Who is allowed to proclaim God’s Word and interpret it? This is the question posed by this Sunday’s readings, but it is also posed in the church today. Erwin Kräutler, a former bishop in the Amazon region, provides answers from a Latin American perspective.
In the scripture readings this Sunday, three people appear who talk about matters of faith even though they are not authorized to do so. There are Eldad and Medad who prophesy without being among those who were commissioned to do so at the Tent of Meeting. Joshua, Moses’ servant, doesn’t think that’s right. And in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’ disciples are annoyed that someone who is not part of their circle is teaching in the name of their master. This unsettles them because they are the ones Jesus called to do this.
The dispute over who is allowed to proclaim continues to this day. Of course, some self-proclaimed preachers should be skeptical, but Erwin Kräutler primarily sees the negative side of the fear of unauthorized, even unconsecrated, people and asks: “Who can tell God how or through whom he communicates himself to us?”
The 85-year-old belongs to the order of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. At the age of 26, he went to the Amazon region of Brazil, was ordained bishop in 1981 and headed the Xingu diocese, the largest diocese in Brazil with an area the size of Germany, until 2015. In Latin America he experienced how people without studying theology or being ordained became credible proclaimers of the Word of God.
“Like a supernatural”
In the Amazon, communities are very far apart and there are very few priests. “Even when I was starting out in the late 1960s, it was quite normal for a priest to only come to a parish every one, two or more years,” says Kräutler. He describes the type of pastoral care he experienced at that time as “desobriga,” as “done work” – and he doesn’t mean that in a positive way: A priest who mostly served in the main town of his huge parish traveled “from time to time up and down the river to administer the sacraments, i.e. to carry out his mission,” says Kräutler. He explained that he blessed marriages that had long been concluded, baptized children and “celebrated the Eucharist in Latin, which was something extraordinary and incomprehensible for most people.” In addition, the priest appeared to the people in his prescribed light-colored gown “like a supernatural being,” said Kräutler. Faith and everyday life were separate worlds.
Erwin Kräutler. Photo: imago/Rudolf Gigler
That changed after the Second Vatican Council. In 1972, the bishops of the Brazilian Amazon adopted new guidelines for their pastoral care. Since then, the top priority has been the so-called basic communities, which are the “primary space of church life,” says Kräutler. “Wherever a priest, a bishop, a religious sister or full-time employee goes, he or she finds a group of women, men and young people who have taken responsibility for community life, lead the service on Sunday, proclaim and interpret the word of God. “
Hardly anyone wants to prevent this anymore – like Joshua or the disciples of Jesus. But there is one thing in particular that annoys the bishop: “The fact that due to canonical prohibitions that have long since been revised, the celebration of the Eucharist in these communities continues to be a rarity that is unjustifiable to Jesus.” At the Amazon Synod in 2019, he campaigned for this with the majority of Latin American bishops that married men can also be ordained priests and celebrate the Eucharist. Without success.
Fear of losing authority
Life in a grassroots community includes not only pious things, but also commitment to the world. Kräutler calls it the prophetic dimension. “It’s not just about identifying the misery, the need, the hopelessness of many fellow human beings and the indigenous peoples, but also about exploring and denouncing the causes of injustice,” he says. This prophetic appearance cost the lives of bishops, priests, religious and especially many lay people. “I knew several of these martyrs personally,” says Kräutler.
Kräutler believes it is wrong that grassroots communities were criticized for their social commitment, commitment to human rights and creation, or were accused of a “lack of ecclesiasticism,” as if “the grassroots communities had become independent and ignored the bishop.” For him, your loyalty to the Catholic faith and church leadership is beyond question. And he clearly sides with Moses: “If only everyone would become prophets!” And with Jesus: “Don’t hinder him!”
But where does the distrust of others come from? Kräutler says: “In a grassroots community, no one can any longer imagine a bishop visiting in medieval regalia, with miter and staff and all the insignia of times long past.” He sees the “fear of many bishops that their authority will be compromised if they only “As brothers in the episcopate, we visit our brothers and sisters in a basic community and celebrate church services and eat with the common people.”
In this respect, too, he draws parallels to biblical history. “Eldad and Medad! Aren’t they our siblings?” asks Kräutler. “Wouldn’t it be better to finally invite them instead of silencing them?” And: “I wonder whether the experiences of the basic church communities in Amazonia might not still be able to credibly convey the message of Jesus in a secularized world convey.”
