Saturday, June 29, 2013

Palliums For Archbishops With Warnings And Calls For Collegiality

Interesting hand shake.  No ring kissing for AB Cordileone.  At least everyone is smiling.

 

Today in Rome certain archbishops and bishops were given the pallium, a lambswool stole symbolic of their postion as shepherds of their flock. What interests me about this particular ceremony is Pope Francis used it to discuss increasing the Vatican II concepts of collegiality and synodality in harmony with the Petrine Office. I wrote previously that if Pope Francis accomplished nothing more than increasing the input of National Churches and bishops he would have accomplished a great service. To stress these very points at this particular service brings joy to my heart. That Francis continues to stress simplicity, humility, listening, living as Christ, the Church is a poor church for the poor, and pounding on careerism in the hierarchy is balm for my soul. The following is the full article on today's service from Andrea Tornielli at Vatican Insider.

Francis: "We need to grow in collegiality"

Andrea Tornielli - Vatican Insider - 6/29/2013
On the Feast of Sts Peter and Paul Pope Francis imposed the pallium – the white woollen stole that symbolises the special tie with the Bishop of Rome – on 34 new archbishops from across the world, including Mario Aurelio Poli, Jorge Bergoglio’s successor as leader of the Buenos Aires diocese.

In his brief homily, the Pope reflected on a passage in the Gospel where Peter scolds Jesus for talking about his passion. But Jesus responds firmly, warning him not to think in “worldly terms”: “Get behind me, Satan!” He went on to explain that confirming brothers and sisters in the faith is  Peter’s task and that of his successors. This is something that started with him but it “is founded upon his [Peter’s] confession of faith in Jesus” and “is made possible by a grace granted from on high.”(I certainly hope Sal Cordileone got this particular message about the Satan thing.)


Peter’s “readiness to lay himself open, personally, to be consumed for the sake of the Gospel, to make himself all things to all people, unstintingly, that gives him credibility and builds up the Church,” Francis said. But this is true not only for the Pope but for every shepherd: The Bishop of Rome, but also all of you, bishops and archbishops are called to live and to confirm his brothers and sisters in this love for Christ and for all others, without distinction, limits or barriers. After speaking about being servants of unity and explaining that “communion” in the Church “does not mean uniformity” because the Catholic way is that of unity through difference, he discussed collegiality, mentioning the Second Vatican Council.(I hope you were squirming when you heard this, Sal.)

“We need to develop the Synod of Bishops in harmony with the primacy and grow in synodality, in harmony with the primacy,” Pope Francis said. His words pointed to possible reforms in the structure of the Synod of Bishops and how it operates, in the spirit of collegiality. Today’s ceremony was attended by the delegation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople headed by Metropolitan Joannia Zizioulas who represented Bartholomew. During the liturgy, hymns were sung in the Sistine Chapel and by the Lutheran Choir of the Thomaskirche of Leipzig, Bach’s own church.  (A Lutheran choir during a pallium ceremony?  Oh my, good thing SSPX left the fold a few days earlier. This is a horrible example of secularist ecumenism.)

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I will admit that I am still waiting for concrete action on all the corruption stuff, that is beyond kitchen cabinets and special investigative bodies, but the more I hear Pope Francis speak about collegiality and broadening the scope of synods and kicking clerical butts about careerism the more I think my initial excitement might have some basis in more than my own wishful thinking.  Wow, that would be something really novel when I gloomily meditate on the fact that over half my life has passed by with all these key Vatican II concepts shelved or used for door mats.

On a personal note, for the first time in well over two years, I will be taking some vacation time.  It will begin on the 4th of July and carry on for three weeks or so.  I can use it to say the least.  Since my daughter will be coming to visit me, I will not be going on the road and so will have more time to piddle around with my blog.  The lack of posting in the last three or four months has had a lot to do with just flat running out of gas.  I'm hoping I'll get recharged and return to a more frequent schedule of posting.  The more I hear from Francis the more recharged I seem to be getting, and too many times that is in spite of my cynicism.  Perhaps it's a little breeze from the Holy Spirit or whatever.   

7 comments:

  1. Your blog has been a very good one and I am grateful that you have been able to give it so much of your time. It is important that people are able to get together and discuss what we see as truth. As a young adult, I would have never suspected the hypocrisies that we have had to point out here. We would be less than Christian, less than spiritual, if we did not and do not continue to ask for change in the minds and souls of those who would lead us. It would not be following the way of Christ to obey leadership that has led society far from the mind and whispers of a Spirit that speaks to us all.

    So thank you Colleen for all of your good work!

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  2. Thanks Dennis. I agree with you. As a young adult I had no clue, or maybe it was more a case of being unable to let my self see what was in front of my nose. I strongly believe we have a duty to call for change when the existing status quo is a stumbling block to further evolution for individuals, cultures, and humanity in general. This is especially true when the leaders maintaining the status quo seem to be doing it for their own benefit. Religions of all kinds lead the way in blocking forward movement for mankind. That does not seem to me to have been Jesus' mission. It does seem to be the exact opposite.

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  3. Colleen, have a good break. It's richly deserved, though you'll also be sorely missed!

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  4. I will miss your input. I think you are wise to go and spend time feeding and nurturing yourself. There are times when my prayer is "Send me somewhere else, please." So far the answer has been to stay; I don't know why.



    I hope this time is rich and fruitful for you and you will soon be back to help those of us for whom the online community is the only one we have. We appreciate your sharing of your insights so much.

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  5. Actually I need the time off from work. It's running out of gas concerning work that began to affect my output on the blog. It was just one of those things that I couldn't get any real time off for more than two and a half years. I suspect during my vacation I will be posting more than usual because it clears my headache from work. :)

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  6. I intend to be sorely missed at work, but not on the blog. I'll probably be posting more on the blog.

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  7. Oooops! Looking forward to your postings but enjoy your time too.

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