Today relativism is a widespread tendency practically in all spheres of life, be it ethics, culture, knowledge, human relationship or values. Relativism denies anything absolute or certain. In relativism the subject or the person decides what is true or false, good or bad. Thus he becomes the ultimate authority in all matters!Relativism has serious negative consequences for the individual, society at large and the world.
By J. Puthenpurakal SDB
Published by: DBCIC
Sacred Heart Theological College
Shillong – 793 008, India
ISBN: 81-85408-00-41
Layout and printing :
Bhabani Offset & Imaging System Pvt. Ltd.
Lachit Lane, Rajgarh Road, Guwahati – 781 007
Published by: DBCIC
Sacred Heart Theological College
Shillong – 793 008, India
ISBN: 81-85408-00-41
Layout and printing :
Bhabani Offset & Imaging System Pvt. Ltd.
Lachit Lane, Rajgarh Road, Guwahati – 781 007
EVANGELIZING MISSION
(A MANUAL FOR MISSIONARY ANIMATION)
Foreword
by
Fr. Klement Václav SDB
General Councilor for Salesian Missions
DBCIC PUBLICATIONS
SHILLONG
2008
@ DBCIC [Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures] 2008
Published by : DBCIC
Sacred Heart Theological College
Shillong – 793 008, India
ISBN-81-85408-00-40
Library Catalogue in Publication Data:
Mission
Evangelization
Evangelizing Mission
Catholic Church Mission Documents
GC26
Animation
Missionary Spirituality
Dr. Joseph Puthenpurakal SDB
Typeset and Layout : Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures [DBCIC], Shillong
Printed at : Don Bosco Press
Don Bosco Technical School
Shillong, India
08-1200
Rs. 275
€ 25
CONTENTS
PREFACE........................................................................ 11
FOREWORD................................................................... 14
PART I
DOCUMENTS............................................................... 17
1.0 REVISITING BASICS.............................................. 17
1.1 The Bible: The Missionary Book.................................. 17
1.2 The Command to “Make Disciples”............................. 19
1.3 “Mission”: A Brief Historical Overview....................... 23
1.4 “Evangelization”: A Brief Historical Overview............. 26
1.5 The Spread of the Good News across the Centuries..... 28
1.6 Dramatic Changes in the Concept of Evangelizing
Mission...................................................................... 38
PART II
MISSIONARY DYNAMISM SEEN THROUGH
CHURCH DOCUMENTS............................................. 42
2.0 DOCUMENTS ON EVANGELIZING MISSION....... 42
2.1 From Early Church to Maximum Illud (1919)................ 42
2.2 From Maximum Illud (1919) to the Second Vatican
Council (1962-1965)................................................... 44
2.2.1 The Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud
of Pope Benedict XV (1919)............................. 44
2.2.2 The Encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae
of Pope Pius XI (1926)..................................... 46
2.2.3 The Encyclical Evangelii Praecones
of Pope Pius XII (1951).................................... 47
2.2.4 The Encyclical Fidei Donum
of Pope Pius XII (1957).................................... 48
2.2.5 Princeps Pastorum of John XXIII
(28 November, 1959)........................................ 49
2.3 The Second Vatican Council....................................... 53
2.3.1 Insights of the Council: Introduction................... 53
2.3.2 Vatican II Documents in Particular................... 57
2.3.2.1 Lumen Gentium (The Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church).................. 57
2.3.2.2 Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution
on Divine Revelation).......................... 59
2.3.2.3 Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World)................................... 60
2.3.2.4 Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy)......................... 62
2.3.2.5 Christus Dominus (Decree on the
Pastoral Office of Bishops).................. 63
2.3.2.6 Unitatis Redintegratio
(Decree on Ecumenism)...................... 64
2.3.2.7 Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Decree on
the Catholic Eastern Churches)............ 64
2.3.2.8 Presbyterorum Ordinis (Decree on
the Ministry and Life of Priests)........... 66
2.3.2.9 Optatam Totius (Decree on
Priestly Formation).............................. 67
2.3.2.10 Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the
Appropriate Renewal of the
Religious Life)..................................... 68
2.3.2.11 Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on
the Apostolate of the Laity).................. 68
2.3.2.12 Inter Mirifica (Decree on the
Instruments of Social Communication).. 70
2.3.2.13 Dignitatis Humanae (Declaration
on Religious Freedom)......................... 71
2.3.2.14 Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the
Relationship of the Church to Non-
Christian Religions).............................. 73
2.3.2.15 Gravissimum Educationis (Declaration
on Christian Education)........................ 74
2.3.2.16 Ad Gentes.......................................... 76
2.3.2.16.1 Qualities of a Missionary
as they Appear in
Ad Gentes........................... 84
2.4 Post-Conciliar Mission Documents.............................. 86
2.4.1 Evangelii Nuntiandi (Paul VI, 1975)................ 87
2.4.2 Redemptoris Missio......................................... 93
2.4.2.1 Theological basis................................. 94
2.4.2.2 The Kingdom of God........................... 95
2.4.2.3 The Holy Spirit.................................... 96
2.4.2.4 The Vast Horizon of “Ad Gentes”
Mission............................................... 97
2.4.2.5 Holistic Vision of Mission..................... 99
2.4.2.6 The Paths of Mission........................... 100
2.4.3 Dialogue and Mission.................................... 104
2.4.4 Dialogue and Proclamation............................ 104
2.4.5 Catechesi Tradendae...................................... 108
2.4.6 Apostles of the Slavs....................................... 108
2.4.7 Sollicitudo Rei Socialis................................... 109
2.4.8 Tertio Millennio Adveniente............................ 110
2.4.9 Dominus Jesus................................................ 112
2.4.10 Novo Millennio Ineunte.................................. 113
2.4.11 Incarnationis Mysterium................................. 114
2.4.12 Evangelization, a Note.................................... 115
2.5 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations............................ 117
2.5.1 Ecclesia in Asia.............................................. 117
2.5.2 Ecclesia in Africa........................................... 122
2.5.3 Ecclesia in Europa......................................... 126
2.5.4 Ecclesia in America........................................ 131
2.5.5 Ecclesia in Oceania........................................ 135
2.6 WORLD MISSION SUNDAY MESSAGES
(Recent Years).......................................................... 139
2.7 Iuvenum Patris.......................................................... 148
2.8 The New Evangelization............................................. 148
2.9 A Few other Documents............................................. 150
2.10 Evangelizing Mission and the Lay Faithful.................... 152
2.11 The Gentleness of St. Francis de Sales........................ 153
2.12 Compassion: The only Valid Missionary Method
for all times................................................................ 155
2.13 Paul’s Enthusiasm...................................................... 160
2.13.1 Introduction...................................................... 160
2.13.2 Enthusiasm is Contagious.................................. 162
2.13.3 Growth in Paul’s Enthusiasm............................. 165
2.13.4 Paul Encouraged by Barnabas........................... 166
2.13.5 The Acts of the Apostles.................................. 167
2.13.6 Paul’s Letters : A Quick Glance........................ 168
2.13.7 Paul’s Letter to the Community in Rome
in Particular..................................................... 173
2.13.8 Source of Paul’s Enthusiasm............................. 174
2.13.8.1 His Unique Experience
on the way to Damascus...................... 174
2.13.8.2 Irreplaceable Centrality of Jesus Christ
and His Good News............................ 176
2.13.8.3 The Grace given him by Jesus Christ.... 176
2.13.8.4 Paul’s Positive Outlook on Life
and his Optimism................................ 177
2.13.8.5 His Sense of Unity.............................. 177
2.13.8.6 The Eucharist...................................... 178
2.13.8.7 God’s Agápe Love made visible
in Jesus Christ..................................... 178
2.14 Simple Methodology which Paul Adopted
to Grow in Enthusiasm................................................ 179
2.15 Conclusion................................................................. 180
2.16 Missionary Spirituality................................................. 182
2.17 Summing up Mission Theology.................................... 183
PART III
DON BOSCO: HIS PASSION FOR THE SALVATION
OF THE YOUNG........................................................... 187
3.0 DON BOSCO........................................................... 187
3.1 His Early Years......................................................... 187
3.2 Growing Adolescent................................................... 188
3.3 Missionary to the Young............................................. 189
3.4 Monk! And Margaret’s Precious Advice.................... 194
3.5 Seminary Days........................................................... 195
3.6 Don Bosco, the Priest................................................. 196
3.7 Foreign Missions?....................................................... 202
3.8 The Young Priest with a Clear Choice......................... 204
3.9 How others Evaluated Him......................................... 209
3.10 Salesian Charism........................................................ 210
3.10.1 The Core of our Charism.................................. 211
3.11 Salesian Family: Essentially a Missionary Family-
General Chapters XIX-XXVI...................................... 215
3.11.1 Evangelization.................................................. 222
3.11.2 Evangelization and Education............................ 222
3.12 SDB Constitutions...................................................... 223
3.13 SDB Ratio................................................................. 227
3.13.1 Formation to Apostolic Life............................... 227
3.13.2 Inculturated Formation...................................... 228
3.14 Characteristics of Salesian Missionary Work................ 229
3.15 Don Bosco “The Dreamer”........................................ 229
3.15.1 Don Bosco: The Dynamic and Creative
Father and Founder.......................................... 230
3.15.2 Our Need to Dream......................................... 231
Part IV
MISSIONARY ANIMATION....................................... 235
4.0 Helps for Missionary Animation.................................. 235
4.1 Sharing the Good News: Some Simple Ways
in General.................................................................. 235
4.1.1 The Good News............................................... 235
4.1.2 Method, Means................................................ 235
4.1.3 Focus: A Must................................................. 236
4.1.4 The Power of Focus......................................... 236
4.1.5 No Magic, “Quick-fix” Formula......................... 237
4.1.6 Focusing on Strategies...................................... 238
4.1.7 Practice Spiritually Healthy Habits:
Avoid Harmful Habits....................................... 238
4.1.8 Maximize Time and Productivity:
If we mean business, we must learn to
prioritize........................................................... 239
4.1.9 Keep Looking at the Big Picture........................ 241
4.1.10 Think well of all, Speak well of all and
Do Good to all.................................................. 242
4.1.11 Allow Love to grow into Trust
The Confidence Factor..................................... 243
4.1.12 Witness to a life of Integrity.............................. 243
4.1.13 Avoid Procrastination....................................... 244
4.1.14 Are we Really Focused? Or are we Blurred?..... 245
4.2 Sharing the Good News with those who have not
received it yet............................................................ 246
4.2.1 Faith is strengthened when it is given
to others.......................................................... 246
4.2.2 Ways and Means of sharing faith...................... 246
4.2.2.1 Enthusiasm......................................... 246
4.2.2.2 Sense of Gratitude............................... 247
4.2.2.3 Sense of Responsibility........................ 247
4.2.2.4 Sense of Concern................................ 247
4.2.2.5 Public Proclamation............................. 247
4.2.2.6 Personal Testimony............................. 247
4.2.2.7 Visiting Friends and their Homes.......... 248
4.2.2.8 Visiting the Sick and the Aged and
Praying for the Departed..................... 248
4.2.2.9 Keeping up Contacts........................... 248
4.2.2.10 Informal Moments............................... 248
4.2.2.11 Simple and Ordinary Means................. 249
4.2.2.12 Priority to Responsive Areas, Persons.. 249
4.2.2.13 Small Christian Communities (SCC)...... 249
4.2.2.14 Prayer................................................ 250
4.2.2.15 Unbounded Desire............................... 250
4.2.2.16 Sharp Focus........................................ 250
4.2.2.17 Conclusion.......................................... 251
4.3 Falling in Passionate Love with Jesus:
Son of God and Saviour of the World........................... 251
4.4 Falling in Passionate Love with the Word of God.......... 255
4.5 Making our own the Enthusiasm of St. Paul
for the spread of the Good News. See, Part II, 2.13...... 257
4.6 Digest and make our own the practical points given
in the Manual of the Provincial Delegate for
Missionary Animation, Rome: Department for
the Salesian Missions, Editrice SDB, 1998.................... 257
4.7 Missionary Animation: Insights of GC26:
The Final Document................................................... 258
4.8 The Widest Ever Horizons of Ad Gentes Mission
Today: its Urgency and its Irreplaceable Role............... 261
4.8.1 Irreplaceable and Unique role of
Ad Gentes Mission........................................... 261
4.9 A Few Practical Suggestions from Experience............. 265
4.10 Ad Gentes Mission and the Youth............................... 272
4.11 A Few Texts for Study and Reflection......................... 274
4.11.1 Church Documents........................................... 274
4.11.2 SDB Documents.............................................. 282
5.0 Bibliography............................................................... 302
PREFACE
Missionary Animation is the main purpose of this small volume.
• Revisiting Basics,
• A quick Revision of the Catholic Church Documents on the Evangelizing Mission of the Church,
• Don Bosco’s Passion for the Salvation of Youth,
• Some Concrete Suggestions for Missionary Animation.
These are the four main parts of this Manual.
I have been putting together these pages in the State of Kerala (South India) at a time when the State - known for its strong Christian presence in the country - was going through a tough time. Christian churches and all believers in God there are faced with a communist government which for all intends and purposes wants to sow the seeds of “atheistic materialism” in the minds of the young. The school text books the government is bringing out are meant to inject “spiritual poison” to ensure a slow death of everything worthy of human beings.
What is happening in Kerala under a communist regime is happening in different forms and in varied intensity among youth wherever Jesus and his good news are absent.
There are no two thoughts about this: The message of Jesus is needed to have life in abundance, life in all its beauty. “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords” – yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:5-6).
