He also knew a great deal about sociology and the operation of companies and institutions. In this sense, the evangelist should not be like a lone gunman, he must work as a team, since two heads think more and better than one. Evangelization is carried out by the community, on behalf of the community and with the community.
Finally, he knew well about man’s fallen nature so he placed supervision, or accountability, as an antidote to corruption, in order to prevent one from becoming a dictatorial and fanatical leader who turns a Christian community into a sect cut off from other Christians.
What to take and what not to take on the way
He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. Mark 6:7-9
The list of things to take on the journey is identical in the three gospels and it denotes simplicity, humility, and poverty. Even though he goes like a sheep among wolves, the evangelizer must not go prepared or equipped with material resources, nor must he even provide for himself. At every moment, in every place, he must trust fully and exclusively on divine providence, he must seek first the Kingdom of God and the rest will be given to him in addition (Matthew 6:33) because God knows what we need before we ask him (Matthew 6:8), the worker deserves his wages (Leviticus 19:13, Matthew 10:10, Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18).
There is only one discrepancy in the three gospels with regards to two items – the staff and the sandals – which in our view, and I assume in Mark's view, are not luxury items, but rather "subsistence aids", to the extent that they facilitate the journey of the evangelizer.
Matthew leaves the evangelizer barefooted, without sandals and without a staff to lean on. Luke, in the mission of the twelve (9:1-6), forbids the staff and ignores the sandals, while in the mission of the seventy-two, he ignores the staff and forbids the sandals. Mark differs from these two gospels in letting the evangelizer carry a staff and almost requiring him to wear sandals. As Mark is the first to be written, and from what I know of pilgrimages and treks as a missionary in Ethiopia, I can ignore Luke and Matthew and follow what Mark says.
The staff is what all pilgrims carry on their pilgrimages, and it is what the shepherd carries. It has many uses: it helps us in going up and down a mountain, and not to slide and fall walking through mud, and during a river crossing, it serves as a third leg, that is, it transforms an arm that is useless during the crossing into a leg support.
We can get into all kinds of accidents walking barefooted, a simple splinter or thorn can get in our foot and act like a thorn in the flesh that hurts and bothers us nonstop; it forces us to sit down to try to remove it, but oftentimes we can’t see it and it remains inside our flesh bothering us continuously and slowing our walk. In Ethiopia, during the dry season, those who walk barefoot catch penetrating fleas that enter the skin and even make nests there.
The Mission is of all and for all
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. Luke 10:1
As for the ones sent out, both Mark and Matthew only refer to the Mission of the twelve; Luke has two sending offs, one for the twelve and the other for the seventy-two, to tell us that the Mission is not only for the twelve of whom the clerics like to say they are descendants, but for all the disciples of Jesus, because the number 72 has an all-encompassing universal meaning. According to W. Barclay, 72 was the number of elders chosen to help Moses with the task of leading and directing the people in the desert (Num.11:16-17, 24, 25).
It was also the number of members that makes up the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Council of the Jews. Finally, it was also considered the number of nations in the world. Luke was the man with a universalistic vision and it is quite possible that he was thinking of the day when all the nations of the world would know and love his Lord.
The number 12 also has a universal all-encompassing meaning and it is not restricted to bishops and clerics as they claim. Saint Paul, as we know, was not one of the twelve and yet he claimed for himself and for many of his male and female collaborators the title of apostle, which was previously exclusive to the twelve. By doing this, he meant to affirm that an apostle is not someone who has a diploma or a pedigree or who was given the title, but someone who behaves as such, as an evangelizing missionary ready to suffer for the gospel, as indeed Paul did more than any of the 12, as he himself said (2 Corinthians 11:22-33).
Twelve are the tribes of Israel that make up the people of God, the months of the year, twelve are the hours of the day and hours of the night; twelve are the signs of zodiac, twelve are the knights of the round table, twelve are the stars that adorn the crown of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and in reference to her, 12 are the stars on the flag of the European Union, in which each star does not represent a member state (the member states are 27) or has any individual meaning, but represents as a group the totality of the member states, to say that just as God's people are made up of 12 tribes, so the European Union is a new people, a new Europe.
