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CHURCH IN AMERICA MUST BE MISSIONARY NOW
Dear brothers and sisters,
I am delighted to be here with you today as the Envoy of the Holy
Father to preside at the Second American Missionary Congress (C.A.M.), a
pleasing expression of the solicitude of all the particular Churches of
America for the proclamation of the Gospel of Life to all Nations.
I affectionately greet the Archbishop of Guatemala, His Eminence
Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruρo, all the members of the Episcopacy of
Guatemala and Central America, the Bishops, the National Directors of the
Pontifical Mission Societies, the pastoral agents, missionaries, the
families, the youth and the children, and the representatives and
delegates of the Dioceses of the North, South and Centre of the Continent
of America and the Caribbean.
I greet you all on behalf of the Holy Father who, from Rome, desires to
be spiritually united with you in the celebration of the Congress. I bring
to all of you his affection, his closeness and his blessing.
With the First American Missionary Congress (VI Latin American)
celebrated four years ago in Paranα, Argentina, the fruit of the
marvellous journey that the Church in Latin America has undertaken for
missionary animation by means of "COMLA", one seed of unity was sown,
which has enabled development to flourish to such an extent that this
Second American Missionary Congress is now taking place. It was after the
celebration of the Special Synod for America in 1997 that the Sixth Latin
American Missionary Congress wished to embrace fraternally "all the
Churches of the Continent", thus becoming the First American Missionary
Congress. In this way it was desired to stress what the Holy Father, in
his celebration of the Synod for America, had expressed: "that closer bond
which the peoples of the Continent seek and which the Church wishes to
foster", and in this way to urge on, with greater vigour, the evangelizing
mission of the Church, in the Continent as well as beyond its own borders1
(cf. Ecclesia in America, n. 5).
Dear brothers and sisters, "The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which
is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion. As the
second Millennium after Christ's coming draws to an end, an overall view
of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that
we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service" (Redemptoris
Missio, n. 1).
The Holy Father begins the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio with
these words. They offer us a surprising interpretation of the times in
which the Church is living, describing them not as the age of the
completion or of the end of the mission, but rather of its beginning. Can
we affirm, after 2,000 years, that today (26 November 2003), the
mission of the Redeemer is still at its beginning? Is this perhaps a
rhetorical way of revitalizing an ecclesial activity that to some extent
is in a phase of degeneration?
If we briefly run through the earnest journey that the Church has made
in these last decades, seeking to discover the signs of divine providence
in history, we can appreciate that these words have not been written only
to embellish a text, but to describe an urgent need.
1. The Second Vatican Council
If we place ourselves in this historical perspective we can affirm with
no shadow of doubt that "the Second Vatican Council constitutes a
providential event..., it was an evangelical response to recent changes in
the world, including the profoundly disturbing experiences of the 20th
century..., the Council, with fresh vigour, has pointed out to the men and
women of today that Christ is 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world', the Redeemer of humanity and the Lord of history".2
The Holy Spirit, who animates and guides the Church in all ages and
urges us to a greater fidelity to the Gospel, inspired the Second Vatican
Council to give a concrete response to the evolution of today's world. The
tragic experiences of the 20th century and the "stress" that the
above-mentioned events, past and present, have caused in the most robust
constitutions of contemporary man, the phenomena of atheism and moral
relativism, demanded and demand a new proclamation of Jesus Christ.3
The Second Vatican Council, due to its pastoral character, had an
exceptionally great missionary value, not only in those documents that in
a special way deal with the mission ad gentes. The Council
describes the Church as the "sacrament of salvation", a transparent
sign and the bearer of Christ to all humanity (cf. Lumen Gentium,
n. 48; Ad Gentes, n. 1). This central idea, of profound
significance and missionary transcendency, of the urgency, namely, of a
universal evangelization, is clearly underlined in Lumen Gentium,
n. 1. The Church can therefore present herself as a "sign lifted up among
the nations" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 2), "at once manifesting
and actualizing the mystery of God's love for men" (Gaudium et Spes,
n. 45).
