When the Church announces the Gospel, it does not do so from a neutral place. The one who announces brings their culture, and the one who receives also has theirs. Both enter into dialogue with the Gospel and both are transformed. This reciprocity is the backbone of the inculturation of faith and the starting point of this course.
A Church with the face of its peoples is a longing of Latin America and the Caribbean since the reception of the Second Vatican Council, woven in Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo, and Aparecida. The CEBITEPAL Theological Center of CELAM, which has accompanied this cause since its creation, opens this course within its closing cycle of the 2026 academic year, in a synodal key and open to pastoral agents and researchers from all over the continent.
From a monocultural Church to a multicultural Church
The course starts with the fundamentals: what it means for faith to be inculturated, why multiculturality is part of the very being of the Church, and what changes when moving from "evangelizing cultures" to an inculturated evangelization, in which culture is recognized as a human project and a place where God acts.
From the practice of Jesus, pedagogical principles and methodological steps are proposed so that this encounter bears fruit in culturally new ecclesial communities. From there, it enters its central axis: the Amazonian Rite, which is being developed in the 108 local Churches of the region.
It is not a simple liturgical adaptation of the Roman Rite, but the response to an ancient dream of the communities and indigenous peoples, embraced by the Synod of the Amazon: a Church that expresses the Amazonian identity in its spirituality, its theology, its rites, its ministries, and its structures. The course covers its development process and the General Framework of a Church with its own face in a unified and multiple Amazon.
Who accompanies us on this journey?
The course is led by Agenor Brighenti, a Brazilian priest and doctor in Theology from the Catholic University of Leuven. Few know the Amazonian Rite so closely: he coordinates its development process, is a theological advisor to the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), and was an expert at the Synod of the Amazon. He also coordinates the Theological-Pastoral Reflection Team of CELAM and is a professor at CEBITEPAL and author of dozens of books.
Communities with their own face
This course seeks to make inculturation stop being a concept and become a way of looking at one's own pastoral work. By the end, each participant will have concrete criteria and steps for an inculturated evangelization in their context, and a firsthand understanding of what is being born in the Church of the Amazon.
It is designed for both a general audience interested in the experience of the Christian faith and a specialized audience: theologians, pastoral agents, religious men and women, researchers, and academics.
Additional information about the course
The course, 100% online and with synchronous methodology, will take place from October 6 to November 24, 2026, certified by the Pontifical Bolivarian University and with sessions on Tuesdays at these times:
9:00 to 11:30 hrs (Colombia)
8:00 to 10:30 hrs (Mexico)
10:00 to 12:30 hrs (USA/Miami / Venezuela / Bolivia)
11:00 to 13:30 hrs (Brasília / Argentina)
16:00 to 18:30 hrs (Madrid/CEST)
Information and registrations
The investment is 90 USD, with the possibility of monthly installment payments. Sign up today: https://cebitepal.celam.org/event/inculturacion-de-la-fe-y-encarnacion-de-la-iglesia-hacia-un-rito-amazonico-102/register
We invite you to explore the entire training offer from Cebitepal: https://cebitepal.celam.org
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