Atlanta archbishop tells synod church needs inspiring preachers

Published: 2005-10-11

ROME (CNS) -- The church needs vibrant, inspiring preachers and new ways to communicate faith traditions in its response to current challenges, said Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta. While the Oct. 2-23 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist grapples with concerns such as how to attract more priestly vocations or how to reach out to young people or lapsed Catholics, "we cannot change the faith of the church to accommodate one group or another," he told Catholic News Service Oct. 10 in Rome. "But what we can do is communicate the faith of the church in such a way so that it is heard by people in a variety of backgrounds." Archbishop Gregory said the church across the world has to speak to a variety of audiences, including Catholics who regularly attend Mass, young Catholics who have not yet been "properly evangelized and catechized," people who "have yet to be evangelized," and Catholics who have become "disenfranchised for whatever reason" from the church. All these people "belong to the heart and soul of the church," he said, and bishops, priests and religious have a responsibility to "develop strategies that address the different life situations" of all of them.

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