Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989
Pope's Talks To U.S. Bishops Grade American Catholicism
VATICAN CITY (NC) - In 10 speeches
to U.S. bishops in 1988, Pope John Paul II
listed the pluses and minuses of
Catholicism in the United States, setting
the stage for a March summit meeting
with the leadership of the U.S. hierarchy.
The papal report card gives U.S.
Catholics good marks for their efforts to
combat social problems. It also gives them
a high score for pursuing dialogue with a
wide spectrum of groups in U.S. society,
from other Christians to atheists.
The minuses are what the pope calls
selective adherence to church teachings
and laws, and a tendency to neglect the
church’s divine mission in pursuit of social
goals.
The speeches also provide a “de facto”
issues agenda for the summit meeting at
the Vatican to iron out problems in U.S.
Catholicism and improve sometimes tense
cross-Atlantic relations. The summit is
scheduled to begin March 8.
The papal talks began in February and
ended in December. They were given to 10
groups of bishops visiting the pope to pre
sent their “ad limina” reports on the
status of their dioceses. These visits are
required every five years.
The general theme of the talks was that
“the pastoral office of the church exists to
foster holiness.” The papal overview was
that only morally strong and spiritually
motivated Catholics working in communi
ty are able to profoundly evangelize and
influence society. Within this framework,
the pope stressed frequent practice of in
dividual confession, strengthening weekly
Mass attendance and reception of Commu
nion, and the need to deepen prayer life.
The aim of the talks was to encourage
"the church in the United States to live her
vocation of holiness through a life of
dynamic faith,” he said.
Typical of this approach was papal en
couragement of Sunday Mass attendance
in a country where about 52 percent of the
Catholics fulfill the weekly Mass obliga
tion. He called it a “splendid tradition of
American Catholics” which needs to be
reinforced.
“Participation in the Eucharist is only a
small portion of the laity’s week, but the
total effectiveness of their lives and all
Christian renewal depends on it,” he said.
Within this framework of encouraging a
“dynamic faith,” the pope ticked off
specific pluses and minuses. The pluses in
clude:
— A “new moral concern” to overcome
poverty and underdevelopment in the
United States and around the world. The
bishops were praised for providing
specific guidelines on social and political
issues in their war and peace and
economic pastoral letters. The pope also
cited the vast network of Catholic social
and health services in the United States.
He praised domestic programs for
migrants and supported Catholic Relief
Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas aid
agency. These activities show that U.S.
Catholics have accepted the “challenge of
service” to others required by Christiani
ty, the pope said.
— Pro-life activities, especially the fight
against abortion. “The bishops of the
United States have steadfastly opposed
this destruction of human life by programs
of education and pastoral care and by ad
vocating laws and public policies that pro
tect and sustain human life, before and
Churchmen On Brazilian Death List
VATICAN CITY (NC) -
Brazilian Cardinal Aloisio
Lorscheider and other
bishops, priests and
Religious are among 350
persons targeted for
assassination by Brazilian
death squads, according to
the Brazilian bishops’ con
ference.
Conference vice presi
dent Bishop Jose Ivo
Lorscheiter released a list
of persons targeted by
death squads for their work
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on behalf of farmworkers
and agrarian reform.
The list included labor
organizers and small
farmers.
According to a Jan. 10
Vatican Radio report,
Bishop Lorscheiter said
that in addition to Cardinal
Lorscheider, bishops
threatened with death in
clude:
— Bishop Pedro
Casaldaliga of the Ter
ritorial Prelature of Sao
Felix.
— Bishop Jaco Hilgert of
— Bishop Moacyr Grechi
of Rio Branco.
— Bishop Waldyr
Calheiros de Novaes of
Barra do Pirai-VOlta
Redonda.
Cardinal Lorscheider
and Bishop Casaldaliga’s
names were on a death
squad “black list,” the
report said. Another name
on this list was Francisco
Mendes, an ecologist and
organizer who was assassi
nated last December,
allegedly by gunmen hired
by large landholders.
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after birth,” he said. Pope John Paul
praised the hierarchy’s annual Respect
Life program.
— The ‘‘excellent climate” for
ecumenical activities created in the
United States. “Much has been done in the
United States to bring Christians closer
together,” the pope said.
— Promotion of dialogue with agnostics
and atheists. “You are rightly convinced
of the need for sustained dialogue and
fraternal collaboration in projects of ser
vice to humanity,” the pope said.
— Promotion of female dignity and
rights in society. The pope praised the first
draft of a proposed bishops’ document on
women. “You are rightly striving to help
eliminate discrimination based on sex,”
the pope said. He also praised the overall
theology in the draft which presents Mary
“as a special symbol and model for women
in their partnership with God in the
ministry of the church.” The church is “at
the service of the cause of women in the
modern world — to help clarify their cor
relative rights and duties, while defending
their feminine dignity and vocation,” the
pope said.
The minuses include:
— Dissent from church teachings. The
pope criticized “a tendency on the part of
some Catholics to be selective in their
adherence to the church’s moral
teachings.” Positions taken because of
“the so-called ‘right to dissent’ have had
harmful repercussions on the moral con
duct of a number of the faithful,” he said.
The church’s infallibility is “present not
only in the solemn definitions of the
Roman pontiff and of ecumenical councils,
but also in the universal ordinary
magisterium, which can truly be con
sidered as the usual expression of the
church’s infallibility,” he added. He called
for “collaboration of Catholic theologians
and ecclesial faculties” in combating dis
sent from church teachings. He also said
church educational institutions should
preserve “their Catholic identity.”
— Violations of church rules on use of lay
extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.
“In some cases there may still be a need to
revise diocesan policies on this matter” so
that extraordinary ministers do not
distribute Communion when enough
priests and deacons are present, the pope
said. He stressed “the supplementary
character” of the extraordinary ministers
in distributing Communion. Adherence to
church rules also ensures “the true notion
and genuine character of the participation
of the laity in the life and mission of the
church,” the pope said.
— Downplaying the church’s divine mis
sion in pursuit of temporal activities. “The
church can never succumb to the tempta
tion to ‘remake’ herself,” the pope said.
‘ ‘The church can never be a community at
the service of merely temporal
objectives” and its “efforts cannot be
motivated by merely temporal values,” he
said.
— “Unwarranted interpretations” of
general absolution norms. The pope stress
ed that the normal way for absolution of
sins is through individual confession to a
priest. He emphasized church rules that
general absolution without individual con
fession can be granted only in limited cir
cumstances. Canon law lists these cir
cumstances as when the danger of death is
imminent and when there is a “serious
necessity” such as a lack of sufficient
priests to hear confession thus depriving
people of the ability to receive Commu
nion. “The crisis facing the sacrament of
penance is due in part to unwarranted in
terpretations of what constitutes the condi
tions of the ‘gravis necessitas’ (serious
necessity) envisioned by the church,” he
said.
The U.S. bishops have since approved
rules detailing the use of general absolu
tion in the United States.
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