VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 149   
   DATE 04-09-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope's video message to the Second International Congress of Theology in   
   Buenos Aires: overcome the divorce between theology and pastoral ministry   
   - In memoriam   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope's video message to the Second International Congress of Theology in   
   Buenos   
   Aires: overcome the divorce between theology and pastoral ministry   
    Vatican City, 4 September 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday Pope Francis sent a video   
   message to the participants in the Second International Congress of Theology,   
   on   
   the theme "Vatican II: memory, present and prospects", held in Buenos Aires   
   from   
   1 to 3 September to commemorate the centenary of the Faculty of Theology at the   
   Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), and the fiftieth anniversary of the   
   conclusion of Vatican Council II. Extensive extracts from the message are   
   published below:   
    "The anniversary of the Faculty of Theology celebrates the coming to maturity   
   of a particular Church. It celebrates life, history, the faith of the People of   
   God journeying on earth and in search of 'understanding' and 'truth' from their   
   own positions. ... It seems to me of great importance to link this event with   
   the   
   50th anniversary of the Closing of Vatican Council II. There exists no isolated   
   particular Church that can be said to be the owner and sole interpreter of the   
   reality and the work of the Spirit. No community has a monopoly over   
   interpretation or inculturation just as, on the other hand, there is no   
   universal Church that turns away from, ignores or neglects the local   
   situation".   
    "And this leads us to assume that it is not the same to be a Christian ... in   
   India, in Canada, or in Rome. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the   
   theologian   
   is to discern and to reflect on what it means to be a Christian today, in the   
   'here and now'. How does that original source manage to irrigate these lands   
   today, and to make itself visible and liveable? ... To meet this challenge, we   
   must overcome two possible temptations: first, condemning everything: ...   
   assuming   
   'everything was better in the past', seeking refuge in conservatism or   
   fundamentalism, or conversely, consecrating everything, disavowing everything   
   that does not have a 'new flavour', relativising all the wisdom accumulated in   
   our rich ecclesial heritage. The path to overcoming these temptations lies in   
   reflection, discernment, and taking both the ecclesiastical tradition and   
   current reality very seriously, placing them in dialogue with one another".   
    "Not infrequently an opposition between theology and pastoral ministry   
   emerges,   
   as if they were two opposite, separate realities that had nothing to do with   
   each other. We not infrequently identify doctrine with conservatism and   
   antiquity; and on the contrary, we tend to think of pastoral ministry in terms   
   of adaptation, reduction, accommodation. As if they had nothing to do with each   
   other. A false opposition is generated between theology and pastoral ministry,   
   between Christian reflection and Christian life. ... The attempt to overcome   
   this   
   divorce between theology and pastoral ministry, between faith and life, was   
   indeed one of the main contributions of Vatican Council II".   
    "I cannot overlook the words of John XXIII in the Council's opening discourse,   
   when he said 'The substance of the ancient doctrine of the depositum fidei is   
   one thing; and the way in which it is presented is another'. We must turn again   
   ... to the arduous task of distinguishing the living message from the form of   
   its transmission, from the cultural elements in which it is codified at a given   
   time".   
    "Do not allow the exercise of discernment to lead to a betrayal of the content   
   of the message. The lack of this theological exercise detrimental to the   
   mission   
   we are invited to perform. Doctrine is not a closed, private system deprived of   
   dynamics able to raise questions and doubts. On the contrary, Christian   
   doctrine   
   has a face, a body, flesh; He is called Jesus Christ and it is His Life that is   
   offered from generation to generation to all men and in all places".   
    The questions our people pose, their anguish, their quarrels, their dreams,   
   their struggles, their concerns all have hermeneutical value we cannot ignore   
   if   
   we are to take seriously the principal of incarnation. ... Our formulations of   
   faith were born of dialogue, encounter, comparison and contact with different   
   cultures, communities and nations in situations calling for greater reflection   
   on matters not previously clarified. For Christians, something becomes   
   suspicious when we no longer admit the need for it to be criticised by others.   
