COFOA Director presents PICO organizing model to Latin American Episcopal Conference

COFOA Director Alberto Velazquez was one of a handful of people chosen by the Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Center of Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (CELAM) to share ideas on how to transform present realities and improve institutional structures, helping the Catholic Church meet the social needs of marginalized communities across Latin America. Alberto presented the work being done in El Salvador utilizing the PICO model. Social School Executive Director Bishop Francisco will visit COFOA leaders in May to learn more.

CELAM is a council of the Roman Catholic Bishops of Latin America. Created in 1955 and based in Bogotá (Colombia), CELAM pushed the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) toward a more progressive stance. During the next four years, CELAM prepared the 1968 Medellín Conference in Colombia, officially supporting “base ecclesiastic communities” and the Liberation Theology propounded by Gustavo Gutiérrez in his 1972 essay, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation (wikipedia). COFOA is a practitioner of Liberation Theology.