BECs offer the 21st century Church a great hope

Sep 14, 2018

There is no doubt that BECs give the Church in the 21st century a great hope. Dioceses like Mangalore in India testify that BECs have really provided our faithful with a strong bonding that they no more join other sects looking for more meaningful worship or fellowship. Our parishioners encounter the Risen Lord through Gospel Sharing and witness to Him with great joy in their neighbourhood through many activities rooted in faith.

If all the parishes in our countries were fully transformed into a Communion of Communities and if animation of BECs becomes a major pastoral activity of the dioceses and parishes, I have no doubt in my mind that Asia would be evangelised in ways we can never imagine.

It is topto- down evangelisation which may be difficult; but we have so many thousands of BECs engaging in evangelising their neighbourhoods.

I agree with His Grace, Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara of Nagpur, India, when he said,“I am deeply convinced that BECs are the only way to achieve full faith maturation of a parish community. BECs, when facilitated well, have the potential to get the whole community to create a sense of belonging and be empowered to be at the service of the community and society.

There needs to be no doubt that, in the future, the basic structure of the Church will be BECs. In BECs, people to people conscientisation happens and they become responsible for the living out of the faith within their local context of time.”

His view is a reflection of the changes which have taken place in the theological understanding of BECs and the pastoral significance of these communities today. Our gathering here on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Vatican II and the Silver Jubilee of the FABC Vision of the New Way of Being Church, is of paramount importance in discerning the mind of the Holy Spirit for the Church in Asia and our journey into the future. The completion of that journey can happen only if we give appropriate responses.

Some Suggestions

-- The bishops of Asia, in consideration of the definite stand FABC and all our Bishops National Conferences have taken to make BECs a pastoral priority, should give BECs a prominent place in the organisational set up at national, diocesan and parish levels. Since it is given the status of a pastoral priority, it should get that status in pastoral organisational set up.

-- We need to think of ways of animating all those people who still hesitate to be part of the BEC and promote BECs, and they still make the majority in every segment of the faithful.

-- Motivate those good priests and sisters out there, who think that BECs is not their business, to get actively involved in BECs.

-- Ensure that transfers do not lead to destruction of BECs built by the previous priest.

-- Let the bishop of every diocese stipulate a time when all the parishes in his diocese will be transformed into a communion of BECs and make sure that there is a well-trained team at every level for continued formation.

-- Provide necessary resources in adequate measure so that the BEC animation work can be sustained without delay or hindrance.

BECs make the merciful God visible
Pope Francis tells us, “Since we have received mercy in abundance from God, we are obliged to be merciful. ‘Should not you have mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? (Mk. 18:33)’. Mercy is the very foundation of Church’s life. It is absolutely essential for the Church and for the credibility of her message that she herself live and testify to mercy.”

“Let us open our eyes and see the misery of the world, the wounds of our brothers and sisters who are denied their dignity, and let us recognise that we are compelled to heed their cry for help! May we reach out to them and support them so they can feel the warmth of our presence, our friendship, and our fraternity! May their cry become our own, and together may we break down the barriers of indifference that too often reign supreme and mask our hypocrisy and egoism.”

BECs all over the world have borne witness to the infinite mercy of God. Let me cite one example. In St John the Baptist BEC in the Parish of St Martin de Pores in Nagpur, a child had leukemia and he needed blood transfusion for the rest of his life. His blood group is A+ which is a very rare group. The BEC tried to find persons with that blood group without any success. So they went to the blood bank and made an agreement with them to give an equivalent amount of blood every month in order to provide the required blood for this child for the rest of his life.

BECs are the fountain of God’s mercy and the most concrete location and source for making God’s mercy visible. It is, however, very important that we help every BEC to become aware of the significance of the Holy Father’s call to make God’s mercy visible and encourage and train BECs to be agents of God’s mercy in the neighbourhood. -- By Fr Dr Thomas Vijay, SAC Secretary for NST for SCCs Catholic Bishops Conference of India AsIPA Resource Team Member 

--The be continued