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ADLIMINA-FOCUS Mar-31-2004 (1,020 words) xxxi
Vatican officials ask U.S. bishops to focus on wider pastoral issues
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Top Vatican officials are urging U.S. bishops to move beyond the sex abuse crisis and restore their focus to the wider range of pastoral and international issues.
That's the main message emerging from a series of encounters in late March between heads of curial agencies and the first group of bishops to make their "ad limina" visits to Rome.
The bishops, from Florida, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, spoke to Catholic News Service in interviews. The rest of the U.S. hierarchy will make similar visits over the next nine months, in a consultation process undertaken every five years.
The "ad limina" visits are seen by many in Rome as an opportunity for pastoral regrouping in the wake of the sex abuse scandal. That was the dominant theme in meetings at several Vatican congregations.
On March 29, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Congregation for Clergy, told the bishops it was important to keep the sex abuse cases in perspective.
"He placed great emphasis on affirming the value of priests in our dioceses. He said that with the recent scandal, it could be very easy to lose sight of the fact that the great majority of priests were working faithfully," said Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah, Ga.
"Cardinal Castrillon said we've got to be positive about the priesthood and that we can't allow our dioceses to be paralyzed by the (sex abuse) crisis," Bishop Boland said.
At the Congregation for Bishops March 30, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re asked bishops to support their clergy in the wake of the sex abuses cases, saying they've all been wounded by the scandal.
"The cardinal wanted us to know his solidarity with us but also encouraged us to reach out to our priests, because our priests are hurting," said Coadjutor Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla.
Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami said one Vatican cardinal reminded the bishops that the U.S. church has a strong leadership role in the world and has much to offer. That's a perspective the bishops need to hear after focusing almost exclusively on the sex abuse crisis, Archbishop Favalora said.
"When you're in the center of the storm you think that's all there is, especially when the media keeps it in front of your eyes. It takes coming to Rome to understand this -- not that you get away from the problem, but you put it in perspective," Archbishop Favalora said.
The bishops discussed the handling of sex abuse cases at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith March 31, but the talks there also ranged over wider topics.
"We don't want to concentrate only on sex abuse because our competence is wider. And I think that sex abuse should not hijack the ministry of the church for the next 50 years," said one doctrinal official.
In his individual meetings with bishops, Pope John Paul II did not inquire specifically about the sex abuse cases, according to several bishops. Instead, he asked about priestly and religious vocations, the state of the family and marriage, and the changing cultural makeup of dioceses.
In discussions with Vatican officials, the bishops said pro-life issues received considerable attention. That included abortion, euthanasia, care to people in vegetative states, advances in genetic technology and the death penalty, said Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla.
Bishop Ricard said while it's recognized that church teaching on these issues may have political impact in an election year, it's important for the church to stay out of party politics.
"The church is principled, not partisan. It is neither Democratic nor Republican," Bishop Ricard said.
"The church relates its concern with abortion as well as the death penalty. The church addresses issues at the beginning of life and at the end of life. And the church serves society best when it remains principled, when it seeks to educate, to inform, to engage and to dialogue," he said.
In their other Vatican meetings, the bishops said they discussed:
-- Formation of clergy and priesthood candidates, with an eye toward the upcoming visitation of U.S. seminaries.
-- The need for bilingual ministry in the South, where in many areas Hispanics make up about half the Catholic population.
-- Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage and the church's efforts to prevent that from happening.
-- The importance of catechesis, with reference to the U.S. bishops' work on an adult catechism.
The bishops also spoke about international issues ranging from the conflict in Haiti to the war in Iraq during a meeting March 30 with Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's foreign affairs specialist at the Secretariat of State.
The agenda with Archbishop Lajolo included the role of the United States as the sole superpower, U.S. actions against terrorism, the question of preventive war and the issue of unilateralism and the role of the United Nations.
One important topic that came up in discussions at a number of Vatican offices was the increasingly multicultural makeup of the church in the United States. Archbishop Favalora, for example, told Vatican officials he has priests in his archdiocese from 28 different countries of origin; one parish in Miami last year baptized people who were born in 100 different countries.
The immigration influx represents "a great opportunity to revitalize the American church," said Bishop Wenski, chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee. He said that is already seen in the fact that well over 20 percent of the priests ordained in the United States last year were foreign-born.
"Since the mid-1960s, 40 million immigrants have come to the United States," he said. "If they had not come, we would be facing a demographic winter like Europe."
The bishops said the rise of "new populations" in the church brings its set of challenges, including the need for more Hispanic priests, but it also underscores an aspect of U.S. leadership.
"There is an interesting cultural mix, and we have far more of that than other countries. We have something to offer the world on that point. I don't think culturally Europeans are as open as the United States is," Archbishop Favalora said.
END
Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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