The Church in America: Chicago and Mexico City
As the Church and the world enter a new millennium, the mission
of the Church has to change to accommodate new challenges. “Globalization”
is a term much tossed about. We recognize its effects in the economy.
What happens in one part of the globe affects business trends
and employment in another. Culture is more global, especially
because of the widespread influence of the media and of American
films and TV. Education and communication use global networks
made possible for the first time because of computers.
To help the local Churches or dioceses around the world plan the
mission in the new millennium, Pope John Paul II has called a
series of synods of bishops from the various continents of the
globe. The synod for our hemisphere, called the Synod for America,
finished a year and a half ago and its results were set forth
by the Holy Father last winter in a document called The Church
in America. In that paper, the new millennium is presented as
an occasion for a new encounter with the Savior of the world.
From that encounter with Christ comes our conversion. From our
conversion comes a strengthening of relationships among the dioceses
of our continent and among the peoples of our hemisphere. The
relationships among local Churches are called “ecclesial communion”
and the relationships among peoples are called “solidarity”.
This is the perspective in which the Archdiocese of Chicago welcomed
His Eminence, Norberto Cardinal Rivera, the Archbishop of Mexico
City, from May 26 to May 28. He came with his Vicar General (the
Mexican counterpart of Bishop Raymond Goedert) and the head of
Caritas Mexico. His visit strengthened communion between the Archdiocese
of Mexico City and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Our two local Churches
will begin a program of exchanges; we will move in mission together.
Our two cities, already recognized as “friendship cities” by the
two city councils, will advance in solidarity.
During his visit to Chicago, Cardinal Rivera, who was born in
Durango, Mexico, and has relatives here in Chicago, was a visible
sign of the great gifts Hispanic Catholics bring to Cook and Lake
counties. He was to visit sites managed by Catholic Charities
and stop to see the sick at St. Anthony Hospital at 2875 West
l9th Street. He was to visit a home for the elderly and meet with
Hispanic priests working in Chicago. He studied the programs conducted
by Catholic Charities and the organization of the Archdiocese
here. He was scheduled to meet with officials of the Chicago city
government.
On May 26, during a Mass at Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary
Parish at 4541 S. Wood Street, Cardinal Rivera and I signed a
statement of mutual intent, expressing our desire to strengthen
cooperation in the areas of charity and justice ministry, catechesis
and pastoral ministry, immigration and adoption services, anti-drug
programs and cultural exchanges. Our coming together around the
altar is the focus for all our other relationships.
Sometime in the next year or so, I hope to visit Mexico City again.
During my stay there when the Holy Father closed the Synod for
America last January, I had the chance to visit Caritas of Mexico,
the Mexican equivalent of our Catholic Charities; but I would
like to further my understanding of how the Church of Mexico operates
and explore on the spot possibilities for collaboration. In the
meantime, I am sure that Cardinal Rivera’s time with us in Chicago
will be the first of many exchanges in ideas, plans and personnel,
all of which will foster ecclesial communion between the Church
of Mexico City and the Church of Chicago.
Mission in the new millennium is a two-way street. Both partners
in mission give and both receive. Each local Church shares its
gifts and is, in turn, open to receiving. Sometimes in the past,
mission was conceived as one Church giving and the other receiving;
but now both invite, both receive and both give as requested.
In these exchanges and in shaping our future in relationship to
one another, the Churches of Mexico and Chicago will grow in communion
and our cities will grow in solidarity in an era of increasing
globalization.
Please keep Cardinal Rivera and the Archdiocese of Mexico City
in your prayers. You and your families are in mine.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
