Fifteenth General Congregation
Fifteenth General Congregation
12th Synod of Bishops
TUESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2008 - AFTERNOON
- INTERVENTIONS IN THE HALL (CONTINUATION)
- AUDITION OF THE FRATERNAL DELEGATE (III)
Today, at 16:30, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, with the prayer of Adsumus the Fifteenth General Congregation began, for the continuation of the interventions by the Synod Fathers in the Hall on the Synodal theme The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church.
President Delegate on duty was H.Em.R. Card. George PELL, Archbishop of Sydney(AUSTRALIA).
This General Congregation ended at 7:00 p.m. with the prayer Angelus Domini. 233 Fathers were present.
INTERVENTIONS IN THE HALL (CONTINUATION)
During this Fifteenth General Congregation, the following Fathers intervened:
- H.E. Most. Rev. Peter MARZINKOWSKI, C.S.Sp., Bishop of Alindao (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC)
- H.E. Most. Rev. José Sotero VALERO RUZ, Bishop of Guanare (VENEZUELA)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Peter Antony MORAN, Bishop of Aberdeen (SCOTLAND)
- H.E. Most. Rev. António Maria BESSA TAIPA, Titular Bishop of Tabbora, Auxiliary Bishop of Porto (PORTUGAL)
- H. Em. Card. Antonio María ROUCO VARELA, Archbishop of Madrid, President of the Episcopal Conference (SPAIN)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Phillip PÖLLITZER, O.M.I., Bishop of Keetmanshoop (NAMIBIA)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Rimantas NORVILA, Bishop of Vilkaviškis (LITHUANIA)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Velasio DE PAOLIS, Titular Archbishop of Telepte, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See (VATICAN CITY)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Jean Gaspard MUDISO MUND'LA, S.V.D., Bishop of Kenge (CONGO R.)
- H.E. Most. Rev. Johannes Harmannes Jozefus VAN DEN HENDE, Bishop of Breda (NETHERLANDS)
The summaries of the interventions can be found below:
- H.E. Most. Rev. Peter MARZINKOWSKI, C.S.Sp., Bishop of Alindao (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC)
We have seen that the Word of God, while being at the center of Catechism, is unknown to the catechumenate. Because of this, there is a need to rethink the relationship between catechism and the Biblical apostolate.
The socio-economic and political situation of the RCA is catastrophic and worsens more and more. The population has lost hope and falls into lethargy and fear. The people fall back into the practices of traditional religions, since Christianity doesn’t seem to answer the expectations anymore.
Many young persons no longer have any future and look to fundamentalist sects and charismatic groups that take over and make them forget the situation of poverty in which they find themselves.
The Episcopal Conference feels that a Biblical pastoral ministry should be practiced. Once it has been rooted in the Word of God, the Central African people can leave the marasma to give hope in a more human future and to propose evangelical values to build a new society.
We wish to become a Church in solidarity of the poor and the image of God who loves the marginalized ones.
[Original text: French]
- H.E. Most. Rev. José Sotero VALERO RUZ, Bishop of Guanare (VENEZUELA)
From Instrumentum Laboris No. 39: “The three elements which make up the essential nature of the Church: proclamation of the Word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebration of the sacraments (leitourgia) and the exercise of the ministry of charity (diakonia)”.
There is another word missing and needs to be added to these four Greek words: Kerygma-martiria, leitourgia and diakonia, the word is categen. Five important Greek words in the New Testament and in the History of the Church.
In the pastoral Project of the New Evangelization these five Greek words are key points.
In the Synod on Evangelization the words kerygma-martiria stand out. The same can be said of the document Evangelii Nuntiandi, by Paul VI.
The word categen stands out from the Synod on Catechesis and from the document Catechesis tradendae by John Paul II as it does from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and from the General Directory of Catechesis.
The word leitourgia stands out from the Synod on the Eucharist and from the synodal document Sacramentum Caritatis.
The word diakonia stands out in a special manner from the Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est.
With these five Greek words (kerygma-martiria, categen, leitourgia and diakonia), the Holy Spirit together with the Word of God constructed and continue to construct the Church in the world.
[Original text: Spanish]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Peter Antony MORAN, Bishop of Aberdeen (SCOTLAND)
THE WORD OF GOD CONTINUALLY NEW
Previous speakers have emphasised
(1) profound Christological aspects of the Word of God
(2) the preservation of the Word of God under persecution or poverty
(3) practical formation of readers and others
I wish to speak of the Word of God continually new.
I give one exegetical example (John 2: Cana) and one example from the role of the liturgical reader.