Because Jesus did not want to reformulate or restore Israel, he did not choose an apostle from each tribe, instead Jesus wanted to found a new people that would be the leaven of the Kingdom of God in this world, and as the result, he randomly chose 12 apostles to use the all-encompassing symbolism of the number 12. As in the flag of the European Union, what matters is not the twelve stars or the twelve individuals, but the all-encompassing meaning of the number 12, which allows Paul to also be an apostle.
Ite, Missa est
This is what the priest used to say at Mass when it was in Latin, which means "the Mass is over, you are on mission", that is, "the Mass is over the mission begins". The life of the Christian takes place between the Mass and the Mission, that is, when he is not at Mass, he is on mission and vice versa, when he is not on mission it is because he is at Mass, because the Christian is called to celebrate in community what he lives, and to live or put into practice what he celebrates.
Do this in memory of me – It was not the Church that invented the Sunday precept. It was the Master himself who knew very well that when a group does not come together to share their faith, it ceases to be a group. There is no Church without the Eucharist, and no Eucharist without the Church.
Every Sunday, the weekly day of rest, the Lord's Day, the Master continues to call his disciples to be with him, to instruct them and to give himself to them in the Eucharistic bread; then, at the end, he sends them out for another week of life of work and Mission. This is the same vital movement of the heart that draws the blood to itself to purify it in the lungs and fill it with oxygen, and then sends it back out to the cells.
Nature of the mission - This mission is not exactly of going out into the streets to preach or to go door to door. We must preach the gospel at all times and all places, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as St. Paul said (2 Timothy 4:2), and when necessary, as St Francis of Assisi said, "we can use words" or, in St. Peter's view, give reasons for the faith and hope that animates us to all who asks (1 Peter 3:15).
But this only when it is necessary; most of the time it will not be because the Christian, according to his Master, preaches by example. The symbols of being a Christian, salt and light, are silent because “good makes little noise and noise does little good", as Blessed Joseph Allamano used to say, and because the example both credits and discredits the word. The word without the example is empty of content, it serves no purpose. It is the example that authorizes the word as Christians saw in Jesus (Matthew 7:29) and as the first Roman converts saw in the early Christians ("see how they love each other").
Two by two
The Mission of the 72 disciples, as well as that of the 12 amid Jesus' ministry, are supervised missions, something like the practical classes in a school; in these missions, because they are part of the curriculum and because the disciples are not yet prepared for the great universal mission, the mission field is restricted exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6), which in reality was the same field as the Trinity (Matthew 15:21-28). Because the field of mission was very limited, the disciples were forbidden to leave Israel, to preach to the pagans, and they could not even enter the city of Samaritans. The universal mission comes later and is no longer strictly Jesus’, but of the Holy Spirit.
The two by two was not only observed during these practical lessons, but also after Christ left. Already in the context of the universal mission, it became a distinctive feature of Christian evangelization. On the first missionary journey, the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), in the second he paired Paul with Silas, and later with Timothy (Acts 16:1; 1Timothy 1:2, 4, 14). Saint Paul often speaks of his collaborators whom he calls apostles, men as well as women.
In Israel, the testimony of one person is not considered acceptable (1 Corinthians 14: 29, 2 Corinthians 13: 1). In the Old Testament, the testimony of a single witness was not sufficient to convict someone of murder (Numbers 35:30, Deuteronomy 17:6). In fact, two or three witnesses were required to determine that a person had committed a sin deserving of punishment (Deuteronomy 19:15).
(...) What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it (…) what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us… 1 John 1:1-3
The apostles are, above all, witnesses of Christ, they proclaim the salvific experience they had with him. They do not so much proclaim a doctrine, as to what Jesus did for them, how he changed their lives, how he gave them salvation, that is, health of body and soul, and how he opened the doors of eternal salvation for them.
The gospel preached by a lone outspoken sniper is, on the other hand, less credible than what is preached by a group of people who claim to have had the same experience. Being sent out two by two, therefore, also increases the credibility of the preached message.
