Cardinal to Lambeth: Be proactive, not reactive, in combating 'culture of death'
Episcopal News Service, Canterbury. July 23, 2008 [072308-01]
Pat McCaughan, Correspondent for Episcopal Life Media in Province VIII
Papal envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias invoked the virtues of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as "the star of the new evangelization" and called upon bishops to be "proactive, and not merely reactive" in combating a secular "culture of death" during a July 22 address to the Lambeth Conference.
"Someone has rightly said: 'If Christians do not hang together, they will hang separately,'" said Dias, eliciting a chuckle from about 650 bishops, spouses and other visitors who attended the evening address, "Mission, Social Justice and Evangelization."
Dias, the Vatican's Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, cited the 2007 Anglican-Catholic agreed statement "Growing Together in Unity and Mission" which examined worship, study, ministry and witness as a way forward for common mission.
Ecumenically, when the churches "are of one mind and heart notwithstanding their diversity, their missionary thrust is indeed enhanced and strengthened," he said. "But, when the diversity degenerates into division, it becomes a counter-witness which seriously compromises their image and endeavors to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ."
The full text of Dias' address is available here.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams welcomed the arrival of ecumenical guests from Orthodox churches in Jerusalem and Antioch to the every-decade Lambeth gathering. He also introduced Dias as a welcoming and positive force in forging ecumenical conversation and relations.
Such conversations between the Anglican and Roman Catholic communities led to the establishment of ARCIC, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, envisioned at the 1968 Lambeth Conference and established in 1970 to further dialogue between the two churches.
"We're not only concerned with negotiation between the Anglican and Roman Catholic communities facing one another [but]…issues which we face together," Williams told those gathered in the bright blue meeting tent on the University of Kent campus.
"As we thought about a common agenda which our churches face -- drawing together evangelization, social justice, the whole issue of the ministry of witness of the church and our rapidly changing temperate world -- it seemed very clear Cardinal Dias was somebody we ought to listen to."
Bishops must 'inculturate, dialogue, and protect most vulnerable'
Dias, who was born in Bombay and has enjoyed a 50-year ministry and career in the church diplomatic service, said the world needs fewer Christian apologizers and more apologists, of the ilk of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, John Henry Cardinal Newman and others "who brilliantly expose the beauty of the Christian faith without blushing or compromise."
Exemplary Christian living, along with inter-religious dialogue and inculturation, or contextualizing the Gospel in a culturally meaningful way, will aid evangelization. He identified as "new horizons" for evangelism the mass media, the worlds of science and technology, of politics and social communications, of refugees and migrants, and others.
He called upon bishops to consider evangelism within the wider context of the spiritual combat with forces such as secularism, spiritual indifference and relativism, which ignore the transcendental and the divine, he said. "Far from satisfying the deep yearnings of the human heart, they foster a culture of death, be it physical or moral, spiritual or psychological."
Families and youth are particularly vulnerable and should receive "special attention, guidance and support" to protect against the culture of death. Symptoms of that death culture include abortions on demand, divorce, materialism and moral aberrations, economic, social and political injustices (which crush human rights), violence and murder, he said.
Western and increasingly post-modern worlds have created distance between Christian tradition and roots, and disconnects with moral reasoning that result in confusion "and sound Christian ethical and moral principles and values are under threat from various quarters," he said.
What the world needs: a 'dialogue of life and action'
Dias said bishops must encourage blending faith and culture through art, music, dance and liturgy. "Inculturation should be the cultural expression of one's faith and the faith expression of one's culture," Dias said during the address which was frequently halted by enthusiastic applause.
Inter-religious dialogue, on the other hand, would involve "a dialogue of life and action, of ideas and experience" he said. Simple Christian witness through daily living is the strongest evangelizer, he said. Dialogues of ideas and experience would lead to greater understanding of one another's practices and traditions, he added.
He listed commonalities such as: the search for union with the Absolute; the importance of silence and contemplation; honesty and simplicity; the spirit of asceticism and discipline; frugal living; the thirst for learning and philosophical inquiry; love of nature as also compassion for all beings; filial piety towards parents, elders and ancestors; love for the family and solidarity within the community.
He warned, however, against the religious equivalent of Alzheimer's' and Parkinson's diseases. "When we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way with any coordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's."
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities. Its former title was the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. Dias, was one of the cardinals considered as a possible pope during the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. In May 2008m Pope Benedict named Dias as a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Williams said he found "particularly moving" Dias' reference to the three-fold virtues of Mary, the mother of God, for whom Anglicans and Catholics alike share a love and devotion (ARCIC II, 2005, Seattle).
"I was deeply moved by the way you framed our calling in terms of the three words connected with our lady…fiat, magnificat and stabat," Williams said during the brief question-and-answer session following Dias' address.
Dias had described fiat, as saying yes always to God's plan for us; magnificat, or praising God for mercies to the human family; and stabat, or living Christian commitment with courage, coherence and perseverance till the very end, as powerful evangelizers.
"Those are three dimensions of discipleship, three dimensions of witness, and a particularly imaginative and moving way of perceiving it that I'm sure will remain with all of us."
Bishop Jonathan Gledhill of Lichfield said he was encouraged by Dias' address. "He spoke very warmly about the Anglican Communion and about our future together. He spoke obviously out of relationship that he assumes is ongoing. That is very hopeful," Gledhill said.
But the Rev. Canon Harold T. Lewis, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said he was "under-whelmed" by the cardinal's address. "Coming from India, a suffering country, a third world country, [I thought] that he'd have had more to say about suffering, the oppressed, but it was a Curial statement. Any cardinal could have given it."
Dias will also be available at a July 23, 4-5.30 p.m. bishops' self-select session, "Mission, Social Justice and Evangelization" facilitated by Bishop Harry Bainbridge of Idaho and chair of the Episcopal Relief and Development board in the Keynes Lecture Theatre, Room 6. The seminar will focus on the inter-relationship and challenges, both theological and practical, between proclaiming the Christian faith and promoting human welfare in the current global context, especially as it might apply to the ministry of a bishop and in shared ecumenical endeavors.