DOSSIER
From April 19 to May 14, 1998 the special Episcopal Synod for Asia was celebrated in Rome. Asia is the most vast and most mysterious continent on earth, with an area of 44 million sq. km. and more than three billion inhabitants, in other words more than two thirds of the world's population. It is the continent in which all the great religions of the world began and are now present: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is also the cradle of various other religious or philosophical traditions such as Taoism, Confucianism, Jansenism, Sikhism, etc. All of these have a task of "redemption" and offer a particular interpretation both of the human person and of the conditions and the ways offered to man for his liberation from evil and for salvation.
In this vast continent the Catholic presence does not exceed an average of 4% and approximately half are concentrated in certain regions of India (in particular Kerala), in the Philippines, in Korea and in Indochina. Therefore, in all the other countries, there are only very small minorities, between two and three per cent, even if in some countries they have all the same acquired a notable moral authority.
Nearly all the countries of Western Asia (the Middle East) had adhered to the Gospel from the first century of our era; but shortly after Islam prevailed, even if in all these countries there are still some dioceses of apostolic origin, such as the so-called "Christians of St. Thomas" in Southern India.
In China too Christianity arrived quite early, in 635, but in the Nestorian version. That is attested by the famous stela discovered in the city of Changan, which was sculpted in 781 and is still in existence.
Subsequently, a favorable reception was also received by some missionaries who proclaimed Christ but who adopted local cultural values and religious traditions. We may remember for China Giovanni da Montecorvino (1298 - 1318), and Matteo Ricci (1577-1610); for India Fr. De Nobili (1577-1656), and for Siam Msgr. Laneau from the Paris Foreign Missions at the end of the 1600s. A particularly fecund presence was also that of St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies. But such positive hopes were mostly frustrated by arguments and condemnation for the methods that were adopted (the question of the "malabar rites"). So much so that from 1715 the missionaries who set off for Asia had to openly swear to exclude, in their pastoral action, any ceremony or religious tradition belonging to Asiatic countries, since they were all held to be incompatible with the Catholic faith. Therefore, there was no respect for non-Christian religious values at that time. Even in 1870 a European missionary could write: "The religions of China are monstrous, absurd, the most ridiculous in the world" (cf. "Messis", 5/1998, p.12).
However, in this way every creativity growing in the local Churches was crushed, with the result that Christianity transplanted in Asia, but retaining the style of European culture, was often considered an essentially foreign and western religion.
The Themes Dealt With
This synod had as its theme: "Jesus Christ, the Savior, and His mission of love and service for Asia: so that they may have life and may have it abundantly". Therefore "Jesus the Savior", but in the perspective of the "mission" which the Church has to announce its message to the peoples of Asia, and to do so in a language which is fully comprehensible for them and which makes itself truly "credible".
A subject so central for Christianity, together with the problems of "communicability" and of "credibility", demanded reflection on many and various themes. At the same time there was the continuous preoccupation of maintaining an "Asiatic approach" to the various problems... This was an undertaking which presupposed that one had an adequate knowledge of the values and the religious traditions of that vast continent, a knowledge which could be used while attempting to formulate a presentation of Christ and His message which would be able to rouse interest and joy in the people and open their hearts to a hope which does not disappoint.
Ever present also was the preoccupation of presenting the Church not as a powerful institution but as a mystery of communion and a path of spirituality, dedicated to the life of prayer and to the search for God as well as to maintaining a solidarity with all the poor of the earth.
There were four sectors or centers of interest on which there was the greatest convergence of the synod fathers. In fact, dividing the 169 interventions made in the assembly, according to the themes dealt with, one could see that 29 were on inter-religious dialogue, 26 on inculturation, 26 on social problems and human promotion (globalization, justice, peace, women, migration, etc.) and 22 on evangelization.
Since it is not possible here to dwell upon all these themes, we shall limit our exposition to the theme of inculturation, well knowing however that this theme has many ramifications, according to whether one is dealing with the inculturation of the Gospel message, or the conception that one has of the Church, or of the liturgical rites and celebrations, or even of concrete, everyday "Christian living".
