The process of spiritual and moral reconstruction of Rumania, started with the end of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime, is under way beginning from the Nineties helped by the Catholic church, that in those lands could rightly be called ‘creative minority’. The Catholic church is present in very small percentages in the South part of the country, and in percentages slightly above 10% in the Central northern part of the country. They live together with the orthodox the largest majority of the people. Some of the largest ecclesial movements and new communities born some decades before or after the Second Vatican Council are present bringing with their charisms and specific methods of formation vitality to the work of new evangelization in Rumania.
The Magnificat Community, association of lay faithful born in the ‘river bed’ of the Charismatic Renewal, recognized in Italy and widely spread in Rumania, through her “Editura Ruah” produced the translation of three volumes published by the in order to facilitate the church in the country and her Pastors to better understand the new associations of the faithful in a contest where there is scarce literature on the topic. The volumes contain some fundamental texts for a correct and open knowledge of the aggregations, among which the talk of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The books contain the proceedings of the Congress of ecclesial movements in 1998, preceding the historical encounter of the saint John Paul II in St. Peter’s square (Movements in the Church), and the proceedings of the two Study Seminars for Bishops organized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 1999 and in 2008 (The Ecclesial Movements in the Pastoral Concern of the Bishops).
The publications were officially presented in the assembly hall of the Roman Catholic Theology faculty of the Bucharest University in the afternoon of October 4, 2014 during a gathering promoted by the Magnificat Community. Bishop Clemens, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, had been invited to speak at the conference. The event had been organized together with the Apostolic Nunciature in Bucharest, the archdiocese of Bucharest and Roman Catholic Theology faculty of the Bucharest University. H. E. Msgr Cornel Damian, auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, brought greetings on behalf of the metropolitan archbishop, H.E. Msgr Ioan Robu who had just left to participate in the Bishop’s Synod. The meeting was called “an historical event” by Bishop Damian because never until then had ever happened to have a public common meeting of ecclesial movements and new communities.
In his address Msgr Clemens described the thought of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger regarding ecclesial movements and new communities starting from his report “The Ecclesial Movements: A Theological Reflection on Their Place in the Church”. That text “marks a very important turning point regarding the assessment and the inclusion of the new associations in the Church” The Ecclesial Movements: A Theological Reflection on Their Place in the Church (part of the book Movements in the Church), and it was integrated by other studies of the then cardinal Ratzinger and later Pope Benedict. Bishop Clemens explained that it is important “to have a strong point of reference and of tested ‘anchorage’”. For that reason, he chose to illustrate the studies and the teachings of the emeritus pope - a man of “profound and modern thought as regards the new inundation of the Spirit” openly manifested in the Church in all associations.
The presentation of the three books followed done by Msgr Damian, by Prof. Marta Andro of the Focolare Movement, and by Fr Victor Dumitrescu of the Magnificat Community.
Many persons belonging to the Magnificat Community were present together with people of the Focolare Movement, Communion and Liberation, the Saint Egidio Community and the Carmelitan Ecclesial Movement. Each association was given the opportunity of sharing about itself, and, particularly, something about the arrival in Rumania. Communion and Liberation and the Focolare shared that when they started arriving Communism was the regime of the country, and it was prohibited to import new ideas and initiatives. So their activities were marked by life underground, secrecy and interrogations.
At the end of the gathering all went in the nearby Cathedral dedicated to Saint Joseph, where bishop Clemens presided the Eucharistic concelebration. In the homily he stressed the unity of faith and life lived by the witnesses as the beginning and heart of the new evangelization.
In the morning of October 4, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity met with the members of the Magnificat Community and gave them a talk “The Holy Spirit and his fruits in the community”.
We publish the texts in Italian of H.E. Msgr Josef Clemens:
I movimenti ecclesiali e le nuove comunità nel pensiero del cardinale Joseph Ratzinger
