Posługa kapłana w ruchach i stowarzyszeniach eklezjalnych

Abstract

New evangelization requires priests who are able to use a new style of pastoral life in close co-operation not only with the hierarchy but “with the lay faithful, respecting and developing various roles, charismas and services in the ecclesiastical community” If participation in ecclesiastical movements and associations is to be full and to form the laity’s mature attitude and involvement in Christian life, the presence of priests is necessary in these circles both in order to ensure current pastoral care and to form proper ecclesiastical attitudes. The criteria that allow to recognise movements and associations as ecclesiastical imply a fundamental role of the priest in them; the role consists in service set in the process of building the Church organically in the local community. This results from the postulate of passing from activist to holistic conception of pastorate, aiming at a clearly realised target defined by contemporary ecclesiology. Hence the priest may take part in the life of associations and movements in two ways: 1. as a spiritual protector ardently performing his function that is detailed putting into effect ministrations for all the faithful; 2. as a participant in the group’s charisma, directly and personally involved in its realisation. Not taking care of a group of faithful having deeper needs of experiencing the mystery of the Church would be incompatible with the pastoral vocation. It is exactly these groups that start a revival of the parish. Leaving them without any protection means not only disappointing the more deeply involved parishioners, but it threatens the religious movements and associations with a loss of ecclesiastical identity. This is why the Code of Canon Law indeed imposes on the parish priest the duty to “recognize and support the lay faithful’s own part in the Church’s mission as well as support their associations with religious aims” (Code of Canon Law; can. 529, pt.2). This idea is more precisely expressed in the “Directory on priests’ service and life”; it states that the parish priest should do this “accepting all of them and helping them find the unity of intentions that would unite them, in prayer and apostolic activities”.