| |||
|
Catechists or deacons?By Laurenti MagesaForty five years since the Church re-established the ministry of the permanent diaconate Africa, Asia, and Latin America combined have only a handful of deacons compared to Europe and North America.The Second Vatican Council re-established the ministry of the permanent diaconate in 1965, Ad Gentes. The laws contained in the decree became effective at the end of June the following year. Forty-five years down the line, Africa, Asia and Latin America combined have only a handful of deacons, writes Bishop Fritz Lobinger, in the East Asian Pastoral Review in 1998. According to the bishop, the majority are in Europe and North America. This is certainly not because the church in the southern hemisphere does not need this ministry. There is certainly as much need of it there as anywhere else. Although vocations to the priesthood are now higher in the South than in the North, the growing number of baptisms means that the priest-faithful ratio is still high. It may even be higher than in the North. The reasons for this reluctance, the bishop admits, are hard to tell. There is little publicity and writing about it. In Africa however, the issue was discussed shortly after the Council. This shed a little light on the problem. At the time, a permanent deaconate generated many fears. Some thought it would burden the church financially and slow-down if not dry up vocations to the priesthood by endangering the charism of celibacy. Other fears were that it would blur the distinction between deacons and priests and create a "second rate" priesthood in terms of education and social status. Bishop Lobinger says that these arguments lack theological content or pastoral concern and amount to concerns about "money and power." In the North, where diaconate has been widely used, it has not affected negatively any of these realities. According to the bishop, the real reason why the South seems to be dragging its feet on the issue is perhaps the availability of catechists. Apparently, Bishops of the South do not see why they should ordain deacons if catechists currently fill that role without ordination. Catechists teach, baptize, preach, pray for the sick and bring communion to them, conduct funerals, lead Sunday services and so on. They are not de jure deacons but de facto, they are not any different. But why not formalize the situation? Asks Bishop Lobinger. This would be in agreement with the apostolic tradition of the Scriptures. The book of Acts narrates that seven "lay men" of proven Christian conduct were officially installed by the Apostles through the laying-on-of-hands (in contemporary language "ordained") to serve as deacons for a pressing need of the church in Jerusalem. In the southern churches, catechists are such men. Further, the ordination of catechists to the diaconate would fulfill the clear wishes of Vatican II itself. Ad Gentes Number 16 says: "Where Episcopal Conferences deem it opportune, the order of diaconate should be restored as a permanent state of life. For there are men who are actually carrying out the functions of the deacon's office, either by preaching the Word of God as catechists, or by presiding over scattered Christian communities in the name of the pastor and the bishop, or by practising charity in social or relief work. It will be helpful to strengthen them by that imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles, and to bind them more closely to the altar. Thus they can carry out their ministry more effectively because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate." The last sentence shows that the Council effectively dismissed the fear of a second-rate priesthood in the diaconate. The Council could not have got any clearer on the reason for conferring the diaconate. The reason is theological, not social. It is to help the catechists "because of the sacramental grace of the diaconate," to perform better the ministries they are already carrying out. Among some Christian communities of the South, the catechist gets to meet people most often for spiritual nourishment. His social status in these communities is already high. Thus, ordination to the diaconate would hardly change it one way or the other. In the North, most permanent deacons are not on the payroll of the parish apart from an occasional token gift from the community. They are self-supporting financially and also support their families. The same case applies to the majority of catechists in Africa and elsewhere in the South. Therefore, "permanent" for catechists who are ordained deacons need not be equated with "full time." In most cases, those catechists in the South who would volunteer for ordination will still be financially self-sufficient. Difficulties arise where women catechists are concerned. Africa, for instance, has many women catechists. If catechists are ordained deacons, what happens to them, considering the current ban on women being given this order? Will it cause difficulties among catechists themselves and in the church at large? It may but this will not be much more than the debate that the general ban on priesthood has caused already. Bishop Lobinger urges change in attitude of southern churches. "We have inherited the term "catechist" from the emergency situations of missionary activity. The 'catechists' were invented as prolonged arms of the foreign missionary working in an emergency. They were not the creation of the community-oriented churches of the South. The rich cultures should therefore cease to speak of this model of ministry as originating from them. It was an accidental phase of history that no longer has any relevance. The cultures of the South should not feel bound to maintain an outdated arrangement with its misleading terminology but should now move ahead and reach more appropriate forms of ministry with relevant terminology.” Laurenti Magesa, a priest from the Diocese of Musoma (Tanzania), is one of Africa's best-known Catholic theologians. He has taught theology in Africa and America and he is currently involved in pastoral work in his home country
|