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Saint Vincent de Paul
Roman Catholic Church
979 Avenue C -
Bayonne, New Jersey 07002
(201) 436-2222 Fax:(201) 437-5235
Founded 1894
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[Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] [Pope Benedict XVI]
  Pope
Benedict XVI
Apostolic Journey to the United States
April 15 - 20, 2008
Responses of Pope Benedict XVI to the
questions of the U.S. Bishops
1. The Holy Father is asked to give his assessment of the challenge of
increasing secularism in public life and relativism in intellectual life,
and his advice on how to confront these challenges pastorally and
evangelize more effectively.
I touched upon this theme briefly in my address. It strikes me as
significant that here in America, unlike many places in Europe, the
secular mentality has not been intrinsically opposed to religion. Within
the context of the separation of Church and State, American society has
always been marked by a fundamental respect for religion and its public
role, and, if polls are to be believed, the American people are deeply
religious. But it is not enough to count on this traditional religiosity
and go about business as usual, even as its foundations are being slowly
undermined. A serious commitment to evangelization cannot prescind from a
profound diagnosis of the real challenges the Gospel encounters in
contemporary American culture.
Of course, what is essential is a correct understanding of the just
autonomy of the secular order, an autonomy which cannot be divorced from
God the Creator and his saving plan (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). Perhaps
America’s brand of secularism poses a particular problem: it allows for
professing belief in God, and respects the public role of religion and the
Churches, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a
lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive acceptance that certain
things “out there” are true, but without practical relevance for everyday
life. The result is a growing separation of faith from life: living “as if
God did not exist”. This is aggravated by an individualistic and eclectic
approach to faith and religion: far from a Catholic approach to “thinking
with the Church”, each person believes he or she has a right to pick and
choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral,
interior conversion to the law of Christ. Consequently, rather than being
transformed and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to conform
themselves to the spirit of this age (cf. Rom 12:3). We have seen this
emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an
alleged right to abortion.
On a deeper level, secularism challenges the Church to reaffirm and to
pursue more actively her mission in and to the world. As the Council made
clear, the lay faithful have a particular responsibility in this regard.
What is needed, I am convinced, is a greater sense of the intrinsic
relationship between the Gospel and the natural law on the one hand, and,
on the other, the pursuit of authentic human good, as embodied in civil
law and in personal moral decisions. In a society that rightly values
personal liberty, the Church needs to promote at every level of her
teaching – in catechesis, preaching, seminary and university instruction –
an apologetics aimed at affirming the truth of Christian revelation, the
harmony of faith and reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in
positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations of sin and for an
authentic and fulfilling life. In a word, the Gospel has to be preached
and taught as an integral way of life, offering an attractive and true
answer, intellectually and practically, to real human problems. The
“dictatorship of relativism”, in the end, is nothing less than a threat to
genuine human freedom, which only matures in generosity and fidelity to
the truth.
Much more, of course, could be said on this subject: let me conclude,
though, by saying that I believe that the Church in America, at this point
in her history, is faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic
vision of reality and presenting it, in an engaging and imaginative way,
to a society which markets any number of recipes for human fulfillment. I
think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people,
who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel,
continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth. Much remains to
be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes
and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of
ecclesial life in America.
2. The Holy Father is asked about “a certain quiet attrition” by which
Catholics are abandoning the practice of the faith, sometimes by an
explicit decision, but often by distancing themselves quietly and
gradually from attendance at Mass and identification with the Church.
Certainly, much of this has to do with the passing away of a religious
culture, sometimes disparagingly referred to as a “ghetto”, which
reinforced participation and identification with the Church. As I just
mentioned, one of the great challenges facing the Church in this country
is that of cultivating a Catholic identity which is based not so much on
externals as on a way of thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and
enriched by the Church’s living tradition.
The issue clearly involves factors such as religious individualism and
scandal. Let us go to the heart of the matter: faith cannot survive unless
it is nourished, unless it is “formed by charity” (cf. Gal 5:6). Do people
today find it difficult to encounter God in our Churches? Has our
preaching lost its salt? Might it be that many people have forgotten, or
never really learned, how to pray in and with the Church?
Here I am not speaking of people who leave the Church in search of
subjective religious “experiences”; this is a pastoral issue which must be
addressed on its own terms. I think we are speaking about people who have
fallen by the wayside without consciously having rejected their faith in
Christ, but, for whatever reason, have not drawn life from the liturgy,
the sacraments, preaching. Yet Christian faith, as we know, is essentially
ecclesial, and without a living bond to the community, the individual’s
faith will never grow to maturity. Indeed, to return to the question I
just discussed, the result can be a quiet apostasy.