The insistence on the need for inculturation in two fields was predominant: in the presentation of the figure of Jesus the Savior, and in the way of organizing the liturgical life of the community.
Inculturation of the Message
"Today, evangelization", one reads in proposal n.6, "is a rich and dynamic reality. It presents us with many aspects and elements: dialogue, proclamation, catechesis, conversion, baptism, insertion in the ecclesial community, essential deep-rootedness in the Church, inculturation and the complete promotion of man... Consequently, in proclaiming Jesus Christ to the people of Asia, the richness that these aspects present should be taken into consideration: Jesus Christ as the master of wisdom, the healer, the liberator, the spiritual guide, the enlightened, the compassionate friend of the poor, the good Samaritan, the good shepherd, etc.". Only in a subsequent and more complete catechesis can Jesus Christ be presented as true man and true God.
In the "General Report" it is also emphasized that "It is not doctrinal arguments which will render the person of Jesus appealing and acceptable to the eyes of the Asiatic people". Most of all, it is pointed out, it is the witness presented to Jesus by Christians which must be "convincing". In precise terms: "A suffering servant of the Lord, who shares the sufferings, poverty, marginalization and exploitation of the Asiatics, and is capable of offering them a sense of the dignity of man, will succeed in winning the heart of Asia".
Inculturation of the Liturgy
Another field in which a genuine commitment to inculturation was overwhelmingly demanded was that of the liturgy, a cause of many disputes and much incomprehension in centuries gone by. For some decades now a different sensitivity has been in the air, even if too often only on the verbal level.
The liturgy is considered a "primary instrument" of evangelization. It permitted the persecuted Churches to save the faith. It must however be more lively and evocative, it must "touch the heart" of the faithful. Therefore, it cannot be reduced to being looked at purely "by the rules". "The inculturation which is today requested for the Churches of Eastern Asia", affirms the Greek Melchite Bishop C.S. Bustros, "was already realized in the Churches of Western Asia during the first millennium... Today the solution to the divisions between the Churches should be sought in the acceptance of the differences that exist in the expression of the same faith and of the differences that exist in ecclesial traditions".
"There is general appreciation of the work so far accomplished", comments M. Mattè in "Il Regno" (12/98, p.415); "however it is an appreciation which is not translated into subsequent procedures". In particular "the degree of control by Rome is felt to be humiliating". And he cites a paridigmatic example which is directly relative to the inculturation of the liturgy. This is from the intervention by the Indonesian Bishop, Fr. Hadisumarta who says, among other things: "Episcopal conferences have overseen liturgical translation and adaption. At present all this vital work has to go to Rome for approval, to people who do not understand our language! We await encouragement to move from adaption to inculturation and create new, indigenous rites".
The request was formalized in the "propositions"; in fact n.43 asks that the authority or the competence of approving the translations of liturgical text into the vernacular be granted to the Episcopal Conferences and to the Regional Conferences of Bishops, and it is only after this that it should be sent to the Roman Curia department.
Greater Autonomy for the Local Churches
There were numerous requests for greater autonomy to be granted to the local Churches, with regard to inter-religious dialogue, inculturation, adaptation to traditions and to the ethos of the location. The intervention of Bishop Hadisumarta (Indonesia) was entirely dedicated to this subject and the written text of his speech has been annexed to this "dossier".
This problem was already mentioned in the Instrumentum laboris, item n. 38, where it states: "Certain replies specify that autonomy should be granted to the local Churches with regard to dialogue, inculturation and adaptation". And Msgr. Bustros, Greek Melchite Bishop of Baalbek, comments: I would like to ask, for the Eastern Catholic Churches, the same autonomy which will be granted to the Orthodox Churches on the day in which the union between the Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church is realized. I would be satisfied with three things:
a) Recognizing the right of the synods of the Patriarchal Churches to elect the bishops of their Churches independently of the Roman Curia departments. Traditionally, in fact, the election of the bishops takes place within each patriarchate. And if today the Pope of Rome nominates the bishops of the Catholic Church, he does so as patriarch of the West and not as Primate of the universal Church.
b) Recognizing the rights of the synods of the Patriarchal Churches to create eparchies and to nominate the bishops for the faithful of their Churches outside the traditional territories of the East, and this independently of the Roman Curia departments.
c) Recognizing the right of the Patriarchal Churches to have married priests in their western eparchies, as happens in their eastern eparchies.
