VATICAN - Study Seminar for Bishops - The Bishop must be a moderator, promoter and guarantor of liturgical life in his diocese: address by Card. Francis Arinze prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Friday, 17 September 2004

Vatican City (Fides Service) - In his address to Bishops attending a Seminar organised by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said “the Bishop’s duty to sanctify by means of the holy liturgy is the summit of the service which he is called to exercise in the Church in the name of Christ”.
“The Second Vatican Council II underlined that the liturgy is the summit to which all the activity of the Church tends and at the same time it is the source from which she draws all her strength... the Church’s many different works of apostolate (preaching, catechesis, school education, social assistance, pastoral conferences, spiritual retreats...) have the common aim of leading people to believe in Christ, to be baptised and take part in liturgical celebrations, especially the sacrifice and sacrament of the Holy Eucharist” Cardinal Arinze said.
The Bishop, “as the first dispenser of God’s mysteries of God in the Particular Church entrusted to his care”, is the moderator, promoter and guarantor of liturgical life in his diocese. It is his duty to foster in priests, deacons and the laity “an authentic sense of liturgy”, so they make take part in the Eucharistic Celebration consciously, actively and fruitfully. The Bishop also has the duty to ensure that liturgy is celebrated with due dignity, without additions or suppressions or changes, to produce the maximum of fruits of sanctification for the diocese.
“In the name of Christ the Bridegroom, Bishops communicate the grace of salvation to the people of God especially by celebrating the holy Liturgy and the sacraments are most important”, the Cardinal said and he mentioned the sacraments which only a Bishop can perform because of their significance, encouraging his the Bishops present to read carefully the “Roman Pontifical” and the “Caeremoniale Episcoporum”.
“In the work of promoting the sanctification of God’s people, priests are the ones who are most closely associated with the diocesan Bishop... they make the Bishop present in parishes, chapels and other institutions in the diocese”. Hence the need to assure adequate liturgical formation in seminaries and religious institutes as well as to guarantee ongoing formation. In particular Cardinal Arinze stressed the importance of preparing Sunday homilies, “the main channel of religious formation for most Catholics”.
The Cardinal also spoke briefly about the Cathedral church, “a place filled with significance, symbolism and importance”, where the bishop has his teaching chair the “cathedra”, and he stressed the need to prepare the people of God to take part fruitfully in the liturgy. Lastly the Cardinal spoke about inculturation which he said should be considered “a normal part of evangelisation”, as long as it is the result of “proper and careful” reflection and he encouraged the Bishops to follow instructions issued by the Holy See in this regard and to avoid “frequent changes or the introduction of rites invented by the celebrant and which have not been approved,” and offend the sensitivity of the people of God. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 17/9/2004; Righe 36 - Parole 473)


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