Church

September 25, 2021 By Rosario Consiglio

The Founder’s Charism – As a community, never forget what we were founded for

The Founder's Charism - As a community, never forget what we were founded for

In the interview Mertke talks about the Pope's surprise visit, the charisms of the founders and the need for plain hierarchies.

Fr. Heinrich Walter
September 25, 2021

Interview with Mrs. Marianne Mertke, international leader of the Schoenstatt Women’s Federation.

Mrs. Mertke, yesterday you participated in a meeting at the Synodal Hall, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Have you attended this type of meeting before? Were there other Schoenstatters?

Mertke: This was the first time I was invited as International Leader of the Schoenstatt Women’s Federation. We are the only Schoenstatt community officially recognized by the Dicastery as a private association of believers. This recognition took place in 1996. Only officially recognized communities and movements were invited to this meeting. It was a real experience of the ever-growing universal Church.

What struck you most about the day?

Mertke: The diversity of the communities was immediately noticeable due to the difference in their missions, the way of working, the fruits born of the various charisms, as well as the diversity of languages and cultures.

I was surprised by the number of Africans and Asians in leadership positions. It was a true experience of the ever-growing universal Church. Even the founders of some communities participated, as was the case of Professor Andrea Riccardi, from San Egidio. Other communities already have third generation participants. The differences between the dynamism of the very young communities and the greater maturity of the older ones were immediately apparent.

The charism is only fruitful when it is effective in the Church

The official report contains the details of the day. So, my question is directed to your experience, how you lived it.

Mertke: Of course, the unexpected visit of the Pope and his intentions are always particularly striking. But I was strongly touched by the theme of the Church’s self-reference. This also applies to the communities, including the Schoenstatt Movement. The charism is only fruitful when it becomes effective in the Church. As a community, one quickly spins around oneself and sometimes forgets what it was founded for.

The understanding of the foundational charism was discussed. A charism must mature in time and develop. We must trust in the Holy Spirit, who acts in history. This, of course, appeals to me since, as a community, we are certainly connected to the Holy Spirit.

Certainly, the Dicastery’s new decree of June 21 was also discussed. In general, the term of office for the leaders of a community has been limited to five years.

Mertke: Yes, that’s right, now I have a better understanding of what the background of the decree is. It seems that there are a number of difficult disputes and experiences with some leaders and their exercise of authority and power. There are communities in existential crisis. The topic was introduced through some comments made by various members of the Dicastery. In the conversation that followed, Prof. Riccardi said that lay communities need a plain hierarchy (one that is closer to the people), and they need to see themselves more as a community on the move. He said it was very easy to copy the structure of religious communities, which is completely different from the lay ones.

I am taking with me the concept of dynamic unity

And what will you take away from the meetings here in Rome when you go home tomorrow?

Mertke: I still have to evaluate it a bit, but I can already tell:

There was a lot of talk about conversion and reconversion. Probably, a charism will only be really fruitful throughout different periods and eras if it always returns to its foundation and lives from its utmost core, however simple it may be.
Then I will be left with the idea that leadership is first and foremost a service to the person and that one should not be obsessed with structures, programs, offices, and administration.
I will also take with me the concept of dynamic unity. It is not that easy to achieve, and you never achieve it forever. It is a constant process that arises from polarities, a dynamic in which unity must always be sought.
And finally: It is good for me and for us as a Movement to be in communion with the Church. Perhaps we should even accentuate this part, to cultivate more actively the connection with the ways of the Church today. There is much to do there.

September 7, 2021 By Rosario Consiglio

Three New Schoenstatt Priests for the Church

On August 28th, three new Chilean priests from the Community of the Schoenstatt Fathers were ordained: Joaquín Lobos, Sebastián Espinoza, and Sergio Abarca. It was a very joyful and intimate celebration with family and friends, in which we could rejoice and celebrate, accompanying these brothers when they received this great gift and began their priestly ministry.

Manuel José Lorca Castelblanco
September 7, 2021

It was a very joyful, intimate celebration with family and friends….

On Saturday, August 28th, three new Chilean priests from the Community of the Schoenstatt Fathers were ordained. They are Fathers Joaquín Lobos, Sebastián Espinoza, and Sergio Abarca. They were ordained by Monsignor Alberto Lorenzelli, Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago. It was a very joyful and intimate celebration with family and friends, in which we were able to rejoice and celebrate, accompanying these brothers when they received this great gift and began their priestly ministry.