Paul VI himself stated that n. 2 of the Apostolic Exhortation
Evangelii Nuntiandi presents a radically missionary interpretation of
the Second Vatican Council, "in which the objectives are definitely summed
up in this single one: to make the Church of the 20th century ever better
fitted for proclaiming the Gospel to the people of the 20th century". In
the above Exhortation, a document that has played an important part in the
reflection of the Church in Latin America,4 the foundations of
the mission and of contemporary evangelization are topics that have been
the central themes of the various Synods that the Church has celebrated in
recent decades at the general, continental, national and diocesan levels
(cf. Tertio Millennio Adveniente, n. 21).
In the fascinating and at times dramatic journey of humanity,
characterized, as said above, by rapid and general transformations, by the
destruction of traditional societies, the phenomenon of secularization and
the revival of a vague religious sentiment, the Church is aware that,
living in a "new world" a global society , in a certain way "a new
beginning" is also found.
It is a world that does not enjoy, as in the past, "clear and
well-defined borders"5 where other cultures, religious
experiences, anthropologies and models of humanity live together side by
side with Christianity. Faced with this pluralism, the Christian faith is
a voice among other voices. Furthermore, in many modern Areopagi respect
for the common consideration of society is found to be swimming against
the current.
This new historical phase of humanity's journey demands of Christians
an adult faith, a spiritual maturity, rooted in the faithful following of
Christ and his Church, capable of facing up to the numerous challenges
with courageous calmness (cf. Veritatis Splendor, n. 88). It is
this situation that, in short, emphasises and clearly brings to light the
intrinsic missionary dimensions of the faith.
2. The Pontificate of John Paul II
In this new historical context the Pontificate of John Paul II
represents a providential event. His is a missionary Pontificate. Like an
itinerant catechist, "I have travelled all over the world in order to
proclaim the Gospel, to strengthen the brothers in faith, to console the
Church, to meet people". The Pope describes them as "journeys of faith".
"They are likewise opportunities for travelling catechesis, for
evangelical proclamation in spreading the Gospel and the apostolic
Magisterium to the full extent of the world" (Redemptoris Missio,
n. 63).
John Paul II, with his profound and extensive Magisterium and his
extraordinary Pastoral Ministry, invites every person and all Nations to
confidently open wide the doors to Christ, and he teaches us that the
Church each and every one of us is called to proclaim his Name, to be
present joyously and fearlessly to this "new world".
John Paul II has known how to put the mission of the Church at the
centre of this new cultural context of humanity and has magisterially
enunciated his principles in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio
which, as the sub-title eloquently indicates, wishes to confirm the
permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate.
Dear brothers and sisters, this document is not limited to commemorate
sic et simpliciter the 25th anniversary of the conciliar missionary
Decree Ad Gentes. The Encyclical is the magna carta
of modern mission.6 It is an essential text for coming to know
the journey of the Church after the Second Vatican Council and for
understanding the awareness that the Church has, through her Supreme
Pontiff, of her evangelizing mission in today's world. The goals of the
Encyclical are already clearly enunciated in the first two pages:
To renew the Church's mission, because the "Faith is strengthened
when it is given to others" (Redemptoris Missio, n. 2);
To reaffirm evangelization as the "primary service which the Church
can render to every individual and to all humanity in the modern world";
To clear up doubts about the mission ad gentes; to confirm in
their commitment so many men and women dedicated to it and all those who
help them; to foster missionary vocations; to give a fresh impulse to the
mission properly so-called, inviting particular Churches, especially those
of recent origin, to send forth and receive missionaries.
The concentrated and extensive postconciliar missiological discussion
is not exempt from ambiguity; it has aroused in the Holy Father the desire
to remind the Church of the urgency of the missionary mandate, to specify
its doctrinal aspects and clarify its modalities for realization, to
indicate who are its authorities and agents, and in which way all the
members of the Church are called to participate in it.
At the centre of missionary activity is the proclamation of Christ, the
awareness and experience of his love. Christ is the one Mediator between
God and Man, the one Saviour of the world, where humanity, history and the
cosmos meet its absolute meaning and are totally fulfilled (cf. nn. 411).
