Pope in France: Pope tells shrunken church, 'Don't be afraid'

[MoBeck]

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Pope in France: Pope tells shrunken church, 'Don’t be afraid’

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Paris

If yesterday Pope Benedict XVI addressed the broader culture of both France and Europe, today he spoke directly to the French Catholic church – a church which, by all accounts, embodies the famous prediction of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger that the future of Christianity in the West is as a “creative minority.”

Facing a shrunken and sometimes demoralized Catholic community in France, Benedict XVI urged his flock, “Do not be afraid!”

In an open-air Mass held in Paris’ Esplanade des Invalides, before an estimated 200,000 worshippers, the pope urged Catholics to remain true to Christ and the church, meditated on the importance of the Eucharist, and delivered a special appeal for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Indirectly, the pope also made reference to the strong polarization that has long been part of French Catholic life between liberals formed by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and traditionalists who look back fondly to the era before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

The reference came in the form of a warning against idols, including “the temptation to idolize a past that no longer exists, forgetting its shortcomings; [and] the temptation to idolize a future which does not yet exist, in the belief that, by his effort alone, man can bring about the kingdom of God on earth.”

 

[JReducation]

Indirectly, the pope also made reference to the strong polarization that has long been part of French Catholic life between liberals formed by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and traditionalists who look back fondly to the era before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

The reference came in the form of a warning against idols, including “the temptation to idolize a past that no longer exists, forgetting its shortcomings; [and] the temptation to idolize a future which does not yet exist, in the belief that, by his effort alone, man can bring about the kingdom of God on earth.”

The Holy Father is reminding us what many are trying to avoid. He tells us that we have to live in the present and deal with the present. Sometimes that requires that we return to previous roots to recapture the spirit that we may have lost and at other times it requires that we leave the dead alone.
It is finding that balance that is difficult for so many people.

On the opposite side are those who want to look forward and ignore what has been handed down through history. This too can be dangerous. You have to look, understand and sort through the past, before you move forward. The future is not the solution, until you have been to the past. All of this happens in the present.

Fraternally,

JR