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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1987)
PAGE 8 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 12,1987 Synod Debate On Lay Movements Turns Language Upside Down BY GREG ERLANDSON One of the stranger experiences at October’s world Synod of Bishops was hearing a Vatican official approvingly quote Mao Tse-Tung while bishops known for their “progressive” sentiments made ringing defenses of episcopal authority. The subject which seemed to stand all the stereotypes on their heads was the new lay movements and their significance for the church, one of the synod’s most hotly debated topics. Movement critics, who in the past may have lambasted the Vatican s use of authority or accused it of stick-in-the- mud ways, went out of their way at the synod to emphasize the supreme authority of the bishop in local matters, the value of traditional, hierarchy-controlled groups like Catholic Action, and the vital importance of that age-old en tity, the parish. On the other hand, Guzman Carriquiry, an official of the Vatican Council for the Laity, waxed so enthusiastic about the movement phenomenon he quoted Mao, who said of a brief period of cultural liberalization in China during his rule, “May a hundred flowers bloom!” And the laity council’s vice president, Bishop Paul Cor- des, raised a few eyebrows when he dismissed tensions be tween local churches and new movements by remarking that “new wine has always put old wineskins into crisis.” The rhetorical switch which took place in the synod hall points up the flaw of using political shorthand — liberal, conservative, traditionalist, progressive — to talk about the complexities of movements. In fact the term “new movements” can be a misleading generalization, since the organizations it describes are so varied. It is used to label the enthusiasm of the charismatics, the Marian piety of Schonstatt, the ecumenism of Focolare, the activist orientation of Com munion and Liberation and the intimacy of Marriage En counter. Although described as new, many existed long before the Second Vatican Council. But it was the council, with its assurance that lay people have the right to form their own associations, which gave the movements the freedom to flourish. But the same enthusiasm which fuels the growth of movements can also make them an unpredictable force in the life of the local church. Like many groups in Catholic history, movements can become so committed to the vision of their founder that Complete Furnace Check For A Job Well-Done CALL: WELDON Plumbing, Heating & Air 938-4629 Your Independent Lennox Dealer. 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Movements must show “sincere obedience to and com munion with the pastor of the local church,” he said. “The bishops govern the local churches ... as vicars and emissaries of Christ, and they do so with their own ordinary and immediate authority, and everything concerning wor ship and the apostolate comes under their jurisdiction.” Yet while such prelates were stressing caution, ad vocates such as Bishop Cordes were adopting language from the reformers of the 1960s. In addition to implying movement critics were “old wineskins,” he also equated the tensions that movements face in dealing with local churches to those faced by the early mendicant orders such as the Franciscans in the 13th century. For Bishop Cordes and others, the movements are effec tive ways of communicating the experience of Christ to modern people. They are viewed as offering more com munity than is often found in parish structures, better for mation and more enthusiasm for witnessing to the world around them. Their loyalty to the pope and their interna tional perspectives also make them attractive, and as Polish Cardinal Franciszek Macharski observed, they are a source of vocations. Pope, Prelates Condemn IRA Blast VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope John Paul II condemned an Irish Republican Army bombing that killed 11 people at a ceremony in Northern Ireland for British war dead as an “outrage” that “profoundly shocked and saddened” him, according to a telegram sent in the pope's name. The pope "expresses his heartfelt condolences to the families of the innocent persons killed by this cruel act,” said the Nov. 9 telegram from Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Vatican secretary of state, to Bishop Joseph Duffy ol Clogher, whose diocese includes Enniskillen, the site of the bombing. Pope John Paul “reiterates the church’s clear condemna tion of violence and of any support or tolerance of such crimes against human life,” it said. Ireland’s Catholic primate, Cardinal Tomas O’Fiaich of Armagh, Northern Ireland, said the same day that perpetrators of the Nov. 8 bombing are guilty of “murder most terrible.” Most of the victims were in the crowds gathering for the traditional Remembrance Sunday events in Enniskillen. Between 53 and 61 people, including 13 children, were in jured in the explosion, according to reports. Cardinal O’Fiaich said the blast at the ceremony for World War I and II military dead from the British-ruled province was a “most heinous crime, appalling in its utter brutality.” Cardinal George Basil Hume of Westminster, England, called the bombing “a grievous sin against God and Free Estimates, References Call Ron Climcr, Owner Clinier Moving & Storage Moving??? When It's Your Move Let Cs Know 493-9153 '-'ini unit t/eeiili. *Jfterutions Custom Made Suits for Ladies and Gentlemen Alfredo Avlno, Prop. 233-6643 Tux*do Festival Shopping Confer 3655 RoswdII Rd. 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