Belém do Pará, Brazil, Aug 21, 2019 / 02:51 pm (CNA).-
A long-time missionary bishop of the Amazon River delta has said that the working document for an upcoming synod of bishops on the region does not address the actual problems faced by the Church in the region.
Bishop José Luis Azcona, is the missionary bishop emeritus of Marajó, a diocese that includes dozens of islands in the Amazon River Delta. During his years of service in the region, Azcona lived under death threats for denouncing human trafficking and for defending the human rights of indigineous people.
In remarks recently offered to ACI Digital, CNA’s Portugese-language sister agency, Azcona criticized the Instrumentum laboris, or working document, for October’s Pan-Amazonian synod of bishops, which he said fails to address the Church’s most pressing challenges: a growing Pentacostal majority; child labor, abuse, and trafficking; and a spiritual crisis.
Azcona said that synod must address a sobering reality: “the Amazon, at least the Brazilian Amazon, is no longer Catholic.”
He questioned the central points of the synod’s preparatory document, which he said focus unduly on “a distorted vision of the so-called Amazonian face,” “interculturality,” and the ordination of married men.
The Face of the Amazon
According to Azcona, “the Amazon, at least the Brazilian Amazon, is no longer Catholic.
“This point of departure is crucial for conducting the synod. If the Amazon has a Pentecostal majority, it is necessary to address that reality thoroughly.”
“Any nostalgia for an Amazon that no longer exists is fatal to its integral evangelization. Even in some areas of the Amazon the Pentecostal majority reaches 80%,” he said.
“A Pentecostal penetration into several indigenous ethnic groups, overrunning cultures, ethnic identities, indigenous peoples in the name of the Gospel, is a serious phenomenon in today’s Amazon, which with its fundamentalist and proselytizing connotations has a profound impact on the indigenous peoples.”
“This is today’s Amazonian face!”
“There’s not one word about this point in the Instrument laboris,” Azcona said.
The bishop added that “the long experience of years confirms that in many Amazonian dioceses the faith is not lived out in society nor in history. The chasm between the confession and celebration of faith in beautiful liturgies and the social, environmental, cultural and political reality has not yet been overcome.”
Child abuse
Azcona next pointed the pervasive problems of child abuse in the Amazon region.
“Unfortunately, the synod doesn’t know, or knowing doesn’t understand, the significance, for the present and the future of the Amazon, of the faces of anguished, re-victimized and denigrated children, [abused] by their own parents and relatives, subjected to a slavery that forms an essential part of the abandoned and destroyed face of Jesus in the Amazon.”
“This entire document is straw if it doesn’t understand or doesn’t commit to the spirit and letter of the Gospel: ‘He who receives a little one like this receives Me and he who receives Me, receives the Father who sent Me.”
In that regard he continued, “in Pará alone in one year there were 25,000 reports of crimes of this kind [Editor’s note: pedophilia]. According to experts in this area, for every reported case of pedophilia there are four others besides. If during approximately one year there were 100,000 abused children in Pará, isn’t this face of destroyed children an essential part of the Amazonian face?”
“Where is the pastoral sensitivity, so evident and so firmly expressed by the Holy Father Pope Francis, expressed by those responsible for the Instrumentum laboris?” Azcona asked.
“Where is the defense of the Amazon, of its children, in the Instrumentum laboris, and, therefore, in the synod? Let’s stop these false projections about the Amazon, and instead make possible new paths for it.”
“What is the Amazonian face? Can a synod next October of this magnitude be built with a presentation so far from reality, from identity, from respect for what is different, when pre-established schemes of interpretation of reality deform what is real?” he questioned.
Inculturation or ‘Equalization’?
Azcona also criticized “the themes around the inculturation of the Gospel in the Amazon and related areas,” which he said “are presented in a context of immanence, Neo-Pelagianism, leveling out the Gospel with Amazonian (indigenous) cultures, ecclesiologically devoid of theological and pastoral foundations, annulling the Gospel of salvation.”
Recalling the Ad gentes decree of the Second Vatican Council, the bishop pointed out that “the words of the Gospel proclaimed by the Church decide the destiny of persons, of peoples, cultures and nations.”
