A Synod on the Word
From America: Synod on the Word of God
More than 40 years after the Second Vatican Council, the Bible still does not figure at the center of Catholic life the way the Eucharist does. When they meet in synod at the Vatican in October, bishops from around the world will address one of the great unfinished works of the council—”namely, how Catholics can make the word of God their own. Even though the Catholic Lectionary for Sundays was re-designed in 1969 to use a three-year cycle of readings in order to promote greater familiarity with the whole of Scripture, Catholics do not yet own the Scriptures the way many Protestants, especially evangelicals, do. In assigning —The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church— as the topic for the coming 12th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Benedict signaled his recognition not only of how important proclamation, prayer and study of the Scripture are to the church, but also of his awareness that the church has far to go to complete the council’s reforms…
I posted the following comment a few days ago. It hasn’t appeared yet as the magazine’s editors must review and approve every comment – something exceedingly difficult when otherwise busy running a magazine:
An interesting fact: The Polish National Catholic Church (of which I am a member) considers the Word of God to be a sacrament. The [Roman] Church found agreement with our understanding as noted in the joint publication: Journeying Together in Christ: The Report of the Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic Dialogue (1984-1989).
We believe and state that the proclamation and preaching of the Word confers sacramental grace. The Church has recently published a pamphlet on this issue – available from the PNCC Bookstore for anyone interested.
What our understanding does in the practical sense is that it encourages due seriousness in the preparation and delivery of homilies. It also encourages the faithful to proactively participate in the Church’s understanding of the Word. More so, to understand that the sacrament brings about change – a growing closer to our Lord and Savior – and a life lived in accord with His way.
I wish you the best in your upcoming Synod and prayerfully hope that the Sacrament of the Word take its rightful place in the life of the [Roman] Church.
What I find so amazing is that the work and reforms of the PNCC (actually a re-claiming of Catholicism) are much in the same as the efforts undertaken by the Roman Church in Vatican II 60 years later. In my opinion the PNCC achieved those reforms without the damage that resulted from Vatican II (to me the things that Benedict, Bishop of Rome is trying to correct and re-reform). This may be due to the fact that the PNCC effort took place in a different time, that reforms that might have gone awry were kept in check by the inherent conservatism of the Polish diaspora
Thanks for the mention.
As Fr Peter Robinson, an Anglican-raised Englishman who is now a Continuing Churches priest in America, put it for me, three-year lectionaries are an idea that looks good on paper but really means the people hear three times as many snippets of scripture but know them only about a third as well. A one-year cycle seems to match most people’s ability to memorise and thus have the material sink in. (He also named ‘tolerant conservatism’ for me.)
I admit I’m no Bible expert.
One of several aims of the old, legitimate RC liturgical movement was to revive lay and public recitation of the office (there’s lots of the Bible in that), something Vatican II gave lip service to but was dead on arrival.