User:Melonology/Episcopal Conference of Latin America

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The Latin American Episcopal Council (Spanish: Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano; Portuguese: Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano), better known as CELAM, is a council of the Roman Catholic bishops of Latin America, created in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Early History
From July 25th to August 4th,1955, bishops from all over Latin America met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the first meeting of CELAM, with Pope Pius XII formally approving the organization on November 2nd of that year. The bishops that met for the 1955 General Conference highlighted three main problems the church faced in Latin America: shortage of clergy, lack of organization, and pressing social issues - calling for an increase in social work by the Church. Concerns including the rise of communism, secularism, and Protestantism were also included in the plenary meeting. Overall, the organization was created to support the pastoral work of the bishops, and to respond to problems facing the Church in Latin America. Bishops with diverging politics, such as Hélder Câmara and Jaime de Barros Câmara, helped form the organization and its mission.

CELAM expanded rapidly in the 60s and experienced a demographic change in the mid-60s. From 1959 to 1964, under Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez as president, the organization had two sub-departments -- Catechetics and the Committee on Faith. By 1965, with Manuel Larraín as president, the organization operated with nine: Education, Lay Apostolates, Liturgy, Pastoral of CELAM, Public Opinion, Semiñaries, University Pastoral, Vocations and Ministries, and Social Action. Four new institutes were also created by CELAM under the leadership of Manuel Larraín: the Institute of Pastoral Liturgy and the Pastoral Institute for Latin America in Quito, Ecuador, the Institute on Latin American Catechetics in Santiago, Chile, and the Institute on Latin American Catechetics in Manizales, Columbia. Progressive bishops and their staff quickly filled the newly created positions, making CELAM a successful vehicle for Liberation theology, as the organization provided necessary support and protection for the movement to grow.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) prompted the Second Episcopal Conference of Latin America, also referred to as the Medellín Conference or CELAM II, that took place in Medellín, Columbia, from August 24 to September 6, 1968. The meeting was convened to discuss the implications of Vatican II on the Latin American Church. The Conference included six preparatory meetings, with attendees such as Gustavo Gutiérrez, Juan Luis Segundo, and José Comblin. Documents from the conference declare the Church committed to social change towards "authentic liberation", Latin America suffering under "neocolonialism" and "the international imperialism of money", and claim that the "growing distortion of international commerce [is] … a permanent menace against peace". The guidelines of Medellín contributed to the development of a more vigorous Church, committed explicitly to social justice, which was reflected in CELAM's propagation of Ecclesial Base Communities - local groups that reinterpreted the biblical message, giving it a clear political content to put it at the service of popular struggles - as well as in the organization's extensive educational work focused on social issues provided to clergy, laity, and congregants of the Church. The conference is credited for propelling the movement of Liberation theology forward, with "organizational strength" in the Latin American Church's progressive sector considered to be at an all time high from 1968 to 1972.