(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has completed its second plenary assembly, focusing on formation of candidate for priesthood and religious life, the use of forensic assessments for people accused of sex abuse crimes and the use of liturgical support materials for the pastoral care of survivors. The Commission met in Rome from October 9th to 11th, beginning their plenary with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in his Santa Marta residence. Members then focused their sessions on listening to and discussing progress reports presented by the Working Groups formed in the February 2015 Plenary. Please find below the full press statement from the Commission: The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors gathered in Plenary Assembly, October 9-11, 2015 in Rome. It is the second time that the full Commission has gathered together. The Plenary Assembly began with Mass with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in Santa Marta. Members then focused their sessions on listening to and discussing progress reports presented by the Working Groups formed in the February 2015 Plenary. These Working Groups cover key areas of the mission that has been entrusted to the Commission by the Holy Father, namely to advise him, his collaborators and the local church on the protection of minors. The Working Groups are: • Guidelines for the safeguarding and protection of minors; • Healing and care for victims, survivors and their families; • Formation of candidates to the priesthood and religious life and the education of Church leadership; • Education of families and communities; • Theology and spirituality; • Canonical and civil norms. Particular areas of focus of these working groups include research into the assessment and ongoing formation of candidates to the priesthood and religious life; the use of forensic assessments with people accused of a crime; the provision of liturgical support materials for the pastoral care of victims, survivors and communities. The Commission does not address individual cases, it does not exercise oversight, and is not a decision-making body. Since its establishment, the Commission for the Protection of Minors has been invited by Church leaders to place the inter-disciplinary expertise of its members at the service of Church in various parts of the world. Commission members have taken part in workshops, conferences and seminars on the protection of minors in Ireland, the UK, France, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and recently in the Philippines, where 76 bishops attended. Next month, Commission members will also address all of the bishops of Central America. Very positive feedback has been received from our participation in these initiatives. The Commission’s contribution has been seen as a resource for the local Church worldwide as Bishops’ Conferences continue to develop sound and culturally effective guidelines that reflect the local reality. The Commission plans to hold its next Plenary Assembly in February, 2016. Commission members in attendance: Cardinal Seán O’MALLEY, OFM Cap. (United States), President; Mons. Robert OLIVER (United States), Secretary; Rev. Luis Manuel ALI HERRERA (Colombia); Catherine BONNET (France); Marie COLLINS (Ireland); Gabriel DY-LIACCO (Philippines); Sheila BARONESS HOLLINS (United Kingdom); Bill KILGALLON (New Zealand); Sr. Kayula LESA, RSC (Zambia); Sr. Hermenegild MAKORO, CPS (South Africa); Kathleen McCORMACK (Australia); Claudio PAPALE (Italy); Peter SAUNDERS (United Kingdom); Hanna SUCHOCKA (Poland); Krysten WINTER-GREEN (United States); Rev. Humberto Miguel YÁÑEZ, SJ (Argentina) and Rev. Hans ZOLLNER, SJ (Germany). (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Before the recitation of the Marian Prayer, Pope Francis focused his attention on Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark, which recounts Jesus’ encounter with the “rich young man”.
The Holy Father explained that this text was built around the “three gazes of Jesus.”
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
The first is his “intense gaze full of tenderness and affection,” when the young man expressed that “for him observance of the precepts is not enough, since it does not meet with his desire for wholeness. ”
The Pope noted that Jesus understood the man’s weak point, and made a concrete proposal: give all his possessions to the poor and follow him. But the young man’s heart, Pope Francis continued, was torn between two masters: God and money, and he went away sad. This, the Holy Father underlined, shows that one cannot live the faith and be attached to wealth.
Pope Francis said Jesus’ “second gaze” was “the thoughtful gaze, and one of warning, denoting the Gospel phrase, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God”.
The third gaze of Jesus, is the look of encouragement, said the Pope; it is the one which says, “if we free ourselves from the slavery of things we gain the freedom to serve for love.”
“The young man,” the Holy Father stressed, “did not allow himself to be won over by Jesus’ loving gaze, and therefore could not change. He said that only by accepting with humble gratitude the love of the Lord do we free ourselves from the seduction of idols and the blindness of our illusions.
Then speaking off the cuff to the young people present in St Peter’s Square, the Pope asked, “have you felt Jesus’ gaze on you? What do you say to that? Do you prefer to leave this square with the joy that Jesus gives us or the sadness caused by worldliness?”
Following the Angelus prayer Pope Francis recalled that Tuesday, 13 October, is International Day for Disaster Reduction.
“We must unfortunately recognise,” he said, “that the effects of such calamities are often compounded by man’s lack of care of the environment.”
The Pope went on to say that, he joined with those who “with foresight are committed to the protection of our common home, to the promotion of a global and local culture of disaster reduction and to greater resilience against them, through harmonising new and traditional knowledge, with particular attention for the most vulnerable populations.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for the victims of the massacre which killed dozens of people in Ankara, Turkey the day before. The Holy Father said he received the news with great sorrow and spoke of his pain for those who were killed and wounded in the explosions. He also said there was sorrow because the attackers struck defenseless people who were demonstrating for peace.
The Pope made the appeal following the Angelus in St Peter’s Square asking the Lord to welcome the souls of the dead and to comfort the suffering and their families.