All these things are part of inculturation and, in respecting them, the Roman Catholic Church will advance that process of unifying Christians to which the encyclical Ut unum sint urges us, and also the apostolic letters Orientale lumen e Tertio millennio adveniente of his Holiness John Paul II.
On the threshold of the third millennium, we are called to accept the differences of our ecclesial traditions, in order to proclaim together our faith in the Christ who came for the deification of man, who came so that all men should have divine life "and may have it abundantly" (C.S. Bustros).
On the theme of a greater autonomy, Kuriakose Kunnacherry, the Malabar rite Bishop of Kottayam, also spoke and said: "The exhortation by Vatican Council II to welcome the many different Churches, with admiration and gratitude, must still be understood and put into practice in all its full significance if we want the peoples of Asia to look at the Church as a source of life. The Asiatic communities must not be disfigured in order to adapt them to the ecclesiastic structure typical of the Roman model. Rather, the flexibility and the liberty announced by Christ should allow the peoples of Asia to embrace full life in Christ with their own cultural, racial and ethnic characteristics".
Inculturation and adaptation, above all in the liturgical field, are also proposed in an explicit way in various propositions. Particularly significant for the clarity of language and for the energy with which it presents the exposition of the problem is proposition n.43. It is therefore worthwhile to reproduce it here in its entirety. It starts in this way: "The task of deeply implanting the Gospel in the various cultures of Asia demands a great deal of reflection and discernment... It is necessary to find suitable, creative and dynamic avenues and approaches to promote inculturation in the fields of theology, the liturgy, popular religiosity, etc. This synod also adds much importance to the inculturation of the proclamation of faith and encourages the continued pursuance of theological research on the part of theologians in particular, and of every Church in general. Such theological commitment must be maintained with courage, and with being faithful to the Scriptures and to the traditions of the Church, in communion with the teachings and with full awareness of the pastoral situations.
The liturgy is a primary instrument of evangelization. In the Eastern Churches it has saved the faith and has been inculturated with success. It must touch the heart of the members of the local Church and be evocative. For many Asiatic Catholics, the official liturgy is often seen as something which is foreign to them, it does not touch their hearts. That manifests the need to inculturate the liturgy in such a way that it becomes more meaningful and fertile in the context of their cultures (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi, n.48; EV 5/1643ff).
Consequently, the local Churches must have the authority and the freedom to inculturate the liturgy by adapting it to local cultures, while still recognizing the need for dialogue and communion with the Holy See, which is the principle of unity within the Church.
The synod asks the Congregation for divine worship and for the discipline of the sacraments, in order to allow local Episcopal Conferences and the Regional Conferences of Bishops the authority or the competence to approve the translations of the liturgical texts into the vernacular tongue which, afterwards, must be transmitted to the Roman Curia department itself.
It must be recognized that the inculturation of the liturgy, although necessary, is a delicate task which cannot and should not compromise that which is essential in the liturgy and in the Christian faith.
One must not see these texts as attempts to assert a greater autonomy in a more or less political sense, but rather a request for a genuine willingness, on everybody's part, to discern both the insuppressible needs of the human spirit and the powerful action of the Spirit of God which guides the Church. A call emphasized both by the Bishop of Naha (Japan), B. T. Oshikawa and by Cardinal Ratzinger.
It is necessary to insure, said the former, "that there must not be any impositions which might obstruct the action of the Spirit in the life and in the mind of people who, in the splendid variety of their history and their culture, seek God with a sincere heart". That means that the Holy See is called to "redefine its role", abandoning "a solitary, uniform and abstract body of legislation which suffocates genuine spirituality".
