The Church is never closed within itself

Jan 12, 2017

By Archbishop Joseph Marino
On November 19, 2016, Pope Francis placed the famous “red hat” on the head of the Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur, Anthony Soter Fernandez, an event I can assure you, that did not go unnoticed throughout the entire family of Catholics throughout the world. I personally received questions about this historic event from three journalists. Numerous family members and friends, during my recent visit to the United States, quizzed me about the fact that Malaysia now has its first Cardinal. For sure, Cardinal Fernandez has placed the Church in Malaysia on the minds and hearts of people throughout the world as a result of this honour that Pope Francis bestowed on him, an honour that is unique and reserved to a very few.

How appropriate that the entire Catholic Church in Malaysia, with the participation of all its bishops, celebrated this event on the Feast of the Epiphany in the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist. Indeed, the liturgical Feast proclaims that the Church was never meant to be a sect closed within itself, but an outgoing community destined to go to the far corners of the earth. Pope Francis even mentioned this mark of the Church on the day when you were created a Cardinal when he said, “The richness and universality of the Church are tangibly evident in the College of Cardinals. We come from distant lands; we have different traditions, skin colour, languages and social backgrounds; we think differently and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites. None of this makes us enemies; instead, it is one of our greatest riches.”

Many have asked me why did Pope Francis choose Archbishop Soter to be a Cardinal. Of course, I do not have an answer to that question. However, I do know that His Holiness is very much aware of the dynamic life of the Church in Malaysia and the deep faith of Malaysian Catholics, as well as the determination of so many throughout this country to foster mutual respect and harmony in this multi-racial, ethnic and religious society. So in many ways, to raise Archbishop Soter to the office of Cardinal was to raise the Catholic Church in Malaysia to be seen and recognised by others.

What type of Church will others see when their eyes gaze upon this ecclesiastical reality? I would like to propose, in closing, that it is precisely the type of Church that Pope Francis described during his homily on the day of the Consistory. He said, “Instead of keeping the Apostles at the top of the mountain, their being chosen leads them to the heart of the crowd; it sets them in the midst of those who are troubled, on the ‘plain’ of their daily lives.

(In fact), “Jesus himself never stops ‘coming down from the mountain.’ He constantly desires to enter the crossroads of our history to proclaim the Gospel of Mercy. Jesus continues to call us and to send us to the ‘plain’ where our people dwell. He continues to invite us to spend our lives sustaining our people in hope, so that they can be signs of reconciliation. As the Church, we are constantly being asked to open our eyes to see the wounds of so many of our brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity.”

Pope Francis in addressing the newly created cardinals said, “My dear brothers, the journey towards heaven begins in the plains, in a daily life broken and shared, spent and given. In the quiet daily gift of all that we are … our goal and aspiration is to strive, on life’s plain, together with the People of God, to become persons capable of forgiveness and reconciliation.”