VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Fifty years have passed since St Paul VI instituted the ministries of lector and acolyte, opening them to the laity, and Pope Francis wants a formal “dialogue” with the world’s bishops’ conferences to discuss their experiences with the ongoing promotion of the Church’s ministries so they foster unity and evangelisation.
The Pope made the proposal for dialogue in a message published by the Vatican on August 24 and dated August 15 – the 50th anniversary of his predecessor’s apostolic letter, “Ministeria quaedam”. That document from 1972 determined that “minor orders” be called “ministries” and that these ministries – lector and acolyte – be open to laymen and no longer reserved only to candidates for ordination.
Since then, Pope Francis has instituted further changes: amending canon law so women can be formally installed as lectors and acolytes, and instituting the ministry of catechist as a formal office and vocation in the Church.
In his message, the Pope said these last two efforts “should not be interpreted as overriding previous doctrine, but as a further development made possible because (the change) is based on the same principles – consistent with the Second Vatican Council’s reflection – that inspired ‘Ministeria quaedam'”.
Therefore, he wrote, “The best way to celebrate today’s significant anniversary is precisely to continue to deepen the reflection on ministries that St Paul VI initiated”.
“Every ministry is a call by God for the good of the community,” Pope Francis wrote.
The Christian community is called to carefully discern what the Holy Spirit is prompting in relation to the concrete situation of each community, he added.
“Every ministerial structure that arises from this discernment is dynamic, lively and flexible, just like the action of the Spirit”, and each structure must further deepen its roots in the Holy Spirit “to avoid the risk that this dynamism become confusion, liveliness be reduced to extemporaneous improvisation and flexibility turn into arbitrary and ideological adaptations”.
A ministry must be based on the firm foundation that its origin is God working through the Holy Spirit and its purpose is always the common good and the building up of the community, he wrote.
“In order to be able to listen to the voice of the Spirit and not halt the process – being careful not to want to force (the process) by imposing choices that are the fruit of ideological points of view – I believe that it is useful to share experiences over these past years, all the more so during this season of the synodal journey,” Pope Francis wrote.
For this reason, the Pope said he wanted to “initiate a dialogue on the topic (of the Church’s ministries) with the bishops’ conferences in order to be able to share the richness of the ministerial experiences that in these 50 years the Church has lived.” Details would be coming later about the dialogue, which he wanted to begin “in the coming months,” he wrote.
Photo: A young woman reads during Pope Francis’ celebration of Mass on the feast of Christ the King in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on November 22, 2020. (CNS photo/Stefano Dal Pozzolo, pool)
Hamish says
This impressive move is not without
some problems.
Today it is quite obvious that the many
religious orders are simply devoid of the
various mendicants etc., which were once
a strength, prior to 1960.
Secondly the folk who ARE a strength are
those which the Bishop of Rome himself
referred to as “The Samba” which they
reminded him of. Much later he was seen
kneeling behind a chair he was about to sit
on receiving from a stadium filled with these
folk all arms extended, singing in tongues –
glossolalia. The late Archbishop John
Bathersby, spoke of them previously as the
“BACKBONE of the Catholic church.”
In the absence of religious orders this
movement has grown exponentially, and
now occupies a huge space previously
which fed by religious orders.
In fact it is infused contemplation, which
is the aim of every Carmelite which is
commonplace among them.
Thirdly no Bishop can effectively
comment on the pilgrims to Medjugorje
as these pilgrimages have not ceased,
and Canon law requires that they must
have concluded before any church
statement is released about them; this
is not the case with Akita (Sr Sasagawa),
which, “worthy of belief” has concluded.
Finally the antithesis of Secular humanism,
the state religion of the U.S.and an
apostate religion (1973 Manifesto makes
this abundantly clear), is one fundamental
that is common to BOTH C.C.R and to
Medjugorje movements (though it is
also a part of other spiritual movements,
such as marriage encounter, RCIA, Taize,
Focolare, and that is MYSTICISM.
The latter is accompanied by ASCETICISM,
which enhances it (Medjugorje folk know
the practice of fasting twice weekly).
Bishops all should know of the move
by youth, the church of the future and
today. They need to FACE this question
WHICH THEY HAVE NOT DONE.
Otherwise youth would be in church
in droves.
Are they?
Dr.Cajetan Coelho says
Monologue is replete with limitations. Dialogue and discernment are vital for an ethically healthy world-building.