A sense of Mission is what drives us in all our undertakings. A sense of evangelizing mission is what makes us Catholic Christians missionaries. Without this sense of mission we are “dead”. We may be busy the whole day and night, but we are dead bodies moving about. I am reminded of a small incident. There was a man on a horse galloping swiftly along the road. An old farmer standing in the field seeing him pass by called out, “Hey rider, where are you going?” The rider turned around and shouted back, “Don’t ask me, just ask my horse!” This is our condition when we are no longer masters of our own destiny … Do we know where our life is going?
If the pages that follow will help to lessen even one “dead” body from walking about, or if they will provide at least one young person with the awareness of his/her eternal destiny, the author will consider himself fortunate and amply rewarded. I also hope that the present volume will be of some benefit to students of Missiology, and to other students interested in the evangelizing mission of the Church.
I must confess that Documents regarding Missions from the Orthodox Church and from Protestant Churches are not referred to in this small volume. I have limited myself to the Catholic Church. An area that is receiving greater attention in Mission today, especially among the youth, is “volunteers” for Mission. I have not included it too here.
Among the several friends who helped me to get this book ready for the press, I would like to mention in a particular way Dr. Jose Anikuzhikattil SDB, Prof. of Missiology and Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Theological College [SHTC], Shillong, Bro. Maria Anand, Bro. Nikhini Athishu Anthony and Bro. Nilagal Christhuraj [students at SHTC and collaborators at Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures (DBCIC)], Shillong.
The free space in this book is meant for the reader to keep on updating in his/her personal copy, Church documents, useful statistics and interesting anecdotes on Evangelizing Mission.
A word of special thanks to the Don Bosco Press, Shillong, for bringing out this volume in record time.
I am indeed very grateful to Fr. Klement Václav, General Councilor for Salesian Missions, Rome, for writing the Foreword.
J. Puthenpurakal SDB
FOREWORd
Almost every day some document or other is published in the area of the evangelizing mission of the Church. They are meant to make the good news of Jesus more relevant for people living in situations which are so different from one another.
Among all peoples the youth have a special place. They are the first to be affected for better or for worse in a fast changing world. Before they get rooted, they are uprooted. Attractions around them are so many, they are pulled in all directions. Everything appears to be right, since very little or no time is available to go deeper. The impact of globalization that homogenizes cultures, promotes market values of consumerism, instils individualism, and prepares the reign of relativism, is being felt more and more by young people. Whereas internet, super-fast computation, transportation and international travel are opening up unheard of possibilities of interconnectedness, the temptation not to stop to reflect, but to rush without a break, is present today in many people.
Saul was struck down to cut his speed (see, Acts 9:1-19; 22:4-16; 26: 9-18). He was told not to rush. Lying on the ground he was forced to listen, to stop and to reflect. The impact was so great that he became a changed person. He was transformed. He was totally new. Saul had become Paul!
Mission Documents are a call to stop, to read, to reflect. They put us in touch with the roots of Christian Mission, namely, the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of love. They make us go slow and bear fruits of love, love, that can include also our “enemies”.
I am grateful to Fr. Joseph Puthenpurakal for bringing out this very useful volume and for helping the readers to come closer to the Church’s teachings on evangelizing mission today. The pages on the missionary heart of Don Bosco and the practical guidelines and exercises for missionary animation of individuals and communities are useful additions. May what follows challenge us to “propose to the young with courage and joy that they live their lives in the way Jesus Christ lived his”, that they may bear fruits of love in abundance.
Fr. Klement Václav SDB
General Councilor for Salesian Missions
Rome
There are only two things you can do with your faith: give it away or give it up.
PART I
DOCUMENTS
1.0 REVISITING BASICS
1.1 The Bible: The Missionary Book
The Old Testament with its collection of sublime, divine teaching and nourishing anthology of prayers is a wonderful location wherein the New Testament is hidden. It prepares the way for the coming of Jesus Christ, the missionary [the sent-one] of the Father. The New is hidden in the Old and the Old is fulfilled in the New. Both the Old and the New Testaments are centred on Jesus and his good news. Thus the whole Bible is God’s message of salvation for us. If we imagine that Jn 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” as the central verse of the Bible, then what precedes it would be the Old Testament and what comes after it would be the New Testament.
Even though an explicit sending forth to proclaim the message is rare in the Old Testament [for all are expected to go to “Jerusalem”], the theme of “mission” is present right through [See, Legrand Lucien, Nissen Johannes, Kaiser Jr. C. Walter, and Senior D. & Stuhlmueller C. in the Bibliography at the end of this volume]. The whole of the New Testament is definitely an invitation to go out to proclaim the unique love of the Father made visible in the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the whole Bible centred on Jesus Christ, the First Missionary of the Father, can claim to be the most important Missionary Book.
[Exercise:1. Identify two passages each in the Old and New Testaments that explicitly speak of “Go, proclaim” the good news of salvation, and reflect on them in groups. End with a prayer to the Holy Spirit expressing your willingness to be at His service for the spread of the good news. Time: 45m.]
1.2 The Command to “Make Disciples”
The command enjoined on all the followers of Jesus is to “make disciples”. How? By going, loving, pardoning, teaching, baptizing, by observing all what Jesus has told us. The task of making disciples is not a once-and-for-all activity. It is a process. It is like cutting a path through a jungle. One has to keep on cutting, clearing, bettering the path. Discipleship is a continuous task. There is no exception. All followers of Jesus must make disciples for Him. In fact, oikoumene [the whole inhabited world] means all are destined to hear the good news (Mt 28:18-20) and become one family of sisters and brothers.
The good news is addressed not only to the whole human inhabited world, but also to the whole of creation, the entire kosmos. Nothing in creation should escape the effect of the good news of Jesus Christ. In Mark 16:15-16 the emphasis is on the need of faith and baptism, and the condemnation is for those who refuse to believe. This condemnation is not on the so-called “non-Christians”, [who did not have the chance of listening to the good news], but on those who after having had the chance of hearing it, refuse to accept it.
One who understands and experiences the good news cannot but receive it happily and share it joyfully. Not to share it is tantamount to not having experienced it.
The good news of Jesus is simple. Love one another as He has loved us. Be compassionate. Forgive. It is when we forgive that our compassion reaches its high point. We may feel the pain when we forgive and when we are compassionate. Jesus tells his followers, “This is what is written, ‘The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations... You are witnesses of these things” (Lk 24:46-47). Make disciples, therefore, means, to “love one another”, to “forgive each other”, to “be ready to suffer” and to “be compassionate”.
The parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) captures in a single phrase the essence of Christian message, “Go, then, and do the same”. Jesus himself gives us the example. “If I have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14). His teachings, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44) takes Christian message to its supreme height. It reaches unheard of perfection when Jesus tells us, “Greater love than this no man has than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). The logic is simple: “I tell you most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest” (Jn 12:24). Make disciples means exactly this: laying down one’s life for the other in innumerable ways. These innumerable ways are found in our ordinary daily lives. If we really live our ordinary daily lives well, we are, indeed, “harvesting”. The promise of a rich harvest is encapsulated in Jesus’ soft commands like, “You are the salt of the earth…” (Mt 5:13), “You are the light of the world …” (Mt 5:14), and you are to be the “leaven” (see, Mt 13:33; Lk 13:21). The “Beatitudes” (Mt 5: 3-12) sum up the essence of Christian discipleship and highlight the joy they can provide in a manner unparalleled in history. Jesus’ invitation to live the Paschal mystery in one’s daily life means to experience joy in suffering, glory in humiliation and life in death for His sake! If we live the Beatitudes, we shall make disciples.
A closer reading of the good news will convince us that a holistic concept of discipleship includes growth in number of the disciples, (Act 1:15; 2:41; 4:4; 6:7; 9:41), growth in knowledge (1 Tim 2:4), growth as a body (1 Cor 12:27; Eph 4:16), growth in grace (2 Pt 3:18); growth in all ways into Christ (Eph 4:16-21); growth in faith and love (2 Thes 1:3), and growth in Christian influence. This last mentioned is included in “You are the salt of the earth”, “you are the light of the world”, “be a leaven”.
“Make disciples” is all this and much more. It is to be like Jesus in today’s world. It may look impossible, as impossible as Jesus’ words, ‘be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”! However, it is possible when we as disciples of the Lord, are ready to take the first step to help our brothers and sisters in need. “First step” here means doing what we can “immediately” and with a “compassionate” heart. The step we take may not be the most effective step in terms of immediate physical result. But it will be the most important step in as much as we become like Jesus to the one in need. It is certainly the best way to “make disciples” for him. The command is not just to “do good”, but “lovingly” to take the first step to make disciples, which is the best thing we can do as Jesus’ followers. Our Mission is to “make disciples”.
The assurance of Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you” (Jn 20:21) is our constant strength everywhere and at all times. The little adverb “as” in the above-mentioned command is the most powerful of adverbs in the world. It carries with it the unconditional love of the Father, the self-emptying love of the Son and the unifying and fructifying love of the Holy Spirit as the best guarantee of God’s closeness in the life of every missionary. This makes Jn 20:21 the shortest and the most concise and yet the most powerful of mission commands in the New Testament.
[Exercise: 2. Go through the explicit mission sending verses in the New Testament and study/discuss the richness of each: Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-16; Lk 24:46-48; Jn 20:21; Acts 1:8. Each time discuss two reasons why we should be “missionaries” wherever we are. Let someone record these reasons. Time: 30m. each.]
1.3 “Mission”: A Brief Historical Overview
From the time the word “mission” was introduced as a key term by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) in the 16th century, it has undergone dramatic changes in its meaning. For Ignatius mission was the field of work. It meant the destination or territory to which members were sent by the superiors. Soon the term came to mean the “going”, the “functions” or “tasks” performed in the place of destination. For Jose’ de Acosta S.J. (1540-1600), mission meant expeditions or voyages undertaken for the spread of the Gospel. In the plural “missions” signified a country of missionary work like India, China, Japan where the Gospel was yet to be made known. Among the other Roman Catholic authors mention must be made of the Carmelites Joannes Jesu Maria OCD and Thomas Jesus OCD (17th Century) who followed the above-mentioned Jesuit understanding of mission.
The Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith established by Pope Gregory XV in 1622, spoke of mission in the sense described by the Jesuits and the Carmelites.[1] This territorial understanding of the word mission/s (the place where the Gospel is proclaimed) or functional understanding (tasks undertaken to spread the Gospel) remained as the main focus almost till the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
In the course of time the following elements grew up around the idea of mission. It is important to be aware of these various elements to have a correct perspective:
1. The Pope as the only one really responsible for sending missionaries to preach the Gospel.
2. Mission as saving the souls of non-Christians.
3. The idea that the priests and religious were the “real” missionaries, because the work of preaching the Gospel was done mostly by them after the first few centuries.
4. “Mission” as something to be accomplished far away, and that it involved great sacrifices, because priests and religious left their own country and went to distant lands to spread the faith.
5. Gradually there arose the idea of “giving” countries and “receiving” countries, since the so-called Christian countries used to send not only priests and religious, but also money and other means to non-Christian countries.
6. From the above there appeared the idea that the giving countries were superior to and more powerful than the receiving ones. The receiving countries came to be known as “mission lands”, and the mission lands as “poor countries”.
7. In the giving-counties the Church was well-established and Catholic teachings were clearly defined. Therefore “mission work” came to mean transplanting a well-established Church to an area where there was no Church at all.
8. Non-Christian religions did not find any respectable place in the idea of mission, since the thinking was that visible membership in the Roman Catholic Church was the only way to be saved.
9. Since the Christian countries were mostly the rich and powerful countries of the Northern hemisphere, mission came to mean also helping the poor of the Southern hemisphere.
10. For a long time the figure of a courageous and self-sacrificing missionary was identified with the “foreign” missionary, since missionaries came mostly from the West.
11. Since personnel and means came from the West, mission was understood as a one-way affair. Missionaries came and their converts received. There was not much room for the initiatives of the poor converts to develop their own resources.
12. Along with non-Christian religions which were considered as strongholds of idolatry, Protestantism was thought of as Satan’s machination to spread error and confusion in the area of mission.
13. Even though missionaries all over the world did their best to improve the conditions of their converts through education, medical work and socio-economic programmes, these good works were interpreted by them as “entry points” to serve the good news of salvation. And salvation itself remained as something “other worldly”. In some cases these good works were looked upon with suspicion by non-Christians.
14. Though there were clear instructions from the part of the Church to respect the cultural wealth of non-Christians in mission lands, attempts to inculturate the good news were exceptions.
Mission documents before the Second Vatican Council reflected in different degrees these ideas.
1.4 “Evangelization”: A Brief Historical Overview
It is said that Eskimos have some 26 different words for snow, for wherever they go or whatever they do, snow is all around them. It is very important for them. Likewise Arabic has nearly a thousand word for knives or a similar number of words for camels, for they are the two things they live with.
In the early Church the word euangelizo [evangelize] had over 100 synonyms. Almost all of them were “verb” forms. This goes to show that sharing one’s faith as well as speaking about Jesus and his good news was something so natural to the first Christians that it was a reality in all situations.
Here let me tell you a story: In ancient times when a king went to war he used to take a number of slaves along with his soldiers. The moment the king realized that the victory was going to be his, he would choose a few of his slaves to go to the Palace and announce the victory. Those slaves, certainly, would not take it lazily. They would hurry to the king’s Palace and on approaching it they would “shout aloud” the good news of the victory. These slaves, at the moment they shout aloud the victory, would be “completely free” and would begin to enjoy the benefit of “free citizens”. They were no more “slaves”, but free citizens like all the others. They were the “evangelists” [those who shout aloud the good news].
Applying this to Christian proclamation we may say that the more we share the good news of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, the greater shall be our experience of freedom. “Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!” (Redemptoris Missio [RM] 2).
