Address Given by Pope Benedict XVI To the Quebec Bishops on their Ad Limina visit

Communiqué de l'Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec
11th May 2006 | Version française

Your Eminences,

Dear Episcopal Brothers,

I am pleased to welcome you, Pastors of the Church from the ecclesiastic region of Quebec, for the Ad Limina visit and to share your concerns and hopes with the Successor of Peter and his collaborators. Our gathering is a sign of the deep communion that unites our dioceses with the Chair of Peter. I wish to thank Msgr. Gilles Cazabon, President of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec, for presenting the difficult situations you are facing in your pastoral ministry. I would also like to warmly welcome your diocesan people, priests, deacons, religious communities and laity, appreciating the duties so many perform for the life of the Church. May God bless this generous work accomplished in order that the Good News of the Resurrected Christ is transmitted to all!

Along with the three other groups of Bishops from your country, I will have the opportunity to continue my reflection on certain significant themes regarding the mission of the Church in Canadian society, which is marked by pluralism, subjectivism and increasing secularization.

In 2008, when Quebec City will celebrate the fourth centenary of its foundation, your region will host the International Eucharistic Congress. In addition, I would also like to invite your dioceses to a renewal of the meaning and practice of receiving Eucharist, by rediscovering the vital place the Eucharist must occupy in the life of the Church “Eucharist as gift from God for the world”. Effectively, in your five year reports, you have underlined the notable drop in religious practice over the last years, specifically outlining the lack of young people at Eucharistic assemblies. The faithful must be convinced of the vital importance of regular participation at Sunday Mass so that their faith may grow and find coherent expression. In fact, the Eucharist, source and summit of Christian life, unites and conforms us to the Son of God. It also builds the Church, strengthening her in her unity as the Body of Christ. No Christian community can be built up if it does not have its root and its core in the celebration of the Eucharistic. Despite the greatest obstacles you may face, it is the responsibility of the Pastors to offer everyone a real opportunity to comply with the Sunday precept and invite them all to participate. Assembled as Church in celebration of the Easter Mystery, the faithful receive from this sacrament of light and strength so that they may live fully their call of Baptism. In addition, this Sacrament does not lose meaning at the time of the celebration. “In receiving the Bread of Life, Christ's disciples are open to take on, with the strength of the Resurrected One and the Spirit, the work that awaits them in their ordinary lives”. (Dies Domini, n. 45) After living and proclaiming the presence of the One Resurrected, the faithful will have discipleship close to their hearts and become witnesses in their daily lives.

Meanwhile, the drop in the number of priests makes it impossible at times to celebrate Sunday Mass in certain places. What is particularly worrying is the place occupied by sacramentality in the life of the Church. The requirements of pastoral organization must not compromise authentic ecclesiology. The central role of the priest - who, in persona Christi capitis, teaches, sanctifies and rules the community, must not be diminished. The importance of the role of laity, for whose generosity in serving Christian communities I am most grateful, must never obscure the absolutely irreplaceable ministry of priests in the life of the Church. Consequently, priestly ministry cannot be entrusted to other persons without effectively prejudicing the very authenticity of the Church's being. Moreover, how will young men want to become priests if the role of ordained ministry is not clearly defined and recognized?

One must look at the thirst for renewal perceptible in the faithful as a true sign of hope. World Youth Days in Toronto 2002 had a positive impact for many young Canadians and the Year of the Eucharist has allowed for a spiritual awakening, mainly through the adoration of the Eucharist. Those participating in the adoration of the Eucharist outside of Mass, but closely related, is of great importance to the life of the Church, for this reaches out to the sacramental and spiritual communion of people. As written by Pope John Paul II, “If during this era, Christianity distinguishes itself by the ‘art of prayer', how then, can we not feel this renewed need to dwell in spiritual conversation, in silent adoration, and with an attitude of love before Christ present in the Most Blessed Sacrament?” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 25). From this experience, we can receive only strength, consolation and support.

The life of prayer and contemplation, founded by the mystery of the Eucharist, is also found at the centre of the vocation of consecrated persons, who have chosen the way of sequela Christi to offer themselves to God with an undivided heart, in a relationship that grows in intimacy with Him. In their close attachment to the person of Christ and His Church, they have a particular mission to remind everyone of their universal vocation to holiness.

Dear brothers of the Episcopate, the Church recognizes the Institutes for Consecrated Life in your country for their apostolic and spiritual commitment of their members. This commitment is expressed in many ways, mainly within contemplative life, that is an unrelenting prayer of thanksgiving and intercessions to God. Their generosity of service to active catechesis and good works in your dioceses and their closeness in service to the poor of society manifests the love God has for the marginalized and poor. It is in this daily commitment where the quest for holiness that consecrated people live for grows, notably within a lifestyle that is different from the world's and surrounding culture. At all times, through these commitments, it is of the greatest importance that by living such a deep spiritual life, that consecrated persons proclaim that only God can give us fulfillment in our human existence.

In order to help consecrated persons live their specific vocations as true faithful of the Church and in their magisterium, I invite you to bring particular attention to the strong and confident relations with them and their Institutes. Consecrated life is a gift of God benefiting the entire Church and serving life in the world. Hence, it must take place in a context of solid ecclesial communion. The challenges facing consecrated life cannot be confronted without having a deep unity present among its members and with the assembly of the Church and its Pastors. Therefore, I invite all consecrated men and women to grow in their awareness of ecclesial communion and to work even more closely with Pastors, welcoming and spreading Church doctrine in all its integrity.

Ecclesial communion, founded by Jesus Christ Himself, also demands fidelity to Church teaching, that is by truthfully interpreting Vatican Council II, to know, as I have occasionally been known to say “in the hermeneutics of reform, there is renewal in the continuity of uniqueness of Church that God has granted us”. (Speech from the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005). In effect, if we read and receive the Council as such, “it may be and always becomes once again a great tool for renewal, always a need for the Church.” (ibid.).

The renewal of priestly and religious vocations must also be a continuous preoccupation for the Church in your country. A true pastoral vocation will find strength in the life of men and women who witness a passionate love for God and for their brothers, in the faith of Christ and of the Church. And you cannot forget the essential place of a confident prayer, to create a new sensitivity in the Christian people that allows youth to respond to God's call. It is a priority for you and all of the Christian community to transmit, without fear, God's call for vocations and to accompany the youth on the road of discernment and commitment, joyfully giving of themselves in celibacy. In this spirit, you are to pay attention to the catechizing of children and young people by allowing them to know the truth of our Christian mystery and to follow Christ. Thus, I invite all members of the Catholic community of Quebec to bring a renewed attention to their understanding of the truth as taught by the Church regarding theology and morality, two inseparable aspects of Christian living in the world. The faithful cannot subscribe to ideologies presented by today's society without losing their true identity as Christians.

Dear Episcopal Brothers, at the end of our meeting, I would like to give you my wholehearted support for your ministry of service to the Church of Canada. May the Resurrected Christ give you joy and peace to guide the faithful on the paths of hope so that they may become authentic witnesses of the Good News in Canadian society. To all, I bless you lovingly with the apostolic blessing.

Vatican, Thursday, May 11, 2006