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Here's the second and concluding part of Father Samir's presentation on the current synodal assembly on the Middle East, in which he comments on the situation of the Eastern churches startinf with points raised by Benedict XVI in his homiyl Sunday at the opening Mass for the Synodal assembly.
The Middle East
in the eyes of Benedict XVI - Part 2
by Samir Khalil Samir, SJ
Oct. 11, 2010
Eastern-rite Catholic immigrants in the West
At one point in his speech, the Pope speaks of the faithful of the diaspora, and this raises a problem within the Catholic Church, because bishops in Europe often want to have jurisdiction over the Eastern faithful immigrants.
For example, there is a rule that prohibits the existence of married Eastern priests in the West. They can have them in the East but not when they are in the West. This decision was taken - it was said – so as not to scandalize the faithful. But all this must change. [This is obviously Fr. Samir's opinion, and not to be inferred in any way from the Pope's homily!]
Originally, the patriarchates were geographical, but now the fact of migration is raising several issues. Yesterday, the Pope spoke of "all the faithful entrusted to their pastoral care (ie of the Patriarchs) in their own countries and also in the diaspora."
It is a small point but an important one. This is also a problem for the Orthodox and the Church of Moscow. Who do the Orthodox of the diaspora depend on? Once it was the Ecumenical Patriarch who had responsibility beyond territorial boundaries [Does it not still? That is why it is called the Ecumenical Patriarchate!] , now the other Orthodox churches want to restrict its responsibility to Turkey alone, where it is located.
[It does make sense, in general, for the Eastern-rite faithful in diaspora to continue being under the jurisdiction of the mother Church, which can always ask to have an on-site eparchy for closer exercise of that jurisdiction if the immigrant community is large enough, as many of the Eastern-rite churches (Mideast as well as Eastern European) now do. It does not make any sense for an Eastern-rite priest to work under a Latin-rite bishop, nor for the Western bishop to seek to homogenize any Eastern-rite faithful in his diocese.]
Salvation is universal, but it passes
through a determined historical mediation
At one point, Benedict XVI commented on the readings of the Mass and spoke of the two lepers, both non-Jews [Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5.14-17) and the Samaritan (Luke 17.11-19)], who are cured because they believe the word of God’s messenger and this heals them. He commented: "They heal in body, but are open to faith, and this heals their soul, that is, it saves them."
The Pope raised the issue of conversion. Going further, he said: "salvation is universal," all are called to be saved by God's love. For us Christians, this is of vital theological importance with regards to Muslims. It is not a specific race or people who are saved -od wants universal salvation.
But he said that this salvation comes through Judaism, and then through Christianity. "Salvation is universal, but it passes through a determined historical mediation” And he emphasized this by using the word "door": "the door of life is open to all." In short, Benedict XVI reaffirms that salvation is in Christ (2 Timothy 2:10), and this is an obligatory passage.
In contemporary theology, there is often opposition to this. Some say: salvation is universal, so there is no need of Christ, others say there is no salvation outside the Church.
With a simple vision, starting from the biblical texts, Ratzinger resolves this objection: Salvation is Christ, announced and prepared by the historic Israel, and prolonged by the spiritual Israel which is the Church. The role of the Church is therefore essential, although not absolute.
We need mission to rediscover
the meaning of our faith
All this is important for us in the Middle East. From the sociological point of view we feel unable to engage in mission to Muslims, who are the majority of our people, inviting them to discover the Gospel and the salvation that comes from the absolute Gospel, because the laws forbid it.
Yesterday, I saw the Bishop of Algiers, who told me that he spent two hours speaking with the Minister for Religious Affairs on this issue [anti-proselytizing laws that hamper the freedom to proclaim].
To the point that some bishops and many missionaries refuse to baptize Muslims who have been asking to be baptised for years, because they are afraid that by doing so they will lose elements of their culture! [Obviously, this is a very real problem, but the reason given for their refusal to baptize Muslims who wish to convert makes no sense at all. Of course, they are giving up Islam which is the all-powerful, all-around element in the lives of Muslims, along with the practices associated with Islam. But they can still keep those practices and traditions which are not in conflict with Christianity, and they will still have their language.]
From the theological point of view the Pope's discourse corrects those theologies (some in India and many "theologies of religions" popular in the West) that preach that it is not necessary to switch to Christ. A missionary once said to me, the Second Vatican Council established that everyone can be saved in their own religion, so why baptize them?[/COLORE} [One of the most common misinterpretations of Nostra aetate that Vatican-II 'spiritists' have propagated so dangerously!]
Our Churches in the East have lost their sense of mission because they are focused on their survival. But the body will not survive by concentrating on the physical problem alone: it can become a form of asphyxia. And this is what is happening to our Churches: we are so interested in saving our culture, our particularity, our survival, that in the end we focus on the little things, instead of seeing our world mission.
