Categories
- Evangelization
- School of Prayer
- Worship
- Healing and Revealing
- Catholic Renewal
- Spiritual Warfare
- Apologetics
- Obstacles on the way to God
- Reading the Bible
- Sense of life
- Covenant with God
- Community
- Catholic Church
- Business and Christianity
- Family
- Witnesses of Faith
- Danger: Occultism
- Attention! Sects
Pope and Priests on Making Faith Public
09-08-2008
(08 Aug 08 - RV) Concerns that the Church is not doing enough to communicate its teaching on the great social and environmental problems of today and the issue of over stretched priests and the degree to which they can rely on lay collaborators in parish life. These were only two of six questions put to Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday by the priests of Bressanone.
Speaking in German, Professor of Moral Theology, Fr. Karl Golser, noted the perceptible sensation that the Church is retiring to the Sacristy and failing to make its voice heard in society on issues that concern its Magisterium such as climate change, rising fuel costs and pollution. Fr Gloser asked the Pope how as priests they can make Catholics aware that respect for creation is part of Church teaching:
Pope Benedict replied that the theology of creation is rooted in Genesis and needs to be rediscovered:
..... the brutal consumption of creation begins there where God is no longer considered, where raw materials are simply there for our needs, our property and so we consume them. The waste of creation occurs when we no longer believe in a power that is above us but see only ourselves; this waste begins where there is no dimension of life beyond death, so that this life becomes a race to grab all we can. Real effective initiatives against waste and destruction can only be successful when creation is considered to begin from God; a gift we receive and for which we are responsible. We must bring this dimension of our faith out into the public arena... it is not just a question of finding technical solutions to prevent damage, although these are important. These cannot be sufficient unless we find a new life style, of renunciation, of respect for others and of self discipline and responsibility towards the future.
Fr Franz Pixner a priest with the task of guiding two big parishes then put the issue of the increasing pastoral demands on a decreasing number of priests, before the Pope, asking for advice on priestly celibacy, on the role of lay collaborators and women in parish life and for a word of encouragement for the many men who often find themselves alone beneath the burden of responsibilities. The Pope began his reply noting the prominence of these concerns among today's pastors. He noted no-one has a ready answer and that these issues are high on the agenda of the Synod of Bishops.
We will always need priests who are totally dedicated to the Lord and therefore also to mankind....This means that we are taken from the community and given to the Lord, we totally belong to Him and we totally belong to the community...
Therefore the priesthood is irreplaceable because through the Eucharist it builds the Church, in the Sacrament of Penitence it purifies. I know only too well that today a priest finds himself guiding more than one parish, that he must always be available, and has difficulty in living this way.... He must find time for prayer and meditation, this will help him to prioritise and know how to delegate responsibilities to collaborators. I have the impression that people understand and appreciate when a priest is with God in prayer. Thus he must distinguish the tasks that others can do better than he, giving wider space to charisms within the community, particularly the movements, in communion with the diocese and its bishop.
Pope Benedict then highlighted one of his favourite themes from the outset of his pontificate; collegiality, no priest is a priest on his own he concluded, this communion recognised at a theological level must be put into practice in the local Church.
