With those who are looking for

Parishes, the Holy Scriptures, tasks of evangelization, charisma and new movements: these are themes on which are centered the Synod fathers’ reflections delivered on October 17, during the Synod in the Vatican, ongoing until October 28. A renewed thrust to parishes. A "pastoral conversion" so that the parish, "the place that is closest, thorough, more accessible to the people" and "the cell" of the "particular church" may open up "to a pastoral care of evangelization". It is the hope of Cardinal Agostino Vallini, general vicar of the Pope for the diocese of Rome (Italy). The prelate made special reference to the parishes "of great multi-ethnic and multi-religious urban centres", where "along with minorities of participative and committed faithful, there is a majority of baptized faithful with a weak and anemic faith, indifferent or distant from the Church", along with "men and women that are members of other religions that draw near the parish community for different reasons", and many unknown people that are "looking for God". There ensues the need for "a paradigm of the ‘first proclamation’", of "catechetical itineraries" and special care in the Sunday Eucharist. The cardinal vicar of Rome conveyed the hope that "the Synod may express a vibrant encouragement to priests, in particular to parish priests, so that they may engage with conviction and passion to promote a renewed missionary thrust of their ministry, rethinking with courage – under the guidance of the bishop- the organizational model of parish pastoral care".God is the criterion. "The explicit or implicit call to conversion, that touches the conscience of the human person, encompasses transformative potentials based of the fact that it corresponds to the word of the Incarnated Word, to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ", underlined Msgr. Stanislav Zvolensky, archbishop of Bratislava, president of the Slovakian bishops’ Conference. For this reason, he explained, the call to conversion can be effective "as a result of the sacramental feature of the Holy Scripture" regardless of "the motivation or of the personal qualities of the evangelizer". For Msgr. Zvolensky, "authentic and efficient conversion" testifies "to the living presence of God between us". God is therefore "the criterion of everything", the "reality of realities". Preparation and accompaniment towards the encounter with Christ. The mission of an evangelizer consists in "preparing and accompanying the one who seeks Jesus in the encounter with Him. It is the first thing that Andrew did: he immediately brought his brother to the Messiah, telling him that he met the One they had been awaiting for centuries", said Msgr. Petro Herkulan Malchuk, the archbishop-Bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomyr (Ukraine), for whom "the encounter with the living God is an original experience, a transforming experience whereby everything is put back in its place and completely changes reality" which leads "to the immediate need to proclaim a reality that overflows with liberating and redeeming joy". "As the new evangelization touches us in first person – he added – I propose to highlight two aspects in all evangelizing activity". First of all, "the sacrament of confession", since "when confession is neglected spiritual life dies", thus "the appropriate organization for the formation of candidates to the priesthood entails their separation from the secular world, thus enablin them to be together as in the cenacle, until the Lord will complete His work within them". Charismas and signs. "Delving into the problem of charismas and removing the obstacles ‘that prevent the full integration of charismas in order to sustain the new evangelization.’" Msgr. Zbigòev Stankevics, archbishop of Riga (Latvia) tackled the invitation addressed to the Synod in n.116 of the Instrumentum Laboris. The first obstacle, he said, "is that most priests are not willing to take care of the new groups and movements, as they have not received the appropriate preparation for this kind of pastoral care". Another consists in the fact that "most of the leaders of the groups don’t have a theological preparation and they easily are mistaken from the doctrinal angle". From Msgr. Stankevics came an appeal to the bishops "to encourage priests to follow new prayer groups and movements". "Another problem – he added – is the lack of our own pastoral care of charismas and signs, promoted by Jesus to the Apostles", an "enormous resource for the new evangelization" since "when someone sees the Divine power actively working before his/her own eyes, that person’s faith is revived". For the archbishop of Riga, "these signs are rarely present during our preaching", that has become "too rational and not enough kerygmatic", but precisely "the presence of the kerygma releases the divine force". Hence the invitation to "take into consideration these sensitive points in pastoral praxis".