{"id":47480,"date":"2019-10-28T18:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www1.romereports.com\/2019\/10\/28\/fr-martin-lasarte-at-the-synod-the-pope-asked-not-to-clericalize-the-laity\/"},"modified":"2019-10-28T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T17:00:00","slug":"fr-martin-lasarte-at-the-synod-the-pope-asked-not-to-clericalize-the-laity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/2019\/10\/28\/fr-martin-lasarte-at-the-synod-the-pope-asked-not-to-clericalize-the-laity\/","title":{"rendered":"Fr. Martin Lasarte: At the synod the pope asked not to \u2018clericalize\u2019 the laity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;Fr. Martin Lasarte has dedicated more than two  decades to the missions. He is a Salesian in  charge of Africa and America. He is very familiar  with these two realities, which is perhaps why  Pope Francis requested his presence at the synod.<\/p>\n<p>Fr. Martin Lasarte has his own opinion regarding  the scarcity of vocations to the priesthood in the  Amazon. He does not think the solution is to  ordain indigenous married men to the priesthood.  Rather, he thinks the key is to invest in youth,  familial, and vocational ministries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>FR. MARTIN LASARTE<\/strong> <br \/>\n<strong>Central Salesian Dicastery for the Missions<\/strong>  <br \/>\n \u201c<em>I have visited communities that have not<\/em> <em>received the Eucharist in 30 years, since the end<\/em> <em>of the war in Angola. They never saw a priest,<\/em> <em>and they were rich and lively communities. Men and women who, in their communities, try to animate their Christian brothers and sisters and help them grow in the faith with or without the presence of priests, bishops, or whatever.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Martin Lasarte followed the Angolan Civil War  and the heroic activity of missionaries in Africa  very closely. He himself had to pass through  minefields to help undernourished children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He can recount how some missionaries would go  to areas where the NGO's would not, sometimes giving their lives for this, just to be close to their communities. Some were riddled with bullets. Others were blown up into the air after stepping on mines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fr. Martin Lasarte is familiar with the reality of  communities abandoned to their fate. In Africa,  some states expelled the missionaries. He says  this revealed how the commitment of some lay  men and women was the axle that sustained the  faith of entire communities. That is why he says  it is crucial that every diocese and congregation  examine whether or not they have put effort into  the integral formation of people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>FR. MARTIN LASARTE<br \/>\n<\/strong> <strong>Central Salesian Dicastery for the Missions<\/strong> <br \/>\n \u201c<em>After 40 or 50 years, many ecclesial realities<\/em> <em>are facing the consequences of an infertile<\/em> <em>pastoral ministry. There has been no investment<\/em> <em>in the catechumenate. There has been no investment in more authentic Christian communities, in the sacraments, in catechesis,<\/em> <em>and in Kerygma. So logically, after 40 or 50<\/em> <em>years, they are communities that don\u2019t have<\/em> <em>vocations. How does a diocese without a youth<\/em> <em>ministry expect to have future priests<\/em>?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For Fr. Martin Lasarte, turning to the ordination  of indigenous married men in the Amazon to the  priesthood is a form of clericalism. For him this  implies that the priesthood is the apex of  Christian life, while the vocation to marriage is  an insufficient way to live out the faith.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>FR. MARTIN LASARTE<\/strong> <br \/>\n<strong>Central Salesian Dicastery for the Missions<\/strong>  <br \/>\n \u201c<em>Clericalization. The pope insisted several times<\/em> <em>on this theme when he spontaneously intervened.<\/em> \u2018<em>Let us not clericalize the laity.\u2019  Otherwise it would seem that the layman is an incomplete Christian.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fr. Martin Lasarte says he is satisfied with the  final document the bishops presented to the pope  because it seems balanced enough. The bishops  propose ordaining permanent deacons to the  priesthood in extreme situations, and with  conditions. They do not propose ordaining just  any layman.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he expressed his satisfaction  with the fact that the final document dedicated various points to the youth, for it is on them that  the Church should focus and invest.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 28, 2019. He is a Salesian in charge of the missions in Africa and America. His participation in the Amazon synod was a papal appointment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7GFjquoN5LY","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bmartinlasarteeng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bmartinlasarteint.mp4","type":"rrp","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}