ARCHBISHOP CORDES: RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 5, 2002 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office this morning, Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," presented the Pope's message for Lent 2002.

Archbishop Cordes began by recalling that "Cor Unum" was founded by Pope Paul VI a little more than 30 years ago on July 15, 1971; and that up to the year 2001, popes have channelled funds to the value of 87,510,201 U.S. dollars through the dicastery. Moreover, as of January 31 2002, more than two million Euros have been collected in response to the Pope's call for offerings for the day of fasting on December 14, 2001.

For its 30th anniversary, "Cor Unum" published the book "Ars Caritatis" which is a collection of Papal addresses to members of the dicastery together with two reports; one on the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel and another on the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation for Latin America.

The president of "Cor Unum" went on to speak of the Lenten message in which, he said, "we find a call to help those in need. ... The key theme of this year's message is the conviction that we have received much. ... In an age in which man wishes to live in complete autonomy," the temptation to "be self-sufficient, to have no need of others," is countered by an idea often repeated by John Paul II and that may be found in the pastoral constitution "Gaudium et Spes": "man can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself."

There followed a speech from Jean Vanier, the Canadian founder of the first "L'Arche" community and "one of the great initiators of Catholic voluntary work." The aim of the foundation is "to give a family, a community, to those who have mental handicaps, so offering them the chance to learn, as far as possible, to live their daily lives independently, working, living in communion with others and meeting God."

"For 37 years now," said Jean Vanier, "I have had the privilege of living with men and women with learning disabilities who have often known the pain of being mocked, rejected and excluded. People with mental handicaps are among the most oppressed people; they are not wanted in our stressful world of competition. ... I would like to bear witness here however to the 'power' of these so-called 'powerless' people, their capacity ... to help people become more truly human, to lead people into the mystery of the Gospels and a meeting with Jesus."

He indicated that in the 120 'L'Arche' communities and the 1,500 communities of 'Faith and Light,' volunteers share their lives on a daily basis with disabled men and women. "Many volunteers," he highlighted, "live an experience of transformation."

"Many other young people," he went on, "today want to go to poorer areas of the world, to share their lives with people in the slums, in refugee camps, in schools for disadvantaged children. ... They realize how closed and prejudiced they were before, how they were only concerned about their own immediate family or group or religion or culture, and they begin to understand how richer cultures oppress the poorer ones. This shared experience with suffering and weak people helps them to discover what it means to be part of the human family. They discover that to be human and to be Christian means to love people. ... Many young volunteers come to our communities wanting to do good to the poor, but what they discover is that it is the weak and the poor who are healing and transforming them."

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