Pope's stern message to Dutch bishops

THE LAITY should not try to take on the sacramental functions of the priesthood, Pope John Paul told the bishops of Holland at the end of January.
The Pope reaffirmed many of the points he had made during the special synod of Dutch bishops in Rome in 1980.
That meeting WM intended In go some way to healing the rift among the bishops and to bring the church in Holland in line with the rest of the church.
In his address to the bishops of the Netherlands the Pope called for an increase in vocations, reaffirmed the ban on married priests, criticised liturgical deviations unauthorised by the church, and said candidates for the priesthood must be educated in "true seminaries" and not just schools of theology.
It is clear that the tightening up which the Pope had wished to see in Holland has not materialised.
"That synod is in effect the route to follow for the church in the Netherlands, because it is the authentic application of the Second Vatican Council and therefore the path to true renewal," he said in a Dutch. language address.
Pope John Paul stressed the theological distinction between the ministerial or sacramental priesthood and the priesthood common to all baptised Catholics.
"We must very much appreciate the efforts of the laity in making the Church present in a more and more secularised world, and their active participation in the life of the church," he said.
But, he added, "the general good demands that the functions proper to the laity not be carried out by the clergy and that the ministerial role of the priest no longer be fulfilled by the laity."
Pope John Paul made an "ardent appeal" to the entire Dutch church for prayers "that the multiplication of young people desirous of consecrating themselves totally to the service of the Lord may become more frequent and more fervent."
He stressed that candidates for the priesthood must accept the requirement of celibacy and said their training should be "not only intellectual, but also spiritual and pastoral," carried out in "true seminaries."
In his comments on the liturgy, Pope John Paul did not cite any recent liturgical abuses but said that "the liturgy must be celebrated in an ordered manner in full conformity with the official books, renewed according to the spirit of Vatican II."