Fr Daniel Donovan
takes a further critical look at the draft pastoral plan for the Archdiocese
of Sydney. In the interests of encouraging intelligent discussion within
the Church community that is to the overall enhancement of the Church,
Catholica would welcome informed responses
or rebutals from those who drafted the plan, or writers with expertise
who disagree with Fr Donovan's criticisms.
A critique of the Draft Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese
of Sydney...
On Wednesday the priests of the Sydney Archdiocese met with the bishops
to discuss the Draft Pastoral Plan
for the Archdiocese. Catholica
has already carried a critique of the document which is neither pastoral
nor is it a plan suited to fostering faith development in the Archdiocese.
At this time, it is not clear whether the priests signed off on the document
but what is becoming more apparent is that the people are not embracing
the document. Major concerns centre on the document's lack of detail and
its failure to represent and to connect with daily life. The consultation
process has been inadequate and the document itself fails to provide a
rationale which would ground the identified priorities. The priorities
as listed in the document are not the priorities of the people but rather
proof of an evangelism agenda.
Researchers such as Daniel Levinson, Gail
Sheehy and Gerald O'Collins have stressed
the spiritual "second journey" of adults over the age of 40.
Recently, in The Bulletin magazine (5 June
2007), a Buddhist monk, Venerable Mahinda made the same point reminding
those people over 50: "Make sure you use
this second peak for your spiritual development, otherwise at the end
of your life, you will have nothing" (p.27).
Most of the persons attending Sunday mass are in this over 40 group but
the document fails to state goals and strategies for their spiritual growth
and faith development. It is little wonder that more and more persons
are turning to Buddhism to meet their spiritual needs.
Sections D and E under Evangelisation and Spiritual Renewal
names the promotion of journalism and regular forums to inform Cathoic
politicians on "spiritual and moral implications of proposed legislation..."
After the recent "forum" between the Cardinal and the politicians
it would seem that the politicians are aware of the implications of the
legislation but that their decisions will not necessarily follow catholic
teachings in a multicultural community. Later, under Priority 3, Parish
Renewal B2 refers to" Archdiocesan Multicultural Policy." What
are people to conclude here about the nature and scope of the Archdiocesan
Multicultural Policy?
Section D, the interest in journalism has shades of Opus Dei whose platform
consists of three planks: education, banking (finance) and journalism.
There is a growing concern among people that these three aspects of community
life in the Archdiocese are becoming more and more centralised and managed
by the myriad of offices, commissions. Who are in these offices? By what
process are they appointed? What limits are there to their power? What
is their level of competence to belong to these offices and or commissions?
The chapter on Parish Renewal needs a special look…
Time does not permit me to consider each Priority separately but the
Chapter, "Priority 3: Parish Renewal"
needs a special look.
- Faith is not born in the parish community but in the home/family
(Rite of Baptism of Children (RBC) # 64,
70).
- The Archdiocese must respect the traditions and contributions
of all Catholics to the Church. The respect for the history and contribution
of the various ethnic groups is not reflected in To
Know, Worship and Love which is the program to be taught
in both Catholic and Public schools. This catechism is much more in
line with the Supre principle that "one size fits all." Maybe
it is that the Office of education was unable to speak to the Office
of Migrant Chaplains who were unable to Speak to the Liturgy Office
and Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission on this project.
- Parishes are very happy with the Liturgy of Vatican II.
The Plan states that the Mass is "constitutive of the nature of
the Church." This sentence needs to be completed with the phrase
"[i]f you are male and certainly not a religious woman." The
Plan fails to recognise that new translations/language which will restore
Sunday mass attendance but it is the image of the Church as perceived
by people who are struggling to make ends meet. The Church leaders continue
to speak at rather than speak to the people and have assumed the triumphalism
of yesteryear. The Plan has settled for strategies of persons within
the system (priests, principals etc developing programs), this will
never work ! The structures themselves are the problem. "Renewal"
is used but again the language does not square with the reality. Structures
must be renewed. The leaders must become listeners as the Constitution
on Divine Revelation states "Hearers
of the word" (Dei Verbum DV#1-2).
The document goes on to state that God seeks "communion
with people, speaking to them as friends" and seeking
in return the gift of self in faith (DV#5).
This is evangelisation as the Church facilitates God's work of salvation.
- Section C speaks again of "regular workshops"
for a range of Church personnel. Again the Plan misses the point, in
fact it is almost "gnostic." Salvation is not about knowledge
Paul makes this point again and again in his letters (1
Cor 12:31-13:1-13). Paul stresses love and Jesus reached out
to the marginalised even to the extent of giving his life (Mk
10:45; Mt 25:45). The word and the sacraments are extensions
of the risen Jesus who continues to serve the least so that his Church
might be a sacrament of salvation for the world.
