Three items from the Synod of Bishops

ZENIT are carrying a report of an intervention by Bishop Luis Tagle, of the Phillipines. This intervention addressed the question of listening to the Word, so nicely complements earlier interventions about preaching. I have not been able to find a full text, only ZENITs report, which can be found here. Bishop Tagle gave one of the main catecheses at the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec earlier this year.

Bearing in mind a concept of the Code of Canon Law as being "applied ecclesiology", I found the following intervention interesting. Text also from ZENIT. My observation [in italics].

-- H.E. Most. Rev. Francesco COCCOPALMERIO, Titular Archbishop of Celiana,
President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Text
(VATICAN CITY)

But now I would like to propose something more specific, in other words, more relevant to my particular work in the Roman Curia and in the service of the Pope. As President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and so responsible for ensuring the Church's legislation is always up to date, I ask myself if such an important meeting and on such a determining theme for the life of the Holy Church cannot and should not make a significant contribution to the Law of the Church itself, in a particular way in the Code of canon law.

To clarify this thought I will provide an absolutely elementary example. Canon 276 on the spiritual life of the clergy states: "[The Clergy] are to nourish their spiritual life at the twofold table of the Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist..." (§ 2, no. 2). The text is valuable, but it refers only to the celebration of the Eucharist. When it then goes on to speak of personal prayer, it affirms merely: "they are exhorted to engage regularly in mental prayer" (§ 2, no. 5). The expression "mental prayer" is absolutely clear, but dated. It might be, instead, that this is the place in which to "exhort the clergy to practice daily the lectio divina".

To sum up my proposition it is that the conclusion of the Synod, with the consent of the Holy Father, should also become a task of reflection entrusted to the Dicasteries of the Curia, with the special service of stimulating and coordinating entrusted to the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts [a touch of Vatican politics here?], so that they may propose to the Supreme Legislator the necessary changes to the rules of the Church as regards the particular field of the Word of God.

This next is an interesting "aside" intervention relating to one aspect of the Instrumentum Laboris. I cite it because of its immediate relevance to developments in the UK. My observations [in italics].

-- H. Em. Card. Paul Josef CORDES, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor
Unum" (VATICAN CITY)

In the civilized world, care for one's neighbour in need is, at the same time, a cultural matter. The majority of world religions - such as Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism - have learnt from Christianity [they share this with Christianity, but that may not be the same as saying they have learnt it from Christianity] and made it their own to foster love of neighbour. Hence, for number 39 of the Instrumentum laboris to demand love of neighbour for the Church's members, does not seem to be the most urgent task today.

In the present cultural context, it would be much more important to reflect back to the tree that produces the fruit. We need to become more conscious of the biblical roots of humanitarian action and strengthen these. For Divine Revelation binds the commandment to love one's neighbour to that of love of God from which it stems. In the preaching of Jesus, the duty to love appears as a double commandment. Precisely to show the love of the Heavenly Father (cf. Jn 10:32) Jesus Himself, the definitive model of love of neighbour, "went about doing good and healing all" (Acts 10:38). The Pastors of the Church will thus be careful not to simply abandon ecclesial aid institutions to the general climate of philanthropy. Rather they will recognise in the sensitivity of people today the KAIROS to reveal God as the one who enables every "Good Samaritan" deed: it is the announcement of the love of God that grants the capacity to love our neighbour. For this very reason, Cor Unum organized this past June Spiritual Exercises for leaders of Catholic aid agencies in America. The substantial positive feedback is proof that our collaborators are begging for the personal encounter with God. The theocentric emphasis does not water down the commitment to work for justice in society, which the Instrumentum laboris erroneously describes as the "first form of charity" (no. 39); indeed, love surpasses justice many times over (cf. I Co 13). When, for those who are questioning and seeking, the service of the Church's aid agencies and the individual Christian does not show God clearly, we forsake a function of the Church that is decisive for these times of ours. For the man of today needs this connection to God more than anything else. The first Encyclical of the Holy Father, Deus caritas est, unmistakably affirms the theological truth that, in their dioceses, Bishops are ultimately responsible for the Church's charitable mission (no. 32). They cannot delegate this task to collaborators or renounce it into the hands of some powerful administration or organism.

Equally true for charity is what is already explicit for the preaching of the Word - the martyria - and celebration of the sacraments - the leitourgia: in the diocese, the final responsibility for the diakonia lies with the Bishop. It is most unfortunate that Canon Law does not expressly mention this duty of the Pastors, an omission that Pope Benedict points to in his Encyclical (no. 32). The time is ripe to fill this gap.

On this last point about the responsibility of Bishops for the ministry of charity in their dioceses, see also my recent posts about diocesan children's societies. I have been tending to emphasise the responsibility of lay Catholics for the activity of these - and other - Catholic associations, on the grounds that they lie in the field of the rightful autonomy of the laity in tasks relating to the secular world. I think this is certainly part of the picture. See, for example, my remarks at the end of an earlier post about the Synod. I shall have to post at some point on the relationship between the Episcopal and the lay responsibility for the ministry of charity in a diocese. Unless, of course, someone beats me to it ...

PS: Catholic Analysis has an observation and link about the Bible needing to become part of life, the need for building a bridge between erudite scholarship and the ordinary life of the Christian faithful. For the Year of St Paul, I have been making my weekly allocutio for the Legion of Mary praesidium in the parish a catechesis on the second reading of the Sunday Mass. It is quite a challenge trying to be true to the findings of scholarship and at the same time relevant to ordinary Christian lives.