Fribourg: Décès du dominicain Servais Pinckaers, ancien doyen de la Faculté de théologie
Un spécialiste de théologie morale né à Liège le 30 octobre 1925
Fribourg, 7 avril 2008 (Apic) Le Père dominicain Servais-Théodore Pinckaers, professeur émérite de théologie morale à la Faculté de théologie de l'Université de Fribourg, dont il fut également doyen, est décédé le 7 avril à l'âge de 82 ans.Né le 30 octobre 1925 à Liège, en Belgique, "une ville détruite par Charles le Téméraire, en 1468, à cause de son amour de la liberté", aimait-il à dire, Servais Pinckaers est entré à l'âge de 20 ans dans l'ordre des dominicains. Un ordre auquel il allait rester fidèle toute sa vie.
Profès dans l'Ordre des frères prêcheurs en 1946, il est ordonné prêtre en 1951. En 1952-53, il passe son doctorat à Rome. Il est ensuite enseignant à La Sarte, en Belgique, de 1954 à 1966. De 1966 à 1973, le Père Pinckaers est supérieur de la maison des dominicains de Liège avant d'être appelé comme professeur de théologie morale à l'Université de Fribourg. En 1989-1990, il est doyen la Faculté de théologie, et plusieurs fois prieur du couvent de l'Albertinum, à Fribourg.
Il est nommé en juin 1989 consulteur à la Congrégation pour l'Education catholique par le pape Jean Paul II. Auteur de nombreux ouvrages théologiques, il a donné sa dernière leçon à l'Université de Fribourg en juin 1996. En l'an 2000, le professeur de théologie morale était fait docteur "honoris causa" de l'Université du Latran à Rome.
De nombreuses distinctions
La distinction de docteur en "théologie du mariage et de la famille" lui avait été remise en présence du cardinal Camillo Ruini, Grand chancelier de l'Université, et du cardinal Angelo Sodano, secrétaire d'Etat au Vatican. En 1975, 10 ans après le Concile, le Père Pinckaers participait, notamment avec le Père Raphaël Oechslin, et ses confrères Guy Bedouelle et Georges Cottier, à la fondation de "Sources", une nouvelle revue dominicaine bimestrielle éditée à Fribourg. Son objectif était de garder le "juste milieu" dans la mise en pratique des réformes issues du Concile Vatican II.
Il fut également consulteur de la Congrégation pour l'éducation catholique, organe de la Curie romaine, responsable de la formation et des séminaires, et membre de la Commission théologique internationale, un important collège du Saint-Siège qui réunit 30 membres sous la présidence du préfet de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi et traite des questions centrales de la théologie.
Le Père Pinckaers est l'auteur de nombreux ouvrages théologiques qui sont devenus des références en la matière. L'Université de Fribourg l'avait honoré à l'occasion de son 65e anniversaire en 1990, notamment par la parution d'un recueil d'hommages sous le titre "Aux sources du renouveau de la morale chrétienne". La messe d'obsèques du Père Pinckaers aura lieu au couvent de Ste-Ursule à Fribourg jeudi 10 avril à 14h30. (apic/be)07.04.2008 - Jacques Berset
ND Center for Ethics and Culture profile: Servais Pinckaers, O.P.
Pontiff Urges Grandparents to Return to the Family
Says Their Participation Can Help Crisis of Values
By Mirko Testa
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI urged grandparents to return to being an active presence in the family, adding that they are a valuable resource for facing the growing crisis of family values.
The Pope said this Saturday upon receiving participants from the April 3-5 conference held in the Vatican on the theme “Grandparents: Their Witness and Presence in the Family.” The conference, organized by the Pontifical Council of the Family, sought to highlight the role grandparents in fostering family unity, and as mediators in the relationship between the married couple and between the parents and their children.
During the study sessions the role and the positive contribution of grandparents in various cultures and societies in which families are continually threatened was brought to light.
Above all, the importance of grandparents in faith education and in the conservation and safeguarding of the culture of a country was emphasized.
Speaking on behalf of the participants in the congress, Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu, Philippines, and member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told Benedict XVI that during the conference “there emerged feelings of gratitude with regard to grandparents, persons rich with affection, delicacy, authority and goodness, who lovingly hand on religious and moral values.”
In speaking to the participants of the conference, the Pope began by first expressing his wishes for the speedy recovery of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, president of the Vatican council, who was not able to attend the plenary meeting and papal audience for health reasons.
Treasure
The Holy Father then turned to the theme of the conference and spoke about grandparents as “a treasure that we cannot take away from new generations.” In fact, he explained, “it is not possible to plan the future without relating to a past rich with significant experiences and spiritual and moral points of reference.”
Benedict XVI followed this with a plea that grandparents “return […] to being a living presence in the family, in the Church and in society” and that they “continue to be witnesses of unity, values founded on fidelity to a single love that generates faith and joy in living.”
The emergence of “new models of the family” and “widespread relativism” which threaten the nuclear family make this call all the more urgent, he said.
