A synodal and missionary Church is manifested through local communities with a variety of faces. The Church has never been rigidly monochrome, but she has developed as a polyhedron of persons with varying sensitivities, origins and cultures. In this way she has carried in the earthenware vessels of human frailty the incomparable treasure of Trinitarian life. The harmony that the Spirit gives does not abolish differences, but it makes them resonate together, generating a symphonic richness. This encounter between different persons in the one faith is the fundamental condition for pastoral renewal of our communities. This has a bearing on proclamation, on celebration and on service, that is, on the fundamental spheres of normal pastoral activity. Popular wisdom says that “it takes a village to rear a child”: this principle applies to all spheres of pastoral activity today.
TheoFonsAt the sources of the faith