On June the 22nd, Archbishop Kevin Farrell, Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, delivered the keynote address at the annual meeting of ecclesial movements and new communities, whose motto was, “On Mission with Peter. “The apostolic nature at the heart of ecclesial movements”.

Let’s take a look at the information from the Vatican:

“The specific role – of the movements – their theological place, is to collaborate with the Petrine ministry and its apostolic desire to bring the Gospel to all.”

Cardinal Farrell recalled the conference given 25 years ago by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger entitled “The Ecclesial Movements and their theological place”, reiterating that what is specific to the Petrine ministry is the overcoming of the purely local aspect, as well as looking at the world as a whole. In the history of the Church, he pointed out, “charisms and spiritual movements have emerged that have collaborated with the successors of Peter in spreading the Gospel.”

Putting the charism in touch with the real needs of the people

“This theological placement of movements and ecclesial communities alongside the Pope’s work presents important challenges for today, primarily,” continued the head of the Dicastery, “that of an evangelization carried out in such a way that it knows how to speak to the men and women of today, avoiding anachronistic practices, languages and methods. Hence the need to put the charism in touch with the real needs of the people, with the new cultural sensitivities and the new pastoral situations; as well as the requirement to live the missionary apostolicity in a synodal way, in perfect harmony with the Pope, with the individual parishes and their pastors and with the other ecclesial movements”, concluded Cardinal Farrell.

You can follow the news about this event on the website of the Dicastery for the Laity.

This office brings together lay people from different fields and from different parts of the world to represent the universal character of the Church. Among them is the couple Luis Jensen and Pilar Escudero de Jensen, members of the Schoenstatt Institute of Families in Chile.

Source: VaticanNews

Dicastery for Laity Family and Life