One of the peculiarities of this ordination had to do with the current context of pandemic that we are still experiencing. The celebration was able to take place after four attempts at possible dates. Also, unlike other ordinations, it was held at the Father Joseph Kentenich College, the seminary of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Chile, where they themselves were formed and lived for so many years. One of them expressed that it was a gift to be able to be ordained in a place that had meant so much to him and where he felt at home.

The newly ordained priests want to give the gift of Jesus, the friend, who shares his life with us.

During the entrance procession, the choir sang: “I will sing forever of your goodness, Lord, and I will celebrate your creative embrace.” Is this not the priesthood? To proclaim forever God’s goodness and love, to always be his priests, and to celebrate in every sacrament and Eucharist his creative embrace of abundant life for all men and women. To celebrate his proximity and friendship, as the passage they chose for this day says: “You are my friends” (Jn 15:14). In their thanksgiving, the newly ordained priests emphasized the image of Jesus that they want to portray; Jesus, the friend who shares life with us and goes to our encounter to give us the joy of living with Him, for Him, and in Him for the sake of others.

While imploring all the Godly saints in the litany, the ordained prostrated themselves face down as a sign of humbleness and detachment. A special nicety that day, which was cloudy, was that, while they were singing, the sun came out. It was as if God, together with all his saints, was blessing them with his light and warmth, bestowing them with his presence and the outpouring of his Spirit on that special day, when they said Yes to him forever.

Their priesthood: a gift for everyone, for Schoenstatt, the Church, and the world.

In the final acknowledgements, reference was made to all the people and places that had made an impact on the life and journey of these brothers of ours, those that had been an important part of their path to the priesthood. Many of them could not be physically present, some of them had already departed to the Father’s House. All of them were included within that ray of sunshine, the ones who were present as well as those who used to be, those who will come and those who will be entrusted to them.

The family of the Church in heaven and on earth was celebrating that day, it was filled with joy as it witnessed this undeserved gift that our brothers received, which ultimately is a gift for everyone, for Schoenstatt, the Church, and the world. A gift from God, a gift of love, joy, and friendship. Because friendship is precisely that, a gift, a giving of oneself. And what greater friendship than that of Christ! He who gave his life so that we could be saved and be his friends forever.

July 2, 2021 By Rosario Consiglio

Nathalie Becquart the Pioneer, Women in the Church

Nathalie Becquart the Pioneer,
Women in the Church

New paths are opening up for women's participation in a Church that is becoming synodal.

The first woman in the history of the Church to be appointed undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops with voting rights, Sister Nathalie Becquart, participated in a worldwide online conference on Friday, June 18.

Gabriela Arce
June 30, 2021

“Women in the Church: The Challenge of Synodality”

“Women in the Church: The Challenge of Synodality” took place last June 18 in a virtual form. . It was organized by the Latin American Academy of Catholic Leaders and by the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations. Also present were Monsignor Jorge Eduardo Lozano, Secretary General of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM); Sophie Gladima, Senegal’s Minister of Energy and the only Catholic in the Muslim government of her country; and Cristiane Murray, Deputy Director of the Holy See Press Office.

Women in the Church: synodality is the way

Sister Nathalie Becquart highlighted the path of synodality already begun as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. She also emphasized the recent measures of openness that Pope Francis has taken, with the possibility today of having women in instituted ministries, such as the acolyte, lectorate, and catechist.

Regarding this point, Moseñor Lozano emphasized that “The Church has a woman’s face: our assemblies, parish groups, liturgical celebrations, pastoral ministries in our communities, the quality of reflection and the warmth of dedication to the poor and abandoned, is woven mainly in the feminine womb, whose core is a space of shelter and protection.”

The vocation: being a woman, being the Church

Sister Nathalie worked for 10 years in the National Service for the Evangelization of Youth and Vocations within the French Episcopal Conference and referred to the issue of women in the Church saying that “it is a matter of helping women to discern, discover and listen to their unique vocation, because God calls everyone in a unique way. To find one’s vocation is to find one’s place in the Church, in society.”