From among the many synonyms of evangelization the word that was commonly used during the first four centuries was “witness”. The word “conversion” was common from the fifth to the tenth centuries. Crusade became prominent till the sixteenth century and the discovery of the new world. The word evangelization received more currency from the beginning of the twentieth century and was in vogue by the time of Vatican II. The content of the word evangelization went on deepening till we reach the Synod on evangelization (7 September – 26 October 1974) and the publication of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN] (1975). In EN the word evangelization has an integral and global meaning [embracing all what the Church does to share the good news of Jesus] without losing its core meaning, namely, bringing the good news of Jesus to those who have not heard it at all. This latter is known as Ad Gentes evangelization, or First Proclamation or Basic Evangelization. Whether it be the integral or global meaning or the Ad Gentes meaning, all sharing of the good news is a “missionary” task. It is the task of every Christian. Every disciple of Jesus is “sent” to “make disciples” by sharing the good news of Jesus. In the Church no one is left out from this most important task. All are included in it, since the Church by nature is “missionary”. By nature all are “sent”. Not to share one’s faith would be the most unnatural thing one can think of!
Today the term evangelization has become wide enough to embrace all what the Church does to carryout Christ’s saving mission here on earth. Hence, Evangelization is coterminous with Mission. In other words, the Church’s Mission is to Evangelize. It exists in order to evangelize (EN 14). At the heart of the task of evangelization is Ad Gentes evangelization.
1.5 The Spread of the Good News across the Centuries
The history of the Church is the history of the spread of the good news in spite of many odds. What follows are only a few points directly linked with the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ across the centuries.
1. The earliest Christian community consisted of a group of ordinary Jews who expected the second coming of Jesus in the immediate future. They differed from the other Jews mainly on two points. First, their belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour of the world; and second, their claim to be the “New Israel”. As the New Israel of God they lived the good news of Jesus Christ and were ready even to die for it.
2. Right from its beginnings the Church was guided by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and of the Father. The Holy Spirit was the Principal Agent of the Church’s Mission. The events connected with the first Christian Pentecost [see, Acts Chapter 2]; the conversion of Cornelius [Acts 10]; the first Council of Jerusalem [Acts 15]; and the Spirit showing where to go to evangelize [Acts 16:6 ff.] clearly show that without the Holy Spirit no real progress was made in the work of evangelization [Acts 16:6 ff.].
3. A new phase in the history of the spread of the good news began with Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee by birth. While on his way to arrest Christians whom he viewed as a heretical sect dangerous to Judaism, Saul had a vision of the risen Christ (probably around AD 33). From that experience onward he was a changed person, and became the Church’s pre-eminent missionary. Saul had become Paul. Because of his untiring missionary journeys, Christianity spread rapidly to other parts of the then known world: Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Paul’s passion for Christ, namely, nothing could ever come between him and the love he had for Jesus Christ, was his driving force (see, Rom 8:35-39; 14:7-8; Phil 1:21; 1 Cor 9:16; 1 Cor 8:5-6; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Col 2:9). He declared that he was “crucified” with Christ. He did not live any longer by himself. It was Christ who lived in him (see, Gal 2:20). As in the case of Paul, namely, his passion for Jesus Christ and passion for his people, every ardent missionary of the early Church was distinguished by his/her love for Jesus and His people.
4. At the Council of Jerusalem (around AD 50), Paul rejected the idea that non-Jews should keep the Jewish Law in order to become Christians. This was the first authentic “inculturation” of Christianity. Effort at inculturation continued as Evangelizing Mission made progress.
5. Several factors helped the spread of the good news during the first few centuries. Among them the attractive ideal of Christian holiness, lives of charity and compassion and the examples of the saintly martyrs were outstanding. Precious also were the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. Outside the Roman Empire, Christianity spread down the Euphrates valley, into modern Iraq. It spread through the Arab buffer states some of which accepted Christianity (as in Yemen) and moved into Iran proper. It also spread to Armenia. The saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity was verified everywhere.
6. The third century saw further inner consolidation of the Church and the emergence of some important centers: Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Carthage, Rome…. The Church strengthened itself in Persia and Armenia where Christianity was accepted as the official religion. The deepening of the good news and the strengthening of the Churches went hand-in-hand with problems, difficulties and persecutions.
7. The fourth century saw the flowering of Christian literature. Prominent among the writers of this period in the East were St. Athanasius (296-373); the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil the Great (329-79), Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390) and Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394) who were responsible for the definitive overthrow of Arianism and the definition of the doctrine of the Trinity; Eusebius of Caeserea (260-340), the Father of Church History; St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386); St. John Chrysostom and St. Ephraem, the Syrian, (306-73). In the West we have Hilary of Poitiers (315-367), Ambrose of Milan (339-397) and Augustine who became the outstanding bishop of Hippo in 395. Writing, printing, publishing the good news in its manifold expressions had been part of the mission of the Church. It is so in our own times too. This mission of reflection and communication can take a big leap with the facilities we have today in the world of Mass Media and Technology.
8. Pope Gregory the Great (590-604), was an outstanding pope of the early Middle Ages. He combined both spiritual power and great administrative ability, and laid the foundations for the secular power of the papacy. At the same time he was a great pastor who called himself “servant of the servants of Christ”. Gregory was also a great missionary who organized the first mission under Augustine of Canterbury to the Anglo-Saxons (596). Another important personality of this period in the West was St Benedict of Nursia (480-550), the Father of Western Monasticism. He is the founder of the Benedictine Order and is known for the “Rule of Benedict” (around 540), a remarkable document, still in force after fifteen centuries. With the help of this Rule, Benedict gave the definitive framework for monasticism and religious life in subsequent centuries. With its principles of stability, chastity, poverty and obedience and the importance given both to prayer and manual labour (ora et labora), religious life became part and parcel of the Church’s holiness and produced great missionaries. The first instance of it was St. Columban from Ireland who around 590 landed in the Frankish kingdom and founded monasteries there. Later on several Churches in Europe were founded by monks, for example, St. Boniface in Germany.
9. The seventh century is a period of transition from the ancient Church to the Church of the early Middle Ages. In the early centuries Christianity encountered Greek culture. Similarly, it now encountered the culture of the Germanic tribes. As a result many elements from the world view of these peoples were now incorporated into Christianity.
In the East, politically and religiously the Seventh Century was a catastrophic one. From 600 to 630 the Persians attacked Constantinople. It was successfully resisted by the Byzantine emperors. But it was followed by the attack of Islam. Christendom suffered great losses throughout the East. In 610 Mohammad began his prophetical career laying the foundation of a new religion, Islam, which would unite the Arabs in faith in the one God. Islam became a world power establishing an empire stretching from Spain to the Himalayas. Many of the traditional centres were lost to Christianity: Palestine [its loss in 638 was the cause of the Crusades in the Middle Ages], the great patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch, and North Africa [the Church of Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine], and the Church of Persia, etc. In the West Islam established itself in Spain. Only Constantinople managed to hold on despite several attempts by Islam until it too succumbed to the Turks in 1453. Theology showed little progress during this century. Notwithstanding these set backs, the Persian mission to China, the evangelization of Turkish tribes in Central Asia and the growth of Christianity in India are further signs of vitality and progress.
10. The missionary highlight of the eighth century is the extensive missionary work in Germany by St. Boniface and his martyrdom in 754. The founding of the Papal States (Pope Stephen II), the crowning of Charles the Great as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Pope Leo III), the filioque controversy, the worsening of relationship between the East and the West, the controversy regarding iconoclasm, etc. form the backdrop.
11. The ninth century is famous for the missionary work of two brothers, Cyril (826-69) and Methodius (815-85) - the so-called “apostles of the Slavs” (peoples of today’s Eastern Europe). They became the founders of Slavonic literature by inventing the alphabet for the language and pioneers of inculturation by adopting Slavonic also for the celebration of the liturgy and circulating a Slavonic version of the scriptures. Unfortunately, the permission to use Slavonic as the liturgical language was withdrawn by Pope John VIII. Mission was undertaken also to Scandinavia by Ansgar (801-65), who is called “apostle of the North.” The growing distancing between the West and the East, the Potian schism leading to mutual excommunication between Rome and Constantinople, the second Persian migration of Christians under the leadership of Sabriso, a merchant, and two Bishops Sapor and Prot and the first indigenous written sources about Christianity in India (the famous Copper Plates of Kerala which record the privileges granted to the Persian group by the king Ayyan of Venad)- form the backdrop.
12. The 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries leading up to the Reformation (16th century) are packed with so many events that we shall only mention some of the missionary efforts of the Church which prove beyond doubt that Mission is the work of the Holy Spirit. Through thick and thin, through human weakness and unbridled corruption and worldly living of persons who call themselves “Christians”, the good news reached beyond the Seas to bear fruit in due time.
In the 10th century Christian mission was taken to Poland by the Western Church. The Cluniac Reform in monastic life in the 11th century –even though it lasted for two hundred years only- set in motion other reform movements such as the Camaldoleses (1012),the Vallambrosans (1036), the Carthusians (1084), the Cistercians (1098), the Augustinian Canons (1059), etc. An important feature of the thirteenth century was its approach to mission. Missionary work continued in Europe but attention was given also to the people outside, especially to the Muslims. It was initiated by the mendicant orders. Francis of Assisi himself undertook a mission to the Sultan al-Kamil in 1219 and sent friars to Morocco in 1220. Another Franciscan Ramon Lull (d. 1316) developed the first dialogical approach to mission. Another area for mission was the Mongols who had captured large parts of Asia and even threatened Europe. As the Mongols were not followers of any known religion, it was hoped that they would be converted to Christianity. This prompted the Mongol mission of the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Under pope Innocent IV several missions were sent to the Khans of the Mongols even as far as China. John Piano di Carpine, William Ruysbroeck, John of Monte Corvino (invited to China by the Kublai Khan), etc. are some of the famous missionaries of the thirteenth century.
During the 14th century we have the first contact of the Western Church with India. As part of the Latin missions to the Mongols, many European travellers and missionaries travelled through India. The first report comes from the Venetian traveller Marco Polo in the last decade of the thirteenth century. The second report comes from John of Monte Corvino, the Franciscan archbishop of Peking (1307), who on his way to China broke journey in India and visited the tomb of St. Thomas at Mylapore (1291). The third missionary was the Dominican Jordan Catalani. After landing in Thane with four Franciscans in 1321 where the Franciscans suffered martyrdom, Jordan moved to South India and was instrumental in the founding of the first Latin diocese in India, the diocese of Quilon (Kollam) in 1329. Other visitors include Blessed Odoric of Pordenone (1324), and John of Marignolli (1346). The latter is the first to report about a Latin Church in India before the arrival of the Portuguese.
An important event in the 15th century is the geographical explorations of the Iberian powers Spain and Portugal and the beginning of modern mission. In 1492 Grananda was captured from the Muslims. The crusading spirit was shown in the new territories conquered by them, especially by Spain. The reason for the navigational explorations was to find a new sea route to the East from where Europe imported spices. The fall of Constantinople blocked the arrival of spices in Europe considerably. In 1492 Columbus landed in the West Indies and that was the beginning of the colonization and Christianization of the Americas. In 1498 Vasco da Gama landed in Kozhikode in South India and that was the beginning of the colonization of India and the contact of the Europeans with Asia. However no great Christianization took place in Asia as in the Americas.
13. The one word that could characterize the sixteenth century is Reformation. Missions suffered set backs during the 16th, 17th centuries, especially due to religious wars. However, the reform movements with the help of religious orders (such as the Theatines, Capuchins, Carmelites, and especially the Society of Jesus) kept up the spirit of mission alive. By the end of the 16th century, the colonization and Christianization of South America was complete and the whole continent was, at least in name, Christian. In the East this was the beginning of the modern Western mission in India and Japan under the leadership of one of the greatest missionaries of all times, Francis Xavier (d. 1552). Goa was the centre of missionary activity of the Portuguese. The Portuguese also came into contact with the Thomas Christians of Kerala in order to bring them under the Padroado. Three Missions were also undertaken to the Mughal court of Akbar by the Jesuits.
The 17th century witnessed missionary experiments in adapting Christianity to the native cultures of Asia: the Jesuits Matteo Ricci in China and Robert de Nobili in the Madurai Mission in India. The founding of the Propaganda Fide (Pope Gregory XV in 1622) [today known as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples] facilitated missionary activities.
14. The 18th century is the century of the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, the challenge of faith by reason, the attack on Papal authority (Gallicanism), and Independence of the episcopate (Febronianism). The evangelical movements among the Protestants gave birth to one of the greatest of Protestant missionaries, William Carey. The year 1740 is marked by Pope Benedict XIV’s missionary letter Ubi Primum on the duties of bishops for the spread of the faith. In the 19th century Catholic Church Gregory XVI (1831-1846) is a great missionary Pope His Probe Nostes of 1840 on the spread of the faith is a great missionary letter of the time. Whereas the battle against Communism, the Padroado-Propaganda struggle as well as the demands of Industrial Revolution absorbed much of the Church’s energy, there occurred mass movements to Christianity in Chotanagpur (India). Towards the end of the 19th century (1885) Africa was partitioned at the Treaty of Berlin by colonial powers thus paving the way for massive Christianization of Africa, and the abolition of slave trade in all the countries.
15. In the area of Mission the 20th century is remembered for Pope Benedict XV’s important encyclical letter Maximum Illud (1919) which called for the end of Europeanism in Mission. Other significant missionary encyclicals /documents followed during this century: Rerum Ecclesiae (1926, of Pius XI), Evangelii Praecones (1951, of Pius XII) Fidei Donum (1957, of Pius XII), Princeps Pastorum (1959, of John XXIII).