Matthew (10:2-4) presents the list of the 12 chosen by Jesus to be apostles two at a time. That is, he calls them two by two and send them out two by two. In the Gospel of John, two disciples, James and Andrew feel the call to follow the master; in the synoptics, first two brothers, Peter and Andrew are called to leave their fishing behind, then another pair of brothers, James and John, are invited to leave their fishing nets and their father in order to follow him.
Already in the Old Testament, the idea of two was present. Moses does not stand alone before Pharaoh, but always with Aaron. David would not have realized the gravity of his sin if he had not been confronted by the prophet Nathan. We are a social being from the moment two half-cells come together, forming a single human cell. It takes two people of opposite sex to have a new being. This is why we conclude that the idea of pair is already inscribed in our genes. We are not islands, we cannot and should not live as such or act alone.
COMPANY
Jesus went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. Mark 3:13-15
Jesus and his friends
We live in a society that gives extreme importance to functional relationships, allocating affective relationships to second place, and even forbidding them for the sake of efficiency. According to the theorists of this society, we should all behave like robots, with only mind and hands at work, without feelings and without heart, keeping emotions at bay.
The affective is the one who is effective, someone said... We are not robots no matter how much they tell us to behave like one; two cogwheels fitted together, one turning with the other, do not arouse feelings for each other because they are material entities; this is not the case between two people who relate to each other: their relationship cannot fail to evoke and invoke feelings and emotions. As the proverb says, "Boat, game and road, turn strangers into friends".
"Love is born between equals or it makes people equal" – There is no problem when feelings arise between equals, from the same rank, or between co-workers or people working on the same project. The problem arises when these feelings arise within relationships of authority, such as Father-child, teacher-student, doctor-patient, priest-faithful, psychotherapist-client. These relationships, say the codes of professional conduct, should be friendly, but not one of friendship.
It is not easy to maintain this balance, preventing friendly relationships from turning into friendship relationships, but it is possible; one of the models for me is the relationship that is established between parents and children when the latter are already adults. The other model is that of Christ.
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. John 15:15
The relationship that Jesus had with his disciples began as a relationship of authority, Master-Disciple, but with time and coexistence it became a relationship of friendship, just like that of a Father with an adult child. During the last years of his life, my Father even sought me out for the sacrament of penance and shared a great deal with me.
As Mark says, Jesus called his disciples to be with Him, to live with Him, therefore to a relationship of friendship, to be his companions, and not only to relate to them in a cold and professional manner, but to instruct, prepare, and send them out. In fact, even among the 12, there was a group of three closest to Him and, among the three, there was one even closer, the beloved disciple. During one of the bitterest hours of his life in the Garden of Olives, he asked them to watch over him (Matthew 26:39-44).
There was also a group of women who followed Him, and among them there was one who was closest to Him than all the others. Mary Magdalene was a close friend of Jesus, but not even with her was the Master-Disciple relationship broken. When Jesus appeared to her after the resurrection, he called her by her name, Mary, but she answered "Master” (Teacher). And when she reported this event to the other apostles, she did not tell them that she saw the beloved of her soul, Jesus, but that she saw the Lord (John 20:11-18).
The importance of companionship
Like we said, it takes two people to procreate a human being. We are intrinsically social beings. Our personality is built on the interactions we have with our educators, parents, siblings, teachers, friends, etc. In this sense, the human being is not born, but is made. At least eighteen years pass between birth and adulthood, and it is only at 7 years old that human beings become aware of themselves.
The first truly human need, beyond the physical ones that we have in common with animals, is the need to love and to be loved. Without love, there is in fact no human life because we are the fruit of the love between two people, not only during pregnancy but also during the first 18 or 20 years of our existence, or even for the rest of our existence, so we can say that to live is to love and to be loved.
The clearest proof that friendship and companionship are as essential as the bread we eat and the air we breathe is the fact that a shared sadness diminishes, but a shared joy increases.
The world has never been more connected than today through the globalization of social networks on the internet and mobile phones, and yet there has never been so much loneliness as now. In the summer of 2003, when it was estimated that 70,000 people died in Europe from the extreme heatwave, France, especially Paris, was very much affected, and many of these people were elderly living alone who died alone. By September 3rd of that same year there were still 57 bodies in Paris that nobody had claimed; fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins or cousins of someone, since there is no human life outside of these parameters and we all share them, we are parents or uncles or nephews or cousins of someone.
