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In the form of consecrated life combined with the ordained ministry, the
relationship with the episcopal ministry and with the College of Bishops is,
and must be, one of profound communion and collaboration. The main reason is
the collegiality of the ordained ministry in the Church. Ministry is a
collegial reality, a collective ministerial charism, which cannot and must not
be interpreted or lived individualistically. The Bishop is an ordained minister
in the communion of the college of Bishops; the priest is so in the communion
of the presbyterate. Bishops and priests and deacons son ordained ministers in
the context of the particular Church. Each particular Church is the presence
and privileged manifestation of the Church of Jesus Christ. It is graced with
the gift of the Holy Spirit, of the Gospel, of the Eucharist and of the
pastoral ministry. In this Church are incorporated the diocesan priests (those
belonging or not belonging to institutes of consecrated life) and they
constitute a single presbyterate in this Church, destined to serve in a
specific place and time23.
The priests together form a single presbyterate, a sacramental
fraternity24. Cultivating this communion of the presbyterate requires
working together and establishing proper fraternal relations. The ordained
ministry is but one, although many people bear it. It is only in collegiality,
in unwavering mutual communion that the ministers are really ordained
ministers.
The one Spirit grants particular gifts to each of the priests and
enriches the Church with a variety of ministerial forms. The ordained ministers
in the consecrated life are part of the presbyterate that is both diocesan and
universal25. If theologically it is said that the ordained ministry is
one and each of the ministers participate in it, although to a different
degree, it is essential for the life of the ordained ministry to live it in a
spirit of deep communion with all the priests and, in turn, above all, with our
Pastors. The fact that the ordained ministers belonging to the consecrated life
receive their ministry from the hands of the Bishop, from his paternity,
indicates that the bond that unites them with the Pastors of the Church is very
strong, it is definitive, and sacramentally defines their identity26.
The pastoral and ministerial needs of each particular Church and of all the
Churches should enter among the priorities of the ordained ministers belonging
to the Institutes of consecrated life. The existence of an ordained ministry
that seems to be more of a secondary element in the life of some consecrated
persons rather than a decisive and determining sacramental element does not
respond to the demands of ministerial communion.
When a more traditional theology of the
ordained ministry emphasised – as a constitutive element of the Order’s
ministry – only the essential stamp of the priestly “character” or “being,” it
was easier to understand that the ordained ministry of the religious was
justified of itself. However, when
ministry is understood as an “ontology of function” (an expression coined by
Schnackenburg), that is, as a genuine ministry, by of an ontological rank,
constituting a new personality in the Church, one cannot justify a ministry
that is not exercise in the service of the las Christian communities.
As Superior Generals of Institutes in which there is a large number of
priests and deacons, we must undertake a serious discernment to make this form
of consecrated life and ordained ministry and creative, stemming from our
founding charisms, but also from an ecclesiology of the ordained ministry in
the service of the needs of the People of God. For example, we must take much
more seriously the topic of the distribution of ordained ministers. The lack of
them in many particular Churches is preventing Christian communities from
regularly celebrating the Eucharist or other sacraments, or being fully
constituted as faith communities. Can we continue to allow this lack of
ordained ministers when in our Institutes we have quite a few ordained
ministers who are devoted to other tasks that are not strictly ministerial? Do
we not have to redefine vocations to the al ordained ministry in our Institutes
from more serious and demanding ecclesiological criteria? In this context the
relation between the “consecrated” ordained ministers with the Pastors of the
particular Churches and with the Successor of Peter, is a constitutive factor
of the ministerial vocation. They are not properly living their ministry unless
they have a strong and real communion with their Pastors. Our availability for
ministry in the face of the needs of the Church should be promoted to the
highest degree. It is certain that we must be faithful to our charism, but in
order to care for “our” works, we must not fail – as ordained ministers – to
attend to the great needs of the particular Churches and of the universal
Church.
Our relationship with the Pastors is also established in the context of
the “communitarian” spirituality that is proper to the ordained ministry.
Without the communion among the priests and with our Bishops, our living out of
our ministerial vocation is defective27.
On the other hand, the consecrated priests belonging to our Institutes
live in community the unity of their vocation and mission. Their fraternal life
in community is an essential part of the contribution they make to the
particular Church. The Bishop has to see to it and make it possible for the
religious priests to live this dimension of their vocation and mission while
they work in the pastoral activity of the diocese. In the same way, he should
be attentive to the existential form in which they exercise their priestly
ministry by reason of charism or mission, v.g. in
monastic life, in formation, education, health care, etc.
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