austraLasia 1215
'Off the cuff' Papal remarks mirror EAO Team Visit conclusions
INTROD: 29 July 2005 -- Introd is not short for introduction; it happens to be the village closest to where Pope Benedict is relaxing in the Val D'Aosta, at the Salesian holiday cottage. On 25th July the Pope made some off the cuff comments about culture and life in the West and East today. The comments mirror the Rector Major's conclusions at the end of the Team Visit in Thailand earlier this year, so may be of interest to readers. L'Osservatore Romano reported them but perhaps, as it was no major speech, it won't go beyond that unless austraLasia comes to the rescue!
The Pope commented to a handful of people, some priests included, that 'it seems the world has no need of us, that everything we do is uselss' and he said that he had no simple solution to this, that he suffered along with those who felt this way. He puts it down to a Western mentality 'which is tired of its own culture' and contrasts that with a certain 'enthusiasm of faith' in the East, and in Africa.
In the West 'in a climate of rationalism closed in on itself, which considers the pattern of science the only pattern of knowledge, all the rest is subjective. Even...Christian life becomes a subjective choice'. From his experience thus far of ad limina visits by Asian and African Bishops, he says he senses another dynamic at work, where there are strong traditional religions, 'at a given time of their history, namely at a time when traditional religions...reveal their insufficiency', These traditional religions, he says, 'carry in themselves a promise but expect something'. And at a time when their culture reaches out to a new hour in history, 'two offers - Christianity and Islam - are history's possible answers'. Interesting!
It is particularly what the Pope says next that most mirrors our own Rector Major's comments. He asks priests, for example, to 'deepen [their] personal relationship with the Lord...' because 'through this personalization...new vocations grow'. He also recommends more community life (he is speaking to priests at this point): 'If young men see priests isolated, sad, tired, they say: if that is my future, forget about it.' He then says that communion of life must be really created to show the young 'yes, this can be a future for me too, this can be life'.
And in a comment that could have come from the commentary on the 2005 Strenna, the Pope says: 'It is important that young people can discover the beauty of faith...that it is beautiful to have God as a friend...this intellectual factor must then be accompanied by an affective and social factor, that is by socialization in faith...so that faith forms community, offers places of life, convinces...'.
____________________
'Off the cuff' Papal remarks mirror EAO Team Visit conclusions
INTROD: 29 July 2005 -- Introd is not short for introduction; it happens to be the village closest to where Pope Benedict is relaxing in the Val D'Aosta, at the Salesian holiday cottage. On 25th July the Pope made some off the cuff comments about culture and life in the West and East today. The comments mirror the Rector Major's conclusions at the end of the Team Visit in Thailand earlier this year, so may be of interest to readers. L'Osservatore Romano reported them but perhaps, as it was no major speech, it won't go beyond that unless austraLasia comes to the rescue!
The Pope commented to a handful of people, some priests included, that 'it seems the world has no need of us, that everything we do is uselss' and he said that he had no simple solution to this, that he suffered along with those who felt this way. He puts it down to a Western mentality 'which is tired of its own culture' and contrasts that with a certain 'enthusiasm of faith' in the East, and in Africa.
In the West 'in a climate of rationalism closed in on itself, which considers the pattern of science the only pattern of knowledge, all the rest is subjective. Even...Christian life becomes a subjective choice'. From his experience thus far of ad limina visits by Asian and African Bishops, he says he senses another dynamic at work, where there are strong traditional religions, 'at a given time of their history, namely at a time when traditional religions...reveal their insufficiency', These traditional religions, he says, 'carry in themselves a promise but expect something'. And at a time when their culture reaches out to a new hour in history, 'two offers - Christianity and Islam - are history's possible answers'. Interesting!
It is particularly what the Pope says next that most mirrors our own Rector Major's comments. He asks priests, for example, to 'deepen [their] personal relationship with the Lord...' because 'through this personalization...new vocations grow'. He also recommends more community life (he is speaking to priests at this point): 'If young men see priests isolated, sad, tired, they say: if that is my future, forget about it.' He then says that communion of life must be really created to show the young 'yes, this can be a future for me too, this can be life'.
And in a comment that could have come from the commentary on the 2005 Strenna, the Pope says: 'It is important that young people can discover the beauty of faith...that it is beautiful to have God as a friend...this intellectual factor must then be accompanied by an affective and social factor, that is by socialization in faith...so that faith forms community, offers places of life, convinces...'.
____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
