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Saturday, August 16, 2014

POPE FRANCIS SCOLDS JESUITS WHO ARE CLERICALISTS AND TELLS THEM NOT TO SCOLD THE FAITHFUL!


Pope Francis sometimes condemns the very things His Holiness sometimes does, like "talking too much" and "scolding" people like those who have pickled peppered faces and bishops, priests and religious who live wealthy appearing lives.

So this is what the Holy Father told Jesuits in Korea. I wholeheartedly endorse it!

A summary of the brief off-the-cuff speech Francis gave during his unscheduled visit to Seoul’s Sogang University

Andrea Tornielli Seoul
 
Yesterday evening Francis paid a surprise visit to Seoul’s Sogang University to meet with some Jesuits. Once again, he asked priests, novices and young people still in training to be merciful and not succumb to the temptation of clericalism leading them to turn into “state clerics”. His words echoed the spontaneous comments he made during his meeting with Korea’s bishops. This is a sign that he intended these as pointers for the Korean Church. A transcription of the speech, which he gave off the cuff, was published by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of La Civiltà Cattolica and not by the Holy See Press Office. Fr. Spadaro was present at the meeting.
 
“There is one word that really gets me: consolation. Consolation is God’s presence in all possible forms. Our holy father St. Ignatius always always tried to confirm the decision to reform one’s life or the choice of a state of life through the second method of “election”: consolation. Top those who receive it, consolation is a beautiful word. But offering consolation is not easy. When I read the Prophet Isaiah’s Book of Comfort, I read that consolation is a work of God, who consoles his people. When someone experiences a painful situation, if they do so with love, it becomes a seed of consolation for this person.”
 
The people of God need consolation, they need to be comforted, “consuelo” (the Spanish word for “comfort”, Ed.). I see the Church as a field hospital right now. The people of God are asking us for consolation. There are so many wounds that need comforting … We need to listen to the words of Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort my people!” There are no wounds that cannot be consoled with God’s love. This is how we should live: searching for Jesus Christ so that this love brings comfort to people’s wounds and heals them.”
 
Francis then referred back to the theatrical performance which young people put on for him a little earlier, at the shrine of Solmoe: “This evening a group of young people gave us a performance based on the parable of the Prodigal Son. This perfectly illustrates God’s attitude towards our wounds. God always offers comfort, always hopes, always forgets, always forgives. There are many wounds in the Church. Wounds which we practicing Catholics and ministers of the Catholic Church are often the cause of.”
 
“Do not scold the people of God! Console them!” the Pope urged his Jesuit audience. “Our clerical attitude so often leads to clericalism which is so harmful to the Church. A priest is not a state cleric but a pastor. Please be pastors and not state clerics. And when you are in the confessional remember that God never tires of forgiving. Be merciful!”
 
Fr. Spadaro described the Pope’s speech as “simple and powerful and centred around one word, consolation, which for us Jesuits is a key word: spiritual consolation. He said we are ministers of consolation, that sometimes the Church goes through a tough time, sometimes it experiences wounds and sometimes the ministers of the Church are responsible for people’s wounds. And he spoke of the Church as a “field hospital”, an image he used in our interview. He reiterated it, setting it in stone. This is his vision of the Church. So our task as Jesuits – and more generally as ministers of the Gospel, as priests, as men and women religious – is to be people who offer consolation, bring peace to people and heal wounds. He repeated this in many different ways, with the kind of intense emphasis that is impossible to replicate in a transcription.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Modern Jesuits don't correct or scold anyone anymore about anything except following the teachings of the Church. What Jesuits is Francis talking about? Has he ever been to a Jesuit parish in 2014, it is exactly like the evangelical place he went to last week. Except the Evangelicals really believe in God, Heaven and Hell.

Just Saying said...

on Vatican Radio the translation is "state Altar boy"
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/08/16/pope_to_jesuits_in_korea_be_pastors,_not_state_altar_boys/1104656

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the Pope is calling Jesuits to return to the authentic charism of St. Ignatius of Loyola...Deo Gratias!

Bringing consolation..this reminds me of a true story I heard yesterday.
A bank customer was constantly being ugly at each visit to the bank; so much so that the bank tellers and staff cringed and tried to avoid her whenever she came in.
At one visit, the unlucky teller that had to serve her pulled her aside into a room and point blank asked her what is truly wrong.
She let out her hurt..financial troubles, personal troubles, etc.. Then admitted she had been taking it all out on others.
Next, the teller asked if she could pray for her right then and there. The customer agreed and they prayed.
Her attitude, and life, was thereafter changed.

The teller risked being fired for both pulling her off to a room and for praying with her.

She didn't get fired, and the irascible customer got the listening ear and consolation she needed.

I think our Holy Father would approve.

Sheila