Among the various activities connected with mission there is a
hierarchy. In virtue of the missionary mandate from which the Church
cannot escape, since this would deprive men of the "good news of
salvation", all must tend towards proclaiming Jesus Christ. Interreligious
dialogue, human promotion and inculturation are designated for the witness
and proclamation of the faith, directed to revealing the Christian mystery
and the fullness of new life (cf. nn. 52-58).
Inculturation must be guided by two principles: "compatibility with
the Gospel and communion with the universal Church" (n. 54).
The Encyclical (cf. n. 33) also reestablishes the conceptual balance
and the content between the mission ad gentes properly so-called
(which has as its aim the peoples who do not yet believe in Christ),
pastoral care (which is focused on the Christian communities fervent in
faith and having suitable and solid ecclesial structures), and the "new
evangelization" (which is addressed to Countries with ancient Christian
roots or to entire groups of the baptized who have lost a living sense of
the faith).
At the conclusion of the Year of Jubilee, the Holy Father wished to
energetically reaffirm the motivations of the Encyclical Redemptoris
Missio7 with the Pastoral Letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte",
in which he confirmed with a tone of joyful hope that "the Church
therefore cannot forego her missionary activity among the peoples of the
world. it is the primary task of the mission ad gentes to announce
that it is in Christ, 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life' (Jn. 14:6), that
the Nations find salvation" (n. 56).
The watchword of the Pope at the beginning of Third Millennium is to
return to Christ, "to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ" (Rosarium
Virginis Mariae, n. 3). A more contemplative Church, able, that is, to
vitally assimilate the beauty of the love of God which is manifested in
the person of Christ, would be a Church that is holier, and as a
consequence, more missionary. The Holy Father again strongly proposes the
inseparable alliance of "holiness and mission". He points to holiness of
life as the foundation on which the pastoral programme of every particular
Church should be based, and he invites all Pastors to wholeheartedly
propose this "high standard of ordinary Christian living" (Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 31).8
3. The Church in America and the mission ad gentes
John Paul II has always kept the Church in America at the centre of his
pastoral ministry. "The Continent of hope" represents for the Holy Father
the Catholic community that, in the present and in the future of the
Church's life, has and will have a function of immense, decisive and
universal importance.
To be equal to this responsibility, the Holy Father has called upon the
Church to renew its Christian identity by means of the programme of a "new
evangelization", at the same time inviting her to communicate the riches
of her own faith beyond her borders.
The Pope has repeated this call in a kind of "crescendo"9
during his voyages in the American Continent, by that memorable pilgrimage
to Mexico in 1979, which initiated the constant chain of his missionary
voyages throughout the world, up to the most recent visit to Montreal,
Mexico and Guatemala in 2002, on the occasion of World Youth Day and the
canonization of Fr Pedro de San Jose Betancur, Juan Diego and the
beatification of the Martyrs of San Francisco Cajonos.
At the conclusion of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia
in America, the Holy Father renewed this call, that I will describe
rather as a "prophetic cry", inviting the particular Churches in America
"to extend their missionary efforts beyond the bounds of the Continent",
not "to keep for themselves the immense riches of their Christian
heritage", to "take it to the whole world share it with those who do not
yet know it" (n. 74).
The American Continent, especially Latin America, is a Continent the
majority of whose population is Catholic. If the mission ad gentes
is a task that is incumbent on every Christian by virtue of his or her
baptism, this fundamental vocation radically challenges the particular
Churches of America, with regard to essential requirements, coming from
her very existence.
The history of the evangelization of America could be rejected if it
were limited only to the new evangelization of the Continent. Between the
mission ad gentes and the new evangelization, in reality there
exists an inherent and indissoluble relationship,10 between its
inspiration and support through commitment to universal mission (cf.
