Without the Gospel, Church programs become ‘blah blah,’ Vatican prefect tells new bishops

September 09, 2026

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CWN Editor's Note: The prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy told new bishops from missionary dioceses that without a grounding in the Gospel, “everything else, including the wonderful program of a synodal and missionary Church, risks remaining ‘blah blah’: words, programs and activities that do not change the hearts of people and the life of communities.”

Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik said yesterday that he prioritizes “being, not doing,” living as a disciple of Jesus, cultivating relationships with collaborators rather than focusing on activities, and “keeping our eyes fixed on the one Teacher: the Crucified and Risen One.”

Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a Nigerian prelate who serves as secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, also addressed the new bishops. He described missionary dioceses as the “Church of the sheaves,” the fruit of the labors of missionaries. He observed:

Unfortunately, sometimes when some people from our local Churches today insist on remaining faithful to those teachings of the missionaries, they are tagged as conservatives.

Many in the West want them to abandon the teachings received from the missionaries from the West, to embrace new and untested values that are taught by persons who do not and cannot stand any comparison with the missionaries in their conviction and fraternal solidarity. We cannot abandon our heritage or neglect the past, since the future is rooted in it.

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