More good news - December 8, 2002

A Christian outlook had followed quite well the saga of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo: his estrangement and more recently his reconciliation with the Church.

The latest episode in the saga was the statement by the Vatican some time back that Milingo will again take up his public engagements in a small town near Rome. Later on he presides over a solemn Eucharistic celebration at the abbey of Casamari, in the diocese of Frosinone.

This was the first public event for the exorcist archbishop, after a year of spiritual retreat in Argentina following his May 2001 "marriage" to Maria Sung, in a ceremony of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church), headed by the Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon; the marriage was not recognised by the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Milingo said: "I am well, although I have lived through difficult times. I have also lived through happy times in Argentina. I have had time to pray, write, compose music, and reflect."

Before his contact with the Unification Church, Archbishop Milingo celebrated "healing" Masses, attended by thousands of faithful. Since these ceremonies were often emotional, with "reinterpretations" of the exorcism ritual, the Italian bishops prohibited Archbishop Milingo from holding them in their dioceses.

Archbishop Milingo explained last August when he returned to the Catholic Church at the Pope's request, this isolation ended in a crisis, that led him to seek recognition of his work from the Unification Church.

The reconciliation of Archbishop Milingo and his commencement of active ministry is a very good piece of news for the Church. One hopes that both the Church and those among her members who have some disagreement with her have learnt a lot from this episode. One hopes that what was learnt will help towards the more positive management of such situations of tension and conflict.