EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT GERARD MOLONEY CSsR
FACING THE FUTURE WITH HOPE
Looking
at the state of the church in Ireland today, it can be easy to feel downcast. We know the grim statistics. They don't need repeating. But no matter how bleak the outlook may seem, resignation or defeatism must never supplant our hope. Teilhard de Chardin said, "joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God," something we can experience even in the most challenging of situations. One of the striking features of Pope Francis' letters is his frequent use of the word ‘joy.' When our faith is lived from a place of joyful hope, Francis is saying, it will animate everything we do. It will be authentic and life-giving. We need at least three qualities as the people of God if we are to face the future with joyful hope. Each begins with the letter 'c'. The first is conversion. The church exists to bear witness to the Gospel. This means having an aptitude for self-criticism at both the personal and ecclesial levels. "Conversion requires unlearning, learning and relearning," says Fr Richard Lennan, professor of systematic theology at Boston College. "These three elements will act as a framework in the ongoing reform and renewal of the Christian community. Since the church in history will never be a flawless and unfailingly consistent symbol of grace, there is need for regular conversion." The Holy Spirit orients and re-orients the Christian community to the right side of history, Lennan says. "Only a church aligned in the Spirit can fulfil Pope Francis's vision for a community whose members form a field hospital for the world's wounded." All conversion, all learning, all conscienceforming must begin with listening, attentiveness, humility. For conversion to happen in the church, says Lennan, it's essential to be attentive to the voices of the
"invisible" or those Pope Francis regularly refers to as the "fringes" that church people tend to avoid. "The movement that is a necessary part of listening to the Spirit follows from such encounters." Conversion means being attentive to the signs of the times, in tune with the Spirit’s whisperings. It means a willingness to change, to adapt, to grow. The second quality is compassion. Compassion defines true Catholicism and is central to Pope Francis' ministry. Speaking at a consistory to create new cardinals, he emphasised its importance. "So many disloyal actions on the part of ecclesiastics are born of the lack of a sense of having been shown compassion, and by the habit of averting one's gaze, the habit of indifference," he said. He suggested the cardinals ask themselves: "Am I compassionate towards this or that brother or sister, that bishop, that priest? Or do I constantly tear them down by my attitude of condemnation, of indifference?" "The church is not a fortress," Francis says, "but a tent capable of expanding and offering access to everyone. The church is 'going out' or it is not church, either it is walking, always widening its room so that all may enter, or else it is not church." Our church doors must always be open, he says, "because this is a symbol of what a church is – always open so that anytime someone feels moved by the Holy Spirit and seeks God out, they do not find the coldness of a closed door." Too often, our preaching and our actions have tended to exclude rather than include. Without compassion, we will not be effective witnesses to the Gospel. The third quality is courage. Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister says that as church, our model must be both Jesus the healer and Jesus the prophet. The popular embrace of Jesus the healer has obscured the more
radical Jesus, who challenged the status quo and religious leaders of his time. "We live in an era that accepts half of what it means to follow Jesus," she argues. "We want our religion in a spiritual Jacuzzi, a feel-good spiritual world." Chittister wrote her book, The Time is Now, she says, "because I could not bear the roar of the silence any longer." She warns that we are at a time when huge choices must be made that will determine the future of the world. Choice takes three forms, she says. The first is avoidance and withdrawing from the fray. The second is submission and passive acceptance, not talking about religion or politics and "becoming part of the great enabling silence." The third is to be prophetic, to refuse to accept the status quo. "This prophetic choice says 'no' to anything that ignores the will of God or God's creation." If we are to be authentically Christian, we have no choice but to be prophetic, by our words and our example. It isn’t for the fainthearted, Chittister continues, but Christianity was never meant for the faint-hearted. It demands that we be bold. If we are to face the future with hope, we must be compassionate and courageous, constantly aware of our need for conversion. Live by these three 'c's, and we can hope for a new dawn for the church.
Gerard Molonry CSsR Acting Editor
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