The concern about the lack of vocations to the priesthood, the theme of collegiality, and the need to bear witness to hope: these were the three questions that most drew the attention of European bishops present at the Synod. We present below the interventions given on the margins of the Synod by Msgr. Jesùs E.Catalá , bishop of Alcalá de Henares (Spain) and Msgr. Ludwig Schick, auxiliary bishop of Fulda (Germany). The bishop should be a “father” and sometimes a “mother” to his priests “The bishop said Jesùs E.Catalá, bishop of Alcalá de Henares ( Spain) must relate to his priests like a father to his children, and sometimes like a mother”. With regard to relations with diocesan priests, the Spanish-speaking bishops repudiated “the false image of the bishop as a manager or executive. The spirit of fatherhood is the best way of being a bishop. Situations of difficulty, of loneliness, of the psychological crises suffered by priests, he stressed , should not be handled by the bishop from a managerial point of view: they should be faced like a father, a brother, a friend. One of the synod fathers also used the image of the mother”. Msgr. Català also spoke of the importance of the bishop’s pastoral visits to the parishes; these should be conducted “with care and in depth”. The Spanish-speaking synod fathers also reaffirmed the value of “simplicity” in the lifestyle of the bishop and in the structures of the Church, and of “transparency” in administration. Other themes tackled included collegiality, the risk of a “parallel pastoral mission” in the dioceses in which ecclesial movements are present, and the apostolate of vocations. Witnesses of hope The auxiliary bishop of Fulda ( Germany), Ludwig Schick, testified how strong is the concern of German bishops about vocations to the priesthood. According to the German bishops, “the most important thing to do is create a climate favourable to vocations for the celibate. A clear theology of the priesthood in seminaries is also essential for this”. Equally desirable is “a Commission to examine the theme of communion and subsidiarity. The relations of the episcopal conferences and patriarchal synods with the Pope could be made more effective through an improvement of the already existing structures of the synods of bishops”. That of communion and subsidiarity is, according to Schick, a unique theme, since “not even in sociology does there exist a concept of subsidiarity as an end in itself: subsidiarity must lead to communion and this needs to be theologically defined”. The question of hope was also greatly debated: “The theme of hope is a theme that, according to Schick “must be developed”. The bishop must be a witness of hope for the world, and this is “a point on which specific, and not theoretical, discussions took place in the work groups. By concrete witness we mean someone like Mother Teresa of Calcutta”, said the bishop of Fulda. “Equally witnesses of hope today are the American bishops who spoke of justice and peace, and accepted the recourse to war only as a last resort”.
