Reflecting on the way forward
As you may know I sent a written response to the Archbishop after his letter to the Deans was published. It seemed best not to do anything further until we received the Pastoral Letter in which the Archbishop had promised to outline his vision for the Diocese.
Now that we have received a copy of “We have found the Messiah” and had time to reflect on it, it would appear that there has not been a lot of shift in the ground, if any, from the position stated in the letter to the Deans.
The Pastoral Letter contains a short quotation from para 25 of Evangelii Gaudium.
The whole paragraph reads:
“I am aware that nowadays documents do not arouse the same interest
as in the past and that they are quickly forgotten. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that what I am trying to express herehas a programmatic significance and important consequences. I hope that all communities will devote the necessary effort to advancing along the pathof a pastoral and missionary conversionwhich cannot leave things as they presently are.“Mere administration”can no longer be enough. Throughout the world let us be "permanently in a state of mission.”
These last two sentences quote words from the Aparecida Documentof the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops’ Conference in 2007which appears to be a primary source for many of Pope Francis’ statements.
The Encyclical is brim full of encouraging statements of guidance to become a missionary,outward-looking,open, inclusive, adaptable, collaborative, discerning and integrated community.
I believe that the argument that if there is no priest there is no Eucharistand if there is no Eucharist there is no Churchdoes not reflect the real experience of the vast majority of Catholic Christians world-wide. They are unable to have the presence of a priest or the celebration of Euchariston a frequent or regular basis. Does that mean that these vibrant communities of faith are notChurch ?
Paragraph 31 of EG focuses on the role of the Bishop.
“The bishop must always foster this missionary communion in his diocesan church
following the ideal of the first Christian communities,in which the believers were of one heart and one soul (Act 4.32)
- To do so, he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant.
- At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence.
- And yet at other times he will have to walk after themhelping those who lag behind and - above all - allowing the flock to strike out on new paths.
In his mission of fostering a dynamic, open and missionary communion,
he will have to encourage and develop the means of participation
proposed in the Code of Canon Law and other forms of pastoral dialogue,
out of a desire to listen to everyoneand not simply to those who would tell him what he would like to hear. Yet the principal aim of these participatory processes should not be ecclesiastical organisationbut rather the missionary aspiration of reaching everyone”
The Pastoral Letter makes many references to the Catechism. I was always a bit sceptical of the Catechism not least becausewhen you reduce truths to simple statements you run the risk of missing the whole point. An example is the quotation of CCC 760 where the bottom line is“…The Church is the goal of all things.”
It is my view that Jesus never became incarnate in order to found a Church. He came to herald a kingdom. The Church is the vehicle through which the Kingdom is announced and delivered. The Church is not the Kingdom.
We need our Archbishop to be in our midst listening; pointing the way and keeping hope vibrant; being open to different ways of being heralds of the kingdom in our communities of faith.
What our local church needs very much at this time is leadership that
- outlines a clear vision;
- engages in the widest consultation possible;
- announces clear guidelines for consulting;
- announces a strategy and a time-line and,
- throughout all of that, at every stage, is clearly communicating to everyone what is happening and what the next stages are.
So where do we go from here ?
We need an honest recognition that the local church has failed to implement the teaching of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. We have failed to recognise and value the rightful role of the baptised faithful who are each called to ministry in the church. We have failed to invest in the training of the laity and therefore equip and empower them to become effective collaborators by taking on their rightful roles and responsibilities along with the presbyterate.
Further clarification of what it means to be an evangelising faith community is clearly stated in the Holy Father’s Evangelii Gaudium.
It seems that the Holy Spirit is giving us the opportunity to rebuild the church in this part of the world by making it appear that we have a crisis in ministry because there are fewer ordained priests. Perhaps the crisis is in fact that priests are engaged in work that is not theirs’and the faithful have until now been largely denied the opportunity to become full stakeholders in the Church.
The way forward for me seems clear.
It takes two decisions and the willingness to implement them.
1. Allow ordained ministerial priests to do what only priests can / are able to do:
that is preside at the Liturgies of Healing and Eucharist
2. Encourage, resource, train and empower lay Catholics
to take on their rightful baptismal priestly responsibilities.
So you might ask: would that work ? I would respond: try it and see.
I believe that is what was in the minds of the Council Fathers at Vatican 11 and I believe it is the vision of our Holy Father.
So why am I bothering to write these thoughts and circulate them ?
I believe the process of consultation needs to be extended and to ensure that we can benefit from the process of cross-fertilisation of the thoughts and feelings of 111 communities.
There are a fair number of parishes where there is a fund of knowledge and experience in the art of clustering. We surely need to know what others are thinking and feeling
in various parts of the Diocese and given the lack of structures of communication
with the seeming demise of Deanery Pastoral Councils and the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council we need to be inventive in creating open channels of communication and feedback. .
I don’t know if these thoughts strike a chord with you. So many good people have put their lives into achievingwhat we have in our vibrant faith communities.Everyone individually, and together as communities, must have the opportunity to share their experience and give their perspective on the future of their community.
I believe we must commit the time and all necessary resources to take this process forward.
Mike Fallon
20 April 2015