austraLasia 1289

Inside the Vatican - inside the Synod (3rd report): Week Two
our 'expert' FM reporter!

VATICAN CITY: 16th October 2005 -- "I must admit, as I write these few lines, to a certain emotional imbalance, created by my being present in a remarkable way at the celebration that Benedict XVI had with the children who made their first communion this year.  But let me get to that.
    This week has seen a change in direction, at least as far as the function of the Synod.  For the first few days the Synod Fathers, and then the invited guests (representatives of other Christian Churches and invited guests) continued to speak to the Instrumentum Laboris.  On Wednesday, Cardinal Angelo Scola presented his summary of the discussion (a speech for 1 hour and 45 mins, in Latin).  There is no need for me to offer any further comment on those days.  The discussions reflected much of the conflict that I reported last week.  There were courageous moments of witness, extremely incisive observations on the Eucharistic life of the Church, and some remarkable interventions that I simply could not believe: ban communion in the hand, restore the altar rail, have everyone kneel for communion, and so on.  Do not be alarmed.  These were minority positions, and will never win the day.  But, as I indicated last week … they generally come from elderly Cardinals (and some not so elderly … no names mentioned!).
    The most interesting sessions followed the speech of Cardinal Scola.  We broke into language groups to discuss the material emerging from the proceedings to that point, and began to formulating issues that we would like to propose to the Holy Father for his post-Synodal Exhortation.  I was the “expert” in a very fine group, chaired by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (Westminster) with Archbishop Ronald Wuerl (Pittsburgh) as secretary/reporter.  There were Bishops there from Ethiopia, Numibia, India, Burma, South Africa, PNG, Nigeria, etc.  We had two days in those sessions, and they were extremely rich.  Under the careful control of the Cardinal and the Archbishop, we formulated 14 proposals (Propositiones) that go forward to the next stage.
    In the meantime, another committee has been working on a “Message” from the Synod, to be sent out to the whole Church (and everyone else!).  Cardinal George Pell was on that committee, but it was chaired by a very capable French-Canadian, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, of Québec.  They produced a document, in French, that had to be voted on – section by section – today (Saturday).  I was given the French original yesterday, and had to have the translation ready by the early hours of this morning so that the Synod Fathers who only know English could vote on it.  I got there … 9 pages of single-spaced typing – printed at the Vatican Press, some time between 4am and 9am today.  These “messages” have their own literarische Gattung (Literary Form), but there are some good things in it.  I was particularly moved by the number on the issue of the divorced and re-married.  I am not supposed to let out any secrets, but it finishes like this: “We want to tell you that we are close to you in our prayer and in our pastoral concern: your suffering is also our suffering.  Together, let us ask the Lord to help us faithfully obey his commandment.”  Whether or not such an open-ended statement will see the light of day has not yet been decided!  This document is still being discussed and voted on in the general assembly.  Only time will tell … and it is not all as good as that!
    Late last night and today has been a busy time for this expert.  Not only do I get these jobs, but I somehow seem to attract them.  The various language groups have produced their proposals (Propositiones).  The next step was to sort these proposals into distinct areas.  Once that was done … finished between all day Saturday and a large part of Sunday night … we were in a situation to begin work on the redaction of unified proposals that take into account everything that the Synod Fathers have said.  Some we simply have to discard, and others are re-formulated into a single proposal that may have originally come from several groups (i.e. different languages, etc.!).  We are now at that stage, and we will continue that work tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday.  We have to have them all ready, in Latin and Italian, by 4am in the morning on Tuesday.  In this way, the Vatican Press (where I am living) will have them printed and on the desks of the Synod Fathers for discussion and an eventual vote by 9am Tuesday morning.  How that goes will be the report from next week!
    I will manage to get away for some of this!  Tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to the UPS for lunch (being picked up, as I do not have time to get there by public transport), and then I am giving a public lecture in the Centro Pro Unione, a gathering of young students and committed people, located near St John Lateran, on the theme “Eucharist: Memory and Sacrifice.”  I know what I want to say … but when I am going to write it – I am not too sure.  On Monday evening I hope to go to the Pisana, to meet the Regional, Fr Vaclav Klement, and on Tuesday I have been invited to the evening meal at my Alma Mater, the Pontifical Biblical Institute.  So … in between the events of the day, there are also some great blessings in being in Rome.
    And that takes me back to where I began.  I have known Joseph Ratzinger for 18 years.  During our work this afternoon, I was able to go onto the balcony of the Apostolic Palace, and watch him with more than 100,000 people in St Peter’s Square.  It was remarkable!  But what struck me, and I leave you with this, was that he is always the teacher.  The children asked: why is communion important? do I have to go on Sundays? my mother and father don’t go, why should I? do I have to go to confession before communion? what is the point of Eucharistic adoration?  If the language and the depth of what he said to those children today sticks … we should have a fine post-Synodal Exhortation – whatever we suggest in our Propositiones!
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