DCMission Statement


Monday, October 10, 2011

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on Redemptoris Missio

I ran across this recent episode of Threshold of Hope in which Fr. Pacwa discusses Bl. JP2's encyclical Redemptoris Missio (On the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate). As DCMission is seeking to be the "Missionaries to the Digital Continent," I thought this would be worth watching. I watched all of it and found it very relevant.

One point that was particularly relevant was the first question from the audience, in which a woman called in and said that she had been in Bible study groups in which she felt that the leaders weren't qualified to be leading such discussions. She said she'd also been invited to lead study groups before and she didn't feel qualified to do so. So she was asking what could be done to remedy this problem. Fr. Pacwa stressed the importance of studying the Catechism and also of studying the Bible along with commentaries (particularly those of St. John Chrysostom (whose feast day was Sept. 13). His commentaries on Scripture are large in number. Many are posted on EWTN's website. You can go here and search for author "Chrysostom"). Fr. Pacwa recommends reading several commentaries, as some are better than others in different respects.

The site VeritasBible.com has the Haydock commentary, which I have heard is good. This site also has the Catena Aurea, which was compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas and, according to wikipedia, contains "excerpts from some eighty Greek and Latin commentators on the Gospels." There are other nice features of this site. For example, it allows you to display the Bible passages in English and Latin along with the commentary in different columns.

3 comments:

CG said...

Something that I recently heard or read comes to mind after reading this: it is ordination, particularly to the diaconate and priesthood, that bestows the qualification to lead others in the Faith and preach the Gospel. Not to say that any Baptized Catholic shouldn't share their Faith and preach the Gospel, as is our right and duty, but in a special way deacons and priests have that authority. It is not in any earthly degrees, or advanced study, or experience, but Christ's mandate through His Church that the qualification to preach His Gospel is invested in individuals.

Anonymous said...

That's a good point Chris. We should be very glad that we have ordained men with a unique authority to teach and lead the Church.

Regarding the original post, I will try to watch this episode of Threshold of Hope when I get a chance. It's definitely important for anyone who endeavors to speak about the Catholic Church in a public capacity to be well educated in the Tradition of the Church.

Patrick L. said...

Weigel mentioned Redemptoris Missio in an article (link) published yesterday in First Things on the role of the laity in the Church.

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