The renewed vision of the Evangelizing Mission of the Church provided by the Second Vatican Council (especially Lumen Gentium, Ad Gentes, Gaudium et Spes, Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae and Dei Verbum) and the post-Conciliar Mission Documents (Evangelii Nuntiandi, Catechesi Tradendae, Redemptoris Missio, Dialogue and Mission, Dialogue and Proclamation, Dominus Jesus and Deus Caritas Est as well as all the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations after each of the Continental Synods (Ecclesia in Africa [1994], Ecclesia in America [1997], Ecclesia in Asia [1998], Ecclesia in Europa [1999], and Ecclesia in Oceanaia [1998]) in preparation for the New Millennium are of special importance for First Proclamation or Ad Gentes evangelization, now and in the coming years.
[Exercise:3. Imagine and describe the future of Christian Mission in the 21st Century. If the group consists of persons from different countries, choose any one country or as many countries as the group can afford. Time: 45 m.]
1.6 Dramatic Changes in the Concept of Evangelizing Mission
The journey from the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 15) through the First Council of Nicea (325) to Maximum Illud (1919), and to Dialogue and Proclamation (1991), to Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975) and Redemptoris Missio (1990) through Vatican II (1962-1965) is a journey of an ever deeper understanding of the concept of the Church’s evangelizing mission. True, from apostolic times the Church, following its sure instinct as regards its missionary vocation, proclaimed the good news everywhere not withstanding persecutions of every kind. The zeal of its missionaries was unbounded. But after the first few centuries, the challenges of the Middle Ages, and those which arose from the discovery of the new world, the period of the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the demands of modern times compelled the Church to reflect deeply on its God-given mission. In every period it bounced back to its missionary dynamism after the initial setbacks. The Church did not first formulate learned documents. In stead, in the power of the Spirit it went ahead through thick and thin “to make disciples” of all the nations and reflected on its mission as it struggled along.
It has been a long way before the Church could evolve a “mission theology” that could affirm that mission is no more just one of the activities of the Church carried out by the so-called “missionaries”, but that it is the duty incumbent upon all who call themselves “Christian”! From now onward theology can no more be a mere academic exercise. Any theological task ought to be a missiological one, since the Church by nature is missionary. Everything the Church does should flow from its missionary nature. In other words, when Christian life is taken seriously, mission is bound to become “the normal expression of one’s lived faith.”[2] This would mean that all of us, in as much as we are Christians, are also missionaries, “sent” to share the faith we carry in our hearts. That all of us are “missionaries” does not in any way lessen the importance of those who dedicate their whole lives for the spread of the good news. Belonging to Jesus Christ in [3]this world and speaking about him and sharing one’s faith in Him cannot be separated. In the words of missiologist Paul Vadakumpadan, “separating Church and Mission is like separating the two sides of the same coin”.3 He continues, “Mission” is crucial in understanding the Church. The Church is either a missionary Church or not a Church at all. Once and for all, we need to bury the idea of a Church that carries out many activities, one of which is called mission”.[4]
Thus we have come a long way from understanding mission as a “territory” where “missionaries” work to understanding it as the very nature of being Church or Christian. The quick journey we shall now make through mission documents from the beginnings of the Church to the post-Vatican II era will further strengthen our conviction that the Church by nature is missionary.
[Exercise:4. What is your idea of mission today? How do you explain “evangelizing mission” as the very nature of the Church? In what way is evangelizing mission related to one’s own daily tasks? Draw a picture expressing your own understanding of “Evangelizing Mission” today. Time: 45m.]
[1] In its first letter of 15 January 1622 to the Apostolic Nuncios, the Congregation already used the term four times. In the Constitution Inscrutabili divinae of 22 June 1622, we read, “With regard to all missions those who are called to preach the Gospel, must watch the Catholic doctrine, and appoint and transfer the necessary personnel” – cited in Jan A.B. Jongeneel, Philosophy, Science, and Theology of Mission in the 19 and 20 Centuries Part I, Frankfurt am Main/Berlin/New York/Paris/Wien: Petr Lang, 1995, 59.
[2] Dialogue and Proclamation (DP), 10.
[3] Paul Vadakumpadan, Missionaries of Christ: A Basic Course in Missiology, Shillong: Vendrame Institute Publications, 2006, 7.
[4] Ibid.
Aunty, “Jesus” has come!
On one occasion the driver
of the bus in which Fr. Marengo was travelling forgot to stop the bus at the
place where he was to get down.
Fr. Marengo called out from the back of the bus to stop. By the time the bus actually came to a halt, it had gone another kilometre. The place was dark, and Fr. Marengo had several pieces of luggage as he was on a long missionary tour of the area. He got a rickshaw and was nearing the Catholic family where he used to spend the night. The first one to recognize him was “Munna” the little Moslem girl who used to be delighted every time she met Fr. Marengo. She ran to the Catholic house next door and shouted, “Aunty, Jesus has come!” From the usual greeting “Jai Jisu”, the little Munna had concluded that it was none other than “Jesus” himself!
Anyone who has come closer to the life of Orestes Marengo (1906-1998), will
come to the conclusion that, there was
a lot of truth in what little Munna
said in her excitement!
PART II
MISSIONARY DYNAMISM SEEN THROUGH CHURCH DOCUMENTS
2.0 DOCUMENTS ON EVANGELIZING MISSION
The Church Documents through out the centuries in one form or another exhort the followers of Christ to bear fruit: fruits of love, pardon, sacrifice, services of different kinds [such as education, medical care, human promotion, developmental works, etc.]. All these services come under the name EVANGELIZING MISSION, because the disciples are “sent” [from the Latin, mittere, to send] to proclaim the good news in innumerable ways and means and make disciples of Jesus Christ. A review of documents from the early Church up to our own times can be helpful to understand better the evangelizing mission of the Church.
2.1 From Early Church to Maximum Illud (1919)
Whereas the whole Bible can be seen as a missionary book, as we have mentioned at the beginning, and the pilgrim Church as missionary by nature (AG, 2), there are certain explicit highlights witnessing to and keeping alive the missionary memory of the People of God. Here are some of them:-
• The New Testament writings: They are faithful records of the Church’s mission of proclaiming the good news of Jesus.
• The decision of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15): it provides a pivotal point in the history of the Church’s mission.
• The First General Council of Nicea (325): it highlights, among other things, the importance of catechesis for new converts to the faith.
• The Letter of Gregory the Great (560-604) to Abbot Melitus (France): a fine example of tolerance, understanding and adaptation in the proclamation of the good news.
• The Council of Vienna (1311-1312): Importance of knowing the language of the people among whom missionary work takes place.
• The Council of Vienna (1344): missionaries are asked to be sympathetic and kind towards all.
• Instruction to the Vicars Apostolic of Tonkin and Cochinchina (1659): among other things, it affirmed that the Christian Faith does not reject the rites or customs of any nation as long as they are not incompatible with the Gospel, “Put no obstacles in their way, and for no reason whatever should you persuade these people to change their rites, customs, and ways of life unless these are obviously opposed to religion and good morals. For what is more absurd than to bring France or Spain or Italy or any other part of Europe into China! It is not that these you should bring, but the faith which does not spurn or reject any people’s rites and customs, unless they are depraved. But on the contrary tries to keep them … Admire and praise what deserves to be respected.”1
2.2 From Maximum Illud (1919) to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
There are five major mission documents during this period.2 They are Maximum Illud (1919) of Benedict XV3, Rerum Ecclesiae (1926) of Pius XI4, Evangelii Praecones (1951) of Pius XII5, Fidei Donum (1957) of Pius XII6 and Princeps Pastorum of John XXIII.7
2.2.1 The Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud of Pope Benedict XV (1919)
The Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud of Benedict XV, 30 November 1919, is considered as the first great mission document of the twentieth century. Written soon after the First World War, the Pontiff wishes to revive the missions from the ruins of that terrible disaster. The Letter is a complete X-Ray of the missionary situation of the time. It also proposes appropriate remedies.
Highlights:
• Extension of the Catholic Church.
• Salvation of Souls.
• Formation of local clergy.
• Support and love for the missions.
Addressing the heads of the Missions (bishops, vicars or prefects apostolic) “in whose hands are placed the salvation of the world”, the Letter exhorts missionaries around the globe to undergo any sacrifice needed provided souls can be snatched “from the mouth of hell”. “The sad fate of the multitudes” calls for the extension of the Catholic faith throughout the world: attachment to the Kingdom of God and not so much to one’s own country of origin, the care of vocations, the formation of indigenous clergy, the importance of prayer, unity among the different religious groups, the need to learn the local language, exemplary life of missionaries, the support for missions and the place of Pontifical mission aid societies are some of the main emphases of the Apostolic letter. These were repeated a few weeks later in the instruction Quo Efficacius of January, 1920.
The under-girding conviction that “outside the Church there is no salvation” and that everything possible must be done to save souls form the mission theology of Maximum Illud. The Apostolic Letter gives great importance to the formation of native clergy. “Evangelization” is coterminous with “missionary activity”. The term “Propagation of the faith”, “establishment of the Church” and “extension of the Kingdom of God” are interchangeable in Maximum Illud.
It would be unrealistic to look for present-day themes such as inter-religious dialogue, Christian unity, inculturation, etc. in Maximum Illud. Nevertheless the Apostolic Letter is considered to be a watershed in mission theology. Its all-embracing thrust to proclaim the Gospel leaving no stone unturned reminds us of the “urgency” and “permanent validity” of Ad Gentes mission in John Paul II’s Redemptoris Missio (1990) . The importance of witness of life under the heading “Missionary Virtues” in Maximum Illud will be developed at length in Paul VI’s Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), and John Paul II’s Redemptoris Missio.
2.2.2 The Encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae of Pope Pius XI (1926)
The Encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae of Pius XI, 28 February 1926, repeats several themes of Maximum Illud. At the same time it sows ideas that will be developed in later mission documents
Highlights:
• From Colonial missionary methods to the building up of Indigenous Churches.
Foreseeing the possible political changes in mission lands, Rerum Ecclesiae outlines a preferential agenda for the formation of local clergy. It opens the way for a truly local Church and a break with the colonial missionary methods. It encourages the role of religious in mission territories and the place of contemplative monasteries. The statement that “the Church has no other reason for existence than … to make all men participate in [Christ’s] redemption” anticipates, so to say, the Council’s teaching that the pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature (see, AG 2) and the statement that Church exists in order to evangelize of Evangelii Nuntiandi (see, EN 14). The affirmation of Rerum Ecclesiae that the ultimate reason for all missionary work is charity will one day blossom into what is article 89 of Redemptoris Missio on loving the Church and humanity as Jesus did.
The recognition of the role of catechists, the value of medical work, a warning against extravagant expenses in building constructions and the importance of converting local leaders receive particular attention in the encyclical.
2.2.3 The Encyclical Evangelii Praecones of Pope Pius XII (1951)
The encyclical Evangelii Praecones of Pius XII, 2 June, 1951, was published on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Rerum Ecclesiae.
Highlights:
• The need of having positive views on Non-Christian religions.
In some respects Evangelii Praecones breaks new ground. After a positive evaluation of the missionary progress made during the previous twenty-five years, the encyclical is the first missionary document to speak of the importance of education in mission countries, respect for existing customs,8 the contribution of lay people working in Catholic Action and the need to look at non-Christians in a better light. A good part of the Letter is dedicated to explaining the principles of missionary work, namely, unselfish availability to all, love for the Church, spiritual and intellectual training, the knowledge of languages and of useful human sciences. Defining the object of missionary activity, the encyclical shows that it is to “bring the light of the Gospel to new races and form new Christians”, and that the its ultimate goal as the establishment of the Church on sound foundations among non-Christian peoples, and to place it under its own hierarchy.
2.2.4 The Encyclical Fidei Donum of Pope Pius XII (1957)
The encyclical letter Fidei Donum of Pius XII, 21 April, 1957, is addressed to all bishops on the urgent necessity of coming to the help of the African continent in view of the great response to the Gospel there.
Highlights:
• Special attention to Responsive Areas.
• Passionate appeal for the needs of the Church in Africa.
The encyclical is an ardent appeal to “the gift of faith” (fidei donum) which each Christian has received and which must be shared with those who do not have it. The appeal is directed to the whole Catholic world and in particular to the bishops asking them to send priests for the spread of the faith in the continent of Africa where opportunities were such that the Church would miss the hour of grace, if help was not forthcoming. Though the short encyclical is rich in missiological insights, its intuitions will receive major attention in later missionary documents. Among them we may note the concept of joint responsibility of all the bishops, priests and laity for the establishment of the Church. Vatican II will develop these when it speaks of Episcopal collegiality and the responsibility of the whole people of God for the spread of the Gospel. The urgency of proclamation in responsive areas, the cooperation of Christian communities by way of prayer, generosity, care of vocations, spirit of sacrifice and especially the gift of personnel are points that will come up again and again in later missionary documents. The encyclical affirms that missionary spirit and the Catholic spirit is one and the same thing. Referring to the “widow’s mite” the encyclical says, “… the generosity of one poor diocese for others which are poorer would not impoverish it. God will not let himself be outdone in generosity.”
As if stating the principle of modern “synergy”, the encyclical says that “isolated efforts will not suffice for resolving the complex problems of missionary vocations …” It is necessary to pool resources together and achieve more than what individuals working independently and alone would accomplish.
And above all, the encyclical’s insight that the missionary zeal is a source of Christian renewal anticipates, so to say, what John Paul II would affirm emphatically in Redemptoris Missio: “For missionary activity renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!” (RM, 2).
2.2.5 Princeps Pastorum of John XXIII (28 November, 1959)
The Encyclical Princeps Pastorum of John XXIII, 28 November 1959, was published on the 40th Anniversary of Maximum Illud.
Highlights:
• The importance of the laity, of catechesis in mission work.
