Post #27

Excerpt from National Catholic Reporter: "The urgent need to return to being the church of the poor"

By Jon Sobrino, SJ

Envisioning the Church as "poor and powerless" has never prospered much among us. Not even Vatican II, as important and decisive as it was in other matters, made it a central concern. The Latin American bishops' conference at Medellín (1968) did indeed make it a key issue, and the Puebla conference (1979) also stressed it, even in the face of serious opposition. For the last three decades, however, the abandonment of the vision has been only too apparent. As Fr. José Comblin says: "After Puebla there began the Church of silence. The Church began to have nothing to say." Although the Aparecida conference (2007) slowed down the decline a bit, the Church has still not experienced that "turning around of history" that Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría said was needed in order to heal a society that is gravely ill. The conclusion is that we need to return to being a Church of the poor and to work hard for that. In El Salvador, since the death of Archbishop Romero, the erosion has been clear, as has been the need for ecclesiastical regeneration.

At the time of Vatican II, Pope John XXIII wanted the Council to recognize that the Church is "a Church of the poor." Cardinal Lercaro gave a lucid, heartfelt discourse on that theme at the end of the first session in 1962, and Bishop Himmer expressed it in unmistakable terms: "The first place in the Church must be reserved for the poor." Even in October 1963, however, Bishop Gerlier was complaining of the little importance being accorded the poor in the schema on the Church. The more progressive Latin American bishops also soon realized that the great majority of bishops at the Council did not feel comfortable discussing the topic. Nevertheless, there was always a group of bishops who wished to be faithful to the inspiration of John XXIII, among them a good number of Latin Americans. They met regularly and quietly in Domus Mariae to discuss the topic of "the poor Church."

On November 16, 1965, a few days before the end of the Council, about 40 of the bishops celebrated the Eucharist together in the catacombs of Saint Domitila. They asked for the grace "to be faithful to the spirit of Jesus," and at the end of the celebration they signed what they called "the Pact of the Catacombs."

The "Pact" was conceived as a challenge to the "brothers in the episcopacy" to lead a "life of poverty" and to be a "poor servant" Church, as was the desire of John XXIII. The first signers were mainly Brazilians and other Latin Americans, but others soon joined them. By signing, they made a commitment to live in poverty, to reject all symbols or privileges of power, and to place the poor at the center of their pastoral ministry. The text was to have a strong influence on the liberation theology that arose a few years later.

[Jesuit Fr. Jon Sobrino is a theologian and author of several books. In 1989 six members of his community at the University of Central America were murdered by the Salvadoran government]
 
Source" http://ncronline.org/news/justice/urgent-need-return-being-church-poor
 
Image: http://www.borgenproject.org