[Original text: English]
- H.E. Most. Rev. António Maria BESSA TAIPA, Titular Bishop of Tabbora, Auxiliary Bishop of Porto (PORTUGAL)
1.- In Chap. I about the Word of God in my opinion, it would be good to relate the Mystery of the Word of God as well as the Eucharistic Mystery. In fact, it is in the Eucharist that the Word of God, the word made Word, expresses all its significant and performative force.
This would be a way to help in understanding the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist Liturgy as a single liturgical action.
2.- In Chap. II we talk about Sacred Scripture. Here too we could establish the relationship between Sacred Scripture, the Mystery of the Bible and the Eucharist Mystery. If in the Eucharist we have the consecrated bread, we can also say that the Bible is consecrated human Word.
It would help to look at the Sacred Scripture also as a special book, holy, human-divine. To consider and venerate it in its Mystery.
3.- Finally as regards Chap. V, n° 41, determinating factors for listening to the Word of God that we are looking for in the Bible, besides faith, are: the assiduous reading, the demanding study, obedience, poverty, freedom that are spoken of in No. 41, and the focusing on the world and on history. To the world of men. We listen, see and read what is happening. We know it,. I also think that it will be necessary to love this world, our world, that God has loved and loves. Loving it with its pains and sufferings, with its disappointments and anguishes, with its search for peace, of dignified life and that many times it takes a wrong direction. Loving it also in the achievements in favor of man and as his dignity as a person.
This will help to open the path of its progression to the Word and will allow it to penetrate its never-ending novelty, produced by the innovation of every age.
[Original text: Italian]
- H. Em. Card. Antonio María ROUCO VARELA, Archbishop of Madrid, President of the Episcopal Conference (SPAIN)
To make the Word of God leaven of modern culture presupposes keeping in mind one of the traits that characterizes it mostly, especially in the Euro-American context, that is to say, the immanentistic concept of man and the world, without any explicit or implicit reference to God the Creator and Redeemer of man. This characteristic can be seen in particular in socio-political and juridical culture. The modern State, in its radical lay version, led to, in the XX century, the totalitarian forms of Soviet Communism and National Socialism. Naturally, the Christian vision of life continued being alive and working on a juridical-social level in the culture of modernity. There was even a return to natural law, starting with the “Ius Gentiuni” of the School in Salamanca. Post-modernity has embittered today’s concept of man, of society and the political-juridical order in their most negative aspects, opening the road to existential nichilism and to the “dictatorship” of ethical relativism. The legal approach to the right to life, as if the State could dispose of it in an unlimited way, is eloquent proof of what has been said. Therefore, we need a cultural answer from the Gospel that, in sincere dialogue between faith and reason, shows the truth of God the Creator and Redeemer of man to public life: the “God who is love”. The lay persons must be those most actively involved.
[Original text: Spanish]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Phillip PÖLLITZER, O.M.I., Bishop of Keetmanshoop (NAMIBIA)
In the Instrumentum laboris, I see a lack of visibility in two fundamental themes: the Holy Spirit and the missio ad extra. Both these aspects almost disappear in the technical theological language. True, they are not mentioned many times in an explicit way, however, I would like to see them explained and used more often in an explicit way.
1. The Holy Spirit.
Where is the Holy Spirit in the Instrumentum laboris? Hidden between the lines of casual statements? If, then like now, the Word of God was made and is present in such a way and under every aspect through the Holy Spirit, then we should also state this in a clear way. The strategies for the proclamation should be illustrated/practiced in a specific way in the perspective of the Holy Spirit.
2. The missio ad extra.
I am not referring to the “missionary territories”, rather to the missionary duty in front of our house! A good example does not suffice by itself. The direct word is necessary for those who are far away as well as for the millions of non-Christians that today, in the West, come, as we can say, directly into the arms of Mother Church. What does Mother Church do? She trembles, discouraged. In clear words: do we do enough, in a direct and knowledgeable way, for the persons far away and for migrants? The Holy Spirit, through us, can speak to those who are in the throes of the secular or ethnic-traditional spirit/evil spirit!
[Original text: German]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Rimantas NORVILA, Bishop of Vilkaviškis (LITHUANIA)
I would like to underline what was mentioned in No. 57 of the Instrumentum Laboris regarding the research into the so-called “history of effects” of the Bible in culture and the common ethos. We cannot forget the fruits that the Word of God, fallen as a seed, produced and continues to produce in the hearts of the faithful and of all people of good will, and consequently, in all of history. This abundant fruit cannot be forgotten for it yields “a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mk 4:20), hidden beneath “discord”. It would be appropriate to show “history of grace and truth” that cannot be reduced to the “history of sin”.
