Word: lombardis
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...twice a year and last about five days. Courses for priests last ten days and are held for groups of 120 to 140. Nuns are kept for seven days, laymen (in two-hour evening sessions only) for four days. But though language and approach vary from group to group, Lombardi has worked out a nine-point program...
...Father Lombardi's new institution fills a gap between individual spiritual exercises and large discussion meetings. It takes groups by categories. Priests come together without any overseeing bishop. "It too often happens." says Lombardi, "that at congresses a priest in awe of a bishop won't dare to contradict him. Or if we have a group of bishops, we have no onlooking priests so that bishops need not feel they have to be constrained in what they say or leave unsaid. We get this homogeneous group and bathe it in a supranatural atmosphere...
Point No. 1 poses the question: "What can we do to make a better world?" No. 2 establishes man's collective duty to God as well as his individual one. At No. 3, Father Lombardi reminds listeners that the spiritual should have priority over the mundane. "As matters stand today," says Lombardi, "there is more effort and ingenuity put into selling Coca-Cola than in bringing all souls to sing to God in heaven...
Point No. 4 underlines the organization of evil and the disorganization of good. "Never before has Satan's banner been raised as Communism raises it today," says Lombardi. Point No. 5 stresses the need for "a Christian rebellion to match the rebellion of the Communists. That 472 million Catholics should continue to do nothing is an intolerable situation." No. 6 stresses that the moment for this Christian rebellion is now. Point No. 7 backs this up with papal authority. Point No. 8 calls for individual rededication, and Point No. 9 is repentance for man's individual and collective...
...Father Lombardi's better-world movement will eventually branch out into every important Catholic community, with Lombardi-trained instructors gearing the courses to each group and environment. But the light and power will emanate from the cluster of buildings in the hills above Rome, dominated by a circular church equipped with no fewer than 40 marble altars (so that numbers of priests can say their daily Masses with dispatch...