• Holiness of life of the missionaries.
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Maximum Illud, Princeps Pastorum endorses the missionary principles and teachings of the former, and highlights the importance of training local clergy, the irreplaceable role of lay people to which the encyclical devotes almost half its space, and Catholic schools as nursery for future leaders. “It is the primary and fundamental duty of every Christian”, writes John XXIII, “to witness to the truth he believes in …” Among the laity “… the excellent work done by catechists” receives special mention. They are described as “… the missionaries’ right-hand men sharing in their labours lightening their burdens.” The Second Vatican and the post-Conciliar documents will reaffirm the theological foundation for the laity’s participation in the mission of the Church, namely, their baptismal consecration.
Princeps Pastorum gives particular weight to the holiness of priests. We read, “it is by their personal holiness … that priests can become – and must become – the light of the world and the salt of the earth, each in his own nation and in the whole world. It is by their personal holiness that they can reveal the beauty of the Gospel and its supernatural power for all to see.” Redemptoris Missio will bring out this aspect of holiness of life not only with regard to priests, but also with regard to every Christian when it writes, “The missionary must be a contemplative in action” (RM, 91). “Holiness must be called a fundamental presupposition and an irreplaceable condition for everyone in fulfilling the mission of salvation in the Church” (RM, 90). Or again, “… the one who proclaims the good news must be a person who has found true Hope in Christ.” “The missionary is a person of the Beatitudes” (RM, 91).
[Exercise:5. Pick out 5 positive aspects of Evangelizing Mission from the documents we have mentioned above. And comment on them in groups. Time: 45 m.]
1 Collectanea S.C.P.F. Vol. I, n.135, p. 42.
2 The five official documents before the Second Vatican Council which we shall briefly examine were in different measure influenced by the then prevailing missiological thinking and the burden of history. The more prominent Catholic missiological Schools were: the German School for which the goal of mission was the conversion of non-Christians. The Louvain School spoke of planting the Church as the goal of mission. For the French School the purpose of mission was to bring people to the fullness of life. The Spanish School held the growth of the mystical body of Christ as the chief goal of mission. And finally, the Convergence School held that the goal of mission was the convergence of faiths.
3 AAS 11 (1919), 440-455.
4 AAS 18 (1926), 65-83.
5 AAS 43 (1951), 497-528.
6 AAS 49 (1957), 225-248.
7 AAS 51 (1959), 833-864.
8 The principle of adaptation based on the unity of the human race and equality of all peoples was explained by the Pope in his first and programmatic encyclical Summi Pontificatus, 1939.
Grain dying
is
also
grain leaping
into life.
2.3 The Second Vatican Council
2.3.1 Insights of the Council: Introduction
Highlights:
• The way one understands the Church one understands also its Mission.
• The Church is in dialogue with the world: With cultures, religions, and the poor.
It will be impossible to appreciate the changes that have taken place in the area of evangelizing mission, the new thrust in Roman Catholic Missiology, and the Church’s respect for adherents of other faith-traditions without at least an overall understanding of the main insights – however brief they may – of the Second Vatican Council.
Before the Council the Church was understood as a perfect society or organization. By “Church” the people generally meant the “hierarchy”. The laity participated in the Church’s mission by participating in the mission of the hierarchy. In stead, the Council teaches us that the Church is the Sacrament of salvation, it is the People of God, and it is a mystery. It is composed of the whole People of God [hierarchy, Christ’s lay faithful and the rest of humanity related to the Church “in various ways” (LG, 13)]. All are called to participate in the Church’s mission. The universal Church is realized in the local communities in communion with the universal Church. The Church at once universal and local subsists in the Roman Catholic Church (The words subsists in preserves the concept that only in the visible Catholic Church is to be found the fullness of the means of grace handed on by Christ; the word of God, the sacramental life, and the visible communion with the Pope, the successor of Peter. It also preserves the idea that those partial elements of faith and life to be found outside the visible membership of the Roman Catholic Church have in themselves a dynamism towards visible Catholic unity).
Protestants are no longer heretics. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. With them we are indeed united in many ways as we journey together towards greater unity of mind and heart. The Church is not up in arms to destroy any of the non-Christian religious traditions, but to help them by means of the good news and by witnessing to a life lived according to it. The Church is not co-terminus with the Kingdom of God. It is at the service of, and always in relationship with the Kingdom of God.
Before the Council the idea of service (schools, hospitals, development works, etc.) was understood as “pre-evangelization”. In stead, the Council teaches us that the Church’s evangelizing mission includes proclamation of the good news, the administration of the sacraments, witness of life and human developmental services of different kinds.
The concept of authority is no longer unilateral and domineering. It is service for the sake of building up God’s reign in the hearts of people. It takes care of strengthening dialogue, collaboration and cooperation, and promotes the exercise of subsidiarity. Above all, persons in authority should respect the freedom of individuals.
Speaking of freedom the Council teaches us that religious truths are also found outside the visible boundaries of the Church, and therefore, they should be respected wherever they are discerned and discovered. No one should be coerced to embrace the Christian faith. The Council invites us to avoid a too narrow understanding of revelation, of the availability of divine grace and of the universal salvific will of God. And in affirming religious freedom the Church proclaims neither the right to be wrong, nor the impossibility of distinguishing truth from error in religion. Instead, there is the possibility of being wrong in religious matters and at the same time of being free from coercion even when one is wrong.
Significant missiological insights on the evangelizing mission can be seen in all the documents of the Council, particularly in Lumen Gentium, the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to non-Christian Religions, Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Religious Liberty, and Ad Gentes, the Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity.
[Exercise:6. State three reasons why the Second Vatican Council is considered to be a “Breaking New Ground”- Council in the Church’s mission of evangelization. Time: 30 m.]
2.3.2 Vatican II Documents in Particular
2.3.2.1 Lumen Gentium (The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church)
Highlights:
• Christ is the Light of all peoples.
• The Church is the People of God.
• It is the Sacrament of salvation.
Among all the Conciliar documents, Lumen Gentium provides the theological backbone to the Church’s mission theology. Christ as the “Light of peoples”, and the Church as the “People of God” (see, Chapter 2) includes all humanity. In the renewed self-understanding of the Church, its Mission is that all people may grow in unity under Christ as the head (Eph 1:10). The Church, therefore, is the effective means [sacrament] of salvation (48) for the whole human race. The idea of “sacrament of salvation” in Lumen Gentium replaces the much misunderstood axiom “outside the Church there is no salvation” of Cyprian to which the Council makes no explicit mention.9 Everyone is included in the salvation offered by Christ through his Church, since all are either belonging to the Church or are in some way oriented to it.10 This clearly is an ecclesiology of communion centred on the mystery of Christ, providing a “communion of life, love and truth” (9). As St. Cyprian states, the Church is “a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.
The Church we profess in the Creed as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic “subsists in” the Catholic Church even though many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines (8). All the baptized participate in the threefold mission of Christ as priest, prophet and servant-leader. Articles 13-17 deal more specifically with the missionary dimension of the Church. The Church is described as embracing all peoples and engaging them all in a dialogue of salvation: Jews, Muslims, adherents of other non-Christian traditions, and atheists as well (16). In an important ecumenical development, membership in the one, true Church (that is necessary for salvation) is no longer looked at juridically as either “in” or “out”; but there are degrees of fullness of participation, so that even some Catholics may be rightly considered bodily in the Church but spiritually may not be part of it! Protestant Churches and communions are recognized as having some vital elements of the one, true Church of Christ. Christ’s grace and the Spirit’s action extend beyond the visible Church.
The collegial structure of the Episcopate with the Pope, the importance of the Particular Churches (dioceses), the laity constituted as a priestly, prophetic, missionary and servant-leader people with their baptismal anointing for the transformation of the temporal order with the Gospel message, the call to holiness addressed to all, the religious – both lay and clerical - gifted by the Spirit are to be signs of the radical baptismal consecration to be living signs of Christ in the Church and for the whole world, and Mary’s unique role seen as fully Christo- centric within the Church community are some of the other highlights of LG.
2.3.2.2 Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation)
Highlights:
• Central place of the Word of God in the life and teaching of the Church.
• Revelation as communication of a personal relationship of God to man.
• Tradition, Scripture and the Magisterium as servant-interpreter of the Word of God.
• The pre-eminence of the Gospels.
The clear and primary mission of the Church is to transmit – in keeping with Jesus’ mandate - (see, Mt 28:18-20), God’s message of hope and salvation to all of humanity in every age and in every place. Hence, the Word of God has central place in Christian mission. In fact the Word of God and the bread of life are offered from the same table. “The Word of God calls for reverent attention and confident proclamation…” so that we may have life and have it “abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
Faith is man’s response to the Word of God, the God who reveals (DV 5). Faith can be perfected, for it is both a gift of God (donum) and an act (opus) of the human being. There is a close connection between Scripture, Tradition and the Teaching Authority (Magisterium) of the Church. The New Testament - even though it is in continuity with the Old Testament - is a New Revelation. It is the definite stage of the salvific Revelation on the part of God. We listen to God. We obey Him. We contemplate His Word, and we respond to Him in prayer.
God’s revelation is the communication of a relationship with man. This communication which is an ongoing process is situated in the context of the history of salvation, even though what is communicated is definite and once-for-all. The communication of the Word of God and the Cultures of peoples are inter-related. The encouragement given for the reading of the Bible on the part of the faithful is very significant. Theological studies should begin from the Bible and is nourished by the Word of God. The Word of God and the Eucharist give new vitality to the Church.
2.3.2.3 Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World)
Highlights:
• By “World” is meant the totality of creation, nature and society. The world into which Jesus entered.
• The Church is committed to transform the world according to God’s plan and Jesus’ good news.
• The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people … are the joy and hope, grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well…
• The dignity of the human person, his/her vocation, dignity of marriage and the family, man’s social and political life are clearly stated.
• The concept of “culture” is dealt with in a whole chapter. Man is the author of culture. Culture is described as all of those things which go to the refining and development of our diverse mental and physical endowments. The many links between the message of salvation and human culture, cultural education and harmony between culture and Christian formation and the fostering of peace are other highlights.
GS is a beautiful synthesis of the social teachings of the Church from Pope Leo XIII to Paul VI and goes beyond it. Like the other Council documents it is eminently pastoral and positive in style, the Church putting itself consciously at the service of the family of man. Man created in God’s image is endowed with “conscience”, the most secret core and sanctuary of each person.
The Church’s readiness to dialogue and its willingness to be at the service of mankind - as it guards “the heritage of God’s Word and draws moral and religious principles – in no way implies that it has solutions to all the problems. Rather, it is willing to learn “from history and from social contexts” in which it serves man. In all this it has a single intention: that God’s kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass.
The importance of marriage, family life, human culture, life in its economic, social and political dimensions as well as issues of war and peace towards building up a true family of nations are taken up in the second part of the Pastoral Constitution, always guarding the dignity of the human person and finding solutions in keeping with the message of the Gospel. With regard to family planning GS states that, “Human beings should also be judiciously informed of scientific advances in the exploration of methods by which spouses can be helped in arranging the number of their children. The reliability of these methods should be adequately proven and their harmony with the moral order should be clear” (87).
Collaborating to building up the world and fulfilling its purpose the Church is mindful of the command of love Jesus enjoins on his disciples, “You are my disciples, if you have love for one another”. That is possible, if the disciples recognize Christ in their brothers and sisters (93).
2.3.2.4 Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)
Highlights:
• In SC the highest teaching authority of the Church sets forth for the first time in its long history the doctrinal foundations of Christian worship in the form of a solemn magisterium.
• The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed. It is also the fount from which all her power flows.
• It puts Christians into contact with the source of their life of faith: the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
• The liturgy reveals the Church as a sign raised above the nations (2).
In and through the liturgy the Christian community is placed in a state of mission to proclaim the good news to all the peoples of the world. The liturgical renewal with its emphasis on simplicity and clarity, more abundant use of the Bible, and the promotion of the vernacular will result in a more meaningful proclamation of the good news and celebration of the Eucharist. The renewal in the celebration of the other sacraments too will have the same beneficial effect.
The renewal of the celebration of the Divine Office, the liturgical year, sacred music, sacred art and the meaningful use of signs and symbols from the cultures of peoples, especially the use of the vernacular, will give liturgy a missionary dimension.
2.3.2.5 Christus Dominus (Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops)
Highlights:
• Bishops as true and authentic teachers of the faith.
• Among their chief concerns is the mission of the Universal Church, both with regard to the spread of the good news and the guidance of the people of God.
• “Let bishops … make every effort to have the faithful actively support and promote works of evangelization and the apostolate” (6).
• They should also strive to use the various means at hand today …to proclaim the Gospel of Christ” (13).
• “Bishops should see to it [Catechetical training] that such training be painstakingly given to children, adolescents, young adults and even grown ups …” (14).
• “… they should constantly exert themselves to have the faithful know and live the paschal mystery more deeply through the Eucharist …” (15).
• “… they should foster priestly and religious vocations as much as possible, and take a special interest in missionary vocations” [italics added](15).
• “He [bishop] should deal lovingly with the separated brethren, urging the faithful also to conduct themselves with great kindness and charity …” (16f).
• “Moreover, the care of souls should always be infused with a missionary spirit so that it reaches out in the proper manner to everyone …” (30).
2.3.2.6 Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism)
Highlights:
• “Without doubt, this discord [of disunity among Christians] openly contradicts the will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and inflicts damage on the most holy cause of proclaiming the good news to every creature” (1).
• “… Catholics engaged in missionary work, in the same territories as other Christians, ought to know, particularly in these times the problems and the benefits which afflict their apostolate because of the ecumenical movement…” (10).
