Cardinal Urosa: Amazon Synod must Proclaim Christ, Church ...

a picture of the Crucifixion is held aloft at the Oct. 20 Angelus. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

special TO THE REGISTER: The archbishop emeritus of Caracas, Venezuela, points to the key to revitalizing the Church.

We are actually nearing the end of the Pan-Amazon synod. we've already viewed the effects of the a number of circuli minores (small working agencies), most wonderful and challenging; some quite ingenious. These proposals will, of path, deserve to be subjected to the last vote. No count number what the result of this should be, i need to point out in this article the key element of magnitude for the revitalization of the Church in Amazonia.

The synod have to evidently announce that the basic mission of the Church is to proclaim Jesus Christ as our Savior.

And this applies as much to the indigenous communities of the missionary vicariates as to the church buildings already dependent as archdioceses and dioceses of the everyday Church. it is critical to make stronger the evangelization work and the clear, explicit and overt proclamation of Jesus because the method, the certainty and the existence, he in whom the mystery of the individual is deciphered and in whom all human wisdom makes experience. here is clearly affirmed with the aid of Vatican Council II in the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes (10 and 22).

The basic Mission of the Church: to Evangelize

There is not any doubt that the primary mission of the Church is to announce Jesus Christ. This factor has been smartly stated by one of the crucial circuli minores. They did a superb job of enunciating this. it is certainly the middle of the mission of the Church. All different subjects: the ecological, the social, the cultural and even the pastoral points like   ministries, organization and authority within the Church are essential, definitely; however they are secondary.

what's really crucial is that the Catholic Church in Amazonia, as within the relaxation of the realm, live and announce with the pleasure of the Gospel â€" as Pope Frances asks us â€" its faith in Jesus, God of God, light of mild, actual God of authentic God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, the beginning and the conclusion.

As we referred to with appreciate in earlier reflections upon the instrumentum laboris (working doc), it would be critical to look at why, in spite of the exquisite and sacrificial, regular labor and presence of many missionaries, the Protestant churches have grown, while the fruits of our pastoral work have not been what was hoped for. many of the indigenous communities are grateful for the social work of the Catholic missionaries but opt for the Protestant church buildings. one of the circui minores stressed out this element. alas, the instrumentum laboris did not analyze the reasons of this fundamental fact.

We must, therefore, strengthen the proclamation of Jesus Christ to the indigenous peoples and respectfully invite them to convert and be baptized, so they can also acquire the significant treasure of becoming infants of God and contributors of the Church.

Inculturate the Gospel

this is it: We have to evangelize and enculturate the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Of path this doesn't suggest imposing European or Western culture on the indigenous peoples. It means presenting Christ as Savior and Redeemer, as our pal and brother, along with his necessities of life adjustments, of family morality, of social behavior, as additionally in the economic world, the rejection of idols, and their enslavement to the forces of nature â€" that the Gospel enter into their cultures. this is what's supposed by way of “inculturation of the Gospel.”

We must evangelize brazenly and explicitly. communicate and accompaniment aren't enough. Of direction they are imperative, however at the same time we need to offer and current Jesus. allow us to be aware St. Paul:

“And woe to me if I don't evangelize!” (1 Corinthians 9:sixteen).

The mission of the Church is to announce the Gospel. And we comprehend that Christ will change us radically and create the new man, the brand new neighborhood, the brand new family unit, sanctified by way of sacramental grace.

And this requires of us, the brokers of evangelization, and particularly the bishops, priests and spiritual, a continuing conversion, very own and pastoral. That we respect, in my view and vigorously, Jesus because the Lord of introduction and of historical past, because the good Shepherd, because the light of the realm, as our Savior. And we have to latest him as such to our brothers. Of direction we ought to no longer disdain the indigenous cultures! however we ought to take them the ancient divine wisdom, printed within the old testament and specifically by means of Jesus Christ. We should carry them the gift of new lifestyles in Christ, the gentle of grace, the hope of everlasting lifestyles. We have to free them from the enslavement of nature, saying the Lordship of God the father, and of Christ, his Son, the face of Divine Mercy, over advent and over each one in every of us.

during this sense it is essential that the last doc of the synod promote an overt evangelization, in Amazonia and within the total world, with out worry of wounding the indigenous americans and promote the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, respectfully, of path, but with out trepidation â€" not apologetically, as if asking forgiveness for taking the treasure of Christ to the indigenous peoples of Amazonia.

The cautioned Amazonian ceremony

during this identical line, we have to also focal point upon the feasible Amazonian-indigenous rite [of the Mass], which the synod might suggest. that might be ok. within the Church, there are many rites.

Of path it could need to be prepared very well. and positively the possible Amazonian ceremony should evade any kind of odd or mistaken syncretism. The syncretism current in the ritual celebrated around a huge blanket, led by using an Amazonian girl surrounded through odd and ambiguous photos within the Vatican gardens Oct. four, should still be averted. it is lamentable that, regardless of the numerous criticisms of that ritual, not one of the organizers have explained what that ritual turned into. The cause of the various vital commentaries is precisely the primitive nature and pagan look of the ceremony and the absence of recognizably Catholic symbols, gestures and prayers within the motions and prostrations of that superb ritual.

This category of syncretism must be completely prevented. The liturgy or the Roman Latin ceremony, in particular the Sacred Eucharist offered most effective to God, is essential, sober, austere and straightforward to consider for people that acquire sufficient initiation. An eventual Amazonian rite need to respect the sacred nature of the Eucharist and preserve its simple elements, and while different gestures may well be brought, none will also be akin to the animist or non-Catholic naturalist gestures.

Conclusion

We bless the Lord for the sacrificial and generous work offered in Amazonia, within the jungle as in the city areas, within the vicariates and prelatures, archdioceses and dioceses, through bishops, missionaries, priests and deacons, non secular and consecrated laity who are dedicated to multiple ecclesial labors.

We beseech God, the Creator of the universe and our Father, that this synod reaffirm decisively and certainly the evangelical mission of the Church in Amazonia and in the entire world, and that Catholics, specially the ministers of the Lord and spiritual, preserve dwelling and asserting with joy the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “the only one in whose name we will gain salvation and the forgiveness of sins” (see Acts four:12; Gaudium et Spes, 10).

This commentary has been edited for style.

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino is the archbishop emeritus of Caracas, Venezuela.