Canada’s bishops must exercise “real leadership” on life and family issues, London Bishop Ronald Fabbro told the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) annual plenary recently.
“These questions require a spiritual revival, a change of hearts,” said Fabbro. “It is the work of the new evangelization.”
He chaired an ad hoc committee the bishops established to discuss the leadership of the bishops in promoting a culture of life and family, according to an Oct. 29 CCCB release.
The 90 bishops who gathered in Cornwall, Ont., Oct. 25-29 decided to keep the committee running for at least another year so it can develop a “concrete plan for further action.”
The bishops also focused on parish renewal and integrating young adults into parish life.
“How to bring the Word of God in today’s society is fundamental,” said CCCB president Saint-Jerome Bishop Pierre Morissette.
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi led two sessions during the week-long plenary on the New Evangelization and Contemporary Society.
POSSESSED BY TRUTH
“The Christian notion of truth is founded on the transcendence and objectivity of reality,” Ravasi said. “Truth precedes us and exceeds us. We do not possess the truth, we are possessed by it.”
The bishops also created a new standing committee to advise the CCCB and its overseas development arm, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP).
This committee will continue the work of an ad hoc committee established in the wake of numerous online reports CCODP was funding projects with “pro-abortion” partners in the developing world. The new committee “will provide a forum to share information and collaborate more closely on achieving their common goal, which is to help the world’s most vulnerable persons.”