Inside
NCR
The next general council of the
church should be called Jakarta I or São Paulo I or, perhaps,
Johannesburg I. We used Vatican III on the cover because it is easily
recognized as a symbol of moving on, of imagining the future.
Imagining and moving toward the future should always be a work of
the people of God. That work, however, takes on special significance today when
the hierarchy in the United States and elsewhere, beset by scandal, is deep in
its own struggle to move toward new standards of accountability and
transparency. How the bishops will achieve the kind of accountability they
speak of is difficult to imagine. How the worldwide church achieves the kind of
accountability and trust that is required in any healthy community is also
unknown. But the need for such qualities in the Catholic community is
crucial.
We deeply believe that people all over the world, clergy and lay,
men and women, who love this church also have good instincts and ideas about
leadership, lay involvement, what issues are essential for the church to
address. Many responded to our invitation to help draft the Blueprint in the
pullout section that begins on Page 11. Some responded at length.
Our intention is to start a discussion. In reading the responses,
what shines through -- and is deeply moving -- is the beauty of the
writers love for the church; the impressive faith that so many Catholics
have in its power to transform; their firm yet humble hope in Jesus
promise.
This is a blueprint in the most rudimentary sense. Help us flesh
it out with ideas and comments. Youll find listed in the pages several
ways to join the conversation. We hope you do. What better time for the people
of God to be imagining a new future?
I recently came across a memorable
piece written for the Catholic Peace Fellowship, a newsletter of
the Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi (with whom I had the pleasure of
spending some time recently). The piece was written by Fr. Francis X. Meehan. I
met Meehan some years ago when he and I were working with others on a peace
project. I recall him as a gentle teacher of great patience with
non-theologians trying to mine the churchs social justice tradition.
In a moving essay he reflects on a world in great need at a time
when the church is turned in on itself, a situation that he writes could
end up -- in divine paradox -- to be a new opening outward.
The post-Easter breath is upon all of our cheeks.
We
would prefer, like Peter, to disassociate. We do not know the man! Yet, a
mystic sees deeply, and knows that no sin is ever committed that is not shared
by the whole body. And yet, just as the whole body shares in the sinfulness, so
the whole body shares in the breath of the Spirit.
Could this mean something hopeful? Could it be that the
church in its leaders, in all of us, has been shaken, now more so than ever,
from our perch in society and culture? Could the bonds that tie us -- leaders
and people -- too closely to nation and culture be loosened? Could a
bishops comedown, my comedown, free me up? Could not the diminishment in
the eyes of all of us -- bishops, priests and Catholics who refuse to
disassociate, who have less to lose -- could it not lead us to a new turn
outward toward those so many things that desperately need our engagement? Let
us pray for that, and for one another.
Life in the newsroom has been
increasingly hectic in recent weeks as reporters and editors from every medium
tap NCR for its understanding of the clergy sex abuse crisis.
Some of us have spent up to four hours a day giving background and
live interviews. None has been busier or more present on TV and radio than John
Allen, who interrupted a U.S. book tour to hustle back to Rome to cover the
recent summit.
In less than four days (which included a flight to Rome from New
York), Allen appeared on CNN numerous times; National Public Radios
morning news shows, as well as All Things Considered, and
Fresh Air; the Lehrer News Hour on Public Television;
Fox News; the CBS Morning Show; Today on NBC; and he
had an op-ed piece in the April 22 New York Times.
All of that, of course, is a testament to his reporting, his
seemingly boundless knowledge of the Vatican and its history, his evenhanded
presentation of the facts, his incredible work ethic and the stamina to go
several days on just a few hours sleep while remaining not only awake but
amazingly lucid before the camera. And, as always, his story arrived here ahead
of deadline and at the desired length.
That done, in his own words, he crashed.
Finally, I would like to make
special note -- since it is not noted on our front page -- of the special
section, Summer Listings II, which begins on page 29. If you believe in
supporting those who continue to make room for discussion of topics new and
old, permitted and forbidden, please take advantage of this section. Many of
the places listed represent, in these sometimes-dreary days, the light, hope
and renewal essential to the church.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2002
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