In her millennial experience, the Church of Christ has faced various challenges, nor does the present moment seem entirely hopeless. Remaining in faith and not losing hope, we also discover today encouraging experiences, that re-emphasize - for ourselves first of all - that the mission of the Church is possible in every time and place, particularly in today’s world. We should not be discouraged, even if we feel the fatigue because of the scarcity of collaborators, the limited resources, the not always encouraging responses to the initiatives taken. The words of Jesus were not always well received.
Taking into account the parable of the “householder who brings out from his storeroom new things as well as old” (Mt 13:52), all of us - sacred ministers - bishops, priests - belonging to the consecrated life and all lay brothers - are expected to find old and new ways to proclaim the Good News.
I would like to refer to No. 27 of the Instrumentum Laboris, regarding the pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Rightly, the Holy Land is called the “fifth gospel”. It represents, for the well-known references to the historical life of Jesus, a privileged occasion for the pastoral work of the Word of God and its more profound and authentic knowledge, in addition to its being a real sign of Christian solidarity towards our brothers and sisters who live in that Land.
[Original text: Italian]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Velasio DE PAOLIS, Titular Archbishop of Telepte, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See (VATICAN CITY)
The Word is God’s way of giving Himself in the history of different stages of the history of salvation. Along with each of God’s gifts, man is offered the possibility of answering this gift and a signpost for the road to follow. The moral action of the Christian does not trace its origin to the obligation to obey laws but to being a new creature in Christ who consists of an answer of love to God. The source and the means of moral actions for Christians is love, that necessarily passes along the road of the observance of the Word of God; the believer is called to carry out, through love, the works of the law. The act of Christian morality is a Paschal morality; a morality that consists of dwelling in Christ, in the testimony of love towards God the Father and our neighbors through the Holy Spirit.
Vatican Council II with the decree Ad Gentes underlined the need for a specific mission, consistent in its first announcement to those not of the Christian faith (Missio ad gentes). Over time quite a few factors have contributed to weaken the commitment of this mission. The need for a Missio ad gentes is connected to fundamental truths of the Christian faith, underlined particularly by the declaration Dominus Jesus (On the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church; Unicity and unity of the Church). The Encyclical Redemptoris Missio of 1990 reiterates the need for the Missio ad gentes. The confusion between the mission as caring for souls or as new evangelization on the one hand and the Missio ad gentes continues to exist.
I think it is necessary that this Synod, inspired by Redmptoris Missio, reiterates the commitment of the Church to the Missio ad gentes. The renewed vitality of the Church has been shown, over the course of history, above all in the new missionary commitment ad gentes.
It is opportune to remember that today with migration new horizons open up. A large part of the migrants who come to live with us are not Christians. The individual Churches, other than being sensitive to welcoming them in line with the principles of Christian love, have to also be able to find the ways to announce to them the mystery of Christ the Savior of all men. We have to see the future of the Church in this work of evangelization.
[Original text: Italian]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Jean Gaspard MUDISO MUND'LA, S.V.D., Bishop of Kenge (CONGO R.)
My intervention is about the Biblical Apostolate, precisely the preparation or formation of future priests to the Biblical Apostolate as an academic discipline in the seminaries and institutes of religious formation. I am referring to the Instrumentum laboris, no. 49, #4; Sacramentum caritatis, no. 46.
If the Word of God is to inspire all the pastoral ministry of the Church (Instrumentum laboris, no. 48; DV no. 24), we must rethink or revise the formation in the large seminaries and in the institutes for the religious persons. Because the Word of God is not and cannot be a teaching subject like any other, on the same level as others.
Therefore, there is a need for very serious preparation, academic, scientific and spiritual, for future priests. However, we deplore a certain lack on this subject in the formation given in seminaries. Bible studies tend to privilege the lectio scholastica, the academic reading of the Bible that mainly transmits intellectual knowledge, those that of course are necessary, but leave a void as to spiritual reading, that is to say the pastoral dimension of the Word of God.
Rightly so, the Biblical Apostolate wishes to fill this void as an academic discipline. It wishes the believer to encounter the Lord who addresses him and calls upon him in the concrete moments of his life. This course could have a dual finality:a) Awaken a sharp conscience in the seminarian of Scriptures as the Word of God, the source of Christian life and the instrument of the pastoral ministry.
b) Help the seminarian translate his knowledge of Scriptures into the daily situations of life (CF. BICAM: Syllabus, Accra 2008, p. 21).