2.3.2.7 Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches)
Highlights:
• “The term ‘Eastern Churches’ refers to the Churches that evolved in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire along with those communities that were founded in dependence upon them, both within the boundaries of these empires and outside”.
• The division of the Roman Empire into East and West goes back to Emperor Theodosius I who divided it between his two sons [Arcadius for the East, and Honorius for the West] in 395. The Church in the Western part became the Patriarchate of Rome. The Church in the Eastern part became the home to three of the other great Patriarchates: Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople [Byzantium].
• Besides the above Patriarchates which were within the confines of the Roman Empire, two others, namely, the Patriarchates of Persia (Assyria, Chaldea) and that of Armenia too came into being. They evolved their own distinct identities with their own liturgical Rites.
• In course of time some of these Churches continued to remain in communion with Rome, while others –due to ritual and doctrinal differences as well as jurisdictional conflicts – remained independent of Rome.
• The attitudes of Rome towards Eastern Churches before the Second Vatican Council and after it are different. Before the Council it was one of insistence on uniformity and condescension; after it, it is one of acceptance of diversity in unity. The decree OE is the best expression of it.
• What is essential for the Eastern Churches is to be “in communion with Rome”, the primatial See of Peter which in its turn holds “in high esteem the institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions, and the discipline of the Christian life of the Eastern Churches. The result would be a communion of Churches, each having its own legal standing [ecclesia sui iuris], its own individuality and legitimate autonomy.
• These sui iuris Churches are now in a position to carry out Ad Gentes evangelization work and provide pastoral care of their faithful beyond their present territories of operation.
2.3.2.8 Presbyterorum Ordinis (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests)
Highlights:
• Through the Sacred Ordination, the priests participate in the priesthood of Christ in His service as “Teacher, Priest and King”.
• They are co-workers of the Episcopal order to sanctify and govern the People of God.
• They are the official announcers of the Word of God, ever conscious of the intimate connection that exists between the Word and the Sacraments.
• They introduce “by Baptism, men into the People of God; by the Sacrament of Penance they reconcile sinners with God and the Church; by Anointing of the Sick they relieve those who are ill; and especially by the celebration of the Mass they offer Christ’s sacrifice sacramentally” (5). All sacraments are bound up with and directed to the Eucharist which is the source and summit of all preaching of the Gospel.
• “No Christian community, however, can be built up unless it has its basis and centre in the celebration of the most Holy Eucharist… In building the Christian community, priests are never to put themselves at the service of any ideology or human faction. Rather, as heralds of the Gospel and shepherds of the Church, they must devote themselves to the spiritual growth of the Body of Christ” (6).
• The priests should be in union with the Bishop and among themselves. They should “appreciate the laity, respect their just liberty, listen to them for their competence and experience and read the signs of the times together with them”.
• It is through the holiness of priests that an efficacious diffusion of the Gospel and dialogue with the modern world takes place.
2.3.2.9 Optatam Totius (Decree on Priestly Formation)
Highlights:
• Priestly formation should be at once doctrinal and pastoral.
• What the priest-candidate studies should be an organic reflection of the Church both in its mission and nature and in the impact it must exercise in the world.
• “Renewal of the whole Church depends in large measure on a ministry of priests which is vitalized by the spirit of Christ” (Preface).
• “Under the light of faith and with the guidance of the Church’s teaching authority, theology should be taught in such a way that students will accurately draw Catholic doctrine from divine revelation, understand that doctrine profoundly, nourish their own spiritual lives with it, and be able to proclaim it [emphasis added], unfold it, and defend it in their priestly ministry” (16).
• They [the seminarians] need to be penetrated with that truly Catholic spirit … and be ready in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere” (20).
2.3.2.10 Perfectae Caritatis (Decree on the Appropriate Renewal of the Religious Life)
Highlights:
• “From the very infancy of the Church, there have existed men and women who strove to follow Christ more freely and imitate Him more near by the practice of the evangelical counsels” (1).
• “[Their] manner of living, praying, and working should be suitably adapted … to the needs of the apostolate, the requirements of a given culture, the social and economic circumstances anywhere, but especially in missionary territories” (3).
• “The missionary spirit should be thoroughly maintained in religious communities, and, according to the character of each one, given a modern expression. In this way the preaching of the Gospel among all peoples can be done more successfully” (20).
• “Let all religious therefore spread throughout the whole world the good news of Christ by the integrity of their faith, their love for God and neighbour, their devotion to the Cross, and their Hope of future glory” (25).
2.3.2.11 Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity)
Highlights:
• The laity’s [all the baptized who are not in the clerical or religious states] participation in the mission of the Church derives from their consecration in Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist (3).
• Their special mark is their secularity.
• They are active in the whole mission of the Church to evangelize and to sanctify all peoples, especially in and through the family. Thus, they transform the temporal order including culture (7) by evangelizing it.
• Union with Christ is the foundation of the laity’s mission. In fact, it “is by the Lord himself that they are assigned to the apostolate” (3).
• The laity’s mission is based on the theology of the Church set forth in Lumen Gentium (especially in the chapters on the People of God and the laity) and their role described in Gaudium et Spes, Unitatis Redintegratio, Ad Gentes, Gravissimum Educationis and Sacrosanctum Concilium.
• They are the Church, and are co-responsible with bishops, priests, and religious for Christ’s mission on earth. In the beautiful words of Paul VI, the laity are “the Church’s bridge to the modern world” .
• Sacred Scripture clearly shows how spontaneous and fruitful … [the laity’s] activity was at the very beginning of the Church” (1).
• The family where the first seeds of the Gospel are sown is pre-eminently the “mission area” of the laity.
• In society there are many persons “who can hear the Gospel and recognize Christ only through the laity who live near them” (13).
• On the national and international levels vast fields are open for laity’s mission of evangelization.
• Their apostolate calls for appropriate spiritual and doctrinal formation… starting with “a child’s earliest education” (30).
2.3.2.12 Inter Mirifica (Decree on the Instruments of Social Communication)
Highlights:
• Astonishing inventions are being introduced in the field of social communication. The Church appreciates and applauds them.
• To use these inventions for communicating the good news is a duty.
• Training to bring the necessary skills to the apostolic use of these instruments is a must.
• The public authority is asked to promulgate laws and to enforce them.
• Schools and colleges and seminaries are exhorted to organize “Media Education”.
• Inter Mirifica (IM) was something like a skeleton. Many documents or part of documents helped to put flesh and blood into IM and enabled the theme of mass media for communication very important, particularly for the evangelizing mission of the Church. Some of these documents are:
• Communio et Progressio.
• Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975).
• A Guide to the Training of Future Priests Concerning the Instruments of Social Communication (1986).
• Pornography and Violence in the Communications Media: A Pastoral Response (1989).
• Redemptoris Missio (1990).
• Aetatis Novae (February 1992).
• Instruction on Some Aspects of the Use of the Instruments of Social Communication in the Doctrine of the Faith (March 1992)
• Ethics in Advertising (1997)
• World Communication Day Message (of each year)
2.3.2.13 Dignitatis Humanae (Declaration on Religious Freedom)11
Highlights:
• The Declaration deals with human dignity in its deepest dimension rather than with the unhindered exercise of the specific right to profess any religion only.
• Freedom from coercion in matters of religious worship does not necessarily lead to diluting the principle of the uniqueness of the Christian religion.
• The new understanding of religious freedom is not a road to religious indifferentism.
• Religious freedom is a right to be “immune from coercion” and not to be “forced to act against one’s convictions” in religious matters, in private or in public.
• This right springs from the very nature of the person and is also known by Revelation.
• It is a civil right which must be recognized in the constitutional law of a political society.
• This sacred, fundamental right “cannot be interfered with as long as the just requirements of public order are observed” (2).
• Religious truths must necessarily lead to “form judgments of conscience which are sincere and true”(3).
• The subject of this right to religious freedom is the individual person. Hence, non-believers, no less than believers have this right.
• The dignity of the person is based on the human person’s relation to self-existing truth (3).
• The purpose of conscience is precisely the search for and discovery of religious truth.
• This function of conscience cannot be commanded or forbidden by any human authority.
• In addition, the social nature of the human person requires that he/she give external expression to religious truth by oneself and together with others.
• Religious communities are no less subjects of this right to religious freedom, since “religious communities are a requirement of the nature of man and of religion itself” (4).
• Hence, even groups of people collectively possess this right to perform public acts of worship.
• So too all religions can exercise this right as effectively as the Christian religion.
• What has been said above implies the right to found and promote institutions in which members may work together to organize their own lives according to their religious principles (4).
• From this it follows that they can conduct the selection, training, appointment and transfer of their own ministers, acquire property, publicly teach and bear witness to their beliefs, hold meetings and establish educational, charitable and cultural organizations.
• Among the religious communities the family must be given special respect.
• Since the State exists primarily for the promotion of the common good, it is its duty to safeguard the religious freedom of all its citizens as well as to prevent any possible abuse in the exercise of this right.
• Religious Freedom in society is in complete harmony with the act of Christian faith (9).
• The life and ministry of Jesus is the model par excellence of the gentle yet powerful invitation of God to humankind. He “bore witness to the truth, but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke out against it” (11).
• True religious freedom springs from and leads to God Himself making us experience that we have the ‘glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom 8:21).
2.3.2.14 Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions)
Highlights:
• Affirmation and endorsement by the Church of a positive attitude toward other religions.
• People of various cultures and religions are drawing closer together. This gives the Church a good occasion to examine its relationship with other religions.
• “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in … non-Christian religions …”
• Yet the Church proclaims and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life…In Him mankind finds the fullness of life.
• Vatican II and post-Vatican era clearly show that the era of condemnation and aloofness has given way to an era of appreciation and collaboration among religions.
• “As a consequence, the Church rejects as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, colour, condition of life, or religion”(5).
• In this spirit of brotherhood we Christians walk together with others towards the Truth, while bearing witness to God’s self-manifestation and saving action in and through Jesus Christ.
2.3.2.15 Gravissimum Educationis (Declaration on Christian Education)
Highlights:
• Growing importance of education in our times.
• Every human being has the inalienable right to education.
• Salvation concerns the whole person.
• The Church has received from its Master the divine mandate of proclaiming the mystery of salvation to all peoples and of centering everything in Christ.
• The true end of education is to form the human person to attain his/her ultimate end and to work for the good of the society.
• Among the agencies involved in Christian education the Parents, the State, and the Church have a role of pre-eminence. Catholic educational institutions have a very special importance in it. Equally noble and of utmost significant impact on pupils are the teachers. This impact is linked with the salvific mission of the Church.
[Exercise: 7. Which Vatican II document from what we have seen so far strikes you most from the point of view of evangelization? Why? Give three concrete reasons. Discuss them in your group. Time: 30m.]
2.3.2.16 Ad Gentes (Decree on the Church’s missionary activity)
It may be in order to mention that of all the Council documents it is Ad Gentes that had to go through seven drafts before being approved by vote, the number of which was the highest for any Council document. On 7 December 1965, the day of the ultimate voting, the text received 2,394 votes in favour, and 5 against. It was promulgated by Paul VI on the same day.
Highlights:
• Mission has its origin in the Holy Trinity.
• The Church is divinely sent to all peoples …
Ad Gentes can be considered as the logical successor to all the previous mission documents. It deals exclusively with the “missionary activity of the Church”.12 The publication of post-Conciliar documents like Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), Dialogue and Mission (1984), Redemptoris Missio (1990) and Dialogue and Proclamation (1991) helped to go deeper into the rich concept of “mission” dealt with in Ad Gentes.13 It places “mission” at the heart of the Church by affirming that the “pilgrim Church is missionary by its very nature” (AG 2). Thus the Mission Decree takes the Church to her very source, the eternal love of God the Father who sends his Son (the visible mission of incarnation), and the Holy Spirit, (the invisible mission of Pentecost). Both these themes - the Son as the definitive self-revelation of God and the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of mission will receive a more detailed presentation in Redemptoris Missio in Chapters one and three respectively. Themes such as the Kingdom of God, Non-Christian Religions, Dialogue and Development which appear in Ad Gentes are explained at length in Redemptoris Missio.
The brief but dynamic image of mission that emerges from Ad Gentes is rich in biblical references.14 Mission in Ad Gentes is open to collaboration with other Christian churches.15 Though the missionary call of every Christian gets its rightful emphasis, a more complete understanding of its implications for the evangelizing mission of the Church, will be found only in the post-Conciliar documents. Through them mission gets a wider base including all the “faithful”. The urgency to carry out this mission will fully emerge in Redemptoris Missio.
The relationship between the mission of the Church and the struggle for a just society will be clarified more in depth in the 1971 Synod of Bishops on justice in the world.16
We may summarize some of the missiological conclusions of Ad Gentes which provide a new orientation to the concept and reality of mission: The Church is divinely sent into the world. She is the sacrament of salvation. To be on mission is her very nature. This nature has its source in the Trinitarian love of God. Mission, above all, is for the glory of God. This glory “consists in the fulfillment of his plan for mankind, which is the salvation of all peoples in Christ.”17 No one is saved without the mediation of Christ. Hence, the proclamation of Christ remains an inalienable duty of the Church. The values and positive elements in non-Christian religions are oriented to Christ and to his Church, since everything good and true comes from God whose plan for the salvation of mankind has definitively been realized in Christ. Those who are inculpably ignorant of the Gospel are led to that faith which saves them “in ways known only to Him”.18
Ad Gentes contains what may be called the Magna Carta for an Indigenous theology (see, AG 22).
