From August 26 to 28, in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean zone held a meeting with directors and members of the National Caritas, to share experiences and strengthen ties of communion. The Caribbean zone is made up of the Cáritas of Antilles, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

What was experienced at the meeting reaffirms the commitment of Cáritas in the construction of a synodal church, in line with the call of Pope Francis, and the importance of working together for a more just and supportive world.

Being enriched by experiences

The director of Cáritas Puerto Rico and zonal coordinator, Father Enrique Camacho expressed that the meeting was a good opportunity to get closer to personal and community realities. “I feel very happy about this meeting in the Caribbean area, where we have achieved the goals we had set and most importantly, we have experienced brotherhood, love, mercy and established bridges and ties to build, truly, a better area and help our people with great joy and hope.”

Leonor Cruz, national director of Cáritas Dominican Republic, highlighted her satisfaction in participating in the meeting and the support from Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean. “An enriching meeting of brothers and sisters of Cáritas where we were able to share our experiences, our pain, our suffering, but also our hope,” he said.

She also emphasized the beautiful opportunity to share spirituality.

I really welcome this initiative, I salute this great initiative to be able to share, to be able to have this meeting both for work and also the spiritual part. I really hope to meet again, to learn from each other and to continue together hand in hand building the Cáritas Zonal that we want to be.

Approaching reality in a synodal manner

The director of Cáritas Cuba, Carmen María Nodal Martínez, considered the meeting as a gift from the Lord and to encourage mutual help in the mission. "We learned about the realities and context of each of our countries. It helped us to know that reality, to see how we can collaborate, to see how we can unite and work in the future to improve our entire service to the poorest and most vulnerable."

Nicolás Meyer, regional coordinator of Cáritas, participated in the entire meeting and highlights the space for a lot of fraternity, meeting, experiencing spirituality and reflection.

We see that the Spirit calls the charities of this area to walk and to continue deepening the charitable pastoral mission that we have. We were able to touch the suffering reality of these countries, because of what each of the people shared, and also think about how we can walk more synodally.

The coordinator also points out that these types of meetings and experiences are a very clear expression of this synodal church that we want to be.

Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean has 22 member organizations and is organized into four regions: Camex Zone, Caribbean Zone, Bolivarian Zone, Southern Cone Zone.