Monsignor Víctor Manuel Fernández: "The Sunday precept, for example, is not essential and is something that could fall" (Translation)

[IanM]

Monseñor Víctor Manuel Fernández: "El precepto dominical, por ejemplo, no es indispensable y es algo que podría caer"

(Translation via Chromium browser facility)
“In a situation like this, it’s not good to talk too much. However, we have a treasure of spirituality to help cope with situations of pain, anguish, anxiety”

“It may happen that you think you have the great spiritual proposal but then in fact you reach very few people”

“The message of a discreet, humble and at the same time collaborative and generous presence seems to me the most appropriate”

“The Sunday precept, for example, is not indispensable and is something that could fall. The form of the sacrament of penance has changed greatly over the centuries. Those who first read the history of that sacrament are always amazed to notice that the present form is only one of the possible”

“The Pope’s proposal is to’ distribute 'power through new ministries and lay functions ‘endowed with authority’. That unfortunately has not been picked up and no serious work is being done on that line”

27.04.2020 José Manuel Vidal

“The deterioration of interest in the elderly then translates into the need to turn the farewell into a very fast process.” These are the words of the former rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, Victor Manuel Fernandez, Archbishop of La Plata, who in this interview offers his vision, from Buenos Aires, on the errors that have led us to the emergence of the coronavirus. In the same way, Monsignor Fernandez, very close to the thought of Pope Francis, says that this “virtual spirituality” that we are experiencing must last only as long as the health crisis lasts, since “the mass needs the flesh, the sensitive closeness, the physical presence”.

How is Argentine society perceiving the involvement of the church and the role it is playing in the pandemic? Is he performing his social function?

The Church is having a discreet participation, because we understand that in the face of such extraordinary circumstances one must be very humble and no one can feel wise. Given the consequences of quarantine for poor people and even the lower middle class, Caritas had to be reactivated, which in some places had ceased to function. The novelty of this time is that people who have never done so come to ask for help, and the need is added to the humiliation that this causes them. On the other hand, without claiming to take the place of the state, we have made available physical spaces that can be useful. In the case of my Archdiocese, we offered a building that is being used to accommodate people on the street and we also offered schools and other spaces to be used as field hospitals if necessary. Temples do not seem to be the most suitable places today

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[IanM]

due to lack of sanitary facilities, poor ventilation, etc. however some have been used temporarily to vaccinate elderly people and for other needs.

Has it succeeded as an institution in making its fight against the pandemic well known and has it been able to break the glass ceiling of the major media, especially television?

As I was telling you, I don’t think you should talk too much in a situation like this. However, we have a treasure of spirituality to help cope with situations of pain, anguish, anxiety, etc. social networks have been filled with contributions that, from Faith, help to survive in these moments of confinement.

Do you think the institutional church will be part of the new social contract that seems to be weaving?

Actually, that’s already happening. A few days ago I participated in a crisis committee because of the situation in prisons and we are often called to participate in various actions of civil society. The message of a discreet, humble and at the same time collaborative and generous presence seems to me the most appropriate.

Is the coronavirus crisis bringing out the religious side of many people, so far hidden or covered up? Will the indifferent religious return to Catholicism or will they definitely go in search of new spiritualities?

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[IanM]

I believe that in recent times we have grown in a dialogue with the new spiritual needs of people and I see many priests more willing to seek an existential language that better responds to new sensitivities. However, I note that the incarnational aspect of Catholic spirituality continues to arouse even today a desire and interest: the Eucharist, popular signs, etc. It is not necessary to fall into a new Gnosticism to respond to current searches. I am speaking from Latin America, where the Pentecostal groups that have grown the most are those that somehow “steal” or recreate the sacramentals of the Catholic Church because they have discovered that this synthesis between pentecostal spirituality and sacramental signs responds better to popular needs. We must be aware of these trends so as not to go wrong. It may happen that one believes to have the great spiritual proposal but then in fact reaches very few people. Perhaps in Europe abound over the lines of spiritual-type “new age”, something disembodied, but interestingly they also end up looking expressions sensitive: candles, incense, some pictures, etc, The challenge is to be able to assume that there of legitimate or respectable, but from a more personalist and social avoid the aliencación.

Has the fear of death that has swept through the social body found meaning, comfort and hope in the Church? Without the possibility of a funeral, has the Church lost the last rite of passage left to it?

In fact, beyond the norms dictated by the authorities because of the Pandemic, there was a loss of interest in funeral rites. Little by little the funeral processions disappeared, the wake was shortened or disappeared, many people no longer go to the cemeteries, some simply get rid of the Ashes by throwing them into a river. But, beyond the objective importance one might attribute to funeral rites, is this dynamic really positive? Does it help a healthy grieving process? In many cases, what it does is to consent to a deterioration of interest in the elderly that then translates into the need to turn the farewell into a very fast procedure, and goodbye, a less problem. Perhaps the way many people

have had to dismiss their loved ones in quarantine will have the opposite effect and in the medium term will lead to a revaluation.

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[IanM]

Has the Internet (once demonized by many clerics) been consecrated as a great means of humanization and evangelization?

Yes, a lot of good has been done through videos and messages on the networks. And many priests and bishops have seen that in online masses we have more faithful than before. But for me an online mass is almost a contradiction. The sacramental aspect of Catholic spirituality is an extension of the mystery of the incarnation, so that for us a mass will never be the same as a Sunday school. Mass needs flesh, sensitive closeness, physical presence. I think we have to be very responsible to take care of the health and life of our people and we cannot force the return of masses with people, but neither can we say that it gives us the same or that we have to orient ourselves towards a virtual spirituality.

What will the postcoronavirus Church look like? What characteristics will it have? Which bottom lines will it point to? Will it affect Pope Francis ’ reforms?

I don’t know if it’s wise to jump to conclusions about what’s coming. No one knows. I believe that we must start from the principle that this situation of social distancing is unnatural and temporary. I know that some scientists argue that pandemics will be more and more frequent, but that has its causes, and it should force us to stop the March a little and rethink the direction of the world to prevent that from happening. In any case, we must assume a more austere life and allocate more resources to prevent and anticipate these situations. In any case we will have a long time of distance and quarantines and this certainly requires us to reinvent ourselves. I do not know how Pope Francis will do it, who has insisted so much on physical closeness, on “melee” and has lived it so intensely himself. I don’t think you think that we should give it up for good.

Will it continue to maintain its current economic, territorial and functional structure?

This is a question that fits even without the coronavirus. We still hold with pins a structure of another era without efficiently foreseeing what its relay is.

“We still hold with pins a structure from another era”

Has the pandemic awakened in the laity the awareness of their being ‘priestly people’ and, therefore, the demand to assume ordained ministries?

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[IanM]

Francis ’ attempt with Dear Amazonia was to show that the great challenge is to empower the laity and stop so closely uniting the priesthood and power. His proposal is to “distribute” power through new ministries and lay functions “endowed with authority”. That has unfortunately not been taken up and no serious work is being done on that line.

Should we review the current sacramental praxis, especially of the Eucharist and penance?

There are things that we sometimes think are immutable and really are not. The Sunday precept, for example, is not indispensable and is something that could fall. The form of the sacrament of penance has changed greatly over the centuries. Those who read the history of that sacrament for the first time are always amazed to notice that the present form is only one of the possible. In any case, the Catholic Church is not understood without the Eucharist. Of course, there are different ways of conceiving its place: one can interpret it in a merely ritualistic or very intimate way, or one can understand it as the great source of communion and fraternal commitment. For Catholics in the Eucharist the word of God itself reaches its maximum effectiveness, so a contrast between Word and Sacrament is not healthy.