Sunday was the feast of the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd is Jesus Christ. However, the name "shepherd" has also been given to the bishops and priests who are leaders of the Church. The shepherd has several responsibilities toward his flock, which includes feeding, watering, grooming, leading, and providing protection. He intimately knows every member of his flock and is willing to put his life in line for each and everyone of them. Unfortunately, that is not true for every shepherd. Sometimes, the shepherd does not know every person in his flock. A true bishop and priest imitates Jesus Christ. He serves not to be served, is protective of his sheep, does not oppress nor exploit them, and at all times is willing to subordinate his interest for the good of his flock. In the Philippines, the priests who were formed in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary were also recognized along with other priests in Manila. According to a news article in Manila dated April 23, 2018:
This article in the Philippines showed that the priests are able to get along well with each other regardless of whether they are diocesan or religious priests. All priests (regardless of whether they are RMS, Jesuits, Capuchisn, Franciscans, Carmelites, etc.) are all called by God. They are all shepherds and are called to imitate Christ.Our pastors in the Neocatechumenal Way have also been good shepherds. I am especially grateful to Fr. Paolo Benetton, Rector of Redemptoris Mater Mission Seminary of Manila and his fellow formators for the priests that have been formed in that seminary. Teaching philosophy to its seminarians have been an immense source of joy for me.I also appreciate very much Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar for his wisdom and example that has guided me through the years. This includes his work as lay leader in the Mindanao Church. Indeed, lay leaders have also been good shepherds.
The Good Shepherd left the 99 sheep in search for that one lost sheep to bring back into his fold. Christ's ministry did not end with his death nor the death of his Apostles. He commanded His Apostles to spread the Good News to all the nations so that all can come together as one flock. As the article pointed out, God is not only the Shepherd of the Israelites, but the Shepherd of all nations.
However, the Old Evangelization is gone. Today, there is a New Evangelization. Some bishops and priests think that they no longer need to evangelize in the New Evangelization, Some believe that the laity are the ones who evangelize and that the role of the shepherd (priests and bishops) are diminished in evangelization. This is incorrect.
What makes the Neocatechumenal Way extremely effective in their evangelization is the fact that the NCW did not leave the shepherds out in the evangelization. As anyone can see even in the International Team, Father Mario is with Kiko Arguello and Maria Ascension Romero. There is a shepherd (priest or bishop) in every catechist team. The New Evangelization did not diminish the role of the shepherd. Evangelization is the work of the whole parish, of individuals, and of the priest.......this is the New Evangelization.
Jeremiah 3:15 I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.
If the laity is left on its own to evangelize without a shepherd, I can see how that can lead to a lot of problems. The laity always needs a spiritual leader or a priest to guide them. The old evangelization only involve the clergy whereas the new evangelization involves everyone. I wonder if this is the reason AB Byrnes said that Guam doesn’t need the kind of priests formed in RMS. Did he believe that only the laity are supposed to evangelize in the new evangelization?
ReplyDeleteI can’t speak for Byrnes. I don’t know what he thinks of the new evangelization. But I agree that the laity would need the guidance of the priest in evangelization. Also, the priest represents the head of the church. He represents Christ, the good shepherd. Having both head and body together evangelizing would be the ideal.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 12:02 am,
DeleteYou can find what Archbishop Byrnes say about the New Evangelization in the weblink below. He spoke about it in YouTube:
https://youtu.be/FYGcDBOQhO0
The New Evangelization does not mean that the clergy or the priest is now removed from evangelizing. It means that the laity is now included into evangelizing. According to an article:
"The Church’s mission of announcing the Gospel to the world involves clergy and laity alike. In fact, the laity are called to act within the temporal order to build a society imbued with Gospel values, shaping society in a Christian way (cf, Vatican Council II, Decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, 13). As Saint Josemaría Escrivá – one of the forerunners of this conciliar teaching – said, “The layman’s specific role in the mission of the Church is precisely that of sanctifying secular reality, the temporal order, the world, ab intra, in an immediate and direct way” (Conversations, n. 9), This requires, in the words of Cardinal Newman, “a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it, I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity... You ought to be able to bring out what you feel and what you mean, as well as to feel and mean it” (The Present Position of Catholics in England, 390-1).
But, for this role, they require a deep and solid spiritual life and a thorough grounding in the faith. New Evangelization, therefore, implies that the clergy help them to know their Christian doctrine better, and promote the awareness of what the universal call to holiness means for them."
http://opusdei.org/en-uk/article/the-new-evangelization-the-priest-and-the-challenge-of-secular-morality/
In the Neocatechumenal Way, the catechists team who evangelizes has a priest with them. Although it is the lay person who speaks, giving his testimony as a witness, the priest is together with the team. It is the same with the International Team who also evangelizes. They always have Father Mario with them. Clergy and laity together.