Parish Mbrose St.A

St. mbrose January 5, 2020 AParish BEEHIVE Pope Francis: Do Not Fear Change During the traditional exchange of Christmas greet- is, then everything must change’”. (From “The Leopard”, by ings, Pope Francis addresses the Roman Curia about the trans- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa) formations taking place in the Vatican structures. He stresses the needs and aims of the new dicasteries, and says the Curia Between novelty and memory is changing in order to overcome inflexibility and fear, and to The Pope then turned his attention to the reform of better announce the Gospel to a de-Christianized world. the Roman Curia, which “never presumed to act as though nothing had existed before”, but, on the contrary, intended “to In a changing world, the Roman Curia does not enhance all the good that has been done in the complex his- change for the sake of changing, in order to “follow fashions,” tory of the Curia”. began the Pope. The Church lives development and growth “It is our duty to appreciate history in order to build a from God’s perspective. Even the Bible is “a journey marked future that has solid foundations, that has roots and therefore by starting and starting again”. One of our most recent saints, can be fruitful. Appealing to memory does not mean anchor- Cardinal Newman, speaking of “change”, really meant “con- ing oneself in self-preservation, but recalling the life and vi- version”, he said. tality of a path in continuous development. Memory is not static, it is dynamic. By its very nature it implies movement.” Challenge and inertia Change in order to proclaim Pope Francis was addressing his closest collaborators Pope Francis went on to review several changes al- of the Roman Curia in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican for ready made with the Roman Curia, like the creation of the the exchange of Christmas greetings. In his discourse, he told Third Section of the Secretariat of State (the Section for them we are not just living in “a time of changes, but in a the Diplomatic Staff of the Holy See) in 2017. He recalled change of times”. It is healthy, he said, to allow ourselves “to changes in relations between the Roman Curia and particular be questioned by the challenges of the present time”, with dis- Churches, and in the “structure of some dicasteries, includ- cernment and courage, rather than to let ourselves be seduced ing the one for Eastern Churches, and others for ecumenical by the comfortable inertia that comes with leaving everything and interreligious dialogue, in particular with Judaism”. Pope as it is: Francis said his predecessors, Saint John Paul II and Pope “It often happens that we experience change simply Benedict XVI, had already noted how our world is no longer by putting on new clothes, and then we stay the way we were conscious of the Gospel, as it once was. This required the re- before. I remember the enigmatic expression we read in a fa- structuring of historical Vatican departments or suggested the mous Italian novel: ‘If we want everything to remain as it creation of new ones, he said. Continued on page 2 JANUARY 5, 2020 - THE BEEHIVE Pope Francis: Do Not Fear Change Love conquers weariness Continued from page 1 Among the “great challenges” and “necessary bal- The Pope referred to the Congregation for the Doc- ances”, what matters is that the Church and the Roman Curia, trine of the Faith, and to the Congregation for the Evangeliza- first and foremost, considers all humanity as “children of one tion of Peoples, saying they were established at a time “when Father”. Pope Francis said he is aware of the difficulty in it was easier to distinguish between two fairly defined sides: facing such great changes, and the need to take things gradu- a Christian world on one hand and a world yet to be evange- ally: we cannot ignore the effects of “human error”, he said. lized on the other”. “Linked to this difficult historical process, there is always the “Now this situation no longer exists. The people who temptation to turn back to the past (even using new formula- have not yet heard the proclamation of the Gospel no longer tions), because it is more reassuring, familiar, and certainly live on non-Western continents only: they live everywhere, less confrontational”, he said. especially in the enormous urban concentrations that them- “Here we must beware of being tempted to assume selves require specific pastoral care. In large cities, we need a position of rigidity. The rigidity that comes from fear of other ‘maps’, other paradigms, to help us reposition our ways change, and ends up disseminating limitations and obstacles of thinking and our attitudes: we are not in Christian times, on the terrain of the common good, turning it into a minefield not anymore!” of incomprehension and hatred. Let us always remember that behind all rigidity lies some imbalance. Rigidity and imbal- The Gospel and digital culture ance feed each other in a vicious circle.” The impetus for a renewed proclamation of the Gos- The Pope left the last word to the late Milanese Car- pel was what inspired the restructuring of the Vatican de- dinal Carlo Maria Martini who, before he died, said: “The partments, continued the Pope. In Evangelii gaudium, Pope Church is two hundred years behind the times. Why doesn’t Francis already indicates how attitudes, style, timetables, and it shake itself up? Are we afraid? Fear instead of courage? languages need to be transformed into “a suitable channel for Yet, faith is the foundation of the Church. Faith, trust, cour- the evangelization of the world today, rather than for self- age. [...] Only love overcomes weariness.” preservation.” The creation of the Dicastery for Communica- By Alessandro De Carolis, head of Vatican Radio News. tion, a reality that brings together nine previously separate Posted on December 21, 2019 on www.vaticannews.va. entities of the Vatican media, responds to this need, said the Pope. The new dicastery is not merely a “coordination of Compassion in the New Year groups”, he said, but a of “harmonization” in order to “pro- January is traditionally the time for new beginnings, duce a better service offer” in a “highly digitized culture”. fresh starts. For the Christian steward, the grace of being “The new culture, marked by convergence and mul- given another day, or God willing, a whole new year, stirs timedia, needs an adequate response from the Apostolic See our deep gratitude. But it also calls us to ask what a “resolu- in the field of communication. Today, compared to diversi- tion” should really be. Our first resolve should always be to fied services, the multimedia model prevails, and this indi- involve ourselves more intimately in the life of Christ, and cates how to conceive, think about and implement them. All how better to do that than by embracing Christ’s call to be this implies, together with cultural change, an institutional compassionate? and personal conversion to move from working in watertight After all, Jesus himself instructed us, “Be compas- compartments - which in the best cases had some coordina- sionate as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36). tion - to working intrinsically connected, in synergy.” The word compassion, at its root, means “to suffer One structure, many services with.” This goes beyond merely writing a check, offering a prayer or sending a note. Suffering is not a popular notion in The case of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral our society and we strive to avoid it. But now we hear Christ Human Development is similar. The new Dicastery was cre- instructing us to “suffer with” the poor, the vulnerable, the ated to integrate the previously distinct work of the Pontifical powerless, the neglected, the weak. Councils for Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, and the Pastoral How can we possibly choose such a journey, this Care of Migrants and Health Care Workers, making it more challenge to be truly present to those who suffer? The Chris- coherent and unified. tian steward is committed to the Eucharistic life, and it is “The Church is called to remind everyone that it is through this life which Christ offers us that we gain the cour- not only a question of social or migratory issues but of human age and the will and even the need to follow him in his own beings, brothers and sisters who today are the symbol of all example of compassion. those who are discarded by the globalized society. It is called Compassion is the doorway to a more responsive to testify that for God no one is a ‘foreigner’ or ‘excluded’. It stewardship and a committed discipleship. Through our is called to awaken consciences dormant in their indifference deepening sense of compassion in 2020, may we resolve to to the reality of the Mediterranean Sea which has become a be the kind of Christian stewards who bring Christ’s presence cemetery for many, too many.” to a suffering world. JANUARY 5, 2020 - THE BEEHIVE - on the feast of the Epiphany. While The blessing of your home en- there are elaborate rituals for this, the courages you to dedicate your domes- All simplest and most effective is the one tic life to God and to others. Seeing that centers around the “chalking” of the symbols over our doors can help Things the main door of a house like this: to remind us, while passing in and out 20 + C + M + B + 20. on our daily routines, that our homes Considered The letters have two mean- and all those who dwell there belong ings.

Load more