Chris
McDonnell, UKchristymac733@gmail.com
Chris
McDonnell, UK
christymac733@gmail.com
Previous articles by Chris Comments welcome here
November 1, 2017
A self-help Christian Community?
The prophet Isaiah spoke of ‘a
voice crying out in the wilderness’, of ‘preparing the way of
the Lord’. In so many ways we are in a wilderness again, a time of
radical change and uncertainty, a time of confusion and doubt. One option
when faced with significant problems is to go back and seek the security
of what used to be, the cosiness and comfort of home of recent memory. But that course of action ignores the
words of Isaiah. How can you prepare the way of the Lord by your concern
for your own comfort? There are indeed voices in our own time
that cry in this wilderness that we inhabit, lonely voices that seek to
point a direction that we do not listen to, do not hear. They ask the
uncomfortable questions, the ‘why nots’ that many would prefer to
ignore. Faced with a severe shortage of priests,
the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, has shown his
willingness to be such a voice. Speaking at the Diocesan council’s
plenary assembly on March 18th, 2017 the cardinal said the Archdiocese of
Munich would introduce a pilot project in this autumn with new models of
parish leadership. Specifically, he said, full-time and voluntary lay
personnel would take over parishes. He premised his argument on the basis
that parish amalgamations were not an option. The ever-increasing size of
such clusters diminished the local church presence within the community.
It is the model that here in the UK has often been the path chosen by our
bishops. The heart of the matter lies in our
present view of the nature of priesthood, the assumption that a Christian
community cannot exist without a priest. Time and again in Third World
countries where there is conflict and persecution, we read that it is the
community catechists who are attacked, those laity who lead and teach
their local people in the absence of a priest. They have been vital for
the survival of the Church in difficult times. And many, if not most, are
women. Given the centrality of the Eucharist to our faith, could not some
of these proven people, celebrate with the community? Our model in the West has been for men
to experience six years of seminary training (or more if we include the
discredited Junior seminaries) and then be placed by the bishop in a
particular parish, about which they knew little or nothing. The idea of a
person being called from their community, to serve their community has
lost credibility. It is this concept that we ought to explore. That is why
the first tentative steps in formation for pastoral leaders in parishes
rather than the closure of parishes or the creation of ever-increasing
numerical entities is a courageous and welcome initiative. Another bishop whose voice is being
recognised on the same issue is the retired South African bishop, Fritz
Lobinger. He writes of visiting the community of Mmusong, high in the
mountains of South Africa, where trained catechists and elders sustain the
faith of the people. They would only receive a visit from an ordained
priest two or three times a year. "Each
time I went home with the same painful question in my heart: "Why can
I give only a blessing to those leaders? Why can I not ordain some of
them? When will the day come when I can ordain the proven leaders of our
communities?" If we persist in seeking a priesthood with an
academic background of seminary training, we will never fulfil the needs
of real people in real places. The model in the Early Church was
different. Lobinger goes on to say: "I equally know that the early
church indeed did ordain local leaders who were married, had received
brief local training, were chosen by the local community, and had proven
their worthiness over some time". ‘Faith’ is not found in
three years of philosophy, but rather in the shared practice of day to day
living, the recognition of goodness and the acknowledgement of the
teacher. Cardinal Marx has
acknowledged that the Church needs many different and yet well-networked
locations for its pastoral work. It was imperative for church life to stay
alive locally so that people would continue to encounter the Gospel
message. And he underlined that since the Eucharist remained the
source and summit of the Church’s life and activities, it must always
take centre stage. No one solution will solve all of our
problems but we will solve none of them unless we consider options that
may at first seem uncomfortable. The first Christians set out with the
witness of apostles and elders who led the way. It was an uncluttered life
of faith and conviction. Let’s listen to the voices that cry now in our
wilderness for they have a story to tell. END
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