IN a previous article (Short pants, long pants), I referred to a get-together Pope Benedict recently had with some priests of Rome that’s becoming a traditional practice of his at the start of the Lenten season.
I got hold of the transcript of the whole affair, and I just can’t help but get ecstatic over what happened there. To me, it was a clear example of a good meeting—enlightening, positive and encouraging, substantial and attuned to the temper of the times.
My prayer is that something similar be replicated in the local setting. Such get-togethers will go a long way in strengthening the bonds between bishops and priests, and in enriching everyone in the dioceses and parishes.
Obviously, they have to be handled well—with competence, grace and elegance, and in an atmosphere of a healthy family gathering, where unity and love can be felt amid the great diversity and even conflicts of opinions and sentiments.
Nowadays, with easy access to different sources of information, it’s good to be reminded of the duty to be discriminating and to exert the effort to consult not only the experts but also the real authorities.
The Internet, for example, is a tremendous window of information. But it can delude us to thinking that with it we can get into an infinite-freedom forum, an anything-goes kind of discussion that can touch anything but can get us nothing, that can lead us both everywhere and nowhere.
In that Rome get-together, the priests freely asked questions, including difficult and pointed ones, and the Pope was open and game, and he responded with great depth and easy fluency. Truly a marvel to behold!
It appeared like there was no previous screening of the questions, since the answers of the Pope included many tentative or provisional views. I got the impression it was a no-holds-barred kind of discussion. But there was cordiality in the manner.
Just the same the Pope replied not only magisterially. In spite of their informal quality, his responses had the character of the Magisterium, the official teaching office of the Church vested with infallibility.
I think there were eight questions raised and answered, indicating the primary tier of priestly concerns articulated by the clerics. The Pope handled himself well, often saying, “If I understood the question, you wanted to ask….” And true enough, the Pope got the crux of the questions bull’s eye, which was not easy to do, since the Italians, along with their many wonderful traits and charms, have the tendency to go into streaming, if not overflowing verbosity.
There was one question which I found very timely. It had something to do with how we ought to administer the goods of the earth, how we can be true Christian stewards of God’s creation.
I found the question most relevant given our current global financial crisis that is exposing the intricate irregularities all of us in varying degrees are responsible for. I’d like to paraphrase part of the Pope’s answer to give us an idea of what needs to be done. In effect, he said:
- That while denunciation of errors should be made, it has to be done in a reasonable and reasoned way, not with great moral statements, but with concrete reasons understandable in today’s economic world.
- That the Church should be vigilant, and must discover the reasons of the economic world, entering its reasoning and enlightening this reason with the faith that frees us from the egoism of original sin. The purpose is to help and correct, and we should expect resistance and know how to handle it charitably.
- While there is original sin, we will never achieve a radical and total correction. But we must do everything to implement provisional corrections, sufficient to enable us to live and hinder the dominance of egoism that often masks itself under the guise of science and national and international economy.
I find these ideas worth pondering and pursuing further. We have to reach that point where the requirements of our faith and morals reach not only our personal lives but also our collective life in society in all its levels and aspects.
He also said that to reach these goals, there is need for conversion, to make men truly just, since a just society needs just men. Thus, a sustained and serious effort to educate everyone in justice is a must.
Alas, a big challenge primarily for the clergy!
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