A challenge for the Church

One of the great challenges through this synodal mission, not only in the Church but also in businesses and organizations, is that we are invited to exercise responsibility in a new way in the form of service and participate in a vision of shared governance, Sister Nathalie pointed out. It is about exercising authority in a way that is at the service of the people we serve and their freedom, she added emphatically. This will put us to work as a team, men and women united and at the same time interconnected with the community. “I do not exist without those I serve and therefore I owe my life to them, thus making us engage in a vision of reciprocity,” concluded Sister Nathalie Becquart.

We do not want authority we want credibility

Cristiane Murray, deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, pointed out: “I feel that being a woman, in my role, is peculiar and different (…) I like to think that women in leadership positions do not want authority but credibility. Personally, I establish a relationship of openness and continuous listening with all colleagues, creating a synodal working environment.”

Finally, Sister Nathalie added that in this way we are advancing on the synodal path, “all of us together in this synodal Church, and the Church will be synodal, and women will be able to continue to unfold their charism, their vocation, at the service of all. Because a charism is always to be placed at the service of the community.”

To close Becquar invited us all to participate, get involved and walk together wherever we are and enter the synodal journey bringing the voice of women to the next Synod of Bishops entitled “For a Synodal Church: communion, participation and mission”, which will have an initial local and diocesan stage, in October of this year, and to which we are all invited.

“The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church of the third millennium. Church and synod are synonymous because the Church is nothing other than walking together“. (Pope Francis)

Photos: vatican.va

May 20, 2021 By Magdalena Rosario Lira

Latin American Bishops focus General Assembly on renewal process

The Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) began its 38th General Assembly on 18 May, finalizing its reorganization and renewal process started in 2019.

By Lisa Zengarini
20 May 2021

The Latin American Bishops’ meeting, which runs until 21 May, was originally planned in Puerto Rico but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is being held virtually instead.

The General Assembly is attended by 85 participants, including six cardinals and fifty bishops, under the theme: “Weaving dreams, renewing commitments”.

Nine renewal principles to be approved

The assembly, which will be deliberative, is expected to approve nine reorganization and renewal principles, following a two-year consultation process, in which all its 22 member Bishops’ Conferences have been involved.

The process is aimed at making the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean more missionary, synodal and outgoing, as indicated by Pope Francis. The nine principles include: synodality, collegiality, integral conversion, being a prophetic voice, having an integral vision, effectiveness, networking, promoting decentralization, welcoming and contributing to the Magisterium of the Church.

CELAM “a driving force” for an outgoing and synodal Church

Opening the session on Monday, Peruvian Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos of Trujillo, President of CELAM, emphasized the role of CELAM as “a driving force” for awakening a missionary conscience of the Church in the Continent, for promoting a permanent pastoral conversion and an outgoing and synodal Church, which “walks with the People of God and the Episcopal Conferences”.

Focusing on four great dreams of “Querida Amazonia”

Archbishop Cabrejos outlined the main features of the renewal process, saying that the hallmark will be the four prophetic “dreams” – “social, cultural, ecological and ecclesial”.

The four dreams were proposed by Pope Francis in his the Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia following the Synod on the Amazonia in 2019.

CELAM a “generator of processes and not of events”

The President of CELAM emphasized the need for a greater agility, flexibility, integration, intercommunication within the Council to make its services more effective for the Episcopal Conferences and for the People of God in Latin America and the Caribbeans.

“We want to lay the foundations of a synodal Church in the Continent, to move from episcopal collegiality to synodal collegiality,” he explained.

Archbishop Cabrejos clarified that, as an episcopal council, CELAM remains a subsidiary body which is sensitive to “the different realities and pastoral challenges arising” in each context. CELAM, he added, wants to be “a generator of processes and not of events” and offer more agile services to “strengthen the action of the Bishops’ Conferences.”

Preparing for the November Ecclesial Assembly

Archbishop Cabrejos finally pointed out that the Council is presently focusing on three directions: its own renewal process, the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) which was established in 2020 following the Synod on the Amazonia, and the first Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held in November in Mexico City on the theme “We are all outgoing missionary disciples”.

During this important event participants will examine, reflect on, and strengthen the outcome of the Fifth Episcopal Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, of 2007, also known as the “Conference of Aparecida”.