[Original text: French]
- H.E. Most. Rev. Johannes Harmannes Jozefus VAN DEN HENDE, Bishop of Breda (NETHERLANDS)
Catechesis on the nature of the Church in the light of the Holy Scripture, together with catechesis on the Holy Scripture in communion with the Church.
[Original text: Latin]
AUDITION OF THE FRATERNAL DELEGATE (III)
During this Fifteenth General Congregation the following Fraternal Delegates intervened:
- R.P. Archibald Miller MILLOY, Secrétaire Général des "United Bible Societes" (ANGLETERRE)
- S. Exc. MARK [Sergej Golovkov], Évêque de Yegorievsk, Vice-Président du Département pour les Relations Écclésiastiques Étrangères du Patriarcat de Moscou (FÉDÉRATION RUSSE)
- S. Exc. SILUAN [Ciprian Şpam], Évêque du Diocèse Orthodoxe Roumain en Italie (ITALIE)
- S. Exc. ARMASH [Hagop Nalbandian], Évêque Primat de Damas, Syrie (SYRIE)
- S. Exc. Rev. Nicholas Thomas WRIGHT, Évêque de Durham, Communion Anglicane (ANGLETERRE)
The summaries of the interventions can be found below:
- Rev. Archibald Miller MILLOY, Secretary General of "United Bible Societes" (GREAT BRITAIN)
The United Bible Societies (UBS) considers it a great honour to have been invited to attend the Synod as a Special Guest. The United Bible Societies traces theclose collaboration it enjoys with the Catholic Church at parish, national and global level to the promulgation of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, the fruit of the Second Vatican Council. Dei Verbum gave Catholic Christians the explicit commission to work on Bible translations, and to do so in collaboration with their sisters and brothers of other denominations. Specifically, the call within Dei Verbum that "Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful" has seen the UBS complete 134 translations in collaboration with the Catholic Church over these past 40 years. The Instrumentum Laboris is surely right when it says such 'easy access' is a prerequisite for mission today. It is therefore to be regretted that in only 438 of the world's 7,000 languages is there a translation of the complete Bible. The UBS is currently involved in 646 translation projects world-wide. During the Synod, the UBS will sign a new Joint Partnership with the Catholic Biblical Federation to give testimony to the growing collaboration that is enjoyed by the two organisations today. Indeed, many, many Catholics are now active members of Bible Societies across the world. The Synod was made aware of a new project, 'May They Be One' -launched recently by the Episcopal Commission for the Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and the Bible Society in that country.
[Original text: English]
- H. E. MARK [Sergej Golovkov], Bishop of Yegorievsk, Vice-President of the Department for Foreign Ecclesiastical Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
As the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church I would like to tell you about my historical experience tied to the theme of the Sacred Scriptures.
From the moment of its conversion to Christianity, in the 10th Century, Russia has received the Holy Scriptures in its own language. Since then, faith in Christ was indissolubly connected to the study of the Bible. The first book printed in Russia was the “Apostle” - a liturgical book containing the Book of Acts and the Letters of the Holy Apostles. With the evolution of the spoken word, even the text in the Slav translation was changed gradually. The Orthodox Church believes that it is important for the Holy Scriptures to be available to all. Reading the Bible in the Church during liturgical functions, however, represents the most valid way of hearing it. Together with the availability of Biblical texts, the main principle for their understanding is achieving the tradition. Orthodox theology does not deny new studies concerning the sacred texts. Despite this, we believe that the interpretation of the Biblical texts is closely connected to explanations left to us by the Fathers of the Church. Faithfulness to tradition is the sure path that helps one from losing oneself in the many opinions. Our Church does not exclude other paths for the encounter between today’s man with the Book of Books. Especially, during the last few years, recordings with readings from the Gospel and from the Psalms have been produced. The same thing has happened with materials for children: these are evangelical texts adapted to children’s understanding and stories on the events in Sacred History.
[Original text: Italian]
- H. E. SILUAN [Ciprian Şpam], Archbishop of Orthodoxa Romena Church of Italy (ITALY)
First of all we would like to express a warm greeting to all the bishops and delegates present at the XII Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, having arrived from all over the world, united in these days in Rome.