- Rationalisation of masses would seem to be a concern for
the people in a Parish rather than the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission.
Why are the people in Parishes always organised from above down rather
than from the roots up. Perhaphs this is the reason for envelopes now
marked "not for CWF." While changes are inevitable, there
will always be opposition when they are imposed from above by a patronising
authority. The matters raised in D, should be handled at the parish
level and not by the faceless men in the Archdiocesad Liturgical Commission.
- Sacraments must be considered in the context of the parishes.
Why should these programs of initiation, formation and education be
subjected to review by offices which are directly under the control
of Opus Dei?
- It is hard to see the link between marriages and funerals
but again the same formula of faceless offices/commissions. workshops
and knowledge is set in place. Funerals are times of special sensitivity
there must be consideration of the requests of the family and with the
opportunity for a wake on the evening before the funeral many of the
family's request can be met without any need to jeopardise the mass.
Special concern must be given to persons who are not regular mass goers
and who can be easily offended.
- Sacrament of Penance and the Rites of Reconciliation and
Penitential Celebrations (Rite of Penance
(RP#37)), again the structure is the problem. The sacrament of
penance has had a long and varied history in the Church. Only in the
second Century did the Church become aware of its power to forgive serious
sins (apostasy, adultery and homicide) committed after babtism. This
absolution could only be given once in the person's lifetime so many
people delayed the absolution until the time of death. This was called
public penance, not because there was a public confession but because
the whole community supported the person with prayer and fasting during
the time of his or her penance.
By the 800's however, the Irish monks brought a form of spiritual direction
which was used in the Irish monasteries to Europe. Here the monk approached
a senior monk and confessed his faults and was given spiritual advice
and forgiveness. Since the monasteries provided pastoral care for the
people it was natural that the people shared this same form of penance.
The difference between this penance and public penance was that it could
be repeated. By 1215, at Lateran IV, private penance became the official
form of the sacrament. This Council also, introduced the Easter Duty
which required that all persons who had "reached the age of reason"
receive the eucharist "worthily at least once a year." Since
it was assumed that the people had sinned they had to go to penance
before receiving the eucharist. Later at the Council of Trent (1562-1567)
the sacrament of Penance was revised and the council required that all
serious sins be confessed "according to number and kind."
With the change from public to private penance at Lateran IV, it became
harder to detect the community's participation in the process of reconciliation
(exomologesis) as the priest became the representative of the community.
Vatican II was concerned to restore the role of the community and the
close link between the proclamation of the word and conversion. To achieve
these ends three rites were established to foster interior conversion
which is evangelisation.
The vision of the Council was that the penitential celebrations and
the three rites should all be used to increase the community's commitment
to Jesus and its awareness not only of personal sin but also of social
sin. This social sin is the result of unjust structures which have become
so much a part of the social milieu of any society that they are taken
for granted e.g. slavery, discrimination, sexism etc. The hope was that
the Church which celebrates that "dangerous memory" of Jesus
who was unjustly murdered might see him and minister to him in "the
least" (Mt 25:45). In this context it
makes no sense to single out the first rite unless the idea is to accent
the priest's power of forgiving sin. Maybe the plan is to stress again
the two powers of the priest "to consecrate" in eucharist
and "to forgive" in penance? Surely any pastoral plan would
be concerned to raise the people's consciouness of sin and to develop
a forgiving community which was able to hear God's word and do it (Lk
11:27).
- Combining Parishes does not work. The issue is identity.
People have their own sacred space and sites. People will attend the
Church which is associated with their experiences and memories and will
not go elsewhere.
From the points above there is much to say about this chapter. Not only
is the Chapter devoid of serious theological and pastoral foundations
but the goals and strategies are not expressed in sentences. It is permitted
in a document of this type to have a stem which would contain a finite
verb to which all the following statements can be attached. However, the
Plan does not follow this methodology. Finally, I must reiterate my concern
that the document makes no mention of the role of the Holy Spirit.
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Fr
Daniel Donovan is a lecturer in the School of Religious Education
at the Strathfield campus of ACU National. He has a long history
in the education of primary school teachers in Religious Education.
He has given special attention to teaching beliefs and values courses,
and to field supervision of students in practicum. Further details
about his research interests and contact details can be found on
the ACU National website at rel-ed.acu.edu.au/ren2/staff.html.
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What are your thoughts on this commentary, and on the Draft Pastoral
Plan? You can contribute to the discussion in our forum.
©2007
Daniel Donovan
[Index of Commentaries by Fr Daniel
Donovan]
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