Medellin +50, part 2

At the conference “Medellin +50: The Cry of the Poor, A Cry for Life”, in addition to the structure of the conversations and presentations which I wrote about in the blog post last week, there were also special events and activities held.

During the week of the conference, there were a couple of mural artists who had prepared for a communal process of painting a giant mural together.  Throughout the conference, when there was down time, people were able to pass by and see the progress of the mural and help paint a part of it, if they were so inclined. The mural was based in the famous phrase, connected to the Medellin conference of 1968: “Another World is Possible”. The artists took suggestions from the participants of the conference about what that world might look like as well as the symbols of hope that we have to maintain faith in its possibilities.

The final product of the collective mural painting at the conference. Photo by Katie.

At the presentation of the mural, a participant of the conference read the "parable of the hummingbird" to explain why the hummingbirds on the mural were symbols of hope. Photo by Katie. Here is a link to the parable.

 This is a video made by the mural artists that shows the progress of the mural throughout the week.

Another special event during the conference was the public act of asking for forgivingness. It was recognized that many of those who had faithfully worked on implementing the outcome documents from the 1968 conference have been persecuted, as it inevitably led them to confrontations with economic and political powers. Forgiveness was asked for in the name of the Catholic Church which participated in this persecution. We went to the Museum of Memory in Medellin to hold the event. The Museum has the mission of contributing to the transformation of the logic of war towards more civilized practices, through the construction and circulation of the memories of the victims of the armed conflict, and cultural expressions as commemorations.

Father Tacho, opening the liturgy to ask for forgiveness. Photo by Katie.

Specific leaders who were committed to the 1968 outcome documents, were recognized in the persecution they recieved, among them were: OScar Romero, Gerardo Valencia Cano, Samuel Ruiz, lay people from the Ocaña community in Colombia, amongst others. Photo by Katie. 

Reverend Emilie Smith, Co-President of SICSAL (International Christian Service in Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America) asking forgiveness from the victims. Photo by Katie.

From the closing paragraph Final Statement (commitments made) put together at the conference:

Finally, we ask God, our Father and our Mother, to help us be faithful to the words we have spoken here at this gathering, Medellin +50, and to the spirit that has come out of it, infecting us with the hope filled energy of the better world that is possible. This better world will be possible with the commitment of women, men, children and youth, indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, mestizos, who were physically present at the gathering and those that were spiritually present from different parts of the world.