The synod’s agenda (instrumentum laboris) now includes a seventh sector that emerged from the outline preparatory discussion points (lineamenta). It now says: (63) “religion as a seventh sector, thereby providing the means to more thoroughly understand, in many different cultures, the return of a religious sense and the need for various forms of spirituality, especially among the young…though the present process of secularization is leading to a weakened sense of the spiritual in many persons and an emptiness of heart, many regions of the world are showing signs of a significant religious revival..(65) Many responses, however, have voiced a concern about the naive and emotional character of this return to a sense of religion. Instead of being a gradual and complex development in a person's search for truth, the return to religion, in many cases, has not been a very liberating experience…the positive aspects of rediscovering God and the sacred are viewed as impoverished and obscured by a fundamentalism which frequently manipulates religion to justify acts of violence and, in extreme but.. limited cases, even terrorism.
(66)..(These) new religious groups .. exercise an emotional and psychological dominance and promote a religion promising prosperity and success in life… the situation needs to be carefully watched so that Christian communities will not allow themselves to be influenced by these new forms of religious experience and give in to the temptation to imitate their aggressive, proselytizing methods, instead of following the Christian approach to proclaiming the Gospel…(67). This situation gives even greater meaning to the Church's encounters and dialogue with the great religious traditions which have grown over the decades and continue to intensify. These encounters are a promising opportunity to better perceive the complexity of the vocabulary and forms of the element of religion in humanity as seen in other religious experiences. Such encounters and dialogue also allow Catholics better to understand the ways in which the Christian faith expresses the religious nature of the human soul….”
So now, we ask ourselves: how is our sense of religion? Has it become secularist, relativistic, individualistic and comfortable, or fundamentalist, emotional and aggressive, or respectful, well-reasoned, compassionate, truthful and capable of dialogue? - Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC
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I went to the mass celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and the Inauguration of the Year of Faith, at St. Peter’s Square, last October 11. I was moved by the profound homily of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI and the frank address of the Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness Bartholomaois I. The event was truly ecumenical: His Grace Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury was there, together with the other Patriarchs and Major Archbishops of the Eastern Catholic Church, and representative Cardinals and bishops from all over the world.
The celebration was especially symbolic. Said the Holy Father: “the opening procession, intended to recall the memorable one of the Council Fathers when they entered this Basilica; the enthronement of the Book of the Gospels with the same book that was used at the Council; the consignment of the seven final Messages of the Council, and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” The Council Messages and the Catechism of the Catholic Church were symbolically handed over to representatives of governments, of the academe and the sciences, of artists, of women, of workers, of the poor, the sick and the suffering, of the youth and of the Pontifical Commission. “These signs .. invite us to enter more deeply into the spiritual movement which characterized Vatican II, to make it ours and to develop it according to its true meaning. And its true meaning was and remains faith in Christ, the apostolic faith, animated by the inner desire to communicate Christ to individuals and all people, in the Church’s pilgrimage along the pathways of history.”
The mass was in Latin. I just love its sound, not because it is mysterious. I understand it. The first reading was proclaimed in English. The responsorial psalm was in Italian, the second reading in Greek, minus the concluding words: “the word of the Lord”, the Gospel in Latin and the homily in Italian. The prayers of the faithful or the Universal Prayers were said in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili, Latin and Italian. Children, youth and adults were not disturbed by the internationality of the languages. They gloried in the taste of this faith-Pentecost-experience. For that is what we truly are, above all: Catholic. As I prayed for our parish, I saw we have been doing the same: with English as the main tongue, happy and proud that we are an international, multi-cultural, Catholic, Pentecost people! Not a babel of tongues, but all centered/converging in Christ!
How do we celebrate Vatican II and the Year of Faith? The Holy Father said: “I have often insisted on the need to return, as it were, to the "letter" of the Council – that is to its texts – also to draw from them its authentic spirit.. The Council did not formulate anything new in matters of faith, nor did it wish to replace what was ancient. Rather, it concerned itself with seeing that the same faith might continue to be lived in the present day, that it might remain a living faith in a world of change.” Can we do this? – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC
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We were there! Gen. Stan Brown and Veda Brown, Darlene Barrett and her godmother Dena Steinshouer, my cousin Cora Sy and her son, Episcopalian priest Fr. Jonathan, my sister’s classmate and nurse at Stanford University, Angeles Derecho and I met up at St. Peter’s Square to participate in the Mass of Canonization of the new 7 saints of the Catholic Church. Two of the new saints are Americans, Kateri Kekwitha, a Mohawk, and Marianne Cope, who took care of the lepers in Molokai. One is Filipino, 17 year-old catechist and martyr Pedro Calungsod. Some 80,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Square for the sacred event. According to reports, 3,000 of them came directly from the Philippines, from Cebu Island where Pedro Calungsod came from. Notwithstanding this huge crowd, I was still able to spot and actually greet two parishioners of ours, who were lining up to enter the square: pilgrim lector John Joly and his artist wife and pillar of the Environment Committee, Regina!
My special thoughts and prayers on this solemn occasion reached out to our parish, to our diocese and to families and friends. To those who still struggle to understand why we use several languages in our celebrations. To those who cannot appreciate the incorporation of the native American Indian ritual when we celebrate the mass on Thanksgiving. To those who find it difficult to see God’s blessings among the poor and the sick. To the youth who have not been inspired by faith, who cannot suffer and die for the faith.
An inspiring agenda item of the ongoing synod of bishops is the New Evangelization and Culture. In this vein, the US Catholic Church, with the guidance of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, is promoting a program called Building Intercultural Competencies in Ministries. Its goals are: (1) To better understand the meaning and purpose of both evangelization and the New Evangelization; (2) To examine the U.S. prevailing culture in light of the New Evangelization; (3) To explore key ethnic and cultural groups in the Church as well as the opportunities and challenges these present for the New Evangelization, and (4) To understand the meaning of inculturation, or evangelization of cultures. Our bishops here in our Diocese are promoting this program, mandating that all those in the leadership, from priests to ministers, should take this training, so that they can in turn share this to our parishioners and fellow-Catholics.
The program points to the “four pillars” as basic elements of evangelization, namely: (1) Conversion: a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, (2) The evangelization of cultures: the encounter between a people’s rituals, symbols, and myths (narratives) and the Gospel, leading to the transformation of culture (inculturation), (3) Liberation: the transformation of social, economic, and political orders in light of gospel values of life and human dignity, and, (4) Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue: work to bring about the unity of all peoples in pursuit of Jesus’ mandate. How do we do this in our parish? – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC
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