Service, Service – not Power!
The SM Hierarchy misses the point of the Papal Letter
Once again, we hear rumours and disinformation about the SM Church and the SM laity; and so, Delhi’s Laity4Unity hastens to bring you the facts and to put your mind at ease. [For your better understanding, we have taken the liberty of putting some words into bold type.]
One or more media, apparently on the basis of a webcast by Cardinal Allenchery,
reported recently that the Pope had "authorized [the Eastern Churches] to have Pastoral Powers across India". The headline and the by-line of one such report (UCAN) were, respectively:
"Eastern rite rejoices in Right to administer across India"; and
"Pope gives Syro-Malabar Church Powers to evangelize outside its base in southern India".
To put it very simply and without equivocation, this is a self-serving spin on what the “Letter of the Holy Father Pope Francis to the Bishops of India” (“Papal Letter”) dated 9 October 2017 says. The substance of the Papal Letter is this:
(a) “in a world where large numbers of Christians are forced to migrate, overlapping jurisdictions have become customary … for ensuring the pastoral care (Sec. 5);
(b) the pastoral area of the SM church has been extended;
(c) the purpose of such "ecclesiastical circumscription" (such as overlapping jurisdictions) is to enable the SM Church to "provide pastoral care for its faithful throughout the territory of India".
(d) the faithful should protect and preserve the diversity of traditions "while at the same time assuring that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it (Lumen Gentium, 13)."
(e) “the Church’s life should not be disrupted by such a provision. Indeed, it must not be negatively interpreted as imposing upon the faithful a requirement to leave the communities which have welcomed them, sometimes for many generations, and to which they have contributed in various ways.”
In addition, the Pastoral Letter uses the word "power" only once - in Section 9 - and that too in a disapproving sense: "May this extension of the pastoral area of the Syro-Malabar Church in no way be perceived as a growth in power and domination, but as a call to deeper communion, which should never be perceived as uniformity"...
Driving in the point even more significantly, at the end of Section 8 of the Papal letter, the Holy Father makes a clear and pointed reference to the “Instruction” issued by the Holy See on 28 January 2016 to the Bishops of Delhi.
This “Instruction” (the term can mean both "Teaching" and "Order") was a direct response to the Petition, "Is Christ Divided?", sent to the Holy Father in May 2014 by a group of ten SM laypersons (Laity4Unity) from New Delhi, representing - and morally and financially supported by – hundreds of lay people who had settled for decades in Delhi.
The Papal Letter reiterates the two substantial points of that Instruction: "No dispensation is required from the law currently in force for the faithful to practice their faith serenely." What is the significance of this sentence and this “Instruction” for the thousands of lay SM Catholics who have been participating fully (sometimes over three or four generations) in the life of their Latin parishes?
First, no Indult (which means "dispensation" or “exception” to an existing Church law) needs to be sought by the SM faithful in Latin parishes at all, because the issue is “within the framework of existing law”. As the Pope explicitly states, "a member of the Syro-Malabar parish where he or she is domiciled ... can remain fully involved in the life and activities of the parish of the Latin Church."
Second, these people should be able to practice their faith "serenely”.
As a matter of fact, the cited Instruction in response to the Delhi Petition, spells things out much more elaborately and in no uncertain manner. We had earlier published the full text of the Instruction. We attach it again, so you can judge for yourself (All bold fonts inserted by us):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Para 1: ... The situation can be happily managed, even within the framework of existing law, if all concerned act with mutual understanding and respect.
Para 3: Some faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church ... do not wish to pass over the Latin Church: this is MOST UNDERSTANDABLE AND EVEN PRAISEWORTHY... Such persons may exercise their RIGHT to participate in the liturgical functions of ANY church sui iuris.
Para 4: Both the pastors are called to understand the delicate situation of such persons and to facilitate the tranquil and serene prosecution of their life of faith.
Para 5: Such inner-ecclesial collaboration should take place with respect, solicitude and promptitude, having the spiritual good of the faithful as the final goal.
Para 6: In sum, the faithful ascribed to the SM church residing in the territory of the Eparchy of Faridabad are subject to the Eparchial Bishop of that ecclesial Circumscription, even if, in practice, they frequent Latin parishes. Nonetheless, let them rest assured that their situation is understandable and their motivations respected. All should take care so that these persons do not feel excluded from full involvement in the Latin parish OR SLIGHTED BY THE SM PARISH.
Para 7: This Congregation, ... observing the current canonical norms, confident of the pastoral solicitude of the Pastors, both the Latin and Syro-Malabar, considers it neither necessary nor opportune to grant particular Indults of a general character.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Promptly on receipt of the above “Instruction”, the Archbishop of Delhi complied, issuing Pastoral instructions to all the Parish Priests in the Archdiocese on how to implement it for Matrimony and other sacraments.]
Further, although issued in response to the Delhi Petition, this “Instruction” lays down principles, whose application and implications are clearly universal.
First, in such cases, no "Indult" (i.e. exception or dispensation) is required because what the SM Catholics are asking for is "within the framework of existing law".
Second, every SM Catholic has a right to participate in the liturgical functions of any church sui iuris.
Third, the SM Catholic’s desire to continue participating in the Latin parish (Church) and not pass it over (or be forced to pass it over) for the SM Church is "most understandable and even praiseworthy".
But the Instruction goes further. Besides clearly laying down what is to be done, the Instruction unequivocally and explicitly lays down how it is to be done. Thus, pastors on both sides are enjoined to show "respect, solicitude and promptitude" as they "facilitate the tranquil and serene prosecution" of the people's "life of faith". Clearly, this “how” again is of universal application.
So, no more harassment or humiliation; no more refusal of NOCs between Rites, no bureaucratic hurdles or subtle delays, no unreasonable or burdensome financial demands, and so on. In fact, for the sacrament of marriage, any SM candidate now has merely to apply to his or her local Parish Priest - even if it is a Latin parish - as any Latin parishioner would do. It is then the duty of this Parish Priest - on his own - to obtain the NOC from the local SM Eparchy. It doesn’t matter if the groom is in a Latin parish and the bride is in a SM parish, or vice versa. It doesn’t matter if one is in Kerala and the other somewhere else in the universe. [If someone outside Delhi wants to know how to implement this, take the Delhi Archdiocese Pastoral instructions as a guide.]
As a member of Laity4Unity sums it up: "The very fact that, in conceding the seemingly justifiable demand of the SM, the Holy See has made a proper reference to the Instruction, clearly citing the number and date, is a message to the SM hierarchy that they have to show great sensitivity (‘respect, solicitude and promptitude’) when extending pastoral care to people like us across the world.”
Every SM Catholic - whether in India or the UK or Europe or the US or Canada or Australia or New Zealand or anywhere else - needs to read and understand the “Papal Letter” and the “Instruction” carefully. The Holy Father and the Church have already laid down the principle. But the laity too has a responsibility, because now it is for similarly placed people to invoke the Instruction as and when the situation so demands.
The Papal Letter uses the term “pastoral care” six times, “unity” five times and “communion” five times. It uses the term “power” only once and that too with disapproval. It also explicitly states that the exercise of any authority must be in accordance with the cited “Instruction” of January 2016.
It is tragic and deplorable, if predictable, that the Papal Letter "extending the pastoral area" of the SM Church is perceived and presented by the SM hierarchy primarily as an "extension of power”.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Laity for Unity
No comments:
Post a Comment