FALL RIVER DIOc;ESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSms CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS VOL. 33, NO.9.
Friday, March 3,1989
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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U .8. bishops readying for Rome summit
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WASHINGTON (NC) - U.S. culture will be a key issue at the March meeting of U.S. bishops with Vatican officials and the pope, said several archbishops who will participate in the meeting. Culture affects "the way we have to evangelize, the way we have fo work in the United States," said Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. U.S. Catholics looking at the Vatican and Vatican officials looking at the church in the United States both have to realize that "the culture in which the church operates differs from country to country," said Archbishop Daniel Kucera of Dubuque. Iowa. The heads of Vatican congregations and 36 U.S. bishops will have an opportunity to explain to each other their concerns about the church in the United States during the March 8-11 meeting. It will begIn With an opemng address by Pope John Paul II and a response by Archbishop May. In a January letter to the bishops, the pope said the meeting's theme would be "Evangelization in the Context of the Culture and Society of the United States with Particular Emphasis on the Role of the Bishop as Teacher of the Faith." Some Vatican officials are unfamiliar with U.S. culture and its positive - as well as negative effects on the church, Archbishop May said in a telephone interview with National Catholic News Service. "The pope is better informed than many of the people in the [Vatican] congregations because he has traveled more," Archbishop May said. The meeting, which the pope has described as a "summit," will give Vatican officials an opportunity to discuss concerns face to face with U.S. churchmen, "not just read letters and reports," Archbishop May said. The discussion topics - bishops as teachers, priests as evangelizers, relations with Religious, the role of the laity; education, vocations, family life, sacraments, ecumenism and the unchurched - are not new areas of Vatican-U.S. church discussions, the archbishop said. But following Pope John Paul's 1987 U.S. visit and the 1988 "ad limina" trips, which brought every U.S. bishop to Rome to report on the status of his diocese, the meeting is an opportunity "to pull all those things together," Archbishop May said. The meeting, and the more than 12 hours scheduled for open discussion, "will result in a better bonding of the leadership" of the church, Archbishop Kucera said in another interview. "It is not so much an opportunity to talk about problems, but to get to know each
To focus on tensions between society, countercultural church message other persollally ... tightening the bonds that constitute collegiality." Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, vice president of the NCCB, said "I don't perceive that 'we are in any way being called to Rome to get chewed out," he said. "We will share thoughts" on evangelitation, which is "the cornerstone of the church's mission." The NCCB leaders have said that relations with Vatican officials have improved greatly since
the summit meeting was first suggested in 1986 after Vatican actions in the cases of Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle and of Father Charles E. Curran, a moral theologian at The Catholic University of America in Washington. Archbishop Hunthausenand the heads of 33 other archdioceses will attend the meeting, as will Bishop William H. Keeler of Harrisburg, Pa., secretary of the bishops' conference.
"We have a very positive climate" in Vatican-U.S. church relations, said Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco. He and Cardinal Edouard Gagnon, president of, the Pontifical Council for the Family, will give the meeting's formal presentations on the family, including a discussion on the indissolubility of marriage and how marriage cases are handled in diocesan tribunals, "I will no doubt try to layout some of the stresses on the family
BISHOP GERRY reaches out to a well-wisher following his installation Feb. 21 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Portland, Maine. (NCj UPI photo)
Bishop Joseph Gerry installed in Maine Law of Boston. Archbishop Pio knesses, to be his holy people," the PORTLAND, Maine (NC) Issuing a call for Catholics in his Laghi, apQstolic pronuncio to the bishop said. diocese to live a life of holiness and United States, also attended. "To each of us that call says provide for those in need, Bishop Bishop Daniel A. Cronin was simply: in the times and circumJoseph J. Gerry was installed as among bishops at the liturgy. stances which are personal to you, bishop of Po'rtland during a Feb. Bishop Gerry thanked his brother . live out in very practical ways the Benedictines "who have nourished, 21 liturgy at Immaculate Conceplove with which God has enriched strengthened and affirmed me in tion Cathedral. you." my love for God, his church and "I invite you to reflect on the calling which is yours in the Lord," his world since my first arrival in The life of holiness inCludes an he said. "God has called each of their midst just prior to my 17th obligation to imitate Jesus by being you to be a member of his people, birthday." merciful and forgiving, he said. The call to holiness is not as "We too can extend the helping a people which is holy, a people , - "abstract or impractical" as it may hand of protection and support to which is God's very own." Bishop Gerry, 60, who succeeds seem, Bishop Gerry said. Nor is an all who stal).d in need of life itself retired Bishop Edward C. O'Leary, exemption given "for busy men or of life's necessities whether of was auxiliary bishop of Manches- ,and women engaged in the ordi- body, mind or s~irit. nary tasks of everyday life." ter, N.H., for the past two years. "We too can show the kindness, "God, our loving Father, has Before his appointment as a bishop, he served as abbot of St. Anselm called each of us, regardless of our the openness, the large-heartedness place or position in life, irrespec- of Jesus who said: 'Come to me all Abbey in Manchester for 14 years. tive of our daily tasks, without you who labor and are heavy laden Portland's new bishop was inconcern for our strengths or wea- and I wiIl give you rest. '" stalled by Cardinal Bernard F.
in the United States and how the church is responding to those stresses," Archbishop Quinn said. The modern stresses include "drugs, poverty, illiteracy, homelessness - an increasing phenomenon for families," he said. In addition, "there is the powerful impact of the media in this culture, which in many respects is hostile to the church's teaching. "This culture is increasingly antifamily," the archbishop said. "It glorifies divorce, promiscuity, abortion." By strengthening families with the values of the Catholic faith, he said, the chu'rch can strengthen U.S. culture. Archbishop Kucera, who wiIl give a presentation on liturgy and sacraments, said the focus of his talk will be "to indicate that the liturgical life of the church in the United States is a very good witness to its vitality." For example, he said, "we have one of the highest rates of Mass attendance in the Western world," there is a high rate of reception of the Eucharist, and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is thriving, bringing in thousands of adult converts each year at Easter. A haIl mark of U.S. culture is participation, he said. That shows' up in the numbers of lay people involved in liturgy by lectoring, singing, being extraordinary min-' isters of the Eucharist, and performi'ng other tasks open to them. The sustained drop in the number of people receiving the sacrament of reconciliation also wiIl be a topic in Archbishop Kucera's presentation, he said. The low confession rate is "a worldwide problem," the 'archbishop said, and it shows a definite need for "better education on the use of all sacraments." The culture also contributes to the problem, he said. In the United States, there is a widespread belief that "sin is a rare thing," therefore people think they do not need the sacrament. Archbishop Pilarczyk; who will give a presentation on seminaries and' vocations, said his talk wiIl include the declining seminary enrollment, the closing of seminaries . and the decline in vocations to the pr!esthood and religious life. On the up side, thoilgh, the U.S. church has seen the number of lay people in paid and volunteer ministries "vastly incr,ease." With the exception of having sacraments available, he said, "maybe, all things considered, people are better ministered to now." . Just a generation ago, the priest was considered "the minister. "The "participatroy proclivity" of people in the United States has changed that. "They want a greater hand in serving." At the upcoming meeting, "I Turn to Page Six