   People and their specific conflicts, their peripheries, are not optional, but   
   rather necessary for a better understanding of faith. Therefore it is important   
   to ask whom we are thinking of when we engage in theology. Let us not forget   
   that the Holy Spirit in a praying people is the subject of theology. A theology   
   that is not born of this would offer something beautiful but not real".   
    "In this regard, I would like to explain three features of the identity of the   
   theologian:   
    1. The theologian is primarily a son of his people. He cannot and does not   
   wish   
   to ignore them. He knows his people, their language, their roots, their   
   histories, their tradition. He is a man who learns to appreciate what he has   
   received as a sign of God's presence because he knows that faith does not   
   belong   
   to him. This leads him to recognise that the Christian people among whom he was   
   born have a theological sense that he cannot ignore.   
    2. The theologian is a believer. The theologian is someone who has experience   
   of Jesus Christ and has discovered he cannot live without Him. ... The   
   theologian knows that he cannot live without the object / subject of his love,   
   and devotes his life to sharing this with his brothers.   
    3. The theologian is a prophet. One of the greatest challenges in today's   
   world   
   is not merely the ease with which it is possible to dispense with God; socially   
   it has taken a step further. The current crisis pivots on the inability of   
   people to believe in anything beyond themselves. ... This creates a rift in   
   personal and social identities. This new situation gives rise to a process of   
   alienation, owing to a lack of past and therefore of future. The theologian is   
   thus a prophet, as he keeps alive an awareness of the past and the invitation   
   that comes from the future. He is a able to denounce any alienating form as he   
   intuits, reflecting on the river of Tradition he has received from the Church,   
   the hope to which we are called".   
    "Therefore, there is only one way of practising theology: on one's knees. It   
   is   
   not merely the pious act of prayer before then thinking of theology. It is a   
   dynamic reality of thought and prayer. Practising theology on one's knees means   
   encouraging thought when praying and prayer when thinking".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    In memoriam   
    Vatican City, 4 September 2015 (VIS) - The following prelates have died in   
   recent weeks:   
    - Bishop Simon-Pierre Saint-Hillien, C.S.C., of Hinche, Haiti, on 22 July at   
   the age of 64.   
    - Cardinal William Wakefield Baum, major penitentiary emeritus of the   
   Apostolic   
   Penitentiary, on 23 July at the age of 88.   
    - Bishop Fransiskus Xaverius Rocharjanta Prajasuta, M.S.F., emeritus of   
   Banjarmasin, Indonesia on 28 July at the age of 83.   
    - Archbishop Salvatore Cassisa, emeritus of Monreale, Italy, on 3 August at   
   the   
   age of 93.   
    - Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, emeritus of Ciudad del Este,   
   Paraguay,   
   on 14 August at the age of 69.   
    - Cardinal Laszlo Pacifik Paskai, O.F.M. archbishop emeritus of   
   Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, on 17 August at the age of 88.   
    - Bishop Vladimír Filo, emeritus of Roznava, Slovakia, on 18 August at the age   
   of 75.   
    - Bishop Paul Lokiru Kalanda, emeritus of Fort Portal, Uganda, on 19 August at   
   the age of 88.   
    - Bishop Gaetano Aldo (Thomas) Donato, auxiliary of Newark, New Jersey,   
   U.S.A.,   
   on 25 August at the age of 74.   
    - Archbishop Maroun Khoury Sader, emeritus of Tyre of the Maronites, Lebanon,   
   on 26 August at the age of 88.   
    - Abbot Carmelo Domenico Recchia, O. Cist. emeritus of Claraval, Minas Gerais,   
   Brazil, on 26 August at the age of 93.   
    - Bishop Francisco Capiral San Diego, emeritus of Pasig, Philippines, on 26   
   August at the age of 79.   
    - Former nuncio Jozef Wesolowski, on 28 August at the age of 67.   
    - Bishop Carlos Maria Ariz Bolea, C.M.F., emeritus of Colon-Kuna Yala, Panama,   
   on 29 August at the age of 86.   
    - Bishop Pierfranco Pastore, secretary emeritus of the Pontifical Council for   
   Social Communication on 30 August at the age of 88.   
    - Archbishop George Hamilton Pearce, S.M., emeritus of Suva, Fiji Islands, on   
   30 August at the age of 94.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)