An unchanging message

The documents of the Diocesan Synod, which were produced for reflection and action by the Synodal Assembly, have now been published, bringing them to the attention of pastoral workers and the public.

Eight themes were identified as a result of the wide consultation carried out in the first phase of the synod. Eight documents, one on each theme, were drawn up by eight working groups. These were presented to the Diocesan Assembly for its approval and were rewritten in parts according to what the assembly had to say.

This process took about a year-and-a-half, until the assembly felt that the documents were ready for presentation to the Archbishop, which in fact took place during the Pentecost vigil this year. The Archbishop approved these documents on September 29, 2003.

The document Xandir tal-Kelma, referring to the proclamation of the Word, is a most important one in that its theme is the primary mission of the Church.

Every Christian, by virtue of baptism, has the fundamental responsibility of proclaiming the Good News and this indeed happens whenever members of the Christian community live out their lives in a spirit of faith, hope and charity.

However, there are also specific moments when the Church, through its structures and members, reaches out to the community of faith and beyond it to carry its unchanging message - Jesus Christ.

The message is always the same but its recipients change over the years and the ages. The first part of the original draft document contained a very good analysis of the economic and social changes that have been rapidly transforming Maltese society over the past few decades.

This very interesting and insightful analysis has now been reworked into the general introduction to all the synodal documents since it is basic to the understanding of the fabric of the society in which the Church in Malta finds itself.

Excessive consumerism, secularism and moral relativism influence our society; expectations have changed and traditional values are fast being replaced by new, sometimes unchristian, lifestyles.

Malta is now a pluralistic society and no longer one where almost everybody professed and practised the Catholic religion. There is fertile ground for re-evangelisation.

The new developments must be understood, accepted for what they are and studied in depth to see what can be learnt from them in order to reach out to the culture. This entails a constant dialogue with the culture from which all can profit.

These are some of the new challenges the Church in Malta is facing. As a plus point, many people still believe that the Church has something valid to say on every aspect of life.

However, it is important to realise that traditional methods may no longer mean anything in an increasingly sophisticated world. For instance, the traditional segmentation for pastoral purposes of the community needs rethinking and as much information as possible needs to be gathered to be able to make new, meaningful segmentations.

Because of the developments mentioned above, the Church now has to address itself to believing and practising Catholics, believing but non-practising ones, those who are emarginated for various reasons, those who practise other religions and systems of belief and those who do not subscribe to any religious belief.

Within these major categories, there are still other groupings which need to be segmented out. This is a very big task and needs well-thought-out communication strategies and optimal use of human, financial and other resources.

The synodal document does not pretend there are any easy answers. However, it does propose the setting up of an Institute for Pastoral Formation which could have far-reaching effects.

Such an institute would focus all the good efforts at spiritual formation at present being made by various Church entities, religious and groups, sometimes in a rather sporadic fashion, with reduplication of effort and waste of resources.

While respecting the beautiful diversity our Church is endowed with, it would seek to introduce some standardisation, at least enough for it to be able to assess best practices and hold them out for everybody involved, including the parishes.

It would also see to the proper formation of all pastoral workers, who need to become aware of, and use, the new tools of evangelisation. This could go some way towards tackling the issues of a deeper and more informed faith, of a faith that translates itself into every aspect of daily life, of knowledge of the Scriptures, of better homilies, of professional use of the media, to mention just a few.

The document considers the various moments that the Church uses to communicate with the faithful, including the Sacraments, Holy Mass, spiritual exercises, religious instruction in school and several others. It makes many suggestions about these as well as about other aspects of the Church's life, such as Church schools, works of mercy, the use of financial resources, and so on.

It would be difficult to do justice to this document in a short article; it is well worth reading and reflecting upon. In conclusion, the document will achieve its main aim when its central proposal of an Institute for Pastoral Formation is taken up and implemented.

Ms Calleja was chairman of the working group which prepared the document Proclamation of the Word for the Assembly of the Diocesan Synod