“New challenges to evangelization have arisen, new needs have been expressed,” the member of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) further says, adding, “Twenty-five years after the first synodal event, which bore good fruit, we are aware of a Church that has evolved and is still changing, assimilating everything that has nourished it since then.”
“Let us dare to live a new synod together, where all the baptized, without distinction, set out to make our Church more evangelical,” the Spanish-born Cardinal who has been at the helm of Rabat Archdiocese since March 2018 appeals to participants in the Diocesan synod.
The synod, he says, “is a process, but also a state of mind and spirit that requires walking together, making a journey together.”
“If we want to become a church in Morocco that is a sign, then it is necessary to allow ourselves to be questioned and moved by the different cultures of our Church and also to be rooted in the culture and reality of this country,” the 69-year-old Cardinal says, adding, “We will be able to offer the culture of the Gospel, not by proselytism, but by attractiveness, by our way of being and serving.”
To take the path of a church that is a sign among the people of God, the says, the Christian community of Rabat Archdiocese “needs to evaluate its history, to become aware of its diversity, of the riches and challenges that this implies, to scrutinize and ponder the Word of God, to listen to the expectations of this people, to be open to the conversion to which the Spirit is calling it, to discern the pastoral choices to be privileged, to be faithful to the Spirit of Jesus.”
“It is a question of putting ourselves in the attitude of the Synod, in an attitude of openness to the Spirit, of coming out of ourselves, of walking towards the Kingdom, of searching together for the will of God, and of meeting with others,” the SDB member who was elevated to Cardinal in October 2019 further says in his May 23 message.
He goes on to call for active participation in synod saying, “It is a question of praying together, reflecting together, coming closer to one another, getting to know one another better, and seeking the best paths for our Church.”
“This means that we, Catholic Christians of the Archdiocese of Rabat, are all concerned by the Synod; no one can feel excluded; and we will do so in such a way that Christians of other denominations, Muslims and interested people can participate,” Cardinal López explains
He adds, “Everyone will be able to make a contribution, and everyone will give what time they can.”
On how the synod will be organized, the Cardinal says it will be done through “Diocesan assemblies of delegates, Parish assemblies, taking into account also the Church movements present in the Archdiocese.”