I am a fierce critic of having dogs, cats or other pets at home; however, I have to recognize that when human companionship is lacking, the company of an animal is a remedy to be considered as a last resort. More and more people are seeking companionship in these domestic animals because they do not find it in humans.
Friendship in popular wisdom
Friend of all and friend of none, it’s all the same – It is one thing to be known and have many acquaintances, but they are not friends. Jesus treated everyone in a friendly way, but he did not consider them all his friends. He who embraces many holds tightly to a few, says the proverb. As we have already said, Jesus also had those closest to him, even within the 12.
The one who disagrees with you may be a great friend, free yourself from those who always agree with you – The big question that arises in a friendship is the question of faith and trust. Are our friends real or fake? There are many tests to find this out; in hard times good friends are made known. The most suspicious ones say, "God deliver me from my friends as from my enemies I deliver myself".
The victor has many friends, but it is the loser who has the best friends – This Mongolian proverb is a good solution to our problem of trust. When we fail in life, the real friends are the ones who are still by our side, because during hard times, when the ship is about to sink, the first to abandon it are the rats.
When you walk beside a friend, a kilometer has ten steps – The company of a friend makes everything easier, both the journey and the task. One more proof that what is truly effective is the affective. In fact, what we do for love and with love is what we do best. Aristotle, who wrote about friendship, when explaining the kind of union that exists between two friends, went so much as to say that friendship is one soul in two bodies.
Company in the apostolate
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, (….) talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, (…) they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, (…) But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Luke 24:13-35
The image of the two disciples of Emmaus is very meaningful and is the one that I use in the header of the Itinerant Mission blog. They are husband and wife who are going away from Jerusalem after what happened there. It is the only place in the entire New Testament that tell us of the apostles' feedback concerning the passion and death of the Master. This text tells us what the disciples thought and felt regarding the passion and death of their beloved Master.
The power to cry together over failures and celebrate successes, is one of the advantages of companionship. When an apostle evangelizes with a friend, he can count on the other for everything, for his help, his encouragement, and his advice, he doubles his action because his companion energizes him.
Furthermore, the evangelizer can also count on the help of the Master himself who tells us, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). And if what the gospel says is true, with this help in their apostolate they cannot count on those who act alone, like the lone gunman.
After the apostolic times, there have always been men and women who united in the same task of evangelization, have joined their efforts and walked together the way of the gospel, like the disciples of Emmaus. The vast majority of them are not known, but there are some canonized by the Church who have lived a holy and productive friendship. Here is a list of some of the best-known friendships in the Church:
Among people of the same gender:
• St. Perpetual and St. Felicity
• St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen
• St. Cyril and St. Methodius
• St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas
• St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis of Xavier
Among people of opposite gender:
• St. Jerome and St. Paula
• St. Benedict and St. Scholastica
• St. Francis of Assisi and St. Claire of Assisi
• St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross
• St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal
• St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac
• St. Martin de Porres and St. Rose of Lima
TEAMWORK
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two oxen pulling a car or a plough illustrate well the thought of this sacred author. A single ox could not do what two can; the question is in getting them to pair up. We see a yoke of oxen pulling in unison and we think it has always been this way, that they were born for each other, but this is not so.
The fact that we put companionship or friendship before teamwork in this text is not by chance. Between enemies or rivals, collaboration does not take place, for one wants to outdo the other; ideas have copyright, envy poisons relationships, dialogue turns into an argument and controversy where the objective is no longer to discover the truth, but to win the quarrel, humiliating the loser.
Just as there is a process of pairing the oxen so there must be friendship between the members of a group or team so that working together will bring result. Many run away from teamwork and even think that it is a waste of time. "Fa per tre chi fa per se" says an Italian proverb, he does for three what he does by himself alone.
Like someone said, an elephant is a horse designed by a group. Maybe it won't be a perfect horse, but the fact that everyone participated will bear fruit in the future. "If you want to go faster, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together".