As explained by Pope Francis in a video-message on 24 January this year, this will be the first event of its kind in the history CELAM involving the entire people of God walking together in mission: laypeople, consecrated men and women, priests, bishops, who have all been involved in the preparation process.

The Latin American Episcopal Council

The Latin American Episcopal Council was established in 1955 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a body of communion and cooperation supporting Bishops’ Conferences in Latin America and the Carribeans.

Based in Bogotá (Colombia), after the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) it has extended its scope. CELAM meets every four years for its Ordinary Assembly in which the presidents of the 22 member Bishops’ Conferences outline its pastoral guidelines and elect its directive bodies.

Periodically, it also holds general conferences on major issues, the first of which was held in 1968 in Medellin, Colombia. The last one was the Aparecida Conference in which then-Archbishop Bergoglio played a central role.

Source: https://www.vaticannews.va/

April 17, 2021 By Vanessa Franke

Youth: the great challenge for the Church in the US

An eye-opening report from the National Dialogue

Enrique Soros
April 17, 2021

Bishops in the US together with the Catholic Pastoral Ministry, composed of numerous institutions of lay leaders who interact with bishops, priests and nuns, both as members and as leaders and advisors, have worked for years trying to discern priorities for the national youth ministry. There have been several meetings and surveys in which approximately 10,000 youth and young adults have participated.

On March 2, a webinar conference was held in English on the conclusions reached by the National Dialogue “on the Catholic ministry with youth and young adults”, titled “Final Report“. A similar conference was held in Spanish on March 16 for the Hispanic community. Renowned leaders exposed the main guidelines used for the process by which the above-mentioned document was redacted and a summarized version of the content and pastoral reach of this document was explained.

10,000 young voices in 10 ideas

Ten recommendations presented by the document were given after a thorough process of discernment by the National Dialogue. We could call these “The 10 commandments of the Youth Ministry in the US”.

They are:

Connect more intentionally the life of faith with the lived experiences of young people
We all need to do more synodal listening to one another
Address the “authenticity gap”
Increase investment in accompaniment
Expand ministry with young adults
Re-imagine faith formation
Reconsider a new approach to the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation
Partner with parents and enhance family ministry
Transform the ministry leadership
Embrace complexities

For every millennial who joins the Church, there are six who leave

The bishops are aware of the lack of values crisis and the loss of the faithful in the temples, especially among youth and young adults. According to a June 2019 report by Bishop Robert Barron (then chairman of the USCCB’s Commission on Evangelization and Catechesis) presented at the Bishops’ General Assembly, 50% of millennials left the Church. For every millennial who joins the Church, there are six who abandon it. Eighty percent of them do it before turning 23. The median age at which they leave the Church is thirteen. Bishop Barron also presented a report from the Pew Research Center which found that 69% of Catholics in the US believe that the holy host is merely a symbol of the Body of Christ, not his real presence.

Confronted with these facts, it is not uncommon to see that the recurrent answer and eventual solution is to go deeper in the catechetical formation, to motivate the intellectual knowledge of the fundamental truths of the Catholic faith, and to motivate the participation in liturgical events, especially in Mass.

Bishop Barron’s answer to these problems given at the next Bishops’ Assembly, in November 2019 is explained in “Five keys to reach the religiously unaffiliated”. These are: “Get young people involved in works of social justice; use the via pulchritudinis -the way of beauty-; stop dumbing down the faith; turn every parish into a missionary society; and creatively use the new media”.

Experiencing a great love

Motivated by Bishop Barron’s presentation on June 2019 at the Bishops’ Assembly, MovCom US, “Catholic Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in the US” wrote a letter to Bishop Barron, in October 2019 as chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, and to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chairman-elect of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, in which the following ideas were expressed:

“We would like to share with you an excerpt of Pope Francis’ Christus Vivit in which he emphasizes the importance of a personal love to be able to fully participate in the life of the Church:

‘Rather than being too concerned with communicating a great deal of doctrine, let us first try to awaken and consolidate the great experiences that sustain the Christian life. In the words of Romano Guardini, “when we experience a great love…everything else becomes part of it’. (Christus Vivit #212)”

Isn’t this the most important issue faced by the Church?

Every enterprise often reviews its strategies and results. What company could survive if it loses six clients while only acquiring one? Can we afford not to involve the whole Church, all the Bishops, all the laymen, to jointly analyze what is causing the youth to abandon the Church and suggest concrete solutions?

