Divorce between faith and life harms the Church, warns Argentinean archbishop

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun 14, 2010 / 11:55 am

Archbishop Agustin Radrizzani of Mercedes Lujan called on priests in Argentina to fight the separation between faith and daily life, which harms the Church in the world today.

During the closing of the Year of Priests, the archbishop said the tragedy of today’s society is “the divorce between faith and life,” because people live one way and preach “a faith they don’t experience. For this reason, we are convinced that the coherent life of a priest gives credibility to the Church and makes her grow, while a lukewarm or indifferent life destroys that credibility.”

Archbishop Radrizzani said the path for overcoming this problem is found in “the wisdom of the saints who reflected Jesus and his Gospel.”

He exhorted priests to avoid falling into a routine, as well as the superficiality that turns them into “religion officials.” He added that this leads to a loss of the notion of sin.

The prelate insisted on the need to be witnesses of Christian life because when priests show they are fulfilled, “boys and girls ask why they feel that way.”

“In discovering that behind everything is the Lord for whom we live and for whom we would like to die, they will understand that God is capable of fulfilling the meaning of life.”