"Libri ex libris fiunt" – It can be translated as "conversation is like cherries: when you grab one, others follow". Only God creates from nothing, we create from what already has been created. The idea from a colleague raises another idea in me and together we build the puzzle of truth or the solution to the problem at hand.
The values that enable one to work in a team
Just as nobody can love his neighbour if he does not love himself, he also cannot be an active member of a group without having acquired the personal values that are oriented towards social and group life:
Communication – The ability to communicate your ideas clearly, either in writing or orally, in a non-imposing way, in a warm, professional, friendly tone. There are people whose arrogance is already noticeable in the tone they use in their communication, done ex cathedra and in an intimidating way. This has nothing to do with being persuasive and expansive, with speaking at ease, with self-confidence and assertiveness.
Listening – Silence is part of the communication; while one speaks, we pay attention, we absorb everything the other is saying. It is depressing and very demotivating to see how there are people in a meeting who are inattentive, playing with their cellphones while someone is talking. This is a way of humiliating those who speak, of setting them aside, of considering them unimportant.
Peacemaker – It is inevitable that conflicts will arise, and when they do, we must be neutral with regard to people, but not with regard to truth and justice. We must never side with anyone against someone else, because they are both our brothers or colleagues; siding with someone even when that person is right, leads to dividing the group into factions, into opposing parties and ultimately into open war. We must, however, always be on the side of truth and justice, supporting positions that are in line with them, without praising those who stand by them, just as we must denounce what is not in line with truth and justice, without accusing those who take such positions.
Trustworthy – A king does not go back on his word. To be trustworthy to what one has promised and committed, trustworthy to the tasks of our responsibility, meeting the established deadlines, to be punctual. To whoever has been trustworthy in little things, much will be given, says the gospel. Many group projects are divided into different parts and each one is called upon to do their portion. In such cases, it is like riding an Airbus, it is assembled in France, but the wings are manufactured in England, the engines in Germany, other parts in Spain, etc.
Be respectful – Few people see the lack of punctuality as a lack of respect, but I see it that way. When I'm not punctual, I'm saying indirectly that I am more important than you, that my time is more valuable than yours. When I do not listen to others, I am putting them aside, when I do not look at them when they speak, I am ignoring them; When I do not know their name or bother to learn it and I address them without calling them by name, I'm putting them aside.
When any member of the group does not act according to these values, the work becomes harder, a lot of time and creativity is lost because minds and hearts deal instead with issues such as envy, esteem and self-esteem, conflicts, rivalries, power struggles, etc.
How to work as a team
For everything there is a technique to follow, an accumulation of operative knowledge or tactics that have been used over time by many groups and have worked.
Dividing the work into small tasks – Teamwork does not mean everyone does everything at the same time. The work must be divided among the members of the group, according to each one’s talents. Nowadays a company is contracted for a given project, but it will not do everything within the company; instead, it hires other companies under subcontracts to complete the project.
Ask for help – When you are focused on your own task, difficulties can arise: it is not humiliating to be humble and ask for help when faced with doubt, difficulty and lack of ideas. Nobody knows how to do everything, no one is an expert in everything.
Working out loud – Sharing details of the task we are doing, what we discover, the difficulties we are having with members of the group or those around us. Hold meetings to share the current state of each task, and so remain open to suggestions and details that had not crossed our minds.
Share a prototype – With the same intention as the previous point, share a prototype, a draft, an example of what we are doing. Do not be afraid to present the project with the scaffolding still on, with the errors of spelling or agreement and let others correct us, present us with alternatives.
Review meetings – Still in line with the previous point, hold a review meeting when everyone is still halfway into their part of the project or task, and encourage other members to find flaws, to be the devil's advocate so that we can perfect our work. Many book authors ask a friend for his opinion, or ask an expert to read the draft to give him criticism before the final draft and publication.
Common goal – A group, a team, a community, a family, are made up of different people with different personalities, genders and talents, but with a common goal. It is the common goal that keeps them united in the same project divided into different tasks. In this common goal, it is important that everyone knows their place in the group.
