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In
1996, The Argentine Catholic Bishop Conference asked its Stewardship
Council, headed by Monsg Carmelo Guiaquinta at that
time, to analyze how to finance the Church’s labor in the country.
Teamwork
started and after some months, Proyecto Compartir was drawn.
A pilot program was funded in 4 dioceses in the country. With
extremely positive results, in 1997, the Argentine Bishop Conference
approved of Compartir’s guidelines unanimously. The Conference
also passed the Planteo General para la Reforma Económica de la
Iglesia . This document proposed to build awareness among
Catholic people -lay and priests – about resource management
(N°9). And, it also invited all Dioceses to join Plan Compartir
(N°10).
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Compartir
was born to meet the increasing support that the new
evangelization demands, aiming to make Catholic people aware
and to train pastoral agents. Bishops soon understood that it
was not a mere economic problem but it concerned the
catechesis. Therefore, they decided to get to the root
cause, and not to just work on the short-term effects. |
In
1998, the Argentinean Bishops Conference published their Pastoral
letter Compartir la Multiforme Gracia de Dios, where they set
the basis for Plan Compartir. Since then, new and more dioceses have
joined the Plan.
Bishops
have also highlighted the importance of the Plan during their
National Bishops' Plenary Sessions in April 2002 and November 2003.
Their document Navega Mar
Adentro (May 2003, Nº 63 – 89) discussed the responsibility
that lay people have in resource management.
The
new Stewardship Council headed by Monsg. José María
Arancibia since 2002, has aimed to reinforce Plan Compartir's
development in the dioceses as a invigorating program to carry out
the new evangelization undertook by the Argentine Catholic Church.
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