Pope Benedict and Small Lay Communities
posted April 11th, 2007 at 11:32 am by Betty
On Easter Sunday The New York Times Magazine brought attention to Pope Benedict XVI with its front cover and lengthy article entitled “Keeping The Faith.” The article, by Russell Shorto, sketched in biographical and intellectual background for the Pope’s goal to “re-Christianize Europe.”
Since his election two years ago, Benedict has been articulating his vision, in various contexts: how Europe is denying its own religion and because of this, its distinct identity. Recently in Rome, addressing cardinals and bishops, as well as politicians, the Pope again stated his theme: Europe is on a collision course leading to self-destruction. It must hear the call to return to its spiritual roots. Catholics must return to daily prayer, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and regular attendance at Mass.
Yet, it is clear from the article that the situation in Europe is spiritually ambiguous. While church attendance is very low (fewer than 20 percent of the people, both Catholics and Prostestants, say they attend church regularly), there is evidence of a spiritual hunger in some places in Europe as well as evidence that that hunger is being fed. Take, for instance, the large crowds that show up to see Benedict when he speaks, (the number is on the increase, even over those who wanted to be near to Pope John Paul II). And take, for example, the Commuity of Sant’Egidio in Rome where 300 people or more fill the pews for an “energetic, soulful lay service, a 30-minute meditation - a well-orchestrated mix of prayer and song… conducted by and for ordinary lay people.”
It was the description and the subtle affirmation of this lay-led community that I found so interesting in this article. The Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome is a lay movement that began in 1968 and now has a presence in 70 countries. Sant’Egidio’s focus is on poverty and peace; its leaders have mediated between warring factons in Mozambique, Uganda and Kosovo; the current program is to make H.I.V drug therapy more widely available in Africa.
According to Shorto, other lay Catholic movements have proliferated in Europe. They became popular after Vatican II when there was resistance to a top-down system of control. These communities arose, not under the auspicious of the Church institution, but in the wake of a desire for a less authoritarian style of prayer and meditation. One group looks inward, while another is committed to peace and justice issues. All are led by lay people and are simply for the people. These are signs of spiritual life, the article was quick to point out, and a people who are comfortable gathering together to pray and sing.
This European phenomenon reminds me of what we know about the earliest communities of Christians, who gathered together for companionship and inspiration - long before there was a church institution with a hierarchy of leadership and its rules. The phenomenon also reminds me of our Magdalene Community, where men and women gather together weekly to sing, pray, and have conversation with other spritualities and religious traditions.
The complexity that faces Benedict (and for any church institution) was stated directly in the article: “The problem is that the spiritual hunger that exists in Europe seems to be precisely for what the church can’t provide.” The article seems to be asking if the Pope can have it both ways: maintain the authoritarian structure and harness the energy in the small lay communities?
The Pope is calling Europe back to its spiritual roots. But as Shorto pointed out, the question is “whether it is too late.”
Of course Europeans will decide this.
My interest in is the American Church, and the question as to where we are, spiritually, here. Could it be that our spiritual landscape is more ambiguous than we usually think? Is there really a vast divide between Americans and Europeans on the matter of their religion? Some would say yes, some, no. We do know that mainline churches have been declining in their numbers and that small communities are developing on the margins of the church.
My interest is in what the decline in numbers means, and what small developing spiritual communities are saying both to themselves and to the larger church institutions. Perhaps some of these communities simply want to go it alone. Perhaps others want the larger church to change in some way, even in major ways — to let go of some of its tradition in order to speak to people today - to let go of its past exclusiveness as to who is in and who is out — to let go of its refusal to look within and self-reflect. To be a place that manifests that something important is going on here. 
Community of Sant’Egidio 
the pope
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict
catholic
roman catholic
catholic church
religion
current affairs
culture
vatican
european christianity
Russell Shorto
emerging church
