Diacovensia (Apr 2019)
Analiza pastoralnih nastojanja nakon proglašenja dokumenta Ti si Krist – za nas i za sve ljude. Izjave i odluke Druge biskupijske sinode đakovačke i srijemske
Abstract
Following the first democratic elections, after forty-five years of the totalitarian communist regime, and during the Croatian War for Independence and the Greater Serbian aggression in the 1990s, the Church in the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem has significantly changed its “face and reverse”, its circumstances and ambiance. The Second Synod was an event and an occurrence of the Holy Spirit and concrete man. The decisions, statements, and provisions of the Diocesan Synod were meant to become the daily life of the particular Church. The Book of the Synod “You are Christ – for us and for all people” was published in 2008. Ten years after the publication of the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem, a review of pastoral efforts over the decade shows that the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem have been realized to a greater extent in only 30% of the parish communities of the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The crisis of the evangelizing zeal of presbyters and parish priests, the crisis of their identity, and the formation that largely ignored the synodal conclusions, the communist legacy which left behind religious indifference, non-coexistence with the Church, clericalism, passivity, and especially today’s culture of choice and the dictatorship of relativism are the fundamental and most common causes why the document “You are Christ - for us and for all people” is not the magna carta of pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The analysis of pastoral efforts points to the need for greater expertise and qualifications, especially for the professionalization and specialization of the heads of offices, commissioners, and persons entrusted with one of the pastoral areas. Most heads of offices, commissioners, and secretaries, that are carrying out one or more other duties, try to accomplish the entrusted area without enough opportunities to apply themselves appropriately. There is a greater and stronger need to involve the laity in running certain offices and commissions. If the local Church wants to implement the synodal documents more effectively into the everyday life, it must find the strength to include the lay faithful into the pastoral life and work of the Archdiocese. There is a need for a significant change of pastoral approaches, forms and methods used in pastoral work and activities. The Synod has become more of a one-time event, and it was meant to be a systematic occurrence. The power of the “tongues of fire” (cf. Isaiah 5:24) has become or remained “a smoldering wick” (cf. Isaiah 42: 3; Matthew 12:20). The Church of Đakovo-Osijek needs to take systematic, strongly infrastructurally professionalized, Jesus-like and courageous steps forward. Despite the difficulties and shortcomings, the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek and its life are unimaginable without the synodal documents, that is, the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem.
Keywords
