_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ Paraguay ________________

Lay group leads corruption fight
Volunteer commissions
A prominent Catholic lay organization has announced plans to combat the endemic political corruption that has long handicapped the economic system in Paraguay. The Coordinacion Nacional de Laicos (CNL), a Catholic organization that coordinates all diocesan lay activities, will form regional groups to monitor the political process and respond to corruption.

Political corruption had been one of the main topics in the homilies delivered by Paraguayan bishops as the country celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Caacupé, the national patron, on December 8. The bishops’ criticism reached a critical level when on December 7, Bishop Catalino Medina of Caacupé said that if corruption is not dramatically curbed, Catholics should seek the resignation of President Luis Gonzalez Macchi.

After a meeting held on December 14 at the metropolitan seminary in Asuncion, CNL leaders announced the creation of local organizations in each region that will insist on the honest exercise of public service. “The objective of these committees will be to involve Catholic lay people in directly participating in controlling how public authorities exercise their power,” said Nelson Aveiro Burgos, executive secretary of the group.

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