Celebrating successes together – Together triumphs are celebrated and together, like the disciples of Emmaus, we cry over failures. Not only the end of the project should be celebrated, but also each of the most important stages; in this way, the spirit and motivation are reinvigorated to continue until the project is complete.
Teamwork in the apostolate
The mission of the 12 and of the 72 was a teamwork between Jesus and the apostles, since the gospel clearly states that Jesus sends them out to places where he intended to go. All evangelization is a preparation of the way to the Lord, just like the Baptist did. After the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven, his disciples maintained the tradition of working in teams. Let us look at some of those teams that were formed.
• Peter and John (Acts 3)
• Philip and, thereafter, Peter and John (Acts 8)
• Peter and certain brothers (Acts 10)
• Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13-14)
• Judas and Silas - join Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15)
• Barnabas and John Mark (Acts 15)
• Timothy joins Paul and Silas (Acts 16)
• Paul takes Priscilla and Aquila with him (Acts 18)
• Timothy and Erastus are sent to Macedonia (Acts 19)
• Going to Asia, Paul was accompanied by Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophinus (Acts 20)
The Church is an assembly, it is a group of people united in the same faith. It is the mystical body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit. It is certain that on earth there must be a structure and this structure, until the Second Vatican Council, was graphically represented by a pyramid. Western democracies have overcome the monarchy, and in those who still have a monarchy, the king reigns, but he does not govern and has no decision-making power, he is only a symbol.
The Second Vatican Council presented another structure for the Church. It replaced the pyramid by concentric circles, with Peter's successor at the center. The absolute power of the Pope would be limited by the Synods of Bishops, and a greater collegiality between the Pope and the bishops was sought, as there is in the Orthodox Church; with the death of Paul VI, the leader of the Council, and the accession of John Paul II to the chair of Peter, everything went back as before.
Whatever happens at the level of the highest spheres of ecclesiastical power – of the Pope and the cardinals of the Curia – is reproduced at the diocesan and parish level. The Pope governs the Universal Church, the bishop governs his diocese and the parish priest governs his parish, just as the Sun King ruled France before the French revolution. In fact, this Revolution succeeded in wiping out the blue blood of nobility, but it achieved nothing against the caste type Old Testament priesthood that we have in the Catholic Church.
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8
From the Pope to the parish priest, or from the parish priest to the Pope, the clergy have forgotten that they have no copyright on the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Most Holy Trinity is the one who governs the Church as a whole and each Christian born of water and the Spirit.
The divine Holy Spirit assists us all, not only the clergy, so many revolutions in the Church have not come from the clergy, but from the laity. As an example, Francis of Assisi, who was never a clergyman nor wanted to be one, reformed the Church without dividing it, whereas a cleric, Luther, divided the Church without reforming it.
The Pastoral Council is one of the creations of Vatican II. It should exist in all parishes, but it does not exist in many of them and in those where it exists, its members are not chosen democratically in an assembly or in the different groups they represent; on the contrary, they are handpicked by the parish priest and the latter chooses those who do not overshadow or oppose him. Their job is to say amen to whatever the parish priest decides. When someone has a divergent voice, the parish priest reminds him "I am the parish priest", and the strife is over.
In my understanding, the figure of the Pastor of the Church is very much abused. The Church is not a flock, but an assembly of different people, united by a common faith. I was a shepherd of sheep and goats in Serra da Estrela, Portugal, and from what I know of sheep and goats, I don't think this image should be applied to the Church.
The clergy has been relating to the adult faithful as if they are children, as if they have never grown up, keeping them tied to norms, precepts and laws, choking their moral conscience in such a way that the faithful have to ask the priest whether this or that is a sin or not. The Church has not let the faithful decide on vital matters such as sexuality.
In a flock, sheep and goats do not think. In fact, ‘borreguismo’ (being sheepish) is a Spanish word that refers to the attitude of those who, without any judgment of their own, allow themselves to be carried away by the opinions of other people, in this case the pastor’s. I saw how a flock was lost on a precipice just because the sheep that was ahead fell over and the others uncritically all went over too.
