Question: Jacob Thomas

As a theologian do you think Amazon Synod’s proposal to study the possibility of “elaborating an Amazonian rite that expresses the liturgical, theological, disciplinary and spiritual patrimony of the Amazon, with particular reference to what is stated in Lumen Gentium for the Eastern Churches (cf. LG 23)” is realistic, serious and practical?

Answer: Jacob Parappally MSFS

It is the Christian understanding that faith is one’s self-surrender to the Self-communicating God in and through the Person of Jesus Christ enabled by the Power of the Holy Spirit. In the personal encounter with God one is transformed and brought into a relationship with God that changes one’s vision of oneself, others, God and nature. However, this transforming encounter is mediated through one’s culture which includes one’s language, way of understanding reality or world-view and the entire life-context in which one lives. When some or many persons who share the same culture and world-view surrender themselves to God revealed through Jesus Christ by hearing the proclamation of the gospel, they articulate it in creed, code, cult or way of worship and a community is formed of such believers. There are a number of such expressions of faith through liturgy, theology, spirituality and discipline in the Church.

The Catholic Church itself has besides the Latin Church 23 sui juris Eastern Churches. Each one of them emerged from the encounter of Christian faith with the local culture. Some of these Churches are very ancient and some of them developed in the course history from the ancient Churches. It is important to note that wherever the apostles or their successors preached the gospel and those believed and formed a Christian community with its own characteristics and unique identities because of their particular culture and way of life. Jesus Christ is one and His gospel is one. But the way Jesus Christ and His gospel is experienced, understood and articulated through liturgy, theology, spirituality and rules of life is different.

A question can be raised whether there is a possibility of any new sui juris Churches emerging in the Catholic Church. Can there be new Churches born out of the already existing particular Churches and still having some characteristics of the mother Church or entirely new Churches with its unique expressions of faith through its genius and culture? Why have there been no sui juris Churches born out of the Latin Church which is the largest in the Catholic Church? Is the discussion about the Amazonian rite in the context of the Amazonian Synod a new Pentecost for the Latin Church, a new spring time of the Spirit blowing to give birth to new particular Churches? The strong objection from some quarters against the birthing of such rites as Amazonian rite indicates that Pope Francis and those who support him think that it is possible, practical and even necessary in the context of a renewed understanding of the relationship between humans and nature in the plan of God for the welfare of His creation.

Churches of the  Peripheries
Pope Francis called the entire Church to celebrate on October 2019 as the Extraordinary Mission Month with the theme Baptized and Sent to mark the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud. A century ago Pope Benedict XV had a vision about the mission of the Church different from that of the previous centuries demanding that the Church must overcome its euro-centrism and colonial mind-set to let the Church grow in different cultures and languages with their own resources. Pope Francis emphasized that in Maximum illud Pope Benedict XV tried to promote evangelization “purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous.” Further, he noted, “The Apostolic Letter Maximum illud called for transcending national boundaries and bearing witness, with prophetic spirit and evangelical boldness, to God’s saving will through the Church’s universal mission.”

While denouncing the nationalistic and expansionistic aims and colonial overtones of evangelization and purifying evangelization from them would the Church have the courage to recognize that the European colonial mind-set had probably entered into the self-understanding of the Church that it probably succumbed to the temptation of a spiritual colonization of the people beyond boundaries of Europe? Or else, how would one explain the lack of the emergence of daughter Churches of the Latin rite. While many daughter Churches with their own liturgy, theology and spirituality and discipline emerged from the different cultures of the East, the Latin Church of the West did not give rise to daughter Churches with their own rites flowing from it. Probably, the fear of plurality and at the same time a predilection for uniformity for imposing domination and control prevented the Church from letting many ritual Churches arise from the particular culture and the world-view of various nations which were evangelized in Asia, Africa, South America and other places in the world by the zealous missionaries from the West.

The talk about an Amazonian rite itself is probably a paradigm-shift from a monolithic understanding of the Church with one rite, one theology and one spirituality to a self-understanding of the Church as truly Catholic as a true communion of all particular Churches. These particular Churches will have their own rites, theology, spirituality and discipline emerging from the fecundation of foundational Christian faith with the native culture of the people of different nations. If so, it is certainly in the spirit of Vatican II (LG 23) and according to the mind of Pope Francis who discerned that the Church must move from centre to the peripheries notwithstanding the opposition of those who would like to return to pre-Vatican liturgical practices, theology, law-centred morality, opposition to inculturation etc. Even the Amazon Synod with its openness to inculturation is accused of syncretism, idolatry and heresy!

