One of the more interesting gatherings in Rome over the next few weeks will be the Pentecost meeting of the "New Ecclesial Movements" – you know, from Opus Dei to the Neo-Catechumenate to Sant’Egidio. This is an event you’ll want to follow because this will give a fascinating snapshot of the energies in the contemporary Church.
It will also be a useful corrective to the popular assumption that the last two pontificates have been all about the clergy and power of the ordained, and been intent on supressing the laity. Yeah, gather a million kids in Cologne. Put those upstarts in their place and keep ’em there.
For just a bit of history – offered here a few weeks back – the first such gathering was in 1998, in preparation for the Jubilee. Here’s one message to the participants at that event and here’s another.
In preparation for this year, the Vatican has released a directory of these groups:
For the first time, the Vatican has published a directory of new Church movements and ecclesial communities.
The volume, published by the Pontifical Council for the Laity through the Vatican Publishing House, presents the descriptions, histories and other data of 122 "Associations of the Faithful."
In the Preface of the directory, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Council for the Laity, explains that the writing began in 2000, as Pope John Paul II presented movements as "one of the most significant fruits of the new springtime of the Church that burgeoned with the Second Vatican Council."
Over the next few weeks, the ZENIT news service will be reprinting the entries on each of the groups, a few at a time. That should be worth following. There’s a lot going on in our Church – learn about it!
The Schoenstatt Movement (I believe that among other spots, one of the strongest local US groups of this one is in Austin)
The movement was approved by the Church authorities in 1964, and today comprises 20 branches which gather together men, women, families, young people, priests and consecrated lay persons, in various forms of commitment.
Identity: Faithful to the teachings of the founder, the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt aims at forming personalities and Christian communities that are capable of freely supporting God’s plan in the world in which they live.
The formation proposed by the movement is based on self-education, faith in Providence, the pursuit of holiness in daily life, and readiness and willingness to be instruments in God’s hands. The particular purpose of the movement is the spiritual renewal of Christians, which is achieved by promoting educational and religious activities and social projects, also in cooperation with other ecclesial movements.
Membership: The Bread of Life Community has several hundred members in 25 countries as follows: Africa (10), Asia (1), Europe (8), Middle East (1), North America (2), South America (2), and Oceania (1).
Works: The Bread of Life Community has set up schools and kindergartens; hostels for the homeless; an association called Faire Route Avec Toi to support individuals or development projects; Mission Jeune, for young people wishing to share the life of the community or to work in its missionary activities for a given period of their life; Evangile et developpement, a school to prepare young people between 18 and 30 years of age to serve in the missions in developing countries.
They study the social teachings of the Church, contemporary issues (peace, nonviolence, North-South relations), health, hygiene and sanitation standards, and such work as masonry, fruit and vegetable growing, animal husbandry.
Every year the community also organizes summer camps in Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe for young people between 18 and 25 years of age.
Identity: The identity of the Amigonian Cooperators, set out in the "Life Project," takes the form of a commitment to the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law and the courts, and care for young people with deviant attitudes and who are in a state of material and moral poverty.
The supreme model for the way they live and act is Jesus, the good Shepherd, who knows and loves all of his sheep. They learn from Our Lady of Sorrows, who understands and reaches out to all those who suffer, to understand and to reach out to all those who feel abandoned. As members of the Franciscan Family, like St. Francis they live a life marked by its simplicity and charity.
Organization: The Amigonian Cooperators are organized into local groups, each of which has its own council, comprising a president, vice president/secretary, bursar, one delegate for every 10 members, and a spiritual animator.
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