|
SIGN OF HOPE Lay Movements in the Church (part one)
|
|
The Church has entered the new millennium fully aware of the critical problems and challenges of our era, and at the same time the Church is full of hope. John Paul II is tireless in speaking about a 'new Christian Advent', 'a new springtime' of Christianity'. "As the third Millennium of the Redemption draws near" - he wrote in the encyclical Redemptoris missio - "God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs." (n. 86) The significant moment that marked the beginning of this Christian springtime remains unquestionably the Second Vatican Council - providential event - often compared to a new effusion of the Holy Spirit in the Church - a new Pentecost. It is enough to mention a renewed awareness of Catholic laity, 'a new era of group endeavors of the lay faithful' (Christifideles laici, n.29) and especially a rich flowering of ecclesial movements. The Pope says: "One of the Spirit's gifts to our age is certainly the flowering of ecclesial movements, which from the very beginning of my Pontificate I have continued to identify as a reason for hope for the Church and for mankind" (Address, Pentecost 1996). The prime movers of this new springtime are becoming the young people to whom the Pope never tires of telling: "You are the hope of the Church, you are my hope!". The World Youth Days have acquired a prophetic character for all humanity. We still have in our eyes the gathering in Toronto 2002 that saw a huge crowd of youth 'the people of the beatitudes' with a presence of more than eight hundred thousand people. We cannot but mention here the celebration of the Great Jubilee 2000, extraordinary gift with which the Holy Spirit wanted to enrich the Church at the beginning of the new millennium. The jubilee celebrations, beyond the city of Rome, allover the Catholic world have demonstrated the huge potential of grace and faith within the people of God. It has been a time of great amazement at the deeds worked by God in his Church. Never Ending Task of Evangelisation One of the greatest challenges the Church is called to face at the present beginning of the millennium is the never-ending task: evangelization. As always, also in our times the Church listens attentively to the words of Christ: "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation." (Mc 16: 15). The whole vocation and mission of the Church is enclosed in the word 'evangelization'. The Church founded by Jesus Christ has been sent to evangelize the world and lives in a permanent state of mission. Mission is the reason of her existence! The Pope invites us today to a new evangelization. What is the element of novelty that should characterize the evangelizing action of the Church in our times? The novelty is determined from the unprecedented character of the actual world situation. The widespread process of secularization, religious indifference, moral and religious relativism (even in the countries with a long Christian tradition), terrorism and war, scientific progress more and more dissociated from ethical values, requires a new attitude in the way we evangelize. The present situation calls for an intensification of efforts on the part of all evangelizers so as to find new ways of proclaiming the gospel, more respondent to the spiritual demands of the contemporary man. John Paul II stresses that we are not dealing with a re-evangelization "but rather of a new evangelization; new in its ardor, methods and expression." (Port au Prince, 9 March 1983, Address to CELAM). At the beginning of the new millennium the Pope gave the Church a document of extraordinary prophetic drive, the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte. It consists of a brief vademecum (guide) of the new evangelization addressed to all Christians. He has often exhorted the whole Church: "Over the years, I have often repeated the summons to the new evangelization. I do so again now, especially in order to insist that we must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardour of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost. We must revive in ourselves the burning conviction of Paul who cried out: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (l Cor9:16)." (Novo millennia ineunte, n. 40) Response of Holy Spirit Nowadays it is impossible to speak of new evangelization without referring to ecclesial movements. During the unforgettable Meeting of the ecclesial movements with the Holy Father on May 30, 1998 the Pope said: "And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: they are the response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium" (n. 7). Along the course of the history of the Church and also at the present time in facing great challenges, the Holy Spirit intervenes arousing new movements that give to the life of the Church energies of spiritual renewal of extraordinary intensity. The powerful evangelizing potential of movements was discovered by John Paul II as Archbishop of Krakow, now he continues his support as Pope. He does not only encourage them, but sustains and promotes them in the Church, and yet at the same time he is very demanding and expects they aim high. According to the Pope, ecclesial movements- one of the most precious fruits of the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council- have grown enough in the life of the Church, have got over their 'adolescent phase', and are ready to enter the phase of 'ecclesial maturity'. It is useful to remember at this point the words uttered by the Pope that have become a programme for the life of all the movements in the Church: "Today a new stage is unfolding before you: that of ecclesial maturity. This does not mean that all problems have been solved. Rather, it is a challenge. A road to take." (Address, 30 May, 1998). But, how can we verify ecclesial maturity of a movement? The criteria are numerous, and I would like to mention briefly one in particular- evangelization. Evangelization is a very complex concept and it entails several strictly connected processes, among which stand formation and proclamation. Both of them in contemporary society, also in those countries with long history and Christian tradition find today great difficulties and obstacles. The actual culture generates fragmented and debilitated personalities who are unstable and incoherent. This kind of culture influences even Christians. Consequently the Christian identity becomes weak and confused, faith is divided between routine and tradition, superstition, magic and new age; religious belonging is superficial and distracted; unable to have a significant impact on people's lives and behavior. The Parish needs the movements Today, there is a lack of places where people can
be formed in depth. For example, Christian families often are in crisis
and fail in giving a solid basic foundation to their children's faith.
Parish life, even though remaining an indispensable support structure
to the life of the Church, is not self-sufficient any longer. Often
our parishes are too big and anonymous. They are not successful in creating
in the faithful a sense of communion and closeness. So formation and
proclamation offered in our parishes have a generic character because
of the diverse people to be addressed. It is difficult for them to be
centers of authentic Christian formation. What should be done? At the
parish level, a parish has to be a place of formation. To offer the
faithful formation that is truly effective and missionary in a personalised
way, the parish needs to have within herself a micro-structure of smaller
communities - in other words, the parish needs the movements. Only in
this way can the process of formation in the faith and of Christian
initiation truly reach the personality of each person in depth. The
task of evangelizing within ecclesial movements is directed primarily
to Christian formation of mature personalities. It is a formation that
has its starting point in a deep conversion of the heart. At the beginning
there is always a personal encounter with the person of Christ, who
enters one's life and changes it radically. In the life of many of the
members of ecclesial movements it is true that there exists a 'before'
and 'after'. Sometimes the process is long and gradual, other times
rapid and unexpected like the one of St. Paul at the gate of Damascus.
And yet, conversion is a gift of grace filling the heart of people with
an immense joy. Many of you can witness to this! In the field of Christian
formation the great originality of pedagogical methods of the movements
emerges. We are dealing with a Christocentric formation stressing what
is essential in the baptismal vocation of every Christian. It is a radical
pedagogy that is not afraid of the high ideals of Christian holiness.
It is a formation conducted in small communities as irreplaceable points
of formation and of support - especially in our society characterized
by solitude and anonymous relationships. It is an integral formation
involving all the dimensions of life. Different from all the other kinds
of memberships to specific organizations, the belonging to an ecclesial
movement is always - and has to be!- a 'total' belonging because it
involves the whole person. Finally, the deep sense of belonging typical
of members of movements creates, as a consequence, a strong sense of
belonging to the Church and a great love for the Church. Ecclesial movements
present themselves as live "laboratories of faith" in which
Christians are born and grow in maturity, living their vocation and
mission in depth.
|
