Priesthood and Eucharist - Dominican Order/Christianity/Europe
Re: Publication of the booklet by our Dutch Dominican Brothers (1); 04/09/07; - Press Release; Fr. Edward Ruane, OP; Vicar to the Master of the Order; 1. See articles published in The Tablet 8 and 15 September 2007
As we know from the Acts of the Apostles, the question of ministry in the Christian Community has been a challenge from biblical days when the early Church instituted the Order of Deacon. Still in our own day, the question of adequate ministry to God’s People continues to be a question to which the Church responds in diverse ways in different parts of the world.
The Eastern Church has always had both a married clergy alongside a celibate clergy. In the Western Church there has been a lengthy tradition of only celibate priests. Church authority has reaffirmed this tradition on several different occasions.
Nevertheless, this tradition continues to be questioned by some, especially when this tradition apparently prevents the wider celebration of the Eucharist, which is essential to the life of
the Christian Community. Nevertheless, in both the Eastern and Western Churches ordination is essential.
The shortage of vocations to the Ordained Priesthood is pressing, particularly in some parts of the world. It is right for the Church Community to be concerned about this shortage. Our Dutch Dominican brothers share this grave concern and desire to dialogue about it. Perhaps they feel that Church authority has not adequately dealt with this question and, therefore, they are pressing for a more open dialogue.
The booklet published by our Dutch brothers was a surprise to the General Curia of the Dominican Order. While we laud the concern of our brothers, we do not believe that the method they have used in disseminating this booklet, nor the solutions that they have proposed are beneficial to the Church nor in harmony with its tradition. While we share their concern about the availability of the Eucharist and priestly ministry, we believe this concern must be responded to in careful theological and pastoral reflection with the wider Church and Dominican Order.
Dutch Dominicans call for laity to celebrate Mass
William Jurgensen; 8/9/07; The Tablet
The Dominican Order in the Netherlands has issued a radical recommendation that lay ministers chosen by their congregations should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no ordained priests are available.
In a booklet posted to all 1,300 parishes in the country, it says that the Church should drop its priest-centred model of the Mass in favour of one built around a community sharing bread and wine in prayer.
“Whether they are women or men, homo-or heterosexual, married or single, makes no difference. What is important is an infectious attitude of faith,” said the brochure, which has been approved by the Dutch order’s leaders. However, the Dutch bishops’ conference promptly said that the booklet appeared to be “in conflict with the faith of the Roman Catholic Church’: It said it had no prior knowledge of the project and needed to study the text further before issuing a full reaction.
The 38-page booklet, Kerk en Ambt (”Church and Ministry”), reflects the thinking of the Belgian-born Dominican theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx.
In 1986 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned Fr Schillebeeckx that his views on the Eucharist and lay ministry were “erroneous” but took no action against him. The booklet was written by four Dominicans including Fr Andre Lascaris, a theologian at the Dominican Study Centre for Theology and Society in Nijmegen. Fr Lascaris was involved in peace work for Northern Ireland from 1973 until 1992 and has published numerous articles and books on conflict, violence, forgiveness and reconciliation. The other authors are Fr Jan Nieuwenhuis, retired head of the Dominicus ecumenical centre in Amsterdam, Fr Harrie Salemans, a parish priest in Utrecht, and Fr Ad Willems, retired theology lecturer at Radboud University, Nijmegen.
The booklet says that many Dutch Catholics are frustrated that combining parishes and closing churches is the main response to the challenge of a dwindling clergy. “The Church is organised around priests and actually finds the priesthood more important than local faith communities,” said Fr Salemans in an interview posted on the order’s Dutch web-site. “This is deadly for local congregations.”
Using the early Church as its model, the booklet said a congregation could choose its own lay minister to lead services. The minister and the congregation would speak the words of consecration together. “Speaking these words is not the exclusive right or power of the priest,” the booklet said. “It is the conscious expression of faith by the whole congregation.”
The ranks of Dutch Dominicans have thinned along with those of other clergy, and now number only 90 men. Since 2000 around 200 parishes in the Netherlands have been closed due to the lack of priests and the fall in church attendance.
Dutch Dominicans axe meeting on lay Mass celebrants
William Jurgensen; 15/9/07; The Tablet
Dutch Dominicans have called off a planned conference on their appeal to allow lay ministers to celebrate Mass when priests are not available.
But the Netherlands province, acting after an urgent request from the order’s General Curia in Rome, still asked Dutch bishops for a meeting to discuss their controversial booklet “Church and Ministry” (The Tablet, 8 September 2007). The Dutch bishops rejected the booklet only hours after it came out and seemed in no hurry to consider meeting its authors.
Fr Ben Vocking, the Dutch Dominican provincial, said the General Curia acted after receiving a protest letter from Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, head of the Dutch bishops’ conference. “You can’t refuse such a request and we’re not doing that,” Fr Vocking said. “Now we have invited the bishops to call a study day with us in future.”
One of the booklet’s four authors, theologian Fr Andre Lascaris, said he hoped progressive Catholic organisations would take over the reins of the planned conference. The Dominicans had issued an open invitation to a study day on 22 September for interested clergy and lay people to discuss their proposals.
The Dominicans’ thinking is influenced by a Belgian member of their order, the radical theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, who provoked Vatican disapproval with similar ideas in the 1980s. Fr Vocking denied that the Dominicans wanted to reform the priesthood radically, and said they sought only to “widen the ministry in an emergency situation”. He stressed that local congregations wanted to celebrate together, not drive miles for Mass.
Saying it was surprised by the booklet, the General Curia added: “While we laud the concern of our brothers, we do not believe that the method they have used in disseminating this booklet, nor the solutions that they have proposed, are beneficial to the Church or in harmony with its tradition. We share the concern about the availability of the Eucharist and the priestly ministry, but we think one should react to this concern with careful theological and pastoral reflection in the wider context of the Church and the Dominican Order.”
The General Curia noted that Orthodox Churches had long had married parish priests and that Western theologians had sometimes challenged the celibacy rule in the Latin rite, adding: “Nevertheless, the ordained ministry is essential, both in the East and in the West.”