“In no part of the Instrumentum laboris is anything similar explicitly affirmed. On the contrary, the tendency to equalize the indigenous cultures with the Gospel is overwhelming. This is a point of departure which cannot be dispensed with in a synod.”
“Forgetting this fundamental principle renders the synod useless and nullifies the specific and unique power of God in the Gospel, as well as all missionary dynamism in the Amazon and from the Amazon,” he said.
Azcona pointed out that “in no part of the Instrumenum laboris is the presence of demons spoken of, or their influence, their malice in persons, peoples and cultures, as well as the victory of Christ, his deliverance and the destruction of the power of the Evil One.”
“The document forgets the luminous and guiding pages that speak of the Evil One and his presence in history, to which Pope Francis devotes numbers 158-164 in last year’s apostolic exhortation on holiness, Gaudete et Exultate.”
He also warned that “the Pelagianism spread throughout the document, leads to attributing to the Amazonian man, to his ethnic and cultural groups, more than what belongs to them, because they are realities created and marked by sin, and it supplants the solid conciliar doctrine about the Gospel and the mission of the Church in the power of the Risen One, as found in Lumen gentium 16.
“Finally, the utopian ideo to revitalize the pre-Colombian religions, separating them from Christ and the universal Church, would not be progress but regression,” he said.
Ecological conversion
Addressing the question of ecological conversion, the bishop argued that “the need for repentance for the forgiveness of sins is the fundamental challenge that the Church has to face in the Amazon. Without this absolute priority of the being and action of the Church there is no future for the Amazon, because we thus forget the presence of the Kingdom of God in the world.”
“In the absence of the repentance that ‘makes exist that which does not exist’ for the generation of the new Amazonian man, the document does not experience the hunger, the thirst for the Holy Spirit.”
According to the bishop “the document, forgetting the New Pentecost encouraged by Pope Saint John XXIII in the preparatory prayer for the Council, sets aside the nucleus of the mission in the Amazon. Is this mission in the Amazon like a land and water mission? Or is it the missionary dimension which, as the Church in the Amazon, is called and sent out to the world? Let us be guided by the inspired teaching of Pope Francis in Evangelii gaudium.”
“What the Holy Father proposes is evangelization and therefore an Amazon very different from a set of tasks carried out, projects, pastoral plans, inculturation, ecology.”
“Why doesn’t the document cry out this truth, the only truth that can save the Amazon?” he asked.
Viri probati
Azcona said that “the ordination of “viri probati” is going to be useless,” since “it’s placing a piece of new cloth on an old fabric. The tear is bigger!”
On the other hand, he observed, “the clergy in the Amazon need, as does the entire Church, repentance, conversion, the faith that saves in the strict sense. Experience offers this evidence. The meaning of the priestly ministry and specifically in the Amazon, is lost or is dead in the lives or in the authentic pastoral conversion of priests.”
“Why ordain viri probati within a priesthood in crisis?” he asked
“The perfect and perpetual continence of the Kingdom of Heaven will continue being, a sign of encouragement of pastoral charity and the original source of spiritual fruitfulness- within the Amazon,” he said.
“We may ask: Does this attitude of prayer exist for the gift of celibacy in the priests of the Amazon? “Does the entire Church pray that this sublime gift be poured out on the whole Body of Christ? The facts answer: ‘No’!’”
“And also, and principally, deciding this issue is something completely inopportune in a context in which the current trends of large groups of Catholics, the so-called conservatives, are questioning the Magisterium of the Church, specifically in the Supreme Pontiff himself. Some are publicly calling him a heretic demanding his immediate resignation. Others are demanding his resignation for the lack of consistency on the issue of pedophilia in the Church! Let’s not entertain a discussion on the legitimacy of these questions. What is certain is than an affirmative response would open up the risk of a division, of a real schism in the Church.”
He thus stressed that “it’s not about the victory of the so called ‘conservatives’ or the ‘progressives.’ It’s about what is greatest in the Church: charity. In the face of charity, any concept or sociological label ought to pale.”
“Recognizing that the venerable institution of priestly celibacy belongs to the disciplinary area of the Church and therefore subject to changes, I considerate it disadvantageous, even dangerous at this time for ecclesial unity, to open up the possibility that the document is asking for,” Azcona said.
