Synod gathers reports of small working groups

October 19, 2012 - The 13^th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, Oct. 7-28, continued in the Vatican on Friday in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI, with the presentation of reports by small groups after they met for an entire day on Thursday. These reports will be used to formulate specific propositions which will be presented to the Pope at the synod’s end. Since many of the synod fathers and participants were unable to talk at the general congregations, 18 of them presented their speeches in written form on Thursday. Among them Archbishop Nicholas Mang Thang of Mandalay, Myanmar, explained that evangelization is practically difficult and conversion too is very slow in Asia, especially in South East Asia where the majority of the people are Buddhists. Firstly, this is because in the region, nationality, culture and religion are identified as one; and secondly, because of the Buddhist belief in re-incarnation, crucifixion and violent death are not considered good, holy and virtuous. In this situation, Archbishop Mang Thang said, the Church should portray God as our loving and merciful Father who cares and is concerned about the spiritual and bodily needs of all human beings without any distinction of race, color, religion.
Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See also presented his intervention in writing. “As Christ taught, the proclamation of the Gospel must always be accompanied by the credibility of the preacher, putting into practice the message he proclaims,” he said. “This also applies to the way in which the Church uses temporal goods for its spiritual mission.” Generally those administering Church good must be regarded as having good intention and honesty, unless proved otherwise, rather than easy accusation of interest or selfish power by those who are against the Church. Where bad administration of goods have been proved, he said the evangelical medicine of brotherly correction must prevail in the Church, providing a chance for repentance and reparation. “Transparency,” he said, “does not automatically mean publicizing the evil which leads to scandal.” Cardinal Versaldi said the Church needs to communicate better how the goods entrusted to her are used in the service of evangelization and in the promotion of the human person around the world.