ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS AND COMMUNITIES
See also:
Community and Communion, Fr. Jordi Rivero
Ecclesial Movements, A Theological_Reflection -Card. Ratzinger, 1998.
Ecclesial Movements in the Pastoral Concern of Bishops -Card. Ratzinger with bishops.
Love Crucified is among the new communities whose members commit themselves (covenant) to a Gospel way of life in the heart of the Church.
The canonical name for these communities is "Associations". Canon Law 215: "Christ’s faithful may freely establish and direct associations which serve charitable or pious purposes or which foster the Christian vocation in the world, and they may hold meetings to pursue these purposes by common effort"
“Great variety is to be found in apostolic associations”
Vatican Council II - Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People (Apostolicam Actuositatem) n.19What is an Ecclesial Movement
St. John Paul II
The Church herself is a movement and above all she is a mystery, the mystery of the eternal love of the Father from whose paternal heart the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit derive their origin. The Church born of this mission, is in statu missionis; she is a movement and penetrates hearts and minds. The mission of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the mission of the Church. It is therefore the mission of the movements. The movements are an expression of God's diversified plan in the Church. The mission has its origin in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a movement of the Church throughout time. (Pope John Paul II, "Homily at the Mass for participants at the congress of 'Movements in the Church,'" Insegnamenti 4/II (1981), 305-306.) More>>>
Rather than give a specific definition of what constitutes an ecclesial movement, Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Pope Benedict XVI), chose to indicate a "number of criteria," chief of which is "being rooted in the faith of the Church." Without unity with the apostolic faith, one cannot lay claim to apostolic activity. Such a desire for unity gives rise to a second criterion, namely, to be "incorporated into the living community of the whole Church" and "to stand at the side of the successors of the apostles and the successor of Peter who bears responsibility for the harmonious interaction between the local Church and the universal Church as the one People of God." (Ecclesial Movements, A Theological Reflection)
Benedict XVI to Bishops, 18 Nov, 2006:
After the Council, the Holy Spirit endowed us with the "movements". They sometimes appear to be rather strange to the parish priest or Bishop but are places of faith where young people and adults try out a model of life in faith as an opportunity for life today.
I therefore ask you to approach movements very lovingly. Here and there, they must be corrected or integrated into the overall context of the parish or Diocese. Yet, we must respect the specific character of their charism and rejoice in the birth of communitarian forms of faith in which the Word of God becomes life. Source>>
Ecclesial Movements and New Communities -Arch Rylko, President of Pontifical Council for the Laity.
Ecclesial Movements and New Communities, Second World Congress. Ben. XVI, 2006
Ecclesial Movements and Associations -Canadian Bishops Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fraternities
Movements and New Communities in the Year of Faith
