Since Sunday, January 13th, 34 Dehonians from all Latin American Entities started meeting at the Tureck Hotel in Corupá, Southern Brazil, for the Congress “Postmodernity and Sacred Heart Mystique, provocations, dialogue and responses”, scheduled for 14-18 January.
The meeting has requested on the Programmatic Letter of the General Government (2015-2018) assumed by the Provincial Superiors of the Latin America Entities and it was organized by the South Brazil Province (BRM). Fr. Rubens Rieg welcomed with cordiality all participants, on behalf of the provincial superior, Fr. Gilberto Bonato, who took the opportunity to thank the Dehonian Theological Commission of Latin America (CTDAL) who organized all the content for this Congress. The commission coordinator, Fr. João Carlos Almeida, opened the work explaining to the participants the Goals, the Program and the Method that would be used. The first day (14th) the reflection was in charge of the emeritus philosophy professor, Fr. Adilson Colombi, who spoke about the roots of postmodernity. The second day (15th), Fr. João Carlos Almeida helped the participants to understand some categories of postmodernity with the support of Zygmunt Bauman’s theoretical reference, verifying its impact on the thoughts of Pope Francis. On this same day, Fr. Gimesson da Silva spoke about the conclusions of the Synod of Bishops on Young People, held in 2018. Right after, Fr. Rubens Rieg indicated how the phenomenological method can help us to read postmodernity without prejudices. This speech ended the first step of the Congress called “provocations”. In the late afternoon, the group had the opportunity to visit the Novitiate Our Lady of Fatima, where they celebrated the Eucharist with the novices. Day 16th was dedicated to the second step, the “dialogue”. In the morning, Fr. Quinto Regazzoni gave an in-depth reading on the codes of postmodernity, demonstrating that it has already been superseded by Hyper-modernity and that we are entering a “digital age”. In the afternoon, Fr. Manuel António Teixeira showed the relevance of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in postmodernity. We found that the heart is a solid symbol that still finds echo in the Net Generation, which can drink fruitfully from this source if we find the correct language and means, maintaining the message’s solidity. The night was of confraternization with regional songs.
The next day (17th), the group worked interactively on the third step of the Congress: “responses”. The afternoon was dedicated to a pilgrimage to Nereu Ramos city, where the Servant of God, Fr. Aloísio Boeing SCJ, was buried. After the Mass, the group still went to the well-known Corupá Seminary for a moment of vocational prayer. The meeting was closed on 18th at noon with Mass, presided by the general councilor, Fr. Levi dos Anjos. Before that, the participants approved texts and other materials of this week to spread to the confreres of the whole Congregation.