Cardinal Ratzinger also brought up a notable point in his discourse when he affirmed: "There are real reasons for fearing that the Church may take on too many institutions of human rights, which could then become like Saul's breastplate: so grand that it impeded young David's movements. It is always necessary to investigate whether the institutions, which were once useful, are still of use. The only institutional element necessary for the Church is that which has been given by the Lord: the sacramental structure of the People of God, centered on the Eucharist.
Clear and exacting words which come from people of authority and ability, and which, with good reason, justifiably open the heart to great expectations. Let us hope that they do not remain simply words written in the dusty volumes of libraries, but go on to be proposed and received as wise directives which will be used to mark the roads the Church must take for believers of the third millennium.
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ANNEX ONE
An Enhanced Role for the Episcopal Conferences
Francis Hadisumarta, O.Carm
Bishop of Manokwari-Sorong
(Indonesia)
We are pleased to publish this text by Bishop Hadisumarta (Indonesia) in its entirety, both because we have numerous S.C.J. brethren in that country and because it is a very meaningful and strongly motivated statement. Normally when people take the floor in the assembly hall the fathers of the synod limit themselves to make only a very brief reference to some particular aspect of the theme dealt with. This contribution instead is more articulate and touches on various themes which are of pressing interest, such as the autonomy of local Churches, inculturation, inter-religious dialogue, the adaptation of the liturgy, etc. And the fact that this statement was made in the name of the entire Indonesian Episcopal Conference makes us understand even more how much his reflections are deeply felt and shared.
I am speaking on behalf of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference. In our response to the Lineamenta we referred to the relationship between Local Churches at the regional and global levels. The Second Vatican Council set forth a vision of the Catholic Church as a communion of Churches (Lumen gentium, n. 23; cf. Ad gentes, c. III). We are united in a single faith which is expressed in each and every language and culture. The faith is one, its expression many fold. As we say in Indonesia Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity). Catholicity is enriched by the variety of local Churches, each rooted in its local context, each in living contact with each other.
Paul, the Collegial Apostle
The Catholic Church is not a monolithic pyramid. Bishops are not branch secretaries waiting for instructions from headquarters. We are a communion of local Churches. Paul is the great apostle of collegiality. He tirelessly visited the local Churches, urging, pleading, at times angry or disappointed, at times full of joy and comfort. Paul rarely ordered or instructed; he discussed, not gave orders. In Paul's time, decision-making was in the hands of the local community with a council of elders (episcopoi and presbyteroi) at their head.
Synodal Church at Every Level
In our day, ecclesial structures are beginning to reflect this rediscovered conciliar vision. Parishes are more and more living as a communion of Basic Ecclesial Communities, united at the Parish level in council with representatives from each Basic Community and supported by a diversity of ministries. Deaneries and Vicariates regularly meet in Council where presbyters and lay people share experience and seek out new ways for evangelization. Dioceses are also a communion of communities where Pastoral and Presbyterial Councils regularly reformulate the vision and set down guidelines for mission. At the national or regional level we have Episcopal Conferences.
Enhancing Episcopal Conferences
Since the Second Vatican Council the role of Episcopal Conferences in guiding the movement for renewal and mission has been crucial. Episcopal conferences have overseen liturgical translation and adaption. At present all this vital work has to go to Rome for approval, to people who do not understand our language! We await encouragement to move from adaption to inculturation and create new, indigenous rites.
A local Church becomes truly local when its laws are not only in line with the Spirit of the Gospel and the ecclesial norms but also with the ethos and legal tradition of the local people. We need to adapt Canon law in many pastoral areas of fundamental importance. We need the authority to interpret Canon law according to our own cultural ethos, to change and, where necessary, replace it.