We are even dying in Europe because the missionary age - when. from countries like Italy and France, Cctholic missionaries went forth everywhere - is no more. Today we are so concerned about ourselves and our daily problems that we have lost the sense of mission. We must recapture that sense. At the same time, the contemporary tendency to reduce mission to charity, in the sense of commitment to development, is not satisfactory. [The Pope always says - The mission of the Church and of priests is to save souls through Christ, and priests must look after their souls first before they can expect to help others, not just looking after their souls, but whenever it is possible, th help out also in material ways.]
The land
Continuing, Benedict XVI spoke of a salvation tied to the land: "God reveals himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6), who wants to lead his people to 'land' of freedom and of peace ". But - he added - "this 'land' is not of this world."
These statements are very important for the Middle East where a theology and a politics based on "land" is rampant: the question of Jerusalem, the Israel of today (or that of the Zionists, to the Nile and the Euphrates), Palestine ... The whole issue of land is crucial. And each side claims it for themselves.
The Jews claim the Holy Land in the name of the divine promise of the "land", the Muslims claim it as part of the "Dar al-Islam," the House of Islam. But the Pope says; there is a land not of this world.
Yet Jerusalem for Christians - more than for anyone else - is the land where Jesus lived, preached and died. But the Catholic Church has never laid claim, at least in modern times, to Jerusalem as a Christian land. It has only ever claimed freedom of access, even at the time of the Crusades. [Which is the only reasonable and Christian thing to do. If Christians have free access to the Holy Places, why does the Church need to have any temporal claim to the territories concerned? The Church has said it favors an international status for Jerusalem - it is a possibility bur for now far from probable.]
The Jews in their majority, they say: No, we will never leave this land (and there are settlers who are militarily fighting to occupy it!). In truth it must be said that there are also Jews who spiritualize their relationship with the earth. The Muslims themselves say that what was once a Muslim, can never be abandoned.
The Eastern Christians will always have to emphasize that this "land" is not of this world. This is our contribution to peace and justice. {The Christian view however has no practical value in the actual territorial questions between Israel and Palestine. That is something they must work out, and in which both sides have to make objectively reasonable compromises if they are to agree on anything at all.]
The Middle East, "land" of all
Even Benedict XVI’s vision of the Middle East is special: "It is the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the land of the exodus and the return from exile, the land of the temple and the prophets, the land where the only begotten Son was born of Mary, where he lived, died and rose again, the cradle of the Church, formed to bring the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the world". [I thought this part of the homily most eloquently and concisely phrased!]
This enumeration in five elements is wonderful! The Pope links this vision (from “on high”, from God’s perspective):
- To the faith of Abraham (in which we can also see the integration of Muslims, for whom Abraham is the father in faith; and even more widely to all those who seek God in their hearts!)
- To the historic Israel: "the land of the exodus and the return from exile, the land of the temple and the prophets," but perhaps even to those who "return from exile", who today are innumerable;
- To historic Christianity, "the land where the only-begotten Son was born of Mary, where he lived, died and rose again" (note that the passion is still connected to the resurrection, without which it makes no sense);
- Finally to emphasize that it is "the cradle of the Church, formed to bring the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the world."
In short, to evangelize. Once again, the mission of the Church is emphasized.
We cannot exclude any dimension in a consideration of the Catholic Churches of the Middle East, but neither can we forget that everything they do must be oriented toward mission: "I cannot keep this wonder of the revelation of God in Christ to myself - even Muslims are entitled to know Jesus Christ".
Conclusion: The design of
God's universal love
Finally, one last point: looking at the Middle East from God’s perspective.
To look at that part of the world from the perspective of God means seeing in her the 'cradle' of his universal design for salvation in love, a mystery of communion which becomes real in freedom, and therefore demands a response from men.
Abraham, the prophets, the Virgin Mary are the protagonists of this response, which nonetheless is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, son of that land, but one descended from heaven.
From him, from his heart and his Spirit, the Church was born, a pilgrim on this earth to which she belongs. The Church was constituted in order to be, among men, the sign and instrument of the one universal salvific project of God.
She carries out this mission by being herself, namely 'communion and witness', as the theme for this Synodal assembly says, which refers to the famous definition by Luke of the first Christian community: "The community of believers was of one heart and mind" (Acts 4,32).
Without communion, there can be no witness: the best testimony is precisely a life of communion. Jesus says so, clearly: "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13,35).
The message of salvation is the proclamation that God is love. Man, created in God's image, has the task of recognizing the true nature of God, and to save himself by living and spreading this love. The Church is sign and instrument only if she is a communion of love.
"The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and witness," is the motto of this Synod, exactly as developed by Benedict XVI yesterday in his homily.
Sorry for the inadvertent color mess earlier. I did not realize it and went on to translate the Motu proprio, so it took me some time to correct the mess on this post.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/10/2010 20:01] |