The people of God is not a flock, and the priest is not a pastor. Just as the Pope is the servant of the servants of God, so must the priest in his parish be a servant of the people of God. This title lends itself more to teamwork than that of pastor.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability in English is a widely used concept nowadays and means many things at the same time:
• To take responsibility for one's own actions and their consequences, before oneself and others. Denial is, in this sense, the opposing attitude: to make excuse, to disclaim oneself of one's own responsibilities.
• To be transparent is to issue periodic reports of one’s own activity, without hiding anything under the rug or having skeletons in the closet. Always be ready for an audit, as Domenic Savio was ready to die, without having to make adjustments to his life at the last minute.
• To be disciplined is to stay on the right path without being derailed by competing, discordant priorities or desires contrary to our mission.
• To be righteous is to be honest, avoid corruption, do our best in carrying out our commitments; acknowledge mistakes and take the blame when something doesn't go the best way.
Accountability in politics – “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”; it is not known who said this, but it alludes to a great truth. Early in the West it was discovered that there could not be one power or that it could not be concentrated in one single instance; hence the separation of power in three instances that are at the same time independent and interdependent of each other.
They are the legislative power, the executive power and the judicial power. These three powers are evenly interdependent, because one supervises the other. They are all supported and regulated by a democratic constitution, the source of all popular power.
While this is happening, the powers do not relate to each other, they function harmoniously like the cogwheels of a clock's mechanism. However, when one of these powers exceeds its competence, one of the other two intervenes in order to bring it back to the normal functioning enshrined in the State Constitution. The mechanism that democracies have for this to work has to do with accountability and is designated as brake and counterweight or check and balance.
Accountability in economy – Inspections and audits are mechanisms of accountability for the use of public money to prevent it from ending up in the pocket of an official.
Accountability in society – It is done by the police and the courts when someone acts against the norms that govern a society. If he is unable to govern and control his basic instincts and live in harmony with his neighbour, the State exercises a coercive power of accountability on the individual whose conduct is not in keeping with that of a mature and responsible citizen.
Accountability in psychotherapy – In order to avoid the psychotherapist’s existential matters, his own psychological problems, his personality and character, from becoming mixed up with the client's problems, as well as to avoid the psychotherapist from becoming affectively involved with the client, supervision is necessary, that is, the psychotherapist must be in therapy with another psychotherapist.
Accountability in the apostolate
So then, each of us will be accountable to God. Romans 14:12
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. James 5:16
My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1-2
Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another. Proverbs 27:17
Unus christianus, nullus christianus – St. Augustine said, “one Christian, no Christian”. The Church is the people of God marching through history transforming this earth into the Kingdom of God and history itself into a story of salvation. This Church has a deposit of faith that are the scriptures and the tradition over 2,000 years.
The Holy Inquisition which throughout history has not shown to be so holy and which today is represented by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, exercises over Christians, especially theologians, the power of accountability, lest they teach against the truths of the faith revealed in apostolic times and throughout the tradition of the Church. If we are to remain united in one faith, this faculty must be exercised. If it were to stop being exercised, the Church would easily be divided into a hundred and one sects or churches, as happened in Protestantism after Luther.
The power of sending out two to two helps to prevent Christians from falling into sin. If one makes a mistake, the other can and should correct him. We all need someone who cares about us, who knows us well enough to acknowledge our shortcomings, who can challenge us if we stray from the path or overstep our competencies. Each one of us needs someone to challenge us from time to time. It goes without saying, the best criticism comes from a friend, from someone who wants our good. Any criticism, however true, that does not come from a friend or is not done out of goodness, will not be well received.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20) is the best guarantee that the Church does not stray outside the doctrine of the Master, it is the best guarantee that an evangelizer does not fall into the temptation to isolate himself as a lone gunman and become the leader of a sect.
The Church should not have lone gunmen or snipers, we must all stay in constant dialogue of confronting our thoughts and actions with those who walk with us, to remain in communion with the Church, the mystical body of the One who is the only Way, Truth and Life, to proclaim him and not ourselves and the doctrines that are not His.
Conclusion - Deeply aware of human nature, under the yoke of the Gospel, Jesus pairs his disciples two by two, so that together they may cry over failures, learn from their mistakes and celebrate the victories of working in the Lord's Vineyard.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