The theme of this Synod is “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church”. There is a common concern in our Churches to underline and reassert the role that the Divine Word has in the missionary dynamics at the beginning of the 21st century. In this sense, we would like to let you know with joy, that our Romanian Orthodox Church, through the unanimous voice of its bishops, has declared the year 2008 as the “Jubilee Year of Holy Scripture and of Holy Liturgy”. This underlines the organic and inseparable connection between the Sacred Scripture and the Holy Liturgy, between the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist. The entire liturgical treasures of the Orthodox Church are deeply marked by the words of the Holy Scriptures that penetrate prayer and the hymns the faithful hear during the various celebrations they participate in. Even the readings done during the different offices go back to a considerable number of words inspired by God through the mouths of the prophets and the Apostles, as well as the books of Wisdom and the Psalms. In the first place, among the books of Holy Scripture most used by our traditional worship, the pericope taken from the letters of Saint Paul the Apostle can be found. We believe that the missionary zeal of Saint Paul can inspire us in today’s European secularized context and prayer will be of great help in our missionary activities. In conclusion, congratulating you for having chosen to debate on such an inspired theme, we would like to express our wish that the works of the XII Assembly of the Synod of Bishops bear abundant spiritual and pastoral fruits for all those participating.
[Original text: Italian]
- H. E. ARMASH [Hagop Nalbandian], First Bishop of Damascus (SYRIA)
The Word of God in Armenia had already been proclaimed in the First Century by the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew, who after their missionary action died as martyrs. The proclamation of the Word of God in the following three centuries bore fruit, to the extent that, in 301, Armenia proclaimed Christianity as its state religion, the first nation in the world to do so.
Over the centuries, Sacred Scripture and the exegesis of the Word characterized the doctrine and the theology of the Armenian Church. The Word of God has become, in fact, the true content of the lives of Armenians, accompanying them during the persecutions. I would like to mention just one example of the more recent past. How could we have survived the genocide if we did not believe in the force of the Word, giver of life? Faith in the Word made flesh, in his Crucifixion and above all in his Resurrection, giver of life, gave us the strength to overcome the genocide. The Armenian people, through its martyrdom, bore a witness which today still forges the Christian identity of each Armenian. The Word of God has been and is the source of hope and survival..
What is the situation of the proclamation of the Word of God in Armenia today? Armenia is a post-Soviet country. What the situation during the Soviet era was is well-known. After the fall of the Soviet Union, today in Armenia, there is a spiritual awakening and a deep interest in listening to the Word of God. The number of Bible groups and persons who attend Church are increasing. This new attraction of listening more to the Word can, according to me, be explained in three points:
1. Learning and knowing the Bible and participating in the Eucharist and in prayer, one can find one’s roots. It is our ancestors’ faith, the faith of our grandparents and parents.
2. Professing Christianity, one feels part of the wider world, a member of the greater community of the Church of Christ.
3. The desire to read the Bible, understand it, study it... Because for 70 years, we were lied to and now we wish to finally learn the truth.
The daily situation leads us to hearing the Word. The possibility to listen to the Word comes in many forms and types. The Word of God can be experienced and listened to even outside of Mass. The Proclamation of the Word must be aimed, so as to enter into the heart and the soul of the persons. The Word must have a ,meaning that guides the Christian. The situations in life help us look for the Word, then as servants of the Church and proclaimers of the Word we must turn to the listeners and the faithful, to learn to know about their situations and experiences of life. Their situations of life and their expectations must supply the key to open their hearts. The message of salvation must be an answer to their needs and afflictions.
This, today, is the invitation to hear the Word of God.
[Original text: German]
- H. E. Rev. Nicholas Thomas WRIGHT, Bishop of Durham, Anglican Church (GREAT BRITAIN)
1. We face the same challenges as you: not only secularism and relativism, but also postmodernity. Uncertainy here breeds anxiety: (a) the Bible might tell us unwelcome things; (b) its message might be stifled.
2. A fourfold reading of scripture as the love of God: heart (Lectio Divina, liturgical reading); mind (historical/critical study); soul (church life, tradition, teaching) and strength (mission, kingdom of God). These must be balanced.
3. In particular, we need fresh mission-oriented engagement with our own culture. Paragraph 57 of the Instrumentum Laboris implies that Paul's engagement merely purifies and elevates what is there in the culture. But Paul also confronts pagan idolatry, and so must we. In particular, we must engage critically with the tools and methods of historical/critical scholarship themselves.
4. The climax of the Canon is Jesus Christ, especially his cross and resurrection. These events are not only salvific. They provide a hermeneutical principle, related to the Jewish tradition of 'critique from within'.
5. Mary as model: Fiat (mind); Magnificat (strength); Conservabat (heart) - but also Stabat, waiting patiently in the soul, the tradition and expectation of the church, for the new, unexpected and perhaps unwelcome, but yet saving, revelation.
[Original text: English]