The seed which is the Word of God sprouts from the good ground watered by divine dew. From this ground the seed draws nourishing elements which it transforms and assimilates into itself. Finally it bears much fruit. Thus in imitation of the plan of the Incarnation, the young Churches rooted in Christ and built on the foundation of the apostles, take to themselves in a wonderful exchange all the riches of the nations … [thus] Particular traditions, together with the individual patrimony of each family of nations, can be illumined by the light of the Gospel, and then be taken up into Catholic unity…
Further reflections on Ad Gentes:
• AG places “mission” at the heart of the Church when it affirms that the “pilgrim Church is missionary by its very nature” (AG 2), and that “… the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God …” (AG 35).
• AG is built on the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentium (LG). The theological vision the latter provides is the best contribution of Vatican II to Evangelizing Mission.
• AG, we may say, is an elaboration of articles 13-17 of LG.
• Both LG and AG illustrate the true biblical nature of the Church and her mission, especially to those who have not received the good news.
• Echoing LG, AG affirms that the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation (LG 48, AG 1).
• The concept that brought about a breakthrough in traditional mission thinking and which catapulted every community of believers into the missionary orbit is the renewed understanding of the Local Church. LG affirms: The “Church of Christ is truly present in all legitimate local congregations of the faithful”… (LG 26), and that “it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists” (LG 23). In the words of David J. Bosch, this “led to a rediscovery of a missionary ecclesiology of the Local Church and to the institution of Episcopal Conferences (LG 37 ff.) as well as the Synod of Bishops.
• Focusing on the symbolic meaning of the words of Jesus addressed to the Twelve:” As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you” (Jn 20:21), the Council understands the Twelve Apostles as the pillars of a New Israel. They and their successors form the sacred hierarchy (AG 5). They symbolize the whole People of God. Hence, the missionary reality of “being sent” and the missionary obligation to “go and make disciples…” (Mt 28:18), are directed not only to the bishops (the successors of the Apostles), but to the whole Church. AG gives expression to it when it says, “ The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature” (AG 2), or “…the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God…” (AG 35), as we have already mentioned above.
• From now onward Church and Missionary nature cannot be separated. For the Church and for every Christian in particular to be a missionary is the most natural thing to do; in stead, not to be a missionary is the most unnatural thing.
• This is a revolutionary insight. It gives all theologizing a new slant.
• Commenting on this important aspect, David J. Bosch remarks, “… Ecclesiology, therefore, does not precede missiology, and mission is not just a fringe activity of a ‘strongly established Church’, ‘a pious cause that [may] be attended to when the home fires [are] first brightly burning. Missionary activity is not so much the work of the Church as simply the Church at work”. Mission is essentially ecclesial. Hence, a Church without mission – and more particularly Ad Gentes mission – or a mission without the Church are both contradictions.19 The missionary nature of the Church has its origin in the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the decree of God the Father (See, AG 2-4).
• The chief means of founding Catholic Christian communities is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all its fullness (See, AG 6).
• AG speaks of the necessity of faith and baptism and role of the Church (see, AG 7, 8).
• Moving further into the practical aspects of missionary service, AG speaks of the importance of “Christian witness (AG 11, 12), “preaching the Gospel” “gathering together of God’s People (AG 13, 14), and formation of Christian community (See, AG 15-18). Staying on a practical note, the Decree continues,
• Let them [the Catholics] share in cultural and social life by the various exchanges and enterprises of human living. Let them be familiar with their national and religious traditions, gladly and reverently laying bare the seeds of the Word which lie hidden in them (AG 11).
• The heart of missionary activity is the proclamation of the good news “wherever God opens a door of speech for proclaiming the mystery of Christ”. In an article dense with Scripture citations AG shows the irreplaceability of proclamation (AG 13). The fruit of it is conversion of heart.
• Rejecting the mistaken principle that “error has no right” and drawing on Dignitatis Humanae, the Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, AG confirms the inalienable right of the human person to freedom in the religious sphere (See, AG 13).
• Millions of people all over the world await the good news. AG underscores the importance of catechumenate in missionary activity (See, AG 14).
• Charity among Catholics of different Rites, nurturing of Christian unity in the neophytes, irreplaceable role of the laity – especially lay catechists, both men and women – the place of consecrated life, special attention to contemplative life right from the start of the Local Church and adaptation to local conditions are necessary for a solid formation of communities (See, AG 15-18).
9 For more information on the theme, see Francis Sullivan A., Salvation Outside the Church ? New York: Paulist Press, 1992.
10 In a wider sense all belong to the Church, because all belong to the one human family (LG 13a). However, true and explicit membership in the Church is through Baptism. If that is not possible, through desire and through orientation to Jesus and his Good News. The Church as the universal sacrament of salvation would mean also that all people have the possibility of being saved because they are related to her or are oriented to her in different ways. The conclusion, observes Dr. Francis Fernandez, does not necessarily follow, that all are saved. Those who knowingly refuse to enter into the Church cannot be saved. “This is an all-inclusive as well as an all-exclusive statement of salvation.” (Francis Fernandez, In Ways Known to God: A Theological Investigation on the Ways of Salvation Spoken of in Vatican II, Shillong: Vendrame Institute Publications, 1996, passim.). Here we may also point out that salvation through the Church is not just the merit of a momentary decision to be baptized, but a perennial faithfulness to the demands of faith (Lk 12:48).
11 The author is particularly indebted to Dr. Thomas Punnapadam SDB for his summary of Dignitatis Humanae in Thomas Anchukandam, et.al. Towards a Deeper Understanding of Vatican II and the Post-Conciliar Documents, Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti Publications, 2001, 306-313.
12 We read in Ad Gentes 5: “The mission of the Church...is fulfilled by that activity which makes her fully present to all peoples and nations. She undertakes this activity in obedience to Christ’s command and in response to the grace and love of the Holy Spirit. Thus by the example of her life and by her preaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace, she can lead them to the faith, the freedom, and the peace of Christ. Thus there lies open before them a free and trustworthy road to full participation in the mystery of Christ.” And in No. 6 “The specific purpose of this missionary activity is evangelization and the planting of the Church among those peoples and groups where she has not yet taken root”.
13 It may be noted that for Ad Gentes the whole mission of the Church is “missionary activity”, and “evangelization” (in the sense of bringing the good news to non-Christians) is part of it. Instead, in Evangelii Nuntiandi the whole mission of the Church is known as Evangelization (in its global meaning) and “missionary activity” is part of Evangelization. It is a curious inversion of meaning, as Vadakumpadan observes (For more details see, Paul Vadakumpadan, Evangelisation Today: Shillong, Vendrame Missiological Institute, 1989, 77). We may also add that even though the Second Vatican Council has placed “the missionary nature” at the heart of the Church, and desires that in everything the Church ought to have the proclamation or sharing of the good news as its goal. However, there is still some confusion regarding missionary responsibility. Without prejudice to the idea that some Christians are full-time/life-long missionaries and are called to it by the Lord with a special vocation, there is need to awaken the “missionary consciousness” of all those who bear the name “Christian”.
14 In fact of all Council documents Ad Gentes 13 has the distinction of possessing the densest article from the point of view of the number of biblical citations, 29 quotations in all.
15 See, AG 29.
16 “Working for justice and for transformation of the world are clearly a constitutive dimension of Gospel proclamation, namely, of the mission of the Church for the redemption of mankind and its liberation from anything that is oppressive.” cf. Enchiridion Vaticanum, Vol. 4, 1971-1973, No. 1243.
17 Francis Femandez, In Ways known to God. A Theological investigation on the ways of salvation spoken of in Vatican II, Shillong: Vendrame Institute Publications, 1996, 37. The book is a detailed study of Ad Gentes 7.
18 The Second Vatican Council teaches that God has revealed the one and only way to salvation, namely, Jesus Christ and his good news. Adherence to truth, obedience to one’s informed conscience with the obligation to seek the truth are the other ways to salvation. The “how” of salvation is known only to God.
19 Transforming Mission, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991, 372.
Even a journey
of a
thousand miles begins
with
a single step.
2.3.2.16.1 Qualities of a Missionary as they Appear in Ad Gentes
A missionary is chosen to be with Christ and to be sent out by Him to proclaim the Gospel. One who is chosen is marked by a special vocation. He/she responds without consulting flesh and blood, empties himself/herself for the task of mission. The one who is called is ready for a lifetime commitment. He/she renounces all that is dear in order to be all things to all. The missionary has trust and confidence in the God who sends. And so he/she speaks courageously on behalf of God, is not ashamed of the cross … even to the point of death.
The missionary is patient, kind, unaffected in love, not changing according to moods. The one who is called is filled with joy. Obedience is his/her hallmark.
He/she renews himself/herself daily, expresses the need of special spiritual and moral training. A true missionary is persevering in difficulties and has openness of mind and heart.
Whereas he/she is faithful in the carrying out of duties, has the ability to adapt himself / herself to new situations, has a sympathetic mind, and ready to cooperate with others. The missionary promotes a sense of unity, has a living faith, and unfailing Hope. Is a person of prayer. Is creative and resourceful. Is distinguished by zeal for souls. Is loyal to the Church under the hierarchical authority. Has a special love for the Bible. Takes keen interest to study the language and customs of the people among whom he/she works. Appreciates people’s cultural heritage, and tries to inculturate the message of the Gospel. Has doctrinal and missiological preparation. Has practical experience. Keeps abreast of progress in the different branches of learning, especially those connected with the proclamation of the good news.
[Exercise: 8. In two groups have a debate for or against Ad Gentes evangelization in a multi-religious context like India/Pakistan/Europe. Time: 45m]
2.4 Post-Conciliar Mission Documents
The seminal ideas contained in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and in the theological thinking immediately before and after the Council are slowly but steadily bearing fruit as we can see in the many Post-Conciliar documents on mission.20 Nevertheless, after having proclaimed solemnly to the whole world that the pilgrim Church by nature is “missionary”, the overall situation at present is one of struggle, a struggle to communicate theologically this “missionary nature”21 into every strata of the Church. In fact, for not a few, the “missionary nature” of the Church is something meant only for the so-called “missionaries”, and missiology for them may still be, an “appendix” and not the heart of ecclesiology.
Theological disciplines are busy going deeper into each one’s specialisation, not knowing, perhaps, that they ought to serve the overall mission of the Church. In this context Paulo Suess writes: “...the missionary Church which is conjured up so often will not fall into the clergy house like a comet from a documentary heaven”.22 The various branches of learning and all the works of the Church should help to keep alive the “mystical glow” of mission of evangelization in general, and of mission Ad Gentes in particular.23
2.4.1 Evangelii Nuntiandi (Paul VI, 1975)
The English title “Evangelization in the Modern World” does not fully bring out the idea of obligation to proclaim which is in the Latin title. The Latin gerund “Nuntiandi” implies an obligation, a “must”.
Highlights:
• The Good news “must” be proclaimed.
• The rich meaning of Evangelization.
• Its relevance for the Church in the modern world.
• Evangelization is evangelization of cultures.
Hailed as a landmark magisterial document and as the basic post-Conciliar contribution to missiological thinking, the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi continues to shape the mission of the Church well into the third millennium. Its central theme is evangelization. It explains its global and specific meanings.24 The centrality of the Kingdom of God,25 the Church’s essential missionary nature,26 the pioneering statements on the need to evangelize cultures,27 the liberating nature of the good news, the place of popular piety and the evangelizing power of Basic Ecclesial Communities are some of the elements that open up new vistas for the mission of the Church.
For the Church evangelizing means bringing the good news into all the strata of humanity. There is no new humanity, if there are no new persons renewed by baptism and by lives lived according to the Gospel.28 Evangelizing is not only a matter of preaching to greater numbers, but also of affecting... people’s lives with the Word of God.29 The paramount importance of witness of life; a clear and unambiguous proclamation that in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man and who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all peoples as a gift of God’s grace and mercy;30 that the Christian message should be addressed to all peoples in their concrete situation and not in any abstract manner;31 that the Good news should take root in a variety of cultural, social and human milieux32 are precious teachings of Evangelii Nuntiandi. At the same time evangelization requires that local churches keep a profound openness towards the universal community;33 that they read the “signs of the times”,34 and work for Christian unity to make the good news more credible.35
Outstanding quotes from EN
• …the objectives of the Second Vatican Council are definitively summed in one single … [sentence]: “to make the Church … ever better filled for proclaiming the Gospel …” [2].
• … the proclamation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is the duty incumbent on her … [5].
• She [the Church] exists in order to evangelize …” [14].
• … it is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole [15].
• The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself [15].
• There is a profound link between Christ, the Church and evangelization [16].
• Because of its richness, complexity and dynamism, any partial and fragmentary definition of evangelization would only impoverish it [17].
• For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good news into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new [18].
• But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by Baptism and by lives lived according to the Gospel [18].
• The purpose of evangelization is this interior change [18].
• The Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert (cf. Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18, 2:4), solely through the divine power of the Message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete meilieux which are theirs [18].
• Evangelization is a question not only of preaching the Gospel in ever wider geographic areas or to ever greater numbers of people, but also of affecting and as it were upsetting, through the power of the Gospel, mankind’s criteria of judgment, determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, sources of inspiration and models of life, which are in contrast with the Word of God and the plan of salvation [19].
• Evangelization is evangelization of cultures [20].
• The split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times [20].
• The encounter between Gospel and Culture presupposes that the former is proclaimed to people in their concrete milieux [20]
• There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promise, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed [22].
• The Church cannot accept violence … violence is not in accord with the Gospel. It is not Christian … [37].
• Among … fundamental human rights, religious liberty occupy a place of primary importance [39].
• The first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life … [41].
• Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses [41].
[Exercise: 9. Evangelii Nuntiandi is hailed as a landmark document. Do you agree? Discuss it in two groups: one for it and another against it. Time 45m]
2.4.2 Redemptoris Missio (John Paul II, 1990)
Redemptoris Missio bears the date 7 December 1990, the twenty- fifth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree Ad Gentes. It was published on 22 January, 1991. It is the most significant and authoritative document so far on the Church’s missionary activity.