Redemptoris Missio, n. 1). Without the mission ad gentes, the
particular Churches would remain without an opening and a sense of
universal existence, since even though they are territorially bound
together they are, however, not bound spiritually. By their nature they
must open themselves to the dimension of catholicity by means of the
mission ad gentes (cf. Redemptoris Missio, n. 34). An
evangelizing Church reaches its maturity when it is genuinely
evangelizing. This is the logic of Catholic missionary activity, as the
Latin-American Bishops recalled at Puebla11 and at Santo
Domingo12, recommendations that were taken up, promoted and
distributed in a widespread manner by the National Directions of the
Pontifical Mission Societies and by CELAM, through its Missionary
Department.13
This was the leitmotif of the preceding Latin American Missionary
Congresses; this Congress faithfully gathers up their abundant and rich
legacy. The Second American Missionary Congress, and it must again be
recalled, follows the tradition and the trajectory of COMLA. These
meetings of a continental nature, supported from their first providential
beginnings by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, are
celebrated with the clear fruits of faith and missionary generosity, in
different cities of the Latin American territory.
4. The Second American Missionary Congress
As a continuation with the preceding First American Missionary Congress
and Sixth COMLA, celebrated some months after the promulgation of the
Post-Synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in America14 and after
the auspicious experience of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, the
Church in America again takes its place in the enlightened horizon of
universal mission.
Dear brothers and sisters, the "American hour" of the mission ad
gentes has arrived! It is about a moment and also a "chronological"
hour! We are speaking about today and now! We are affirming that the life
of the Church in America is today the mission ad gentes.
And this is the moment to decisively and fearlessly welcome this
challenge. Pastors who know how to commit themselves to the mission ad
gentes, a dynamic expression of love that "from inter-ecclesial
communion, opens out into a service that is universal" (cf. Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 49), will obtain, indeed in the immediate
future, a profound renewal in their Christian communities, a growth in
faith and an increase in vocations to the priesthood and the religious
life.
A pastoral strategy founded on missionary animation can profoundly
renew the Christian life of our faithful people. The mission ad gentes,
in fact, "renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity, and
offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentives" (Redemptoris Missio, n.
2). Is this not the example offered to us by the numerous particular
Churches in America who are giving from their poverty and see themselves
blessed by the gifts and bountiful fruits of the Spirit? As His Eminence,
Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada, in his letter of convocation of the Congress,
has fittingly indicated: "We know that the needs of our Churches are
urgent; however, the urgency of the universal mission ad gentes
is even greater" Caritas Christi urget nos! (II Cor 5:14).
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, it is urgent that the Church in America
unites its efforts for first evangelization for the implanting of
Christian communities among Nations that do not know Christ, and that is
the majority of humanity.
The Continent of Asia merits special attention, where more than 3.7
billion people live (60 percent of the world's population) and where
Catholics are scarcely 110 million (a meagre 3 percent of the Asian
population), and half of the Catholics are concentrated in only one
Country, the Philippines.
In many Asian Countries the Church is making first steps. A few months
ago I was in Mongolia (an ex-communist Republic of 2.5 million inhabitants
situated between Russia and China), for the episcopal consecration of the
first Prefect Apostolic of Ulaanbaatar, Mons. Wenceslaw Padilla, a
Filipino Scheut missionary. His Catholic community hardly amounts to 200
people. I'll say it again carefully, 200, not 200,000, not even 2,000!
Particular Churches which are born in a simple way, but with great
dynamism; Churches who need spiritual and material help from the whole
Church.
The above-mentioned responsibility for universal mission, dear brothers
and sisters, is already felt by many particular Churches in America, and
it is necessary to form "the key element in the normal pastoral activity"
of all, from the North and South of the Continent (cf. Redemptoris
Missio, n. 83).
To achieve this, it is necessary that each one of us, each of our
communities, renew their own life of faith in such a way that the
evangelizing activity ad gentes may be the fruit of the primacy of
grace and a life of holiness. The responsible revival of "missionary
cooperation is rooted and lived, above all", the Holy Father reminds us,
"in personal union with Christ. Only if we are united to him as the
branches to the vine can we produce good fruit. Through holiness of life
every Christian can become a fruitful part of the Church's mission" (Redemptoris
Missio, n. 77).
There are many signs of the sanctifying action of the Spirit, signs of
hope, that are a help in understanding that the life of the Church in
America today is called with greater conviction to be at all times, the
mission ad gentes:
The witnesses of holiness, of the unconditional donation of many
sons and daughters of the Church in America to the proclamation of the
Gospel.
