Gilberto Pauwels, OMI – Defender of Democracy & Social Fighter
March 3rd, 2023
(By Fr. Roberto Carrasco, OMI)
Writing about a personality, an Oblate missionary, a social fighter, is writing about someone who has dedicated years to his passions: advocating for indigenous peoples and caring for our Common Home. In the last General Chapter of 2022, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate emphasized our recognition of the vocation of the Oblate Brother for his equal and complementary responsibility in evangelization (cf. CCRR 7). For this reason, the 37th General Chapter reminds us that as a religious community, we are incomplete without the witnessing of our Oblate Brothers.
“In nature, the fundamental thing is to defend the existing biodiversity; trying to avoid that for secondary reasons, we destroy our diversity. The same could be said about cultures. At the beginning of CEPA (Center of Ecology and Andean Peoples), we defended the originality of the cultures. But now we recognize that not only our culture is important, so we defend the diversity of cultures”.
With these words, we can recognize Brother Gilbert Franz Camiel Pauwels Shootetten, OMI -a Belgian missionary who arrived in Bolivia in 1974-, and who, in 1995, together with the Oblates, Marcos Van Ryckeghem and Christian Dutry, founded CEPA –(Center of Ecology and Andean Peoples)-. This center that the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate founded has been kept alive because
“The first and fundamental duty is to accompany the peoples, the community. We accompany the native peoples foremost by helping them better understand their reality. We help people to understand nature better (the ecosystems where they live), the territories they live in with all their wealth and the threats to their homes. We do it based on research, publications, talks, and workshops, all seeking to empower people through knowledge.
These words perfectly describe this Oblate Brother’s passion for announcing the Kingdom of God working with the native peoples of the Altiplano (Andean highlands) and preaching about the care of the Common Home. The people who know about his passion and love for them call him Gilberto, which is the Spanish equivalent of Gilbert.
Gilberto Pauwels is an Oblate Brother who has dedicated many years to studying Philosophy, Religious Sciences, Missiology, and Social and Cultural Anthropology, which are his favorites. He was also a co-founder of the Diocesan Center for Social Pastoral (CEDIPAS) in the diocese of Oruro in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a Center he directed for almost 20 years.
This last February 8, 2023, through Chamber Resolution No. 010/2022-2023, the Chamber of Senators of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia has granted Brother Gilberto Pauwels, OMI, the recognition “Democracy Award – Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal,” for his activity in defense of democracy and social advocacy.
Julián Arias, a Bolivian theologian who works at CEPA, points out that “this recognition that Brother Gilberto receives is for his fight in favor of democracy during the times of the dictatorship in Bolivia. For this reason, he has the nomination of President for life of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights in Oruro.”
It is important to remember that in 2010 Brother Gilberto received the “Sebastián Pagador” award in the First Degree National Emblem from former President Evo Morales for his service to the development, prestige, and progress of the state of Oruro.
For the BOLPER (Bolivia-Peru) General Delegation, the witnessing of Gilberto Pauwels as an Oblate Brother is an encouragement for the whole Church. Because it presents the evangelical value of fraternal relationships of equality in the face of the temptation to dominate, seek the best place, or exercise authority as power.
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Related keywords: a social fighter, Bolivia-Peru, BOLPER, CEPA, Defender of Democracy, Ecology and Andean Peoples), Fr. Roberto Carrasco, Gilberto Pauwels, Oblate missionary
