It is gratifying that L'Osservatore Romano published this article about the new ecclesial movements in time for the day dedicated to them during the Year of Faith. Mons. Clemens was the private secretary to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during most of his time as CDF Prefect, until 2002, when Clemens was named Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. (Because Clemens, perhaps by design, limited himself to the thoughts expressed by Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope, the OR editors need not have had to think twice about using the material!)
The article is excerpted from a lecture given by Mons. Clemens on May 16 to an international conference in Rome entitled "Springtime of the Church and the action of the Holy Spirit" organized by the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum, on the role of the ecclesial movements and new communities in the formation and promotion of the faith.
Ecclesial movements and new communities
in the thinking of Cardinal Ratzinger
'A gesture from the good Lord
that none of us planned or expected'
by Mons. Josef Clemens
Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Laity
Translated from the 5/17/13 issue of
On many occasions, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger recalled that in the mid-1940s he first got to know an ecclesial movement, the Neo-
catechumenal Way, through one of his pupils, then towards the end of the 1960s, Comunione e Liberazione and the Charismatic Renewal, and at the start of the 1970s, the Focolari.
The theologian cardinal proposed a definition of the concept of such 'movements' in a
lectio magistrali given in 1998 at the first world congress of ecclesial movements in Rome.
Starting with the Franciscan movement of the 12th century, he said:
"Movements are born for the most part with a charismatic leader, and configure themselves into concrete communities which by virtue of their origins, re-live the Gospel in its entirety, and without hesitations, they recognize in the Church their reason for being, without which they cannot subsist"
His statements in the interview-book
Rapporto sulla fede (The Ratzinger Report, 1985), widen the horizon traced above and constitute more of a phenomenological description than a true and proper definition:n:
What opens up hope at the level of the universal Church - and this is taking place at the heart of the crisis of the Church in the Western world - is the emergence of the new movements that no one had anticipated, but which sprung forth spontaneously from the interior vitality of the faith itself.
They manifest - even if quietly - something of a new Pentecost in the Church. In growing numbers, I have been getting to meet groups of young people in whom there is heartfelt adherence to the entire faith of the Church.
These are young people who want to live this faith in full and who carry in themselves a great missionary impulse. Yet all the intense life of faith present in these movements does not imply an escape into intimacy or a retreat into privacy but simply, a full and integral catholicity.
The joy of faith that they experience has something that is contagious. And spontaneously, there is a growth among them of new vocations to the priesthood and to religious life.
The cardinal's response to journalist Vittorio Messori must be seen in the context of his evaluation of the post-conciliar period. After noting the incomplete and unillateral interpretation of the Conciliar texts and discussing some of the less positive developments after Vatican II, Messori asks the cardinal if he could name some positive elements from that troubled time for the Church. The cardinal names the birth of the ecclesial movements as the first positive element at the level of the universalhurch.
For the theologian cardinal, movements are born from the interior power of the faith itself - they are true gifts of the Holy Spirit, signs of hope and elementa that were truly revivifying in the post-Conciliar period.
I would like to cite some of his statements that were full of enthusiasm about the movements.
"Look, all of a sudden, we have something no one had planned. We see how once more, the Holy Spirit had, so to speak, asked to be heard".
Or, "I find it wonderful that the Spirit is far stronger than our programs and calculations, far beyond what we could even imagine".
Or, "The gifts of the Spirit must be given - and they have been given".
It is clear that the pneumatic origin of ecclesial movements is the premise and foundation of his reflections. The question naturally arises why a person known to have such moderate and considered judgments should be so enthusiastic about such 'irruptions of the Spirit'.
The answer can be found in his dialog with bishops in 1999, when the cardinal spoke of two very negative experiences in the post-conciliar period, that he lived firsthand as a university professor in Muenster, Tuebingen and Regensburg, and then as Archbishop of Munich-Freising. Namely, the loss of enthusiasm and of an ecclesial profile in academic theology, and the growing bureaucratization of the Church in Germany.
He said: "Seeing these two dangers for the Church - a theology which was no longer the faith considered with reason, but the expression of faith from a position of limited reason, and bureaucratization which does not serve to open the doors to faith but closes it in on itself - at a time when these two factors had become all too evident, I truly welcomed the novelty of the mas a gesture of the good Lord. I saw that the Council was bearing fruit in them, that the Lord was present in his Church, in which all our efforts, though well-intentioned, were fruitless but had, on the contrary, become counter-productive.. The Lord found other doors and through them wide open for his presence among those whose only resources were faith and grace".
The cardinal has taken a stand on every occasion about the second element, that of bureaucratization. Some circles in the Church, especially in Germany, had expected ecclesial renewal through the empowerment of various ecclesial offices and a maximized pastoral projection. They over-estimated the pastoral usefulness of the numerous commissions and councils formed in dioceses and parishes, and had become blind to the failure of such initiatives. This is the context in which the cardinal insists on the necessary and continuing reform of such Church 'structures'.
Cardinal Ratzinger was firmly convinced that a theology that was conceived and taught as 'pure academic science' and the growing 'bureaucratization' of the Church were not favorable to the action of the Holy Spirit but instead erected barriers against it.
Any bureaucratic pastoral plan tends to produce a certain uniformity in the life of the Church, a uniformity which is then 'disturbed' by the variety of the movements, in which religiosity is expressed in different ways - 'focolari' (family-based) or neo-catechumenal, cursillo or C&L, just as there had been the Benedictine, Franciscan and Dominican movements. The richness of the faith allows all such movements to co-exist under the same roof, in the same 'con-dominium'.
