Tomás TrigoWithout the hope of Heaven, we would not take a step in life".Does it make sense to study theology today?"Today it is necessary for the evangelizing dimension of theology to take a 'step forward', to help in a more effective, more extensive and intense way, to a more fruitful dialogue between faith and reason, faith and cultures, faith and science. This is also advisable at the catechetical level, from Christian initiation, because no one loves what he does not know," the professor said. Ramiro Pellitero Iglesiaswho teaches at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra For more than thirty years, more or less the same subjects as now: Pastoral Theology and Ecclesiology above all.
Previously, Ramiro Pellitero had a degree in Medicine from the University of Santiago de Compostela.
In 1988 he was ordained a priest at the shrine of Torreciudad. In the last 12 years he has collaborated from the university in the formation of religion teachers in schools, in Spain and in countries of America (especially Latin America) and Europe.
Now, as a result of the courses he has been giving on this subject, and more briefly and occasionally in various countries around the world, Professor Pellitero has published 'Pastoral Theology. La misión evangelizadora de la Iglesia' (Pastoral Theology. The Evangelizing Mission of the Church), in Eunsa.
Could you refer to the message, the central idea that you wish to transmit with your book on the evangelizing mission of the Church?
- Above all, the message is that evangelization (taking the Gospel message everywhere and with all the consequences) is the task of every Christian, each one with his or her own gifts, ministries and charisms.
This means trying to live this message personally, and within the framework of the Church as the family that God has willed in the world, through the incarnation of his Son Jesus Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, it is a book of theology. And theology is faith (lived) that seeks to understand itself and communicate itself. The current priority of the new evangelization, in this change of epoch, puts this subject (Pastoral Theology) at the forefront of theological and educational work.
To understand evangelization in order to carry it out with authenticity and to think about faith and its consequences from evangelization itself is something that corresponds to every theologian and to all theological disciplines. And at the same time it is convenient that there is a subject that emphasizes this dimension, especially today.
Almost inevitably, its title reminds us of three things: 1) the final command of Jesus Christ: go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel...; 2) Pope Francis' encouragement to be missionary disciples; and 3) his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudiumwhere he refers to the missionary transformation of the Church...
- Indeed, these three points point to interesting aspects of the evangelizing mission.
First, the missionary mandate of the Lord, which is for every Christian and for the Church as a whole, we could say, in unity and diversity.
Second, the current pontificate invites us to take seriously the universal call to holiness and apostolate proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council, so that all Christians are called, in the terminology of the Aparecida Document (2007), to be missionary disciples.
Third, along the same lines, the call for a missionary transformation of the Church, as a consequence and as a means for the implementation of the last Council.
A transformation - to which Francis' programmatic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (2013) refers - that needs to be carried out with the discernment appropriate to each issue.
Is mission the same as evangelization? What exactly are we sent to do?
- The mission, as the word says (from mittereIn the Church, this great mission, unique and total, is diversified into several tasks: a missionary task in the strict sense (directed above all to non-Christians and non-believers); a task that the Council called "pastoral", which is carried out with and among the Catholic faithful; and a third task aimed at fostering Christian unity (ecumenism).
Evangelization, which today we understand in a broader sense (all that the Church and Christians do to spread the message of the Gospel through our lives) is the implementation, "in action", of the mission.
In short, every Christian is sent to make his or her life a proclamation and witness to the faith, above all where he or she is, counting on God's abundant help and within the framework of the ecclesial family. In addition, he can receive gifts (charisms) to collaborate with others in various tasks or services, within the great evangelizing mission.
The book underlines the evangelizing dimension of Theology, which it has from its very origin. Can you comment on it? What does it add that we say not only Theology, but Pastoral Theology?
- I have already referred to the evangelizing dimension of Theology, which, besides being a science, has an aspect of wisdom for life, since the message of the Gospel leads to a more fully human life, which opens up to eternal life after death. Theology has always done all this.
