1279 Courageous Bishops in PNG and Oceania speak up
austraLasia 1279
(to be read in tandem with #1278)
Courageous Bishops in PNG and Oceania speak up
VATICAN CITY: 9th OCtober 2005 -- Reference was made
in #1278 to the touching and courageous words of a number of
Bishops. As some of their 'ipsissima verba' are in L'Osservatore
Romano, in Italian admittedly, so only to that extent 'ipsissima', it
would seem appropriate to combine a few of their comments with the
immediately preceding austraLasia.
Coadjutor Bishop Arnold Orowae of Wabag, Papua New
Guinea, told synod participants that Catholics who live in remote
villages did not have "the opportunity for frequent celebration and
reception of the Eucharist". In his speech Oct. 6, he asked how
these communities would then be able to make the Eucharist the source
and summit of their lives as the church asks. He said the church needs
to reflect on "what kind of priest" they need in their situation, and
he asked the church to consider allowing the ordination of "mature
Christian men who are strong in faith, very committed, and have the
respect of the people." Often times these so-called "viri probati", or
"men of proven virtue", are older, married men. He said these men
could "be easily trained to preside at the eucharistic celebration"
which would then "make it easy for the people to participate in the
Eucharist, so that the importance and centrality of the Eucharist"
would "become true for the people".
Bishop Orowae questioned whether it was necessary
for a priest who had to serve poor, often illiterate people in remote
areas to have "years of intellectual formation in philosophy and
theology". He stressed ministers would have to have the proper and
"necessary training required," but that they would be ordained for the
task of only celebrating the Eucharist. The church needs to clarify its
position concerning the nature of the Eucharist, he said. "Some feel
that eucharistic hospitality is important," that "the Eucharist is food
for the hungry, not a reward for being good". He added that there was
concern the Eucharist not be seen as "an elitist sacrament" but as "a
celebration of the generosity of God....Others feel that the Eucharist
be given only to those who are adequately prepared," he said. "How
should the church explain these different opinions"?
Bishop Denis Browne of Hamilton, New Zealand,
president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of
Oceania, told the synod Oct. 7: "We, as church, need to be continually
open to finding ways in which the Eucharist can become easily available
to all our faithful people". The bishop said Catholics living in
small, isolated villages "have as much right to participate in the
Eucharist" as those living in big cities. Bishop Browne also told the
synod members, "We need to be sensitive to the questions that the
faithful often ask us", including the question: "Why does it seem
to be possible for former priests of the Anglican Communion to be
ordained and function as Catholic priests, while former Catholic
priests who have been dispensed from their vow of celibacy are unable
to function in any pastoral way"?
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