My Dear Sisters and Brothers:

For North American Catholics the "participative Catholic Church" of Latin America remains unfamiliar and even rather remote. Culturally, American Catholics have been raised in a social milieu that prizes individualism and self-sufficiency. On the other hand, Latin American culture emphasizes the family and the community. It has shaped its Church's life and mission quite differently than the style and ministry of the North American Catholic Church.

In order to understand the implications of the Latin American Catholic Church and its impact on the theological mind set and governance style of Pope Francis, we turn to Professor Thomas M. Kelly, a teacher of theology at Creighton University in Omaha, and his insightful article entitled "Formed in Latin America-Understanding the Ecclesiology of Pope Francis" which appeared on America's website on June 18th.

To grasp more fully the thinking and the style of Francis, Professor Kelly tells us that we need to understand the difference between the "official" Church of Europe and North America and the "popular" Church of Latin America. The "official" Church acts in accordance with a greater formality, especially in its liturgical life where participation by the people is defined and limited. The Latin American Catholic Church's liturgical life is much more informal and participative (e.g., the Papal Mass at the edge of Rio's beach during World Youth Week last August). It is an interaction between the priest and the people with the focus on the parishioners offering their own questions and insights about the scriptures and the implications of those readings on their everyday lives. The word of God and the Eucharist have a force and power for Latin Americans that are quite different for North Americans and Europeans.

Interestingly, since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, the Latin American bishops have held four major pastoral gatherings over the past 46 years: Medellin in 1968, Puebla in 1979, Santo Domingo in 1992 and Aparecida in 2007. At each of those action-oriented conferences the bishops focused on the human reality of the Church's missionary activity, especially its concern for the poor. Greatly influenced by those four conferences, Pope Francis has time and again spoken about a "Church of the Poor and for the Poor," a Church that "moves out of itself," a Church that is like a "field hospital." Moreover, he continually refers to the Church as the People of God, embracing the spirit and style of a collegial Church that "trusts the periphery" over against the "centralizing tendency to trust only Rome." This theological mind set of Francis was characteristic of him when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires with his encouragement of his priests to become involved with the poor, sending many of them to minister among the poorest of the poor in the slums of that city.

At Medellin the bishops provided an interpretation of the great Council which was concrete, historical and progressive in the wake of a series of consultations the bishops previously had had with their own people regarding what "Being Church" meant for them. Professor Kelly identifies four strategic developments for the Latin American Church that emerged from Medellin. First, the bishops made a clear connection between the social, political and economic realities of this world and the Kingdom of God, which the Church proclaims and to which it gives witness.

Second, the very structures of both the Church and society in general must change in order to alleviate poverty and suffering and to promote greater understanding among all people. Third, the bishops embraced the Church as the People of God with an explicit focus on the option for the Poor. Fourth, only if the Church purposefully follows its own exhortations and actively engages in its commitments to the people and its work on behalf of justice will the people listen to it and remain a vital part of it.

Thus, Francis was formed in a Church with its own ecclesial narrative about justice, leadership and collegiality. The Church for him is a "participative" community that respects and accompanies the popular Church of the people in their sufferings and their devotions. It is not a structure of possessions, privilege and power. Moreover, Francis proclaims a Gospel of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. He emphasizes a Church that is a servant and ministers to all people, particularly the voiceless and the marginalized. It's a house of the father in the parable of the prodigal son with its doors wide open to all who wish to return. He opts for action over mere thought, seeing "ideas-conceptual elaborations-at the service of communication, understanding and praxis." For him the Eucharist is not something to be earned while confession is no longer a "torture chamber." He has said: "I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security."

At the close of his reflections, Professor Kelly asks what might all of these ideas about the Latin American Church that has formed Pope Francis mean for us North American Catholics.  He believes it means that faith is "an action," not just an idea or a belief. It's a verb that calls for real participation on our part. It means caring concretely for the poor and the suffering, reaching out to the needy among us. For us at St. Ignatius Church it means acting upon the Beatitudes and implementing the Corporal Works of Mercy. Ultimately, it means for us that we are being invited to be a Church, a Community, and a People who live and act upon Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-7:29) and his Last Discourse (Matt 25:31-46). In a word, it means that the Latin American Church remains a great challenge to our North American way of living Church: both our life and our mission.

Gratefully in Christ,

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 e-zine compiled by John. C. Odean