Today the Pope arrived in Philadelphia for the final leg of his visit to the US. In his first homily here, he called for a recognition of the immense contribution of women to Christian communities
“What about you? What are you going to do?”. Pope Francis used these words which Pope Leo XIII addressed to a young woman, St. Catherine Drexel, to highlight the important role of the laity in the Church. Francis reached Philadelphia after the immense crowds and standing ovations received in New York. Security is stringent and there are street closures across the city. As Francis stepped outside the aeroplane he was greeted with the “Rocky” theme song.
The first papal event in the city, where the World Meeting of Families is taking place, was a mass in the cathedral dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul. The Pope celebrated mass with bishops, clergy and men and women religious of Pennsylvania. He talked to clergy and religious about the laity. He reminded those present of when Leo XIII responded to Katherine Drexel, “one of the great saints” of the local Church with a question: “What about you? What are you going to do?”. These words, Francis said “changed Katherine’s life because they reminded her that, in the end, every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission”.
Pope Francis underlined “two aspects of these words in the context of our particular mission to transmit the joy of the Gospel and to build up the Church, whether as priests, deacons, or members of institutes of consecrated life”. “First, those words – “What about you?” – were addressed to a young person, a young woman with high ideals, and they changed her life. They made her think of the immense work that had to be done, and to realize that she was being called to do her part.”
“How many young people in our parishes and schools,” Francis pointed out, “have the same high ideals, generosity of spirit, and love for Christ and the Church! Do we challenge them? Do we make space for them and help them to do their part? To find ways of sharing their enthusiasm and gifts with our communities, above all in works of mercy and concern for others? Do we share our own joy and enthusiasm in serving the Lord?”
“One of the great challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in all the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission, and to enable them to fulfil that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world. This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward the legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of our life.”
“The future of the Church,” Francis continued, “in a rapidly changing society will call, and even now calls, for a much more active engagement on the part of the laity.” “This does not mean relinquishing the spiritual authority with which we have been entrusted; rather, it means discerning and employing wisely the manifold gifts which the Spirit pours out upon the Church. In a particular way, it means valuing the immense contribution which women, lay and religious, have made and continue to make, to the life of our communities.”