Following his words, Pope Francis invited all those present in the Square to pray for a moment in silence for the victims of the blasts.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At the end of the first week of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family in Vatican City, Fr. Thomas Rosica CSB, English Media Attaché for the Holy See, joined Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ to summarise the discussions at the daily press briefing.
Click below to hear the report by Fr. Russell Pollitt, SJ:
A number of issues were spoken about and addressed in interventions from Synod Fathers at the Synod on the Family on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The Fathers continued with their interventions on part two of Instrumentum Laboris . Once they had completed this section they began to listen to interventions on part three, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, told the media
Fr. Lombardi said that there were 75 interventions in the plenary session. There were a good number of interventions from Fathers representing Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. He noted there were few interventions from North America.
A number of themes emerged from the interventions including the spirituality of family life, the missionary responsibility of families to look after and foster good marriages, the role of various family movements in the Church, and ways that the Church can remain close and show tenderness to families that are struggling.
There were also a number of interventions on the relationship and balance between justice and mercy. The media was told that there are divergent views on this issue amongst the Fathers. One of the Fathers said that mercy does not mean an abandonment of the Church’s teaching.
His Eminence Beatitude Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, President of the Indian Bishops Conference and head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, was a guest at the press briefing. He told the media that mercy means conversion which is reciprocal. “The Gospel demands this as a condition. The Kingdom of God is at hand, be converted,” he said.
Concern was also expressed for military families. Many military personnel are far from home and often separated from their families for extended periods. These men and women, as well as their families, are in need of special pastoral care.
The Fathers acknowledged that due to diverse situations and contexts there is no such thing as a “typical family”. Many of them spoke about indissolubility being one of the essential elements of Christian marriage.
A number of Fathers also spoke earnestly about marriage preparation. Many considered pre-marriage formation to be seriously lacking. One Father suggested that the bishops themselves needed to penitentially admit that they had failed to provide formation for the lay faithful in this regard. There was a suggestion in another intervention that couples, like those in formation for the priesthood or religious life, also need a “novitiate” time before entering into the sacrament of marriage. It was thought that the crisis in religious and priestly vocations is directly linked to the crisis in family life.
Fr. Lombardi was asked questions about the process of the Synod after a suggestion was reported that, in the future, Synod Assemblies be longer processes which begin with continental meetings first. This means that issues would be more focused and refined when they were brought to the universal Synod Assembly. His Beatitude Cardinal Thottunkal responded by saying that things have to start in local contexts so that it can be brought to Synod Assemblies like this one. He said that he saw no contradiction in this kind of methodology and thought that the fruits of such a process could be much better for the whole church.
Lombardi explained that the Instrumentum Laboris could be changed if, in the small groups, an absolute majority proposed changes. This proposal would then go to the Synod Committee. He reminded the media that interventions in the plenary were not proposals to the Synod; they are part of the “conversation”.
The effect of migration has been a reoccurring theme in this Synod throughout the first week. Cardinal Thottunkal said that he agreed with Pope Francis’ request that people welcome migrants and be generous to them. He added, however, that he also has his own personal view on the matter. He believes that the world community and leaders should make it possible for people to be accommodated and sustained in their own countries. “We must work to keep these people in their own countries,” he said.
The Synod Fathers will return to work on Monday morning when they will, again break into small groups to discuss part two of Instrumentum Laboris .
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The first round of small language group work at the Synod of Bishops on the Family concluded on Thursday evening. Bishops, religious and lay men and women, together with delegates from other Christian Churches, spent two and a half days behind closed doors discussing the challenges facing families in different countries around the world today.
Bishop Tim Thornton of Truro in Cornwall, England is one of the 14 ‘fraternal delegates’ representing the worldwide Anglican Communion throughout the three-week meeting. He is co-chair of the English Anglican-Roman-Catholic Conversations and serves as president of the Association of Inter-Church Families. Philippa Hitchen asked him about some of the themes that have been emerging in the small group work….
Listen:
Bishop Thornton says one of key things he’s hearing from his groups is the concern that the Synod document or Instrumentum Laboris, in its current form, has “a too narrowly Western perspective.”
He talks about the discussions in his group that have raised different perspectives from particular parts of the globe. He gives the example of the document’s focus on widowhood which assumes that widows are elderly, while in some parts of the globe Church leaders are facing particular problems with widows of a much younger age.
Rather than in one document, trying to describe the whole anthropological, sociological and cultural challenge, he says what is emerging is a suggestion that “what the Holy Father might want to say is to encourage each conference to do its own analysis” and bring that to the table to see what can be said together.
Bishop Thornton says in the Anglican world too “we can make the mistake of defining things through either an English or Western eye”. He speaks of experience of hearing so many different perspectives at the last Lambeth Conference and of the benefits of having dioceses in England linked with dioceses in different parts of the world….
Speaking of the tensions between those who do not want to see any changes in Church doctrine or practice and those who see a need for fresh approaches to current problems, Bishop Thornton says there are always those who have a more deductive or a more inductive way of doing theology.
He compares the Synod to the meeting of Anglican leaders from around the world that the Archbishop of Canterbury has called for in January, saying it is simply “one step in a longer process.” The key question, he stresses, is about “how willing are we to journey on with fellow Christians who have very different views”….
(from Vatican Radio)…