Irish-British Province

ROME/ITALY
International Congress on Dei Verbum

A congress on “Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church” was held in Rome from September 14-18, 2005, to commemorate 40 years of the second Vatican Council’s document Dei Verbum. It was organized jointly by the CBF (Catholic Biblical Federation) and Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

About 400 participants, 60 bishops among them, from nearly 100 countries participated in the congress. Representatives of other churches were also present as participants and as speakers. The Arnoldus Family was present in good force with 23 confreres and three SSpS taking part, some taking active part in the organizing committee, as speakers and as moderators. Fr. Ludger FELDKÄMPER (ROM), Fr. Ralph HUNING (GEN) and Fr. Babu Joseph KALLANCHIRA (TOG) were among the speakers at the congress. Fr. Konrad KELER (Asst. Superior General), Fr. Leo KLEDEN (General Consultor), Fr. Guido TISERA (Generalate Coordinator of Biblical Apostolate) and Bishop Arturo BASTES (CBF Executive Committee) were among the other prominent SVDs at the congress.

The Congress was to evaluate how far the document Dei Verbum, in particular chapter six on the Word of God in the life of the Church has actually been implemented. During the congress, a good variety of programs were offered: speeches in plenary session, panel discussions, displays of material on the Biblical Apostolate, celebration of the Word etc.

One of the main speakers was Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, former Archbishop of Milan, Italy. He spoke not so much out of his expertise as a bible scholar but rather out of his experience as a bishop conducting the “School of the Word” for thousands of youth in his archdiocese.

The congress made a synthesis of what has been accomplished during the congress. In a word, much has been done to make the Word of God the book of the people of God. But much remains to be done to make the Word alive in the midst of God’s people, to make it the basis of unity of Christians. The CBF and the Bishops being present decided to write a letter to the Pope requesting his holiness to convoke a special Synod on the Word of God. (Guido Tisera)

Source: Arnoldus Nota