So let me make two brief observations on the problem of “attrition”, which
I hope will stimulate further reflection.
First, as you know, it is becoming more and more difficult, in our Western
societies, to speak in a meaningful way of “salvation”. Yet salvation –
deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of new life and freedom
in Christ – is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover, as I have
suggested, new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening
a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ can bring. It is in the
Church’s liturgy, and above all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that
these realities are most powerfully expressed and lived in the life of
believers; perhaps we still have much to do in realizing the Council’s
vision of the liturgy as the exercise of the common priesthood and the
impetus for a fruitful apostolate in the world.
Second, we need to acknowledge with concern the almost complete eclipse of
an eschatological sense in many of our traditionally Christian societies.
As you know, I have pointed to this problem in the Encyclical Spe Salvi.
Suffice it to say that faith and hope are not limited to this world: as
theological virtues, they unite us with the Lord and draw us toward the
fulfillment not only of our personal destiny but also that of all
creation. Faith and hope are the inspiration and basis of our efforts to
prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. In Christianity, there can
be no room for purely private religion: Christ is the Savior of the world,
and, as members of his Body and sharers in his prophetic, priestly and
royal munera, we cannot separate our love for him from our commitment to
the building up of the Church and the extension of his Kingdom. To the
extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very
soul.
Let me conclude by stating the obvious. The fields are still ripe for
harvesting (cf. Jn 4:35); God continues to give the growth (cf. 1 Cor
3:6). We can and must believe, with the late Pope John Paul II, that God
is preparing a new springtime for Christianity (cf. Redemptoris Missio,
86). What is needed above all, at this time in the history of the Church
in America, is a renewal of that apostolic zeal which inspires her
shepherds actively to seek out the lost, to bind up those who have been
wounded, and to bring strength to those who are languishing (cf. Ez
34:16). And this, as I have said, calls for new ways of thinking based on
a sound diagnosis of today’s challenges and a commitment to unity in the
service of the Church’s mission to the present generation.
3. The Holy Father is asked to comment on the decline in vocations despite
the growing numbers of the Catholic population, and on the reasons for
hope offered by the personal qualities and the thirst for holiness which
characterize the candidates who do come forward.
Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate vocations to the
priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local
Church. There is no room for complacency in this regard. God continues to
call young people; it is up to all of us to encourage a generous and free
response to that call. On the other hand, none of us can take this grace
for granted.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest will
send workers. He even admits that the workers are few in comparison with
the abundance of the harvest (cf. Mt 9:37-38). Strange to say, I often
think that prayer – the unum necessarium – is the one aspect of vocations
work which we tend to forget or to undervalue!
Nor am I speaking only of prayer for vocations. Prayer itself, born in
Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation,
strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which
we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach
young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s
call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment
of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the
Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be
trusted to know what to do with God’s call.
It has been noted that there is a growing thirst for holiness in many
young people today, and that, although fewer in number, those who come
forward show great idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to
them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage them to help their
peers to see the need for committed priests and religious, as well as the
beauty of a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church. To my
mind, much is demanded of vocation directors and formators: candidates
today, as much as ever, need to be given a sound intellectual and human
formation which will enable them not only to respond to the real questions
and needs of their contemporaries, but also to mature in their own
conversion and to persevere in life-long commitment to their vocation. As
Bishops, you are conscious of the sacrifice demanded when you are asked to
release one of your finest priests for seminary work. I urge you to
respond with generosity, for the good of the whole Church.
Finally, I think you know from experience that most of your brother
priests are happy in their vocation. What I said in my address about the
importance of unity and cooperation within the presbyterate applies here
too. There is a need for all of us to move beyond sterile divisions,
disagreements and preconceptions, and to listen together to the voice of
the Spirit who is guiding the Church into a future of hope. Each of us
knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our lives. That
fraternity is not only a precious possession, but also an immense resource
for the renewal of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations. I
would close by encouraging you to foster opportunities for ever greater
dialogue and fraternal encounter among your priests, and especially the
younger priests. I am convinced that this will bear great fruit for their
own enrichment, for the increase of their love for the priesthood and the
Church, and for the effectiveness of their apostolate.
Dear Brother Bishops, with these few observations, I once more encourage
all of you in your ministry to the faithful entrusted to your pastoral
care, and I commend you to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate,
Mother of the Church. |