Amazon Synod – Dawn of a New Pentecost?
The Constitution on Liturgy of Vatican II stated, “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. Anything in these peoples’ way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit” (SC No.37). Since Vatican II many attempts were made in Africa, Latin America and in India to inculturate Latin rite liturgy. But none of them evolved into a rite and the Roman interventions prevented such an evolution of any indigenous rite.

The bishops who were members of the Secretariat of Indigenous Pastoral Concerns of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) in their meeting at Bogota in 1985 stated, “The Church must collaborate to the birth of particular indigenous Churches with indigenous hierarchy and organization, theology, liturgy, and ecclesial expressions appropriate to a cultural experience proper to the faith, in communion with other particular churches, especially and fundamentally with Peter.” In 1979 Archbishop Helder Camara and Bishop Pedro Casadaliga together with a poet created a “Mass of the Earth without Evils” and celebrated with 40 other bishops commemorating the martyrdom of the indigenous people. Later a “Mass of the Quilombs” in memory of the black slaves was celebrated but it was banned by Vatican. In 1970’s the Zaireans created “Zairean rite” incorporating the elements of their culture in the celebration of the Mass. Vatican had to allow the celebration of this Mass but restricted it to the diocese of Zaire. The bishops of Zaire submitted the following to the Holy See in 1973: “Should a true Africanization of Christianity embrace all areas, including the Eucharistic rite? Does that not imply using a matter that is really ‘the fruit of the African land’?” Some suggest even the use of millet or cassava and palm liquor which are the fruit of human hands in those African nations could replace bread and wine which are foreign to their culture.

There were strong objections from Vatican authorities on such inculturation attempts. Even the Indian dance and music during the Eucharistic celebration at the canonization of Mother Theresa of Calcutta was criticized by Cardinal Arinze during the Synod on the Eucharist in October 2005 declaring that the Mass is not a “recreation” and that “dances are good for the parish hall, but not during the Mass.” It is to be noted that such a statement was made by a Nigerian Cardinal and not a European one! All the attempts to create an Indian rite after the All India Seminar of 1969 were discouraged and submitting of an Indian Anaphora was rejected by Rome although some elements of inculturation were permitted. The recent instructions of the CCBI on the celebration of the liturgy seem to demand the pre-Vatican II adherence to rubrics and bypass all the inculturation of liturgy since Vatican II.

It is obvious that there is a tension in the Church between those who find security in following the status quo and those who are open to discern what the Spirit of the Lord is asking the Churches to do in our times!

The indication given by the Amazon Synod in the context of the impending disaster of apocalyptic proportion caused by the depleting of nature and wounding the earth by the evil of human greed can be countered only by an authentic spirituality that is to be lived in right relationship with God, other humans and Nature. This was emphasized by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudatosi. This can be best expressed in liturgy that incorporates the native spirituality and its expression in the symbols they use for worship. Already in 1999 the Diocesan directory of Chiapas, Mexico, contained the magisterial recognition and acceptance of an autochthonous liturgy. It stated, that “liturgical celebrations of the Native Church be carried out with words, symbols, and gestures stemming from the root and heart of the cultures of the communities.” So that they may “understand and live the meaning of these celebrations by enriching them with the values that constituted the religious heart of their ancestors.” By this, “the universal Catholic liturgy is enriched and charged with religious and spiritual sense in contact with indigenous celebrations.”

In a similar vein the preparatory documents of the Amazonian Synod stated that the new paths that a Church with an Amazonian face must tread “will impact ministries, liturgy, and theology…”. Further it points out that missionaries must have a spirituality “allowing us to celebrate life, Liturgy, the Eucharist, and festivals, always in respect for the rhythms proper to each people.” The Instrumentumlaboris starts from the premise that “The inculturation of faith is not a top-down process or an external imposition, but a mutual enrichment of cultures in dialogue (interculturality).” There is no room for “imposing cultural parameters, philosophies, theologies, liturgies and strange customs on the Amazon peoples” Therefore, the Church should promote “Amazonian Indian Theology and taking into account “the original myths, traditions, symbols, knowledge, rites and celebrations that include transcendent, community and ecological dimensions.”

In spite of various criticisms against the emphasis on inculturation of liturgy, theology, spirituality and discipline in the Amazonian Synod including the openness to study the possibility of evolving an Amazonian rite, one can discern therein a re-capturing of the spirit of renewal of the Church initiated at Vatican II. There are some forces in the Church which seem to consider that Vatican II itself was a mistake. Openness and docility to the Spirit who makes everything new demand that the Church needs to encourage the development of new rites that would provide a deeper experience of God and the living of Christian faith that can challenge the present crisis of the world. It is also a wake-up call to the Church in India which seemed to have abandoned the inculturation attempts of post-Vatican II era to be open to the possibility of the birthing of Indian rites and the development of Indian theology or theologies.