Highlights:
• The Magna Carta of Missionary Evangelization.
• The vast horizon of Ad Gentes mission is such that it is at the reach and possibility of all Christians.
• Urgency and permanent validity of mission “Ad Gentes”.
The first impression that anyone would get going through this historic mission document is one of urgency. The proclamation of the good news is urgent, because the mission of Christ the Redeemer is “still very far from completion”, it is “only beginning”,36 it is a “primary service which the Church can render to every individual and to all humanity…,”37 It is urgent also because, “the number of those who do not know Christ and who do not belong to the Church is constantly on the increase. Indeed, since the end of the Council it has almost doubled”.38 Missionary proclamation is so important that “No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this ‘supreme duty’: to proclaim Christ to all peoples”.39 Proclamation of the good news is urgent especially because what Jesus Christ offers is something radically new,40 and sharing it with others can renew the Church, revitalize faith and re-establish Christian identity.41 It offers to the poor and the oppressed a force for liberation.42 For all these reasons and more, it is “the greatest and the holiest duty of the Church”.43
2.4.2.1 Theological basis
The urgency to proclaim is based not only on statistics (that is, there are millions of people in the world who still have not heard of Christ), but on solid theological reasons.44
Bringing to a focus elements of dogmatic theology, revelation and faith, soteriology, Christology, ecclesiology and missiology, Redemptoris Missio in chapter one reaffirms the basis of the Church’s missionary activity, namely, that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. He is the perfect revelation of God, and that there is no separation between Jesus and the Eternal Word, between Jesus of faith and Jesus of history. This Jesus should not be reduced merely to some sort of higher human wisdom. All mission is centred on God’s wonderful, loving plan of salvation made known to mankind through Jesus and accepted in faith. He is the one mediator between God and man. His Resurrection from the dead gives a universal scope to his message, his actions and to his whole mission. And therefore, “although participated forms of mediation of different kinds and degrees are not excluded, they acquire meaning and value only from Christ’s own mediation, and they cannot be understood as parallel or complementary”, because Jesus Christ is “the one Saviour of all”.45 In him God’s revelation becomes complete and definitive.46 Christian Mission, therefore, is an issue of faith in Jesus Christ.47 Remove the element of faith, Christian mission falls.
2.4.2.2 The Kingdom of God
Preaching the Christ-event and the Kingdom of God are complementary proclamations. In fact, the Kingdom of God cannot be detached either from Christ or his Church. Hence, the proclamation of the good news by the Church should be the proclamation of the values of the Kingdom. These values have appeared among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In him God’s plan is brought to fulfillment. Hence, all mankind has a place in him. And He has a place for all. His message is one of liberation. It transforms human relationships. These transforming and liberating effects have been brought to the reach of every human being through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.48 The mission agenda, therefore, is as wide as the universe. Its impact transcends both time and space.
2.4.2.3 The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit49 makes the whole group of believers “missionary”, for he is the principal agent of the evangelizing mission of the Church. The Risen Christ is at work in human hearts “through the strength of his Spirit...”50 One of the chief highlights of Redemptoris Missio when speaking of the Spirit is that “the Spirit’s presence and activity affect not only individuals but also society and history, peoples, cultures and religions”.51
It is to the credit of Redemptoris Missio to have highlighted the role of the Spirit in the Church’s Mission and in the lives of missionaries. Chapter eight on Missionary Spirituality in Redemptoris Missio is closely linked with the presence of the Spirit in the life of every missionary described in Chapter three.
Exhorting every disciple of Christ to overcome, in the strength of the Spirit, all dichotomy between busy life and interior life, John Paul II says, that the true missionary is a saint and that the missionary journey is a journey towards holiness.52 “Unless the missionary is a contemplative”, we read in Redemptoris Missio, “he cannot proclaim Christ in a credible way”.53
2.4.2.4 The Vast Horizon of “Ad Gentes” Mission
Redemptoris Missio going beyond the traditional meaning of Ad Gentes (sharing the good news with those who have not heard it yet, and among whom the Church is not yet established) applies several criteria to explain the different contexts in which Ad Gentes mission can be verified. First, the “Human” criteria. Under this come (i) territorial or geographic aspect. That is, there are places, areas, regions, and even an entire nation, would come under the category of Ad Gentes evangelization. Examples are a village, a whole district, a region formed by several States, a country like India or Asia which not withstanding the fact that there are some Christian communities, but which by and large come under Ad Gentes evangelization. The number and influence of the Christians who are there are very small compared with their total population. (ii) Social aspect. That is, because of fast changes in society all over the world, new and vast segments of population have become areas needing first evangelization or Ad Gentes mission. Such emerging groups are immense urban conglomerations, refugees, migrants, and youth who too come under Ad Gentes evangelization, even if there are a few pockets where the Church is active.
The second criteria to ascertain Ad Gentes areas or groups is “Cultural” criteria. Under this come all the areas of influence or authority or policy making, like the Areopagus of old in Athens (see, Acts 17:22-31) [which represented the cultural centre or the learned people of Athens]. There Paul proclaimed the Gospel, hoping that if some of them were won over to the faith, they would have had vast influence on the rest of the population. In the same way there are innumerable modern “Areopagi”. They are, for example, the world of communication, those committed to peace, to development, liberating the oppressed of different kinds, persons working in national and international relations, people working in scientific research, promoting dialogue, safeguarding ecology, and policy makers [especially in education, government, etc.]. These are only some examples. We can still think of crowd/youth pullers with their convincing speeches or music and others.
As we see, the horizon of Ad Gentes involvement is immense, whether one looks at it from geographic or territorial point of view, or from the sociological aspect or from the cultural angle. Nobody can and should say that he/she is not in an Ad Gentes situation. Opportunities for Ad Gentes evangelization [namely, the chances to offer Jesus and His good news in innumerable ways and means] can be found anywhere and everywhere in the world. However, responsive areas should receive our priority. We must move to those places or persons first, who are eagerly awaiting the good news of Jesus Christ.
The encyclical applies some supplementary criteria too to determine Ad Gentes contexts. Accordingly, even some of the Catholic communities too come under Ad Gentes evangelization. These supplementary criteria are: (i) if the presence of the Catholic community is ineffective, (ii) if it is unable to bear witness (because the community is not still part of local culture, or it is numerically very small, or it is weak in missionary dynamism or it has little or no place in decision making bodies in the area. They too will come under the Ad Gentes evangelization.
From all this it is easy to understand, that the horizon of Ad Gentes evangelization is very large. Imagination and creativity coupled with love for Jesus and his good news can make young people do wonders for the spread of the good news.
2.4.2.5 Holistic Vision of Mission
The holistic vision of Ad Gentes mission that Redemptoris Missio provides us bridges the age-old gap between “foreign missions” and “home missions”. Mission is where the Gospel is needed. And Ad Gentes Mission is where the first proclamation is urgent and where the building up of Christian communities and the promotion of kingdom values are still lacking or are in their initial stages. The encyclical’s holistic understanding of evangelization and salvation keeps in balance witness of life, service to humanity, inculturation, inter-religious dialogue, the celebration of sacraments, the role of the Word of God and the importance of explicit proclamation that Jesus is the Lord. In this integral understanding of mission Ad Gentes, two things stand out clearly, namely, all ecclesial activities should give first place to mission Ad Gentes,54 and that they must be oriented to explicit proclamation leading to baptism and formation of Christian communities.55
To this integral vision of the mission of the Church, all are invited. The whole Church is asked to mobilize all its resources for the Mission of the Church, especially for the Ad Gentes mission. “Missionary activity is a matter for all Christians, for all dioceses and parishes, Church institutions and associations”.56 Dialogue,57 inculturation,58 openness to people of other religious traditions and the positive attitude with which dialogue ought to be pursued are based not on a pragmatic attitude, but on the presence of the Spirit and the seed of God’s Word.59
While the encyclical acknowledges that mission work “appears immense and out of all proportion to the Church’s human resources” and beset with difficulties from within and without,60 the Church does not lose Hope. Instead, she exhorts everyone to be optimistic and to discern a “new springtime”61 of Christianity as it has entered the third millennium. The horizon of mission as described above is boundless,62 it is “never finishing”.63 No Catholic should say, “Oh, I am not a missionary!” Redemptoris Missio makes an ardent appeal to the whole Church to have a greater “sense of mission”. Only an increased sense of mission will open up before the Church new and more effective paths to bring the good news to people everywhere.
2.4.2.6 The Paths of Mission
There are many ways and means in which the mission of the Church can be carried out. But among them some are more relevant than others in a particular context. John Paul II calls them “Paths”. The encyclical Redemptoris Missio mentions the following “paths” of mission: (i) Witness, (ii) First proclamation of the good news, (iii) Conversion and the administration of Baptism, (iv) Formation of local Churches, (v) the promotion of Basic Ecclesial Communities or Small Christian Communities, (vi) Inculturation right from the start of the communities, (vii) Inter-religious dialogue, (viii) Formation of conscience, and (ix) Works of charity as the more important ones that will help in the spread of the good news.
[Exercise: 10. Make a list of the new Areopagi about which RM speaks in Ch. IV “The Vast Horizon of Ad Gentes Mission” for our modern times and with reference to a particular country. Time 45m]
20 The main post-conciliar mission documents are the Apostolic Exhortation, EvangeliiNuntiandi of Paul VI, 1975; Catechesi Tradendae of John Paul II, 1979; Dialogue and Mission, 1984; Apostles of the Slavs of John Paul II, 1985; Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, 1986; Faith and Inculturation, 1987; Sollicitudo Rei Sodalis of John Paul II, 1987; Redemptoris Missio of John Paul II, 1990; and Dialogue and Proclamation, 1991. To this we must add significant statements such as that of Medetlin (1968) and of Puebla (1979) of the Latin American Episcopal conference (CELAM); the Final Report of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, Rome, 1985; the AMECEA (Association of the Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa) Bishops’ Message to Catholic Families in Eastern Africa, Tanzania, 1986; To the Ends of the Earth, of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, Washington, 1986; the Final Statement of Fourth Plenary Assembly of the FABC (the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences), Tokyo, 1986; and Heritage and Hope: Evangelization in America of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, Washington, 1990.(For more information on these texts, cf. James A. Scherer and Stephen B. Bevans, New Directions in Mission and Evangelization, Vol. I, (Basic Statements 1974-1991) Maryknoli, New York: Orbis Books, 1992.
Of exceptional missionary value are the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations published after each continental Synod of Bishops in preparation for the Third Millennium: Ecclesia in Africa, Ecclesia in Asia, Ecclesia in Europa, Ecclesia in Oceania, Ecclesia in America. Of considerable practical aspect are the World Mission Sunday Messages published year after year from 1926 onward. The two encyclicals of Benedict XVI Deus Caritas Est and Spe Salvi are exceptionally important for the mission of the Church in our times as we shall briefly mention.
21 Paulo Suess, “A Confused Mission Scenario: A Critical Analysis of Recent Church Documents and Tendencies”, Concilium, 1992, II, 111.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 The loud and enthusiastic proclamation of the good news (Evangelization) is a rich and complex process. It contains various elements: Witnessing to the Father’s love made visible in Jesus Christ who alone is mankind’s Saviour, the immanent and transcendent aspects of the good news, implantation and growth of the Church, liberation from all forms of oppression, human advancement linked to religious freedom and inculturation as the specific mode of meaningful proclamation.
25 EN 6, 8.
26 Ibid, 14-15.
27 According to Evangelii Nuntiandi the whole work of evangelization can be summed up as the conversion of cultures, culture understood not in its external and superficial meaning, but in its intrinsic and basic aspects, involving the whole person, and touching his/her soul or roots (EN 20).
28 EN 18.
29 Ibid, 19.
30 Ibid, 27.
31 Ibid, 29, 63.
32 Ibid, 62.
33 Ibid, 64.
34 Ibid, 76.
35 Ibid, 77.
36 RM 1.
37 Ibid, 2.
38 Ibid, 3.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid,7.
41 Ibid, 2.
42 Ibid, 59.
43 Ibid, 63.
44 Pre-Vatican II mission theology based its missionary thrust mainly on the command of Jesus “Go... proclaim” and on the need to save souls. Without rejecting these reasons which are still valid, present-day mission theology bases “Mission” on the Trinitarian sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thus linking the Mission of the Church to its divine source. “The ultimate purpose of mission is to enable people to share in the communion which exists between the Father and the Son” (RM 23).
45 RM 5.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid, 11.
48 “We must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the Pascal Mystery.”(RM 6,10,28)
49 We read in RM 21; “At the climax of Jesus’ messianic mission, the Holy Spirit becomes present in the Pascal Mystery in all of his divine subjectivity: as the one who is now to continue the salvific work rooted in the sacrifice of the Cross.”
50 RM 28.
51 Ibid., 28; see also 21, 29 ff., 44, 56, 87.
52 Ibid, 90.
53 Ibid, 91.
54 RM, Passim
55 RM 3, 20,23,31,34,37,40,44,45,46,55,56.
56 RM 2.
57 Ibid, 55-57.
58 Ibid, 52-54.
59 The Second Vatican Council uses a variety of expressions for it: it speaks of “elements which are true and good”(OT 16), “elements of truth and grace”(AG 9), “rays of that Truth which enlightens all human beings”(NA 2), and Lumen Gentium refers to the good which is “found sown” not only “in minds and hearts”, but also “in the rites and customs of peoples” (LG 17). Here it may be mentioned that Redemptoris Missio’s attitude to other religions is more positive than previous official Church documents.
60 RM 35,36.
61 Ibid, 2.
62 Ibid, 37.
63 Ibid, 61-62
