Vatican
City, 29 July 2013 (VIS) – During the afternoon of Sunday, 28 July,
Pope Francis met with the forty-five bishops who form the
Coordinating Committee of the Latin American Episcopal Conference
(CELAM). He focused on the legacy of the meeting of the Fifth General
Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in
Aparecida in May 2007.
He
began his address by mentioning four hallmarks or pillars of the
Aparecida conference. First, the participation of the Particular
Churches as a process of preparation culminating in a document of
synthesis, which while serving as a point of reference throughout the
Fifth General Conference, was not taken as a starting point; the
prayerful setting and the accompaniment in the form of the songs and
prayers of the faithful; that Aparecida did not end with a document
but instead continued in the Continental Mission; and finally, that
it was the first conference of the bishops of Latin America and the
Caribbean to be held in a Marian shrine.
The
Pope spoke of the two dimensions of the Continental Mission: the
programmatic, consisting in a series of missionary activities, and
the paradigmatic, setting in a missionary key all the day-to-day
activities of the Particular Churches. The Pope explained that “this
entails a whole process of reforming ecclesial structures. The
'change of structures' (from obsolete ones to new ones) … will
result from the very dynamics of mission. What makes obsolete
structures pass away, what leads to a change of heart in Christians,
is precisely missionary spirit”. Francis mentioned two of the
current challenges of missionary discipleship: “the Church’s
inner renewal and dialogue with the world around us”.
The
Holy Father went on to outline some “temptations against missionary
discipleship”, such as the transformation of the Gospel message
into an ideology: “the attempt to interpret the Gospel apart from
the Gospel itself and apart from the Church”; functionalism, which
“reduces the reality of the Church to the structure of an NGO”
and “applies a sort of 'theology of prosperity' to the organization
of pastoral work”; and finally, clericalism, “a temptation very
present in Latin America” which “explains, in great part, the
lack of maturity and Christian freedom in a good part of the Latin
American laity”.
The
Pope then suggested some ecclesiastical guidelines: first, “the
missionary discipleship which Aparecida proposed to the Churches of
Latin America and the Caribbean is the journey which God desires for
the present 'today' … It is given in the 'today', but also 'in
tension'. There is no such thing as static missionary discipleship”,
linked neither to the past nor the future.
Second:
“The Church is an institution, but when she makes herself a
'centre', she becomes merely functional, and slowly but surely turns
into a kind of NGO. … From an 'institution' she becomes a
'enterprise'. She stops being a bride and ends up being an
administrator; from being a servant, she becomes an 'inspector'.
Aparecida wanted a Church which is bride, mother and servant, a
facilitator of faith and not an inspector of faith”.
Third:
“In Aparecida, two pastoral categories stand out”, Francis said.
“They arise from the uniqueness of the Gospel, and we can employ
them as guidelines for assessing how we are living missionary
discipleship in the Church: nearness and encounter. Neither of these
two categories is new; rather, they are the way God has revealed
himself to us in history”, he continued, recalling that the
pastoral plans which do not take account of these dimensions “can
at best provide a dimension of proselytism, but they can never
inspire people to feel part of or belong to the Church”, and added
that “one touchstone for measuring whether a pastoral plan embodies
nearness and a capacity for encounter is the homily”.
The
fourth and final aspect: the Pope commented that “Bishops must
lead, which is not the same thing as being authoritarian”, and
offered some guidelines: “Bishops must be pastors, close to people,
fathers and brothers, and gentle, patient and merciful. Men who love
poverty, both interior poverty, as freedom before the Lord, and
exterior poverty, as simplicity and austerity of life. Men who do not
think and behave like 'princes'. Men who are not ambitious, who are
married to one church without having their eyes on another. Men
capable of watching over the flock entrusted to them and protecting
everything that keeps it together: guarding their people out of
concern for the dangers which could threaten them, but above all
instilling hope: so that light will shine in people’s hearts. Men
capable of supporting with love and patience God’s dealings with
his people. The Bishop has to be among his people in three ways: in
front of them, pointing the way; among them, keeping them together
and preventing them from being scattered; and behind them, ensuring
that no one is left behind, but also, and primarily, so that the
flock itself can sniff out new paths”. In conclusion, Francis added
“we are lagging somewhat as far as Pastoral Conversion is
concerned. We need to help one another a bit more in taking the steps
that the Lord asks of us in the 'today' of Latin America and the
Caribbean. And this is a good place to start”.
No comments:
Post a Comment