“It’s not an exclusively indigenous ministry problem. It’s a situation of the widespread shortage of priests in the Church. The same reasons that can be invoked for this recognition asked for by the document are the same ones that can be applied to the entire Church, or to much of it.”
According to the bishop, “the problem is not just the lack of enough priests, but the examination, discernment of this great shortage for a realistic solution. The fundamental root of this shortage of vocations in the Church and also in the Amazon, including the evangelized indigenous peoples, is due to an alarming lack of faith or the absence of faith that works in practice through love and necessarily in history and society.”
Thus, he explained, “even though it’s a disciplinary issue, this becomes an ethical imperative beginning with the absolute instruction: Christ died for the unenlightened brother; your freedom is not something absolute; it is against Christ they sin, wounding the conscience of the brother; the only absolute is love; this love is that of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”
“Is this the love of the Church in the Amazon? Is this the love of God that sufficiently pervades the criteria for pastoral care, the ecclesial criteria, the praxis as the supreme reality or is it gnosis or Pelagius which commands the ship of the Church in the Amazon?”
“This danger of schism is not imaginary! Nor in the Amazon!” Azcona concluded.
Azcona, 79, is a native of Pamplona, Spain. He was appointed a missionary bishop in the Amazon in 1987, and retired from his post in 2016.
This interview was first published by ACI Digital, CNA’s Portugese-language sister agency. It has been adapted and translated by CNA.
[…]
Oh good grief!
Cowards! Cowards!
Woe to those priests who have vowed obedience to Our Lord and yet so publicly and profoundly spit in His face!
Clarification is fine, but a year of penance in ashes and sackcloth would be more fitting for such an offense against the Person of God the Son.
Forgive them Lord despite the fact that they KNEW what they were doing and did it anyway.
“O, Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of JESUS CHRIST truly present in all the Tabernacles of the world in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is most offended. I unite with the merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary to pray for the conversion of poor sinners.”
Amen
We need someone to go in and clean up the Church top to bottom. Maybe Elon could help out.
Inadvertent?
Gimme a break.
So do we now have another heretic Church to align with Germany? What the Vatican does in response will correct or confirm the birth of the polygonal Church.
Consider it confirmed Fr Peter. This is happening left right and center. One of the last “V2 masses” I attended in France that happened with an Anglican male “priest”.
Bergoglio is hell bent on transforming the formerly HRCC into Anglican Communion II; next time round “She” will be presiding.
We are ALL Traditionalists now?
I fear you’re correct Signor Cracked Nut. But we’ve got better weaponry and a much better Captain. Christ.
Ah, so it was an “isolated incident of inadvertent violation of liturgical norms.”
They must not have realized that the Anglican minister was not Catholic.
And a woman.
(Sigh.)
Our Catholic leadership thinks that we’re imbeciles.
These are men without eyes that see. Their eyes are of DIE. Perhaps they assumed she was a man going trans; they were okay with that. They all should have stayed in charge of Catechism StoryHour, reading parables to first graders.
Concelebrated?
Never mind that centuries ago the Anglican ecclesial communion rendered invalid its ordinations, as noted by Pope Leo XIII in 1896:https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13curae.htm
Repugnant.
Why was this Anglican “minister” even there, much less be allowed on the altar, AND receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ?
Someone screwed up big time, and it also speaks volumes that this person had to have known that she was not allowed to partake of the Eucharist, yet chose to do so anyway. This is blatantly disturbing, and some answers had better be provided soon without excuses. I’m a sinner like everyone else, but as a Catholic, I know when not to receive.
This was NOT a Catholic Mass.
It wasn’t possible that this was a valid Mass. It was a performance of sorts – a really bad one at that. Shame on the clergy participating in that sham.
Yet traditionalists are the problem according to many (most?) in Rome. Riiiiiiiight. 🙄
All are welcome…🙈😜 As for a correction, expect instead the kiss of peace from this pontificate. 💋
In her defense, at least one ministers at the installation had the courage of her convictions.
In Leviticus, Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, were consumed by the fire of God for an illegitimate sacrifice. Aaron and his sons were the first Levitical priests chosen by God for the Exodus of the Israelites. The archbishop opens himself up to sorrow and distress. Publicly repent.
Kinda like the error at St. Pat’s in NY with the LG funeral?