There are so many areas where authority should be in the hands of the particular Church, that is, with the Episcopal Conference. For instance, the selection and appointment of bishops and the education and discipline of the clergy. The ordination of viri probati has been requested regularly by the Indonesian Episcopal Conference for thirty years. A majority of Catholics in most Dioceses, including my Diocese of Manokwari-Sorong in Irian Jaya, live by the Word rather than by Word and Sacrament. We are becoming "Protestant" by default. Cannot such pastoral concerns be worked out, and decided upon, by the local Episcopal Conference? (i.e. the Diocese of Sanggau asks whether it is true that "ex-priests" have to be excluded from offices in the Church. Cf. Responses, No. 14.2.2.,p.36). Jesus' first words to His apostles that Easter evening were: "Peace! Be not afraid!" We need to convey an Easter message of hope at the beginning of the new millennium.
Information Rather Than Control
Our Church is Catholic, that is, openly apostolic, transparently pastoral and universal in its faith. Theology, spirituality, law and liturgy should be as diverse as our languages and cultures. In the future this should lead to a change in the relationship between the Episcopal Conference and the various Roman Discasteries. The Roman Curia would then become a clearing house for information, support and encouragement rather than a universal decision-maker. Like the apostle Paul, the Curia would encourage, urge and entreat rather than command. The relationship between the local Episcopal Conference and the Nuncio would similarly change.
In Line with the Ancient Autonomy of Churches in Asia
I often ask myself: why is the New Evangelization not taking off as expected? What do we lack? What we need is trust: trust in God and trust in each other. Trust needs to be supported by the necessary authority to make decisions.
This vision, where Episcopal Conferences would have the trust and authority to evangelize - in dialogue with the poor, with cultures and with other faith-traditions, is both ancient and new. Do we have the imagination to envisage the birth of new Patriarchates, say the Patriarchate of South Asia, of Southeast Asia and of East Asia? These new Patriarchates, conciliar in nature, would support strengthen and broaden the work of individual Episcopal conferences. As the new Episcopal Conferences, in communion with neighboring Conferences in the same (new) Patriarchate, move forward in mission, so new Catholic Rites would come into existence. Thus, we envisage a radical decentralization of the Latin Rite, devolving into a host of local Rites in Asia, united collegially in faith and trust, listening to each other through appropriate synodal instruments at Parish, Deanery/Vicariate, Diocesan, National/Regional, Continental and inter-Continental level. So, at almost forty years since the Second Vatican Council, we should truly experience a "great synodal epoch".
FRANCIS HADISUMARTA o. carm.
Bishop of Manokwari-Sorong
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ANNEX TWO
The Dialogue between Christians and Muslims
Cyrille Salim Bustros
Greek-Melchite Bishop of Baalbek
One of the most recurrent themes spoken of by the various fathers of the synod was certainly that concerning inter-religious dialogue. For a Church whose communities are all in a situation of being in a minority, in relation to the great traditional religions of Asia, it is not possible to live without continual compatibility with a people and a society which professes a different faith. This, therefore, is a subject which deserves to be treated on its own. Even though we are not able to do so in this issue of "Dehoniana", we still couldn't resist the temptation to quote an extract from the statement by Bishop Bustros of the Greek-Melchites, who, with short phrases, underlined the necessity and, with this, the enormous difficulties that exist in a dialogue between the Christian communities of the Middle East and the Muslim environment in which they find themselves inserted and, at times at least, almost "imprisoned".
Although Arab speaking and inserted in Islamic cultures, and therefore in a good position for dialogue with the people who practice Islam, these Middle Eastern Churches find themselves in a region which is full of conflicts, and find that they are threatened by religious fundamentalism.