“Unfortunately, the culture of death seems to be advancing,” the Pope observed, pointing out that it threatens even the older generations. “With growing insistence one arrives at proposing euthanasia as a solution for resolving certain difficult situations.”
“Today economic and social evolution has caused profound transformations in the life of families,” the Pontiff added. “The elderly, among whom there are many grandparents, find themselves in a kind of ‘parking lot’: Some feel themselves as a burden on the family and prefer to live alone or in nursing homes, with all the consequences that these choices have.”
Marginalization
Because of this, continued the Pope, “old age, with its problems that are also linked to new familial and social contexts on account of modern developments, must be evaluated with care and always in light of the truth about man, the family and the community.”
“We must join together to defeat together every marginalization," he said, "because not only are grandfathers, grandmothers, and the elderly in general overwhelmed by the individualistic mentality but everyone. If grandparents constitute a precious resource, as is often said and from many quarters, then consistent choices must be made that permit this resource to be properly valued."
“One must always respond vigorously to that which dehumanizes society," Benedict XVI said, calling on parish and diocesan communities “to meet the modern needs of the elderly.”
The Pope concluded with a thought about the 4th World Meeting of Families that will be celebrated Jan. 13-18, 2009, in Mexico City. “All the Christian families of the world look to this nation ‘always faithful’ to the Church, which will open the doors to all the families of the world.”
Setting Out for Emmaus
"The Road That Leads There Is the Journey of Every Christian"
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the greeting Benedict XVI gave today before praying the Regina Caeli with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Gospel for this Sunday -- the 3rd Sunday of Easter -- is the celebrated account of the disciples of Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35). The story is told of two disciples of Christ who, on the day after the Sabbath, that is, the third day after Jesus’ death, sad and dejected, leave Jerusalem and set out for nearby village called, precisely, Emmaus.
Along the road, the risen Jesus comes and walks beside them but they do not recognize him. Seeing that they were disheartened, he explained, on the basis of the Scriptures, that the Messiah had to suffer and die to enter into his glory. Having entered into the house with them, he sat down at table with them, blessed the bread and broke it, and at that point they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight, leaving them full of wonder before the broken bread, new sign of his presence. And immediately the two returned to Jerusalem and told the other disciples what happened.
The location of Emmaus has not been identified with any certainty. There are different hypotheses, and this fact is not without its significance because it leaves us to think that in reality Emmaus represents every place: The road that leads there is the journey of every Christian, indeed, of every man. Along our roads the risen Jesus is our companion on the journey, to reignite in our hearts the warmth of faith and hope and the breaking of the bread of eternal life.
In the disciples' conversation with the unknown traveler the expression that the evangelist Luke puts in one of their mouths is striking: “We were hoping…” (24:21). This past tense verb says everything: We believed, we followed, we hoped …, but now it is all over. Even Jesus of Nazareth, who had shown himself to be a powerful prophet in deeds and words, failed, and we are disappointed.
This drama of the disciples of Emmaus is as a mirror of the situation of many Christians of our time. It seems that the hope of faith has failed. Faith itself enters into crisis because of negative experiences that make us feel like we are abandoned by the Lord. But this road to Emmaus on which we travel can become a way of purification and maturation of our believing in God.
Even today we can enter into conversation with Jesus listening to his word. Even today he breaks the bread for us and gives himself as our bread. And in this way the encounter with the risen Christ, which is possible even today, gives us a deeper and more authentic faith, tempered, so to speak, by the fire of the Easter event; a robust faith because it is nourished not by human ideas, but by the word of God and by his presence in the Eucharist.
This stupendous Gospel text already contains the structure of the Mass: in the first part the hearing of the word through the sacred Scriptures; in the second the Eucharistic liturgy and communion with Christ present in the sacrament of his Body and his Blood.
Nourished at this twofold table, the Church is unceasingly built up and renews itself day by day in faith, in hope and in charity. Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, let us pray that every Christian and every community, reliving the experience of the disciples of Emmaus, rediscover the grace of the transforming encounter with the risen Lord.
[After the Regina Caeli the Pope said the following in Italian:]
The first International Congress on Divine Mercy concluded today with the Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica. I thank the organizers, especially the vicariate of Rome, and to all the participants I extend my cordial greeting, which now becomes an exhortation: Go and be witnesses of God’s mercy, source of hope for every man and for the whole world. May the risen Lord be with you always!
I greet the numerous members of the Focolare movement, working as catechists in parishes, who have come here from many countries throughout the world, and I wish you well in the service that you render to spreading and welcoming the word of God.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
[After the Regina Caeli the Holy Father greeted the pilgrims in several languages. In English, he said:]
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Regina Caeli prayer. On this Third Sunday of Easter, Saint Luke relates how the Risen Christ walks with his disciples, makes their hearts burn within them by his words, and reveals himself in the breaking of the bread. Let us pray that our Easter journey will teach us to open our hearts with joy to the living Christ present in his Church. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings!
The latest regulatory plan from the Treasury Department, with the potential to turn the Federal Reserve into a super-regulator overseeing state-chartered banks and bank holding companies, and acting as a guarantor of market stability, is another in a long line of half-baked government responses to financial difficulty. Recession after recession has not impressed upon government leaders the reality that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy activities are what lead to market instability.
