In dialogue with society” “

150 French bishops, including 112 still in service, met in Lourdes for their annual plenary assembly from 3 to 9 November. Among the many dossiers on the agenda, two has been opened last year: marriage and catechesis. Three new reports were added: two relating to the Church and society and a third to the reorganization of the Episcopal Conference. A church that takes to heart the search for meaning. The bishops take to heart the search to give a meaning to life that characterizes so many people today. “Why live? Why prefer life even when it promises to be painful? What does it mean to love? … How can good be distinguished from evil?”. To respond to such questions the French bishops placed at the centre of their plenary assembly in Lourdes such themes as catechesis, marriage and the role of the Church in society. So said the archbishop of Bordeaux and president of the Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Jean-Pierre Ricard, during his closing address. The French Church – he said – thus refuses “to enclose itself in its own internal questions, or demonize the external social environment”; it renounces “every form of ecclesial egocentrism” to “present the light of the Gospel to everyone”. A catechesis for every age. The dossiers published in the course of the assembly include one dedicated to catechesis. “For a long time – says the document – catechetical activity concerned itself exclusively with believers and strove to structure their faith. Since the environment had become hostile and critical, we have had to justify our faith and make it credible”. Today, however, “people who are seeking a possible spiritual life and hope to find in the Gospel the power to renew their existence are knocking at our door. Catechesis must devote itself to these men and women”. “Catechesis can no longer limit itself to being a mere teaching – explains Bishop André Fort of Perpignan and member of the episcopal Commission for catechesis and catechumenate – nor concern itself only with children aged from 8 to 12. It must become for each age group, including adults, a way of discovering what it means to believe and live as Christians”. Marriage: credible proposals are needed. 200,000 young people knock on the doors of the Church each year to ask to be married, but they haven’t the foggiest idea of what Catholic marriage is. “The time has come – says Archbishop André Vingt-Trois of Tours and president of the Episcopal Commission for the family – to abandon a defensive position and present an attractive proposal”. Also on the question of marriage, the assembly published a dossier that concludes with 11 specific pastoral proposals ranging from the possible dates of the celebration, to the choice of witnesses, the sacramental life, the need for fidelity, the indissolubility of the marital bond, and the gift of fertility. What role for the church in society? One of the crucial problems tackled by this plenary assembly concerns the relations between Church and State, in view of the approaching centenary of the law on the separation between Church and State passed in 1905. The questions posed are very concrete: How far should the use of cult buildings of the Catholic Church be allowed? What are the relations between clergy and local representatives? And what role should the Church play in social debates? Archbishop Ricard hailed the meeting between political representatives and church leaders on 12 February, welcomed the “decision to hold regular meetings” and expressed the hope that this type of relations “may also have positive repercussions on the construction of Europe and in particular on the drafting of the future European Constitution”. Lastly the bishops opened a dossier “on [the Church’s] decentralization, involving the reinforcement of regional responsibilities”, which ought to lead to the creation of 15 apostolic provinces in place of the 9 regions that currently exist. A reduction of the number of commission and committees is also being studied.