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COMMON-RAMIREZ Aug-16-2006 (920 words) xxxn
Common Ground's anniversary revives call to listen within the church
By Catholic News Service
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Listening has to be an essential ingredient in relationships within the church, just as it must be in all healthy relationships, said the keynote speaker at an Aug. 11 event at Loyola University in Chicago marking the 10th anniversary of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative.
Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., said that 10 years of seeking common ground within the church has only reinforced the idea of the initiative's founders, that seeking communion in Christ requires seeking communion with one another.
"The past 10 years have given me a privileged place where I have met people, some with very critical views of the church, who yet possess a passionate regard and deep love for the church," he said. "I have come to respect them and have concluded that they are critical precisely because they love that church family to which they belong."
A text of his remarks was released to Catholic News Service.
A separate statement about the initiative's anniversary, due to be officially released in October, said one thing members of Common Ground learned in the last decade is that "there is within the church in the United States a deep and persistent distrust of persons, motives and viewpoints."
In the initiative's early years, that might have been attributed to liberal-conservative divisions, it said, but "we have learned of other deep and not-so-deep misunderstandings ... for example, old and young, laity and clergy, rich and poor, academics and bishops. ... The pluralism of our shared life all too often is a source of divisiveness rather than richness."
Anniversary events in Chicago included a Mass, at Northwestern University's Shiel Chapel, at which Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati in his homily reminded participants that one lesson of the last decade has been that "some people are simply not interested in conversation with persons who have differing opinions" and "that people of differing opinions can find blessing in each other simply by being willing to spend a few days together."
The initiative's efforts "to get people back on speaking terms are not the efforts of outsiders trying to mediate a family fight, but of members of the family of Christ trying to ameliorate the quality of the ongoing family conversation," he said.
In his address Bishop Ramirez noted that Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI and Pope John XXIII all made a point of seeking and encouraging dialogue with people representing diverse elements of the church. Pope Benedict XVI also, in the first year of his pontificate, met with Swiss theologian Father Hans Kung, who cannot teach as a Catholic theologian, and with representatives of the Society of St. Pius X, a schismatic group, he said.
"At these meetings agreement could not have been reached ... but the important thing is that the pope had a respectful exchange with these people," Bishop Ramirez said.
He also paid tribute to the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin and the late Msgr. Philip Murnion, who headed the National Pastoral Life Center, which staffs the Common Ground Initiative. The two were instrumental in creating the initiative.
Bishop Ramirez said that both "believed so very much in the importance of dialogue that on their death beds they appealed to us, the church, to embrace dialogue and not to be afraid to engage in it." Cardinal Bernardin died in 1996; Msgr. Murnion died in 2003.
He said that his own diocese in southern New Mexico is far from centers of power, influence and control. "Things look different from the frontier," he said, with a vantage point that allows people to recognize flaws in the great centers of learning and authority.
Also at society's frontier are members of minority groups -- African-Americans, farmworkers, American Indians -- "who at times recognize that the 'status quo' is not in keeping with the highest ideals of human wholeness," he said.
The Common Ground Initiative has helped him bring "the frontier and minority experience to the mainstream of our church life," Bishop Ramirez said.
He explained how he has tried to consult with the people of his diocese whenever possible on things such as pastoral letters. He plans to dialogue with Protestants, as well, for his next pastoral letter.
The national focus on immigration "has created intense debate ... but unfortunately not much dialogue," he lamented. "There are those who are for punitive measures and exclusionary statutes and those who favor a more humanitarian and welcoming approach.
"Sadly, some of the fear, suspicion, anger and emotions found in our society today have crept into the church," Bishop Ramirez said. Those who have been in parishes for generations are not always welcoming of newcomers, he said.
"We forget that we have all been welcomed by Jesus Christ himself," he said.
In parishes, "heated discussion can arise regarding language, or languages used, the music, Mass scheduling and membership on consultative bodies," he continued. "Not everyone is happy when a new culture arrives at the parish with its own customs and traditions. All these issues beg for a common ground approach."
Listening is the necessary foundation for relationships with God and one another, Bishop Ramirez said. "Real listening is one of the greatest gifts we can give to another person. Listening is healing; it establishes lasting relationships; it gives substance to words of love and friendship; it heals and allows us to grow in our knowledge of ourselves, of others and of God."
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Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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