I Ordinary Assembly of IFCA
Vienna, October 30, 1994
May the God of hope fill you
of all joy and peace in faith,
because you abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit
(Rm 15,13)
These are my first words of greeting and best wishes for all of you who are taking part in the assembly of the International Forum of Catholic Action. I want the Holy Spirit to work deeply in our hearts producing an overabundance of peace, joy and hope.
This hope "does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to you" (Rom 5,5:XNUMX).
I invited you to this hope – in the words of John Paul II – in my reflection for the 91 Forum. "God is preparing a great Christian springtime whose beginning can already be glimpsed" (RM 86). A hope that opens us to new horizons, to new commitments, to new steps on the path of evangelization and the mission of Catholic Action.
One of the signs of this great springtime is the self-awareness that the Church is assuming of herself in all her members: laity, priests, religious. The Church as Mystery, as Communion, as Mission; I said with a phrase that is particularly dear to me and that summarizes everything: "the Church as a mystery of missionary communion".
The recent Synod on Consecrated Life concluded a beautiful reflection on the 'circularity of communion' which began with the Synod on the laity (87), continued with the Synod on the formation of priests (90) – priests who live, serve and communicate the Mystery – and it concludes now with a reflection (contemplative meditation) on this gift of God to his Church which is consecrated life: in its various forms of Religious Life and Secular Institutes, monastic life and apostolic life, virgins and hermits new forms of consecrated life. The Spirit of God is working forcefully in his Church "in this magnificent and dramatic hour of history, in the imminence of the third millennium" (ChL 3).
Another sign of this 'great Christian springtime' is the growing participation of the lay faithful in the evangelizing mission of the Church. Their ardent desire for a profound lay spirituality (hunger for the Word of God - Lectio divina - and the sacraments), the growing commitment to participate in the building up of the Christian community and in the construction of the new society.
Among these positive signs of hope, we can especially highlight the impact that World Youth Days have on young people. They constitute a strong moment of evangelization, an evident and concrete sign of ecclesial communion and a particular invitation to interior renewal (manifested with a growing desire for holiness and, in many cases, as a decisive moment for vocational, priestly and religious choices).
Finally, I dare to place among these clear signs of Christian hope the new and deeper awareness of Catholic Action as a privileged form of ecclesial association "in close relationship with the hierarchy" and especially a sharer in its apostolic mission.
It is no coincidence that the Second Vatican Council reminded the Bishops of their duty to promote the various forms of lay apostolate, "and in a particular way Catholic Action" (CD 17, cf. AA 20). John Paul II said the same, taking up proposal 13 of the Synod Fathers: "among the different apostolic forms of the laity who have a particular relationship with the hierarchy, the Synod Fathers explicitly recalled various movements and associations of Catholic Action" (ChL 31) .
It is evident that Catholic Action - with different modalities in relation to different countries and cultures - strongly marked the beginnings of the participation of the laity in the mission of the Church and initiated a special form of association which made the Christian community grow and mature.
Without taking anything away from the witnessing and evangelizing power of the new ecclesial movements – which "represent a true gift of God for the new evangelization and for missionary activity properly so called" (RM 72) – we must not forget that "it was in particular the promotion of Catholic Action by Pius XI to open a decisive chapter in the development of the work of the laity in the religious, social, cultural, political and even economic fields. The historical experience and the doctrinal deepening of Catholic Action prepared new recruits, opened up new perspectives, lit new flames” (JPII 21-9-94).
Along the path of CA there have been lights and shadows, moments of disorientation and tiredness, fears of having perhaps been overtaken by new times and ecclesial needs. I believe that the providential moment of the Spirit has arrived for a more profound renewal of his spiritual, doctrinal, apostolic and missionary commitment.
The celebration of this Forum will certainly contribute to this - we will return to the theme at the end - which wants to open to other countries the fecundity of an associative experience very rich in fruits and so full of hope. In the light of Christifideles Laici, I wish to point out some needs and hopes in this journey of Catholic Action: formation, communion, audacity and prophecy in the Spirit.
