NINTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 7, 2005 (VIS) - The Ninth General Congregation of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was held this afternoon in the Vatican's Synod Hall. The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez and 239 Synod Fathers were present. The Holy Father attended the end of the afternoon session and participated in the free discussions.

  Following are excerpts from some of the speeches delivered this afternoon:

BISHOP GERVAIS BANSHIMIYUBUSA OF NGOZI, BURUNDI. "Burundi, a Christian country, and more than 60% Catholic, has just experienced a period of trial with tragic conflicts among the country's various ethnic communities. These conflicts degenerated into civil war, and the situation reached the point that people from different ethnic groups no longer dared pass one other in the street. Eucharistic celebrations remained privileged places where people from different ethnic groups could meet to pray for reconciliation. By means of this 'double Table' of the Word of God and of the Eucharistic bread, the Eucharistic celebration became, so to say, a privileged opportunity for prophetic proclamation which regularly nourished people's hope in possible reconciliation, and a Word which called everybody indiscriminately to a conversion of hearts and minds. Over and above all this, the Eucharistic celebration was a source of grace which gave Christians supernatural courage to go against the tide, refusing - often at the price of their own blood - all negative forms of solidarity based solely on the fraternity of ethnic groups or selfish interests."

CARDINAL FRANCISCO JAVIER ERRAZURIZ OSSA, ARCHBISHOP OF SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE. "Paragraph 25 of the 'Instrumentum Laboris' invites us to consider interior participation in the Eucharist. It says that 'the participation of the faithful at liturgical celebrations, particularly the Eucharistic liturgy, is essentially entering into this spiritual worship where God comes down to the individual and the individual is raised to God.' ... Therefore, as the 'Instrumentum Laboris' says, it is a question of entering into the action of the liturgy. The best way to do this is to share the feelings and the attitude of Mary Most Holy, 'Eucharistic woman,' who preceded and still precedes the Church along the paths of faith, of Calvary, of the Covenant and of new life. ... The lay faithful participate fully when their lives are profoundly united with the Eucharist; when all their lives are marked by acceptance of God, attentiveness to the Word and docility to the Spirit, by adoration and thanksgiving, and by renewal of the New Covenant; when all their lives are offering and communion, sacrifice, imploration and expiation, a free gift of God for our brothers and sisters."

BISHOP JOSE DE LA TRINIDAD VALERA ANGULO OF LA GUAIRA, VENEZUELA. "Celebrate with joy and celebrate the joy of the Lord's Easter. The world has to know and to live joyfully in the Holy Spirit; it is hungry for God and it is Christ who reveals man to man. Revelation, more than pure reason, is life, it is the joy of communicating the Trinity of the One God. ... Our service, as shepherds of the flock, is to find ways that enable our people to live the joy of the Risen One. Liturgical guidance must avoid any kind of legalism and search for ways to ensure that our people find joy in the Holy Spirit, that the world may believe and have life."

CARDINAL ZENON GROCHOLEWSKI, PREFECT OF THE CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION. "The Eucharist constitutes the framework for all formation of seminarians: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. This centrality of the Eucharist must be strongly emphasized in the life of the seminary at various levels. Solid theological elucidation of the mystery of the Eucharist and its relationship with the Sacrament of Penance, explanation of the meaning of liturgical norms, the example of teachers, correct preparation of Eucharistic celebrations in order that they be intimately experienced by the whole community, the presence and availability of good confessors, well-prepared adoration of the Eucharistic, persistent invitations to private adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, etc., all these factors, seriously and constantly undertaken, should introduce the seminarian to a full understanding and love of the Eucharist. ... The formation of seminarians is of great importance and should be underlined because, in reality, how the Eucharist is celebrated and how it is perceived by the faithful, mainly depends on priests."

ARCHBISHOP DOMINIC JALA S.D.B., OF SHILLONG, INDIA. "In multi religious contexts, the assembly gathered for the Eucharist is often composed not only of Catholics. The presence of followers of other faiths poses a serious question to our Eucharistic ecclesiology, especially in India. What place do such people have vis a vis our faith community? How wide can a Eucharistic community stretch itself? If the sacrifice of communion is celebrated for the salvation of all, what is the relation of the Eucharistic Christian community with the rest? The Church's faith and discipline admits to communion only those who share in the faith and who profess the same Eucharistic faith. ... There remains the challenge to find ways of showing some means of Eucharistic hospitality to members of other faiths. ... Eucharistic devotion outside the Mass, flowing from it and leading to it, has had and continues to have a great influence in drawing people to the Church and in helping communities to be more missionary. Of particular relevance are, for instance, the yearly Eucharistic processions especially in Northeast India. However communities still awaiting a priest, as in most of the more remote villages of our missions, are a great concern for us. The Sunday liturgy should foster in these faithful a true love and a longing for the Eucharist."

BISHOP LEO LABA LADJAR O.F.M., OF JAYAPURA, INDONESIA. "The priest may not be separated from the community. I get the impression that the 'Instrumentum laboris' is too 'priest centered.' There are some praxis and rules which should be questioned, inter alia: The authority for a priest to celebrate the Eucharist without an assembly (so called 'private' Mass); the limitation of the purpose of ordination only to the Eucharist; ... enlarge the difference between ministerial and common priesthood to the point of reducing the role of acolytes to mere emergency situations; ... the meaning of reconciliation in community and liturgical assembly is underestimated. ... My impression of the 'priest centered' view of the 'Instrumentum laboris' is strengthened also in the underestimation of the liturgy of the Word, presided by a lay minister. Paragraph 55 of the 'Instrumentum laboris' speaks of this as 'liturgies awaiting a priest,' and not as the listening to the voice of the Lord and answering Him in prayer. Suggestions: we need to encourage the theologian to study and formulate a new theology of priesthood in connection with the threefold 'munera' of clerics in the ecclesial community, listening also to the praxis of apostolic times and the Eastern Churches."
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