And so, there ensued some conflicts between the movements and a certain ecclesial establishment which rejects such a variety of approaches as well as what it considers a 'simple' expression of the faith, and which therefore, put up resistances and obstacles, whether it was at the stage of the movement being inserted into the local Church or at the approval of their statutes.
But for Cardinal Ratzinger, diversity is a legitimate and necessary expression of the liveliness and catholicity of the Church.
The fruitful integration of the movements into the ecclesial fabric requires a clarity in the basic criteria for discerning their various experiences.
As the first essential criterion, Cardinal Ratzinger cites that they must be rooted in the faith of the Church. "Whoever does not recognize the apostolic faith cannot claim to undertake any apostolic activity".
The unity of faith also gives rise to a strong desire for unity, of staying within the living community of the Church, thus being in unity with the successors of the Apostles and the Successor of Peter. Consequently, the movements are obliged to integrate themselves into the life of the local and universal Church.
The second criterion is a desire for apostolic life. Of course, the three essential elements of apostolic life (poverty, chastity and obedience) cannot be applied uniformly to all the members of a movement (which will include consecrated persons and laymen), but constitute for all members an orientation for their personal lives.
But the desire for apostolic life also means the firm intention to serve. First, in announcing the Gospel, and necessarily linked to it, helping any neighbor in need.
"All this presupposes a profound encounter with Christ. Only when a person is struck and profoundly marked in his most intimate self by Christ, only then can he be reconciled in the Holy Spirit, only then can true communion grow".
This Christological-pneumatological and existential basis can then have various accentuations, in the variety of which the novelty of Christianity and the youthfulness of the Church is incessantly renewed by the Holy Spirit.
But the cardinal also warns against the major danger to ecclesial movements which lies in being unilateral and exclusive, which comes in turn from their absolutization of their special charism, which amounts to one part claiming to be 'the whole'.This also gives rise to conflict with the local Church, in which both sides are at fault.
Cardinal Ratzinger, speaking with Messori, laid emphasis on the young people who adhere 'unconditionally; to the Catholic faith and who say they want to live this faith in its fullness. A full and integral catholicity which leads to a contagious joy, one that inspires not a few vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Unlike the 'tired' Catholicism of those who doubt their very faith, the members and friends of the ecclesial movements have a fresh and enthusiastic faith, which is most visible in the World Youth Day celebrations instituted by John Paul II in 1984.
About a year after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, Joseph Ratzinger, then professor of dogma and the history of dogma in Tuebingen, wrote an essay on the conciliar statements regarding mission outside of the traditional
missio ad gentes.
Commenting on the decree regarding lay apostolate, he stressed the need for a renewed awareness of the dynamic and missionary character of being Christian: "To be Christian means in itself that the Christian must go out of himself, exert himself beyond his own person, and is therefore marked by a missionary impulse that he must express - by every believer and at all times - in external acts that express the most profound nature of Christianity".
One of the great hopes that Professor Ratzinger linked to his own experience of the Council - in which he took part from the start, when he was 35, as a theological consultant - was the rediscovery of the missionary dimension of being Christian.
The open welcome by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising towards all the new movements and his subsequent favorable evaluation of the movements when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may be explained in this specific perspective.
Since many of our contemporaries are no longer 'reached' by the Word of God, there is more than ever an urgent need for men and women who live the integral Christian faith in an integral manner.
The 'explosion of secularism and mass apostasy' in some European countries could well push Christians to a different 'movement', namely, to retreat into closed circles. But the Christian must never forget that he has been given a universal mission "in which the Creator God is at stake, the God of all, and if by grace, we have come to hear his voice, his revelation, then we have the responsibility to make this message resound around the world".
That is why there is urgent need for a strong awareness - and corresponding action - that the Gospel may reach all men. Thanks to their missionary impulse, the movements have been of great help to the whole Church in facing the challenge of secularity.
That is why Cardinal Ratzinger welcomed with enthusiasm the 'counter-current' strength of the movements as 'a gesture from the good Lord who found other doors and threw them open for his presence among those whose only resources are faith and grace".
Among the objections against the movements is that they are said to be blind or passive to the great social challenges of our time - namely, that the movements have been too self-referential and predominantly 'spiritual'.
The answer is that for the true Christian, there is no conflict between spiritual growth and social commitment. And it is also true that our commitment to others must be based on a stable foundation.
And so, Cardinal Ratzinger underscored that "Pure action cannot survive without a doctrinal foundation, and once it no longer springs from faith, it will find other foundations".
Helping the poor and efforts to build a just society, along with peaceful coexistence among all nations, have their measure and continuing reference point in Christ, in order create an authentic civilization, a civilization of love.
In general, the purpose of the ecclesial movements to live a genuine apostolic life does not separate evangelization from social commitment, as most of them have continually shown. Many of them demonstrate the realization of what Cardinal Ratzinger described in his 1998 lecture:
Apostolic life is not the end in itself, but it provides the freedom to serve. Apostolic life calls forth apostolic action, in which the announcement of the Gospel, the missionary element, takes first place.
In following Christ, evangelization is always in first place -
evangelizare pauperibus, to announce the Gospel to the poor. But this is never accomplished by words alone. Love, which is the heart, the center or truth and the operative center of the Gospel announcement, must be lived out and become the announcement itself.
And that is why in whatever form, social service is always part of evangelization.
This approach rejects some theological tendencies in the past few decades which, because of the great poverty present in many parts of the world, give the priority to social commitment, and in fact, seem to replace evangelization with social service, thus finding roots in other ideologies and no longer in the faith of the Church.
Against this tendency, Cardinal Ratzinger has maintained that authentic faith - as an encounter with Christ and an experience of the closeness of God - inspires every Christian act and nourishes his social commitment.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/05/2013 17:40]