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WHY CALL FOR SECOND AFRICAN SYNOD WHEN THE FIRST NEVER WAS
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
APRIL 28, 2008
When Pope Benedict XVI confirmed his predecessor’s plan by announcing on 22 June 2005 his decision to convoke in Rome the Second Assembly for African Synod of Bishops, one issue came into fore. Why convoke the second synod when the first one was left unaddressed?
It is twelve years ago, from 10 April to 8 May 1994, when the First Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops was held in Rome instead of Africa with the topic: “The Church in Africa and Her Evangelizing Mission towards the Year 2000 under the banner: ‘You shall be my witnesses (Acts 1:8)'”.
The theme for second synod is: “Religions in Service to Reconciliation, Peace and Justice in Africa”. The assembly is expected to provide a providential occasion to present a general picture of the African situation, and the strategies and objectives to be adopted for the Church on the continent believed to continue promoting effectively the Kingdom of God, which is reconciliation, justice, peace and love.
The question of inculturation was dominant in the first synod simply because the African bishops believed inculturation is an essential aspect of the need to apply the gospel as a liberative principle in all aspects of the social historical contexts in Africa.
Even though it later turned out according to the bishops that inculturation was understood in areas of Liturgy, because it is made up of symbol and ritual which can be a great formative element in shaping the missionary consciousness of a people and that because faith always needs to be celebrated, mission and liturgy are natural partners, even in liturgy inculturation is still far off from the reality.
When Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Church’s “liturgist-in-chief,” made a speech at Catholic University of Eastern African last month, he criticized liturgical abuses and protested Masses where the recklessly innovative priests act as “Reverend Showman”. This is a clear case which demonstrates that African bishops are not comfortable with the first synod, and raises the question of why call for the second when the first one is a bother to them.
The Nigerian-born Cardinal Arinze who hit the headlines in both local and international media as most expected next pope is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, was in Kenya to conduct a workshop and a retreat on liturgy for the Kenya bishops, according to Catholic Information Services for Africa (CISA).
Cardinal Arinze was even scared of the reforms of Vatican II, saying they must be seen as continuous with the past rather than as a dramatic break. “The Catholic Church is the same before and after Vatican II. It isn’t another Church,” he said.
Just as African bishops are calling for second synod, the traditional Latin Mass (ad orientem), which was virtually outlawed by the Vatican in the 1960s, is being revived. This old rite dates back to the 1570 Council of Trent and of late it has heartened campaigners who have been fighting for its revival.
Under the rite, the priest celebrates High Mass with his back to the congregation, intoning the Latin liturgy amid swirls of incense and arcane ritual.
Since the Second Vatican Council, the rite was displaced by Mass in the vernacular and the traditional music and dances.
When Pope Benedict XVI baptized 13 infants, the children of Vatican employees, in keeping with a Vatican tradition on the feast of the Baptism of Christ in January this year, he used the ad orientem posture, facing in the same direction as the congregation, using the magnificent altar of the Sistine Chapel rather than portable altar that had been set up in previous years.
Although this provoked widespread comment, with many journalists reporting that the Pope had revived an old liturgical tradition, it is believed the ad orientem posture was never abolished.
According to this rite those who intend to receive Communion are asked to place a host in the ciborium as they enter the chapel. However, this rite was used because there was a practical reason for this at the beginning: the tabernacle in some adoration chapels were not large enough to hold many hosts; so this practice gave exactly the number of hosts people needed for each Mass.
Mass facing east was the norm form during ancient times because churches have traditionally been constructed facing the rising sun. They believed sun was cosmic symbol of the light, energy, and grace that come to us through the Son from the Father.
Pope Benedict faced east because according to him by doing so faithful are turned in expectation toward the Lord who is to come (eschatology) and shows that we are part of an act that goes beyond the church and community where we are celebrating, to the whole world (cosmos).
He believes in churches not facing geographical east, the Cross and Tabernacle become “liturgical east”. Incidentally, the rubrics he says require that the celebrant of Mass face the crucifix during the Eucharistic prayer.
This rite has also influenced some elderly priests who do not believe in change, or inculturation. Even when Mass is celebrated in English, they customarily intone a Gregorian chant setting for the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. They also intone in Latin the introduction to the Preface (Dominus vobiscum, Sursum Corda, etc.) and the Great Amen (Per ipsum).
Some of these elderly priests and bishops who do not believe in change or inculturation do not allow female servers or Eucharistic ministers. In fact some do not allow even male ministers. They argument is based on the fact that since the liturgical norm is that only ordained ministers (bishop, priest, and deacon) are “ordinary” ministers of the Eucharist, none ordained should not be encouraged to be Eucharistic ministers.
They are only compromised if none of the ordained is available. It is only then that the lay person officially installed as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist may assist. One of the very important roles they have in parishes is to assist the priests and deacons in taking Communion to the homebound and not in parishes where priests are present.
The fact that in more ancient liturgies kiss of peace took place as the gifts were being brought to the altar, echoing the biblical injunction to reconcile with one’s brother on the way to the judge, some of these elderly and conservative bishops do not encourage kiss of peace.
They believe that the kiss of peace was included in the Novus Ordo Missae of 1969 only as an option and not as a requirement. It explains why for the priest to leave the sanctuary and offer the kiss of peace to the faithful is always a liturgical abuse.
It further explains why in his last month speech Cardinal Arinze argued that proper inculturation required bishops to guide the introduction of new elements into worship. In other words, for any new change in liturgy bishops must be the ones to guide because they are the only authority.
He argued that innovations should take place only after careful consideration, after bishops have set up a multi-disciplinary group of experts to study a cultural element to be included in the liturgy.
His argument that the group of experts should then make their recommendation to their bishops’ conference, if both the bishops’ conference and the Holy See approve the innovation, after limited experiment and “due preparation” of the clergy and the people, the new element may be incorporated indicates clearly that at this point when the first synod has not been fully implemented as expected, then there is no need for the second one.
With recent ban by a Peruvian cardinal of the practice of receiving Communion in the hand in his diocese is further indication that most bishops are not ready for change.
In an Italian website, Opus Dei Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne told Petrus: “I maintain that the best way to administer Communion is on the tongue, so much so that in my diocese I have forbidden the host in the hand.”
Speaking to the Italian web site Petrus, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru, said that in order to guard against abuses, “the best way to administer Communion is on the tongue.”
The cardinal’s decision in banning the communion in the hand goes against Pope Paul VI in 1969 who polled the bishops of the world on the question of communion-in-the-hand and subsequently proclaimed that, while there was no consensus for the practice worldwide, in those areas where a different practice prevails it may be introduced by a two-thirds vote of the bishops (of each conference)
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
E-Mail ppa@africaonline.co.ke
Tel 254-20-4441372
Website : www.peopleforpeaceinafrica.org
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Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:19:09 +0300
From: PEOPLE FOR PEACE
Subject: Regional News