He has asked parishes in the Archdiocese of Quebec to "pause" their catechetical programs and use the time to think of the future.

Lacroix says the last few months have given the Quebec church an "unhoped-for opportunity" to "begin anew."

"Fewer and fewer of our brothers and sisters in Quebec are Christians. This cannot leave us indifferent. It is urgent that we evangelize and form (people) to Christian life. We must realize that our methods and ways of doing things do not bear the fruits we expect."

He went on to tell parishes that if they haven't begun catechesis with children and young people to prepare them for the sacraments of Christian initiation, to take a break.

"Let's at least give ourselves the autumn to reflect together," he told them.

"Time and space" is necessary to discern the next steps to implement "the priority of formation to Christian life for adults," Lacroix told parishes.

"I know that this request is going to create a certain stir."

"But without this pause, we know that it will not be possible to make in-depth changes, changes that are necessary."

Although Lacroix would like parishes to take up his suggestion, he has not imposed a "moratorium" on catechesis.

He hopes the pause will facilitate a "transformation" in favour of focusing on "the Christian initiation of adults."

"We're going to give ourselves time to ask ourselves how we're going to work directly with adults, and by ricochet, with families," a spokesperson for the Archdiocese says.

This pause would not affect baptisms or marriages even if, one day, pastoral approaches to these sacraments is reviewed.

The director of Quebec's Catechesis Office calls Lacroix's request "daring."

Bishops don't usually ask to put catechesis on hold, she says.

The attention given to adults is important.

Catechesis is to be conceived beyond its stereotype of sacramental preparation, so it can be "for all ages" and become "an opportunity to listen to what resonates in oneself and in one's experience," she says.

A theologian who has worked many times on the sacraments of Christian initiation says he has hoped for such a move for many years.

"To put it bluntly, if, after the pause required by the archbishop," catechesis "does not start again having assumed these two changes — offering faith rather than just the sacraments, and deploying a solid catechesis for adults — then the pause will have been useless," Daniel Laliberte says.

He thinks the Church hasn't been able to initiate change mainly because few people are able to propose a plan that clearly indicates the objective and the steps to do it.

"Whether we like it or not, times have changed so much that the church, confined to its practices, has seen its credibility seriously eroded, so much so that it is at odds with today's world," he says.

A "missionary church" committed to fraternal love and dignity is made visible, he says.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: The Catholic register

Pope Francis will reportedly appoint Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst to a new position with the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

There has been no official confirmation of the appointment, but it appears Bishop Tebartz-van Elst will be a "delegate for catechesis" for the pontifical council.

It seems the position has been created just for him.

He was reportedly told of his new role by the Vatican's secretariat of state in December, according to a Vatican Insider article.

Last year, the Pope accepted the bishop's resignation as Bishop of Limburg.

The bishop's departure came after a Church report revealed spending approaching US$40 million on Bishop Tebartz-van Elst's official residence and diocesan centre.

This saw the prelate dubbed the "Bishop of Bling" in the media.

At the time his resignation was accepted, a Vatican statement noted that the bishop "will be assigned a different position at an opportune time".

Veteran Vatican correspondent John Thavis wrote that Bishop Tebartz-van Elst's position at the new evangelisation council "will involve making contact with bishops' conferences on issues involving religious education, which has been one of his areas of interest".

Thavis also noted that "it struck some as odd that a bishop forced to resign for financial mismanagement would land any job in the Roman Curia".

"All the more, in this case, because under the Curia restructuring plan being hammered out by papal commissions, the council for new evangelisation may well disappear sometime next year."

However, parking problematic bishops in the Curia is a bit of a Vatican tradition, Thavis wrote.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Zambia was removed from his diocese over faith-healing practices in 1983, but was brought to the Council for Migrants and Travellers as a special delegate.

And, in 2011, Portuguese Bishop Carlo Azevedo ended up in a newly created position of delegate at the Pontifical Council for Culture, following disagreements with the patriarch of Lisbon, Thavis noted.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• John Thavis
• Irish Times
• Reuters
• Image: The Guardian

Cardinal Raymond Burke said the deficiencies in catechesis had "left generations of Catholics ill-prepared to deal with the challenges of our time by addressing the Catholic faith to those challenges".

Cardinal Burke, who is prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, was interviewed by the Zenit news agency.

When the interviewer remarked that Pope Benedict XVI said once "that the crises we see in society today can be linked to problems of the liturgy", Cardinal Burke replied: "Yes he was convinced of that and I would say, so am I. It was, of course, more important that he was convinced of it, but I believe that he was absolutely correct."

Comparing Pope Francis to Pope Benedict, the cardinal said Pope Francis has not yet had the opportunity to teach in an authoritative way about the liturgy, "but in the things he has said about the sacred liturgy I see a perfect continuity with Pope Benedict XVI".

Questioned on the importance of a sound understanding of the liturgy, Cardinal Burke said it is "the most important area of catechesis: to understand the worship accorded to God".

"The first three commandments of the Ten Commandments are to do with this right relationship to God, especially with regards to worship," he added. "It's only when we understand our relationship with God in offering worship that we also understand the right order of all the other relationships we have."

He denounced as "a Communist misconception" the argument that the liturgy is mostly about aesthetics and not as important as good works done in faith.

"First of all, the liturgy is about Christ," he said. "It's Christ alive in his Church, the glorious Christ coming into our midst and acting on our behalf through sacramental signs to give us the gift of eternal life to save us. It is the source of any truly charitable works we do, any good works we do."

Source:

Zenit

Image: CBCP for Life

This is what a document recently issued by Fr. Shanthi Chako PIME, Secretary of the Commission for Youth and Laity within the Episcopal Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, says.

Bishop Bernard Unabali of Bougainville, says in the past, the family ensured "adequate formation in prayer, spirituality and faith", but now this process has been weakened or stopped.

Source

• Fides - English
• Fides -French
• Image - Google