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A publication of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore SINGAPORE $0.70 CENTS / WEST MALAYSIA RM$2.10
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2018
MCI (P) 076/06/2018
PPS 201/04/2013 (022940)
VOL 68
NO. 24
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Jared Ng A slow but gradual shift is taking place in the Church to get more laypeople to step into more responsible roles for the Church. When this happens then it would allow the clergy to focus more on their core responsibilities. What this means is that there must be a mindset change by both laypeople and the clergy and Religious if the Church in Singapore is to remain a body that is run by local priests instead of foreign missionaries. Archbishop William Goh made this call in a special interview with Catholic News. “There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we see the role of priests and Religious,” he said. “Priests must be willing to let go of their autonomy over every aspect of the running of the church, especially mundane matters and instead delegate such responsibilities to the lay as they are coequals and co-responsible in the work of building Church. “They should focus on the work of formation, proclamation of the Word of God, preparing and delivering inspiring homilies and talks, catechesis, prayer, administering the sacraments, counselling, ministering and pastoring the people, and empowering the laity to undertake work that they are more equipped to do, whilst providing overall direction and supervision for accountability. “On the other hand, the lay must also
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learn to accept lay leaders and teachers and not be overly-dependent on the clergy for everything. Some lay leaders, if properly trained, can be good formators and teachers of faith. Unless we have lay leaders who are accepted among the laity, it would be difficult to groom new lay leaders as they would not be accepted by the lay faithful and even by priests and Religious,” said Archbishop Goh. Setting the background to this call is the startling statistics that fewer than five priests are below the age of 40. There are about 155 priests in Singapore, half of whom are between 40 and 55 years; and the rest above 55 years. The greying population among the clergy and Religious is exacerbated by the decline in young people taking up priestly and Religious vocations. This has thus accelerated the need for more laypeople to support the Church in Her mission. “We can import more foreign priests, as we are increasingly doing, to fill the urgent needs of the Church, but this is neither sustainable nor ideal due to the lack of stability and cultural differences. If the local Church is to be truly a local Church, we need to cultivate more local priestly and Religious vocations. Otherwise, we are returning to where we were before, a Church sustained by missionaries from abroad,” he said. Archbishop Goh pointed out that “even the Apostles recognised the need to devolve some of the responsibilities of Church to
the deacons so that they can focus on their core responsibilities, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.’ (Acts 6:2-4). The call for more laypeople to come forward was first mentioned on Oct 29 when he spoke at the Catholic Foundation dinner. He said the Church would “diminish” if the laity are not missionary disciples, ready to serve. “We are not missionary disciples. We are just involved in the mission without being disciples,” he said at the dinner, adding that what the Church needs are laypeople who, together with priests and Religious, can form other laypeople, by giving retreats and formation. Training lay teachers However, before the laity can take over certain roles and responsibilities in the Church, it is imperative that they first become trained, missionary disciples. Archbishop Goh explained that this would entail “being academically trained for pastoral ministry” and being equipped with the necessary theological and doctrinal knowledge to teach and to form. “They
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must also be grounded in their spiritual life to be able to share their faith with conviction and passion.” Once a pool of lay teachers and leaders has been developed, they “can be outsourced to various organisations and groups to train the second echelon of trainers and pastoral leaders.” As part of their preparation for this role, they will need to be “sent for further training, locally and overseas, in dogmatic, moral and pastoral theology, scriptures, canon law, catechetics, communication and other specialties,” he said. Relying on priests for pastoral formation alone can no longer be the only way because of their limited time and resources spent on ministering to people in the areas of catechesis, sacraments and liturgical celebrations, and administrative responsibilities, said Archbishop Goh. “Our priests are left with not much time to continue the work of faith and spiritual formation, sometimes not even to conduct RCIA classes, less still, provide ongoing formation for those newly baptised or members serving in ministries or their parishioners at large.” Therefore, apart from providing organisation, management and administrative support in areas such as human resource, finance, communications and information technology ... we need lay professionals to undertake formation work alongside the n Continued on Page 2
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