A change of an era
In his prophetic message to the Roman Curia in 2019, Pope Francis said we are living: “not in an era of change, but in a change of era”. These words, pregnant with meaning, demand a response. Karl Rahner’s dictum that we should never assume everyone...
In his prophetic message to the Roman Curia in 2019, Pope Francis said we are living: “not in an era of change, but in a change of era”. These words, pregnant with meaning, demand a response.
Karl Rahner’s dictum that we should never assume everyone living at the same time belongs to the same generation, has never been truer, even for the Church.
Vatican II invited the Church for a process of change and to venture in uncharted territories to reach out to new generations. Fifty years on, we still struggle to move from a ministry of maintenance to renewal. Sometimes the impression is one of regression, not progression.
Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium was a similar call and a pastoral programme with a detailed road map for reform to venture into new directions and finding new ways to proclaim the Gospel.
The Church is a complex reality and requires different models to cater for diverse pastoral needs; however, a problem arises when mixed messages are given.
Jung says the energies we do not consciously access and direct will unconsciously reveal themselves. When new pastoral programmes are in line with the pope’s vision, yet praxis focusses on privileges and titles, which accentuate the separation of laity and clerics, people are confused.
As Tonino Bello once said, we are seemingly happier, at least from the outside, with “symbols of power rather than the power of symbols”.
What happened to the prophetic voices in the Church?
There seems to be little room for different voices to emerge. We have more and bigger echo-chambers where like-minded people end up seeking to buttress ailing models, rather than seek new responses for our times.
COVID-19 unmasked a Church that is apparently more preoccupied with ritual than with evangelisation.
During the pressing realities of these difficult times, little emphasis has been laid on proper formation and preparation for the Sacraments: youths now receive the sacrament of Confirmation as a rite of passage, which essentially concludes their involvement in the Church, instead of introducing them as adult Christians in the body of Christ.
In face of this, there is an urgent need to dream of a different future if we wish to remain relevant and not wither away.
If this is truly “a change of an era” as Pope Francis suggests, we have little time to spare in superfluous religiosity and we must invest all our energy to propose the Gospel as an inspiration and a way of life. We are called to be a Church in a journey towards a future rather than a nostalgic past. The call is to move from maintenance and restoration to renewal; from religiosity to an experience of faith.
Different points of view and polarities are helpful, and no one should pray for a homogenous Church, yet there is a vital need to read the present moment and respond more prophetically – and this calls for courage!
The words of Richard Bergmann on Church buildings may easily apply to Church ministry: “Using historical styles is a lie. Our concern must be to clothe the truth of faith in an honest modern dress. Better to go in front of God naked than in period costume.”
Fr Martin Cilia, member of the Missionary Society of St Paul