Year of Faith: connecting the local Church with the global Church
(Vatican Radio) On Sunday, after the recitation of the Angelus Prayer, Pope Benedict
XVI turned his attention to the just started Year of Faith inviting believers to have
the courage to ask the Lord what more can we do? Especially for the poor, the lonely,
the sick and the suffering, so as to be witnesses and heirs to the eternal life God
promises…
That echoes a quote – by Pope Benedict – on the home page of
the Hope & Joy network created in South Africa to celebrate the Church and deepen
our understanding of what the Church is celebrating in this 50th anniversary
of the Second Vatican Council.
Speaking to Vatican Radio's Linda Bordoni, Raymond
Perrier, the director of the Jesuit Institute in South Africa, as well as being the
man behind the Hope & Joy initiative, explained that while Hope & Joy was created
to prepare the ground for the Vatican II anniversary, it lives on in The Year of Faith
as it picks up where the former came to a close…
listen...
Perrier
says the project lives on using the same network of organizations and some of the
techniques. The larger dioceses have also taken the Year of Faith as an opportunity
to put in place some more specific locally targeted renewal programmes.
He
talks about the "Renew" programme which has been tim ed to coincide with the Year
of Faith - presented very much as the Johannesburg response to the Year of Faith:
connecting the local Church wit the global Church.
Perrier points out that
the challenge of the Year of Faith is how to harness the energy it has generated once
it is over.