But today it is necessary for this evangelizing dimension of theology to take "a step forward", to help in a more effective, extensive and intense way, a more fruitful dialogue between faith and reason, faith and cultures, faith and science. This is also desirable at the catechetical level, beginning with Christian initiation, because no one loves what he does not know.
And also because the Christian life is the most fascinating adventure that anyone can propose. Not as an idealized utopia, but as a realistic horizon, which must rely above all on the light and the vital and transforming power of faith.
It must also take into account our limitations, those of each and everyone. That is why theology, in any of its disciplines (systematic, moral, pastoral, historical, biblical) must approach all people with the light of truth and love.
Pastoral Theology, as I pointed out before, is the science that represents and underlines that apostolic evangelizing dimension. It studies the evangelizing mission from its spatio-temporal coordinates, in the "here and now".
It teaches a method (which has to do with discernment) to think theologically about what we do; be it personal apostolic dialogue, preaching and education in the faith, be it liturgical celebrations, be it the help we give to Christian life, in personal or collective means of formation, as well as the accompaniment of families and vocations, and especially of the sick and the most needy in society; without forgetting the social and ecological dimensions of the Christian message.
While moral theology approaches all this from the perspective of the person of the Christian, pastoral theology looks at it from the perspective of the evangelizing action of the Church; but the Church is not only the hierarchy, we are all Christians.
You raise in some chapter the challenges of the new evangelization, since the new evangelization requires a strong missionary inspiration, you write. Tell us a little about these challenges.
- The challenges of the new evangelization derive from our socio-cultural situation: a change of epoch, with great and rapid advances in the scientific and technological fields and at the same time diverse crises of anthropological roots.
From the Christian and ecclesial point of view, as St. John Paul II clearly saw, this requires, in evangelization, a renewal of ardor, methods and expressions. This is not something radically new, because we have always found ways of inculturating the Christian message in dialogue with cultures.
In any case, today it is necessary, for example, to improve the quality of faith education at all levels, in coherence with one's own life and in connection with the many needs we see around us.
Moreover, today, many lay people (Christians who seek holiness in the midst of their work and families, their cultural and social life, etc.) are more aware than those of previous centuries of their responsibility in the Church and in the world.
A responsibility that is manifested personally or as part of groups, movements or other ecclesial realities, in addition to other collaborations that can be carried out as catechists or in other intra-ecclesial tasks.
They feel that evangelization is not something in which they collaborate from time to time, but a mission that they feel as their own, by the mere fact of being baptized, and that they carry out in a different way from sacred ministers or members of religious life; but all carry it out in complementarity.
The Pope, in his recent constitution 'Praedicate Evangelium'. What does this decision mean, in your opinion? Your book is also situated in this nuclear Christian theme.
- As he has explained on several occasions, the prevailing role of the Dicastery for Evangelization corresponds to the impulse Francis wishes to give to the new evangelization. This is in clear continuity with the orientations of the Second Vatican Council and previous pontificates, in an incisive and comprehensive way. In my book, the new evangelization is a red thread that runs through all the chapters.
Any other questions you would like to comment on?
- It should be clarified that the word "pastoral" was used for many centuries almost exclusively in relation to bishops and priests. Since the Second Vatican Council, and increasingly so, it has been used to express the evangelizing mission of the Church in general. Christ is the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn. ch. 10) and every Christian has, in various ways, the care of others. At the same time, in the Church there have always been and will always be shepherds in the hierarchical sense. Moreover, any change in terminology - especially if it affects a mentality that has developed over centuries - involves certain risks.
In this case, some may still think that "pastoral theology" is something only for clerics, but this is not so, even if they, the clerics, have their own way and tasks in the mission of all. That is why sometimes this theological discipline can be called in other ways: Theology of mission, of evangelization or of ecclesial action, etc. All of them are legitimate if one is aware of what one is dealing with.