In this concern I would like to make three observations:
1. The conflicts in which these Churches find themselves involved, are more of a political than of a religious nature. Religious fundamentalism is, at the same time, both of a religious and of a political nature. In Lebanon the Islamic resistance is the work of the Hezbollah party. This party is currently supported by Shiite Iran and aims both at establishing, in Lebanon, a government based on an Islamic constitution and the ending of the Israeli military occupation in the southern part of the country. But liberation of the southern part of Lebanon is also aspired to by other Lebanese parties who are not fundamentalists. And since Israel is unconditionally supported by the United States, which is considered a Christian country, the Lebanese Christians are often seen by the Muslims as agents of American and western colonialism. Thus the mission of the Christians in the midst of the Muslims is obstructed by the unconditional support which the United States offers to Israel. The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem and the liberation of the territory occupied by Israel in Syria and in Lebanon will be an enormous help for us Christians in the Middle East, as we attempt to maintain a dialogue and live in co-existence with the Muslims.
Therefore, the Synod for Asia should appeal to the great powers to find, without delay, a fair solution to this problem which has been going on for more than fifty years now.
2. The mission of the Church in the midst of Muslims presents a double aspect.
a) "Projecting the image of a servant Church", as affirmed in the text of Instrumentum laboris (n. 11), and doing so by means of "works of charity and Christian witness in the schools, in the hospitals and in the other apostolic missions" (ibid, n. 11). And, as it is described in n. 28 of the Instrumentum laboris, this aspect is a continuation of the incarnation of the Son of God. The community which Jesus founded, says the text, must "follow His example and be recognized by certain human qualities, such as mercy, pardon, simplicity and authenticity of life, fraternal love and charity in mutual service and in the sharing of goods, both spiritual and material" (n. 28).
b) The Church must also seek to change the mentality of the Muslims, above all of the fundamentalists who aim at establishing Muslim law (the sharia) everywhere. It is in this sense that one must today understand the appeal Jesus Christ made to the Jews when He started preaching: "Be converted and believe in the Gospel". With regard to Islamic law, as with regard to the Jewish law at that time, we today must proclaim, following the example of Christ, the Gospel of love. This is the central message of our preaching in the Muslim environment: God is not a law, God is love. And men are not invited to submit themselves to a law, but to become the sons of God/Love and therefore to be brothers among brothers. Even if men worship God in different religions, Christianity, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, calls them to live in a single family, the family of God.
The third millennium will be the millennium of collaboration between religions in the promotion of solidarity, justice and peace among men.
Muslims are waiting for salvation which will come at the end of time. The Mahdi will come with Christ to establish the kingdom of justice on earth. Christianity, on the contrary, proclaims that salvation began with Christ and is a daily reality which is realized when men live "as children of God and as brothers and sisters of one heavenly Father" (Instrumentum laboris, n. 28). This is the message which we must proclaim "opportune et importune", and it is to this message that we are called to convert the Muslims and the followers of other religions. We shall leave to God the time and the moment that He has selected when we shall be able to say to the Muslims, baptizing them in water and in the Holy Spirit: "Muhammad Ali, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen".
3. Ecumenical Dialogue and Inculturation. Catholics are not the only Christians in Western Asia. There are also three Greek-Orthodox Patriarchates (Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem), two Armenian-Orthodox Catholic rites and two Armenian-Orthodox Patriarchates (Etchmiadzin, Cilicia, Constantinople and Jerusalem), a Syrian-Orthodox Patriarchate (Antioch), and an Assyrian Patriarchate. The Instrumentum laboris does not mention these Churches and merely alludes, in n. 39, to the "cultural unity" which "in Western Asia, the Christians, both Catholics and Orthodox" feel among each other... the feeling of sharing important elements deriving from a common ecclesial tradition" (n. 39).
It is on this common ecclesial tradition that I wish to insist, and I affirm that the inculturation which is today being requested for the Churches of Eastern Asia has already been achieved in the Churches of Western Asia in the course of the first millennium. Were not the divisions which separated Churches in the first millennium and in 1054 due, in great part, to the incapacity of the Churches to understand the phenomenon of inculturation? They were not able to admit that the same faith could be expressed in different ways in different traditions: Latin, Greek, Syrian, Armenian. They could not manage to accept that the Church could be administered in different ways in the East and in the West. Today the solution to the problem of divisions in the Church must be sought by accepting the diversity of the expression of the same faith and the diversity of ecclesial traditions.