Courtney McGrailSusan Gately
More than 250 members of catechism study groups from all across the country gathered in Maynooth this week to face the challenge of the new evangelisaiton in a radically changing culture.
The Church is living in a new context, Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon, France, told the gathering. Christians, he said, are a minority in a secular society. Pastoral strategies of the past were based on doing things in Catholic societies, “this is no longer the case”, he warned.
The Church must find ways to join people where they are, using the language they use and hearing their issues, Dr Rey said.
He told of how in his own diocese in the south of France, he bought what had been a gay bar and turned it into a cafe of welcome near the port in Toulon. One priest who is part of a religious community spends his evenings in nightclubs.
“He doesn’t dance or drink but his presence affects the people,” Bishop Rey said. Seminarians have formed a rugby team as a way of reaching younger people. “Young people are attracted by sport and music. Visibility is important – to be there.”
Before he was bishop, Dr Rey was parish priest in the red light district of Pigal in Paris. “I had a café beside a sex shop where we welcomed the people who passed by and told them we were Christians.”
The bishop, who was part of the Emmanuel Community, sees every encounter which brings a person into contact with the Church as a wonderful opportunity. For example, in France 99% of couples live together before being married, but some come forward for church weddings. This, he said, is an “opportunity to evangelise them so they can be Christian spouses and parents”.
Addressing the main topic of his talk, the role of the priest in the new evangelisation, Bishop Rey said prayer and holiness were the first fundamentals of mission. “The Holy Spirit is the first player in the mission of the Church. He precedes and prepares our efforts.”
Forgetful
He said that in an often hedonistic society, forgetful of God, priests faced numerous challenges like secularism, clericalism, activism and scepticism. A priest seeking to become holy, live celibacy and in simplicity of life, was, he said, counter-cultural.
He warned that the temptation is to “run from the demands of this challenging position by becoming a kind of customer service officer seeking to please everybody, conforming to the lifestyle of our contemporaries”.
He also warned of the dangers of clericalism describing it as a vision of priesthood “as power over community and pastoral life”.
“The Good Shepherd doesn’t put himself above people but under their feet, sometimes he even carries them,” he said.
Activism, he said, leads priests to act “as if salvation depends on us”. It is important to develop antidotes to this, Bishop Rey said. “Be a man of prayer, emphasise hospitality and listening.
“Priests can’t be everywhere. Distinguish the urgent from the important,” he advised.
In his native France, Bishop Rey said, the scarcity of clergy often leads to isolation and the temptation to “go it alone”. In addition, many priests are tired or overburdened.
Faced with a new generation who don’t understand the message for which they gave their life, the temptation is to succumb to scepticism which Dr Rey described as a sickness that destroys hope.
“But the priest is the minster of hope.
“He celebrates at each Mass, proclaims the resurrection of Christ. He is called to start afresh from Christ, to embark on the path of evangelical radicalism, to root himself in prayer. In this way he will find around him signs of renewal.”
The new context for evangelisation, Bishop Rey believes, also demands a new pastoral governance based on priest and laypeople “discerning together a path of growth for the diocese and parish communities”.
He described team work and delegation as essential. However, he also warned: “pay attention to the conduct of pastoral change. Vision is exciting, but how we live a pastoral programme is as important as the programme itself.”
Responding to Bishop Rey’s address, Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin said Ireland is blessed with “really good priests”.
“I think we need to let go of some of the ways we always used to do things and be more open to these [new] ideas,” Dr Martin said.
The Primate said the Holy Spirit was enriching the Church in Ireland with charisms which were given to many people.
“We have to be able to recognise them, identify and nourish them and give them space,” the archbishop said.