The business cycle, contrary to what Secretary Paulson and others seem to believe, is not endemic to the free market. It is always and everywhere the result of monetary inflation and subsequent malinvestment, which when it is discovered must of necessity be liquidated in order for a true recovery to occur. Delaying the liquidation will only prolong the crisis and ensure that the next crisis will be more severe.
Every government intervention will result in a distortion of the market and a subsequent shock somewhere down the line in the future. It is about time that we recognize the failure of government intervention, get our hands out of the private sector, and for once allow the market to function.
World: Economist Reflects On Financial Crisis
We don't need a conversation about race. At least not now. What we need is a conversation about money. It becomes clearer by the day that this is not your grandmother's--or even Barack Obama's grandmother's--economic downturn. This time we start with a huge government deficit and record private debt, all run up when times were good and we should have been storing up acorns. This is one that begins with people losing their homes, which is usually the last act of the drama. This is one that is bringing back stagflation--that poisonous combination of economic slowdown and eroding currency we cured at a terrible cost back in 1981. When that red phone rings in the middle of the night, it probably won't be the National Security Adviser saying Osama bin Laden has struck again. It will be the Treasury Secretary reporting that markets have opened in the Far East and the dollar has become worthless.Paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians, as well as those on the "left" (the folks over at Counterpunch, for example), have known that this should have been an important campaign issue from the very start, beginning last year. Where the heck have you been Michael Kinsley, and the rest of the MSM? Where are the critical minds with a deep knowledge of history, political science, economics, and philosophy, instead of a meager degree in journalism and a passing acquaintance with best-sellers and the like?
Jesus Remains With Us in Scripture
Gospel Commentary for 3rd Sunday of Easter
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
ROME, APRIL 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to us?” This line from the Gospel passage about the disciples of Emmaus brings us to reflect on the Scriptures.
There are two ways to approach the Bible. The first is that of considering it an old book, full of religious wisdom, of moral values, and of poetry too. From this point of view it is absolutely the most important book for understanding our Western culture and the Judeo-Christian religion. It is also the most printed and read book in the world.
But there is another, much more demanding way to approach the Bible, and it is that of believing that it contains the living word of God for us, that it is an “inspired” book, that is, written, indeed, by human authors, with all of their limitations, but with God’s direct intervention. A very human book and, at the same time, divine, that speaks to men of all times and reveals to them the meaning of life and death.
Above all it reveals to them God’s love. If all the Bibles in the world, St. Augustine said, on account of some disaster, would be destroyed and there remained only one copy and, of this copy, all of the pages were illegible save for one, and on this page only one line were legible; if this line were that of the first letter of John that reads “God is love,” the whole Bible would be saved because it is summed up in this statement. This explains how it is that so many people approach the Bible without culture, without great education, with simplicity, believing that it is the Holy Spirit that speaks in it and find in it answers to their problems, light, encouragement, in a word, life.
The two ways of approaching the Bible -- the way of erudition and the way of faith -- do not exclude each other, on the contrary, they must be united. It is necessary to study the Bible, the way in which it should be interpreted (or to pay attention to the findings of those study it in this way), so as not to fall into fundamentalism.
Fundamentalism consists in taking a verse from the Bible, just as it sounds, and applying it to today’s situations, without taking into account the difference of culture, of time, and of the different genres of the Bible.
It is believed, for example, that the universe is little more that 4,000 years old since this would seem to be what we can calculate from the information that the Bible provides, while we know that the universe is some billions of years old. The Bible was not written as a textbook of natural science, but for salvation. God, in the Bible, adapted himself to the way of speaking of the men of the time so that they could understand; he did not write only for the men of the age of technology.
On the other hand, to reduce the Bible to an object of study and erudition, remaining neutral to its message, is to kill it. It would be as if a man, receiving a letter from the woman he loves, were to examine it with a dictionary, from the point of view of grammar and syntax, and stops at these things, without grasping the love that is in it.
Reading the Bible without faith is like trying to read a book at night: nothing can be read, or at least one does not read what is essential. Reading Scripture with faith means reading it in reference to Christ, grasping what refers to him on every page, just as he did with the disciples of Emmaus.
Jesus remains with us in two ways: in the Eucharist and in his word. He is present in both: in the Eucharist under the form of food, in the Word under the form of light and truth. The word has a great advantage over the Eucharist. Only those who already believe and are in a state of grace can receive communion; but everyone, believers and nonbelievers, married people and divorced people, can approach the word of God. Indeed, to become a believer, the most normal route is that of listening to God’s word.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
* * *
Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher. The readings for this Sunday are Acts 2:14a, 22-28; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35.
Peter Morici
The Deepening Recession
Joe Bageant
The Audacity of Depression
Ramsay was briefly tied with Ducasse on 12 stars last month when his eponymous restaurant at the London NYC hotel in midtown Manhattan debuted with two stars in Michelin's New York 2008 guide.
Posts
All Comments
