NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- At a Vatican meeting of the leaders of lay Catholic movements, the central topic of discussion was the proper relationship between the "spontaneity" of those movements and the hierarchy of the Church.

      Gianfranco Ghrilanda, SJ, a professor of canon law at the Gregorian University, suggested that the Holy See should devise a new legal code for these movements, since they often do not fall within the scope of existing Church rules. "These movements represent such an original thing in the life of the Church that it would be in conflict with their spirit to force them to conform to the already existing juridical structures," he said.

      Professor David Schindler of the Pope John Paul II Institute in Washington, DC, affirmed that the challenge would be to find a way to express "a distinction between institution and charism that does not imply an opposition." He stressed the need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide the new lay movements, without sacrificing the need for those movements to be governed by the hierarchy.