This was not “inadvertent.” You can be assured that Rome was fully aware that this travesty would occur. This – like the blessing of homosexual “couples” – is just another incremental change instituted by apostate Rome.
Please note that I can’t edit people’s comments anymore. There are too many requests. However, I can delete them and publish corrected versions. Thanks.
Duh, what? This chatbox software may be difficult. I wish you had only once or twice been my editor.
My edits have been few and far between and I always try to be considerate about requesting it. You do a very good job in spite of the trouble it gives you -lest it goes unsaid. Also the edits I request are always small things not phrases and paragraphs and total re-do’s thank you.
I had recently made a resolution to make the effort to type out my thing in a document offline and then copy-paste to the combox after double-checking. I did this earlier today and still I made mistakes. Don’t worry it’s not your fault.
If you look carefully, it’s interesting that her eyes are not facing forward, paying attention to what’s going on in the ceremony. She is looking to the right, at the camera. Posturing, anyone? Hardly a coincidence.
The fact that this farce was carried out is deplorable, but even worse is the hypocrisy of the new archbishop and every priest in attendance. There is a time and place to stand up for truth and tradition; all failed in this situation. It is overwhelmingly sad to witness such cowardice by so many. However, the situation now needs to be addressed. Who will stand up and condemn everyone who contributed to this Protestant mass? Pope Francis and all else in the Vatican, the Catholic world awaits your action.
If this was not a valid mass, then is the installation null and void?
That, too, is a reasonable question.
For certain, though, it could NOT be a valid Mass. In the Ordinary Form of the Mass where concelebration is acceptable, the ministers must be duly ordained Catholic priests amd/or bishops. This woman does not possess the proper matter for ordination to the priesthood so the concelebration is invalid. It would be no different from the situation where Sister Mary Sunshine or Mrs. Gladys Know-it-All from the Parish Council was allowed by Fr. James Light-in-his-Shoes, S.J. to concelebrate Mass with him at St. Whatever’s in Chicago.
When I was a lad of eight I used to play “Mass” at home. Even at that tender age I understood that there was a difference between what I was doing and what Msgr. Sharkey did on Sundays at St. Saviour’s.
So sad, an observant new bishop should be installed.
Undoubtedly she’ll be invited to participate in the next conclave.
P.S. The title says the “guest” took Communion. The article says she received Communion.
Maybe the headline writer and article writer should coordinate their terminology?
Words matter.
Expect more of this too take place publicly so that we eventually get used it, like a lot of the changes that have occurred. Anyone wo complains or disagees will be labelled a backward, rigid tradionalist.
When we wonder why the laity does not know the rules of the faith, nor pass it on in an effective manner, or OBEY the rules, we have only to look at the clergy. They go to seminary for years, evidently to no good end. At a minimum they should be aware the church does NOT recognize female clerics. Secondly that church members NOT in Communion with the Catholic church may NOT receive Holy Communion at a Catholic Mass. Are they really this dim-witted? This should be among the first things they are taught when becoming a priest. .
I really believe the Catholic priests who took part in this event should be significantly disciplined. Maybe it would help to make an impression on others.
This woman Anglican minister took Holy Communion knowingly and willingly. My Protestant friends (lay people) know very well (without me telling them) that when they come and visit me, and attend a Catholic Mass with me on Sunday, they do not take Holy Communion. They would come up with their arms crossed on their chests to receive a blessing. Thus there is no excuse that this woman Anglican minister did not know that she should not taken Holy Communion. Doing so is a deep offense to our Lord. Furthermore, it was utterly inappropriate (to put it very mildly) for the Catholic hierarchy there to have invited her to concelebrate an episcopal installation Mass. This is a paradigmatic example of DISORDER and Heterodoxy within the Catholic ecclesiastical hierarchy. There is no room for any excuse on the grounds of ignorance.
What I note in virtually all of the comments on this story is a plenitude of utter rightness and perhaps even righteousness. What is also notable is what at least seems to be a total lack of humility and brotherly/sisterly love. Plenty of outrage for sure, along with anger and judgement. Does the Lady, in the voices of her members, protest too much? (They would probably say, ‘No, not enough. There can never be too much in such a circumstance.’)
Love is not the appropriate response to sacrilege.