Another Reflection on JPII and the Future of the Church He Left Behind

This is from the May 6th Commonweal:  Robert P. Imbelli, Shepherding the Church.  Imbelli is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and associate professor of theology at Boston College.  (By the way, the next reflection in Commonweal will be that of MOJ's own Amy Uelman!)  To read Imbelli's entire reflection, click here.  Excerpts follow:

In 1996, John Paul II issued the apostolic letter Universi dominici gregis, which laid down detailed procedures to govern the election of a new pope. Among the responsibilities of the cardinals, prior to the recent conclave, was to appoint two preachers “known for their sound doctrine, wisdom, and moral authority” who were to offer “meditations on the problems facing the church at the present time and on the need for careful discernment in choosing the new pope.” This requirement of prayerful discernment of spirits carries beyond the conclave and the election of the next pope and constitutes a continuing responsibility of the church gathered in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Had I been asked to offer recommendations on texts to guide the preachers’ presentations (and now, more importantly, the Catholic community’s ongoing reflections), I would have suggested two: the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, and the wonderful pastoral vision sketched by John Paul II in his Novo millennio ineunte.
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Another theme developed in Novo millennio ineunte may prove particularly important in focusing the vision and energies of the church, his call “to make the church the home and the school of communion.” Achieving this will require the development of “a spirituality of communion” that can undergird and sustain a commitment to consultation, dialogue, and collaboration. Vatican II’s recovery of the constitutive role of collegiality in Catholic ecclesiology was a catalyst for the postconciliar development of such participatory structures as the Synod of Bishops and diocesan presbyeteral and pastoral councils. The challenge confronting the next pope and the whole church is to reanimate these, to employ them more effectively, and, when necessary, to create new vehicles for expressing and furthering the active and mature collaboration of all the baptized.

In this regard, one must mention two crucial claims on the prayerful discernment of the church. The first is how the manifold gifts that women bring to the whole church may find fuller institutional recognition. The second is whether, in view of the aging and diminishing numbers of clergy, especially in the West, the tradition of celibacy can continue to be the normal practice for the Latin church.

In the years since Novo millennio ineunte, other challenges of “these rapidly changing times” have emerged, perhaps none more difficult, and urgent than the dialogue with Islam. Clearly our new pope cannot be the sole responsible dialogue partner; but his leadership will set the tone and help orient its course.

The daunting challenges presented to the next pope and to the whole church can seem overwhelming. Like Peter and the disciples in the storm-driven boat we are tempted to lose heart. But the two-fold passion, for Christ and for communion, is the beacon that guides disciples, not away from suffering and the cross, but toward meeting them with faith, in the hope of resurrection. Together with St. John of the Cross the church of the new millennium chants the song of “The Dark Night”: “Sin otra luz y guia/ Sino la que en el corazon ardia”--“With no other light and guide/Save that which burned in my heart.”