Combined with family and marriage, isn’t this the most important issue faced by the Church worldwide? As soon as hearts are conquered for the Lord, every social and apostolic activity will make profound sense, not the other way around.

Young people need life, community, accompaniment

It is noteworthy that the surveys emphasized insistently on the importance given to life, to personal testimony, to experiences tied to the faith, to accompaniment, and walking together. They also stressed the need to venture into new forms of evangelization, to include parents in the ministry processes, to abandon the comfort zones and be open to what is different, to leave the known and safe structures so that the youth ministry may become more experiential, more relatable, stemming from young people’s reality, and listening to their concerns.

Maybe we should frame the “Ten commandments for the Youth Ministry in the US” and hang it on every ministry and parish office in the country.

What is the Church doing?

As mentioned above, some bishops, priests, laymen and nuns are working on the youth ministry through direct contact with the young people. Exaudi spoke about this with Paul Jarzembowski, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and with Mar Muñoz-Visoso, executive director of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity of the Church, both of USCCB, to find out how the Episcopate is dealing with the youth ministries.

Jarzembowski said that “the Church is responding to the challenges presented at the National Dialogue through various initiatives by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the US, including:

Forming a special working committee of bishops to deal with issues related to youth and young adults,
The commitment of the bishops, the ministry’s leaders, and the young adults to hold an intercultural conversation for three years,
A mobilization process called “Journeying Together”,
Follow Pope Francis’ initiative to establish Christ the King Sunday as the new world day of recognition and celebration of youth in our parishes and local communities”.

He continued stressing the need for openness to young people’s reality saying that “all these efforts show that the path to follow with respect to the youth and young adults must be one of genuine solidarity and it is important to build trust among the generations and cultures in our communities. Young people need to know that the Church sees them and truly cares for them, no matter their past circumstances or their level of commitment to practice their faith. All these efforts involve processes, and this is something we have learned through the National Dialogue and from Christus Vivit: that is, to know that our journey with the youth, while we all walk towards Christ, each one in his own way, will take time, investment, and perseverance…but, at the end, we are hopeful of what is to come”.

The young want a community and to be heard

Muñoz-Visoso mentioned that “the final report from the National Dialogue confirms the Synod’s as well as Pope Francis’ intuition in Christus Vivit. Young people want to be heard and for us to walk with them along the way, allowing them to be the protagonists of their own history without outside intervention dictating solutions to problems we do not understand and that do not address their reality. They want us to become involved, to be authentic, but above all, they want to create community, personal as well as virtual communities, places where their concerns and worries are addressed, where they feel they can contribute with their ideas, skills and talents, and where their sense of belonging is reinforced as well as the growth of their faith; a place that speaks to their everyday reality, challenging them and challenging us”.

Journeying Together, an initiative that confronts reality

The director of Diversity in the Episcopate expressed that “through the Journeying Together initiative, our Secretariat, in collaboration with the departments of Youth, Education, Evangelization and, more recently, Vocations, is bringing together young people and leaders of the youth ministries, as well as the campus ministries, with several bishops who are interested in a process of inter-cultural dialogues. The objective is to have the message of the Gospel and the vision of Christus Vivit reach youth and young adults from every cultural and socioeconomic group and to promote a conversion in the adults in charge that may lead to a more authentic and effective ministry”.

She concludes: “At a moment in which the country is divided by ideologies, acrimony, hate, violence and racism, the youth, together with their bishops, are giving us an example of what is possible through dialogue and mutual accompaniment so that we may be able to dream and plan for a better future. The synodal way works!”

Bishops, priests, ministry leaders, have we received the message?

Will the bishops, priests, ministry leaders, catechists and communicators acknowledge what the youth and young adults are consistently and recurrently asking for?

Will we react and take the 10 suggestions as basic ones to be implemented in our dioceses, parishes, institutions, and movements? Will we understand the main idea of the human communal and testimonial connection as a way to a personal conversion in Jesus and a growth in faith?

The National Dialogue Report leaves no doubt. That is what the young people have been waiting for.

The Church’s future is at stake. It is up to all of us to become a Church of authentic men and women, welcoming, embracing, brotherly, communal; a Church that is attractive to every young person and their families.

Everything else the Church has to offer will become part of that great love.