Shortly before the conclusion
of the Second Vatican Council, 40 bishops met on the night of 16
November 1965 in the Domitilla Catacombs outside Rome. In that holy place of Christian dead they celebrated the Eucharist and
signed a document that expressed their personal commitments to the
ideals of the Council under the
suggestive title of the "Pact of the Catacombs". It also goes by the
title "Pact of the Servant and Poor Church". Among the bishops gathered
was Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife, Brazil and icon of justice and freedom in Latin America. The statements'
counter-cultural ideals and latent radicalism however might have limited
its impact to only a dedicated few. Yet in the ensuing years, the little
pact of minority bishops gradually caught fire, inspiring the rise of
liberation theology, the orthodoxy of the Church of the poor, and the
praxis of building basic ecclesial communities as agents of Gospel-based
change in individuals and society in many parts of the world and beyond
Catholic circles.
.......
We,
bishops assembled in the Second Vatican Council, are conscious of the
deficiencies of our lifestyle in terms of evangelical poverty. Motivated by one
another in an initiative in which each of us has tried avoid ambition and
presumption, we unite with all our brothers in the episcopacy and rely above
all on the grace and strength of Our Lord Jesus Christ and on the prayer of the
faithful and the priests in our respective dioceses. Placing ourselves in
thought and in prayer before the Trinity, the Church of Christ, and all the
priests and faithful of our dioceses, with humility and awareness of our
weakness, but also with all the determination and all the strength that God
desires to grant us by his grace, we commit ourselves to the following:
1. We will try to live according to
the ordinary manner of our people in all that concerns housing, food, means of
transport, and related matters. See Matthew 5,3; 6,33ff; 8,20.
2. We renounce forever the
appearance and the substance of wealth, especially in clothing (rich vestments,
loud colors) and symbols made of precious metals (these signs should certainly
be evangelical). See Mark 6,9; Matthew 10,9-10; Acts 3.6 (Neither silver nor
gold).
3. We will not possess in our own names
any properties or other goods, nor will we have bank accounts or the like. If
it is necessary to possess something, we will place everything in the name of
the diocese or of social or charitable works. See Matthew 6,19-21; Luke
12,33-34.
4. As far as possible we will
entrust the financial and material running of our diocese to a commission of
competent lay persons who are aware of their apostolic role, so that we can be
less administrators and more pastors and apostles. See Matthew 10,8; Acts
6,1-7.
5. We do not want to be addressed
verbally or in writing with names and titles that express prominence and power
(such as Eminence, Excellency, Lordship). We prefer to be called by the
evangelical name of "Father." See Matthew 20,25-28; 23,6-11; John
13,12-15).
6. In our communications and social
relations we will avoid everything that may appear as a concession of
privilege, prominence, or even preference to the wealthy and the powerful (for
example, in religious services or by way of banquet invitations offered or
accepted). See Luke 13,12-14; 1 Corinthians 9,14-19.
7. Likewise we will avoid favoring
or fostering the vanity of anyone at the moment of seeking or acknowledging aid
or for any other reason. We will invite our faithful to consider their donations
as a normal way of participating in worship, in the apostolate, and in social
action. See Matthew 6,2-4; Luke 15,9-13; 2 Corinthians 12,4.
8. We will give whatever is needed
in terms of our time, our reflection, our heart, our means, etc., to the
apostolic and pastoral service of workers and labor groups and to those who are
economically weak and disadvantaged, without allowing that to detract from the
welfare of other persons or groups of the diocese. We will support lay people,
religious, deacons, and priests whom the Lord calls to evangelize the poor and
the workers by sharing their lives and their labors. See Luke 4,18-19; Mark
6,4; Matthew 11,4-5; Acts 18,3-4; 20,33-35; 1 Corinthians 4,12; 9,1-27.
9. Conscious of the requirements of
justice and charity and of their mutual relatedness, we will seek to transform
our works of welfare into social works based on charity and justice, so that
they take all persons into account, as a humble service to the responsible
public agencies. See Matthew 25,31-46; Luke 13,12-14; 13,33-34.
10. We will do everything possible so
that those responsible for our governments and our public services establish
and enforce the laws, social structures, and institutions that are necessary
for justice, equality, and the integral, harmonious development of the whole
person and of all persons, and thus for the advent of a new social order,
worthy of the children of God. See Acts 2,44-45; 4;32-35; 5,4; 2 Corinthians 8
and 9; 1 Timothy 5,16.
11. Since the collegiality of the
bishops finds its supreme evangelical realization in jointly serving the
two-thirds of humanity who live in physical, cultural, and moral misery, we
commit ourselves: a) to support as far as possible the most urgent projects of
the episcopacies of the poor nations; and b) to request jointly, at the level
of international organisms, the adoption of economic and cultural structures
which, instead of producing poor nations in an ever richer world, make it
possible for the poor majorities to free themselves from their wretchedness. We
will do all this even as we bear witness to the gospel, after the example of
Pope Paul VI at the United Nations.
12. We commit ourselves to sharing
our lives in pastoral charity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, priests,
religious, and laity, so that our ministry constitutes a true service.
Accordingly, we will make an effort to "review our lives" with them;
we will seek collaborators in ministry so that we can be animators according to
the Spirit rather than dominators according to the world; we will try be make
ourselves as humanly present and welcoming as possible; and we will show
ourselves to be open to all, no matter what their beliefs. See Mark 8,34-35;
Acts 6,1-7; 1 Timothy 3,8-10.
13. When we return to our dioceses,
we will make these resolutions known to our diocesan priests and ask them to
assist us with their comprehension, their collaboration, and their prayers.
May God
help us to be faithful.
