Excerpt from An Anthology of Texts of the Catholic Church 1986-1994, edited by the Working Group on New Religious Movements in the VATICAN. For full text, click here.
In the encyclical Redemptoris missio, Pope John Paul II compared today's society, in which a new search for the spiritual dimension of life expresses itself in many different forms, to an Areopagus, similar to that found in Athens by the apostle Paul (cf. Acts 17:22-31). The pope went on to say that people of today also need to be presented with the message of Christ in a new way (cf. Redemptoris missio, no. 38).
The contemporary spiritual search often takes the form of "revival" movements within Christianity or within other religions of ancient tradition. But it is also at the basis of many new groups that separate themselves from the mainstream, from institutions, or from doctrines, or that present themselves, in various ways, as radical alternatives for religion or for the dominant culture. The outcome is an increasing fragmentation of the religious world, and this can be seen today on every continent.
From the perspective of the pastors of the Catholic Church, this tendency is a source of worry, insofar as many of the faithful follow doctrines or join groups that distance them gradually from the Gospel and from the Church community. In addition, these groups can sometimes fail to respect the dignity and freedom of the human person. This whole phenomenon has been the reason for many statements by Catholic bishops. Going hand in hand with this pastoral concern is the desire to maintain an attitude of dialogue, in truth and in love, also with those who do not belong to the Church or to the Christian religion.
To cast light on this complex problem of new religious movements and to clarify the attitude of the Church, the Holy See undertook an inquiry with the help of the episcopal conferences, and this led to the preparation of the document Sects or New Religious Movements: Pastoral Challenge, published in 1986 by the Secretariats for Christian Unity, for Non-Christians, and for Non-Believers, and by the Pontifical Council for Culture. This text sought to understand the underlying reasons for the phenomenon of the spreading of such groups even within the Catholic community, and it went on to describe the needs and aspirations that these movements seem to answer, all with the aim of reviewing the modes of presence of the Church in the world of today.
A second initiative of the Holy See that gave increased pastoral attention to this area was the extraordinary consistory of cardinals that took place in the Vatican in April 1991. "The Proclamation of Christ, the Only Savior, and the Challenge of the Sects" was one of the two themes of the consistory, chosen by the Holy Father as being especially urgent. The approach taken was basically doctrinal and pastoral.
The Holy Father has frequently voiced his concern about this area and proposed lines of reflection and of response; he has done so through his ordinary catechesis, during his journeys, and in audiences with bishops who come to Rome on ad limina visits. Following his example, and seeking to respond to local needs, many episcopal conferences or individual bishops have published, in recent years, pastoral letters or statements, and they have encouraged study of and pastoral initiatives for new religious movements. From the convergence of this documentation one finds "what the Spirit is saying to the churches" (Rev 2:11) in this respect, and, in spite of the diversity of backgrounds, this material can offer light for the entire Christian world.
In order to make the essentials of these pastoral insights available to all it seems opportune to publish this anthology, which is a gathering of quotations from texts of the Holy Father and of the bishops, and occasionally from other documents issued by Church bodies. The necessarily limited selections aim at illustrating the main approaches and principles of discernment proposed by the pastoral documents. Even if the texts are not equally authoritative, as a whole they express the present view of the Church. Except for the bibliography and some other complementary materials, the entire 1986 document is reprinted in the appendix.
The structure chosen to present these short quotations includes, besides a short preface on the universality of the proliferation of the new religious movements, the following chapters:
I. Cultural Context and Causes
II. Diversity of Origin of the Movements
III. Impact and Process of Communication
IV. Spiritual and Theological Discernment
V. Pastoral Challenges and Responses
VI. Attitude of Dialogue
The first five chapters offer a brief introduction, an initial section with quotations from the documents of Pope John Paul II, and a second section with quotations from other documents of the Church. After each quotation, the author or place of origin is cited with a number referring to the document listed at the front of this book.
From Sects and New Religious Movements
An Anthology of Texts from the Catholic Church 1986-1994
edited by The Working Group on New Religious Movements in the VATICAN.
Last updated August 19, 2000 23:54