The intense activity of missionary animation that the Pontifical
Mission Societies carry out at the national, regional and diocesan levels
for the mission ad gentes. Some Societies, I am thinking especially
of the Holy Childhood Society, are growing and are developing a remarkable
activity throughout the Continent.
The unremitting missionary commitment of many Dioceses that, blessed
by the Lord with a great number of vocations and resources, are not
hesitating to share them with others who are in more need, both within and
outside of the Country, or also beyond the borders of the Continent.
The increase in quite a few parts of America of vocations, priestly,
Religious and lay faithful (catechists, youth and family missionaries)
dedicated to evangelization and mission.
The missionary dynamism ad gentes of ecclesial movements and
new communities, present in some numbers throughout the whole ecclesial
American territory.
The specifically ad gentes Institutes and Societies
born in America, and the fruitful activity of missionary animation which
is carried out for the above-mentioned missions. The emergence of various
Diocesan Missionary Seminaries in the diverse Countries of America.
On the other hand, difficulties are not lacking, which in some way hold
back this missionary impulse and which are important challenges to those
of us who must cope with them. We will recall only some of them, those
which closely affect the social and ecclesial reality of the Continent,
especially of Latin America.
A still inadequate missionary awareness. In some parts it is
still erroneously maintained that the secular priest is ordained
exclusively for his particular Church, and that he must not be concerned
about the mission ad gentes, a task that is the responsibility of
the religious clergy. There are some parts where they even have the idea
that financial poverty and means give them the right to describe
themselves as "passive missionary Churches", who must only be helped.
The proliferation of numerous sects. Only a
revitalized presence and a new missionary impulse from the Church,
especially in the sectors most exposed to this influence, can help to
deepen or to implant the roots of Catholic tradition. This challenge
necessitates that "the Church be more and more communitarian and
participatory, made up of ecclesial communities, family groups and bible
circles, movements and ecclesial associations which render the parish a
community of communities".15
The manipulation on the part of some ideologies of
the indigenous world, for an archaic, utopian vision of ethnic American
Indians. In some cases, they pretended to "re-establish" ancient
religions, polemically opposed to the Catholic Church, whose faith the
majority of the above-mentioned people profess with a deep, simple and
sincere faith.16 The Church "must devote special attention to
those ethnic groups which even today experience discrimination" (cf.
Ecclesia in America, n. 64).
The need of greater communion between the south and the north of
the Continent. "An increased cooperation between the Nations of
America" (cf. Ecclesia in America, n. 2), supported and promoted by
the Church, will not only contribute to the spiritual unity of the
American Continent, but will also give a response to the challenges and
present problems between the "north and south of the world".
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, let us go forward in hope! We are living and
acting as missionaries; let us feel responsible for the building of the
Church in the Third Millennium!
The Second American Missionary Congress, in indicating the mandate of
Christ to ail the particular Churches of the Continent, invites us once
again to start out on the journey: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all
nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit!" (Matt 28:19).
It is the same missionary mandate which "initiates us into the Third
Millennium and urges us to share the enthusiasm of the very first
Christians: we can count on the power of the same Spirit who was poured
out at Pentecost and who still urges us on today to start out anew,
sustained by the hope 'which does not disappoint'" (Rom 5:5; Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 58).
We recommend the fruits of the Second American Missionary Congress to
the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of all America and Queen of
the Apostles. May the Virgin, who has all men and women as her children,
intercede for the Church in America, so that she may be a herald of the
proclamation of salvation to all those who as yet do not know the love of
the Divine Mercy.
Church in America, your life is Mission.
Notes
1 John Paul II has enriched us with the Post-Synodal
Exhortation Ecclesia in America, the evangelizing key for all
Continents that is beginning to generate fruits of communion and
solidarity in the integration of "one Church in one America". Cf.
Secretary General of CELAM, Global Plan 2003-2007, Bogotα,
2003, 9.
2 Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, nn.
18-19; cf. Redemptoris Missio, n. 1. "Now that the Jubilee has
ended, I feel more than ever duty bound to point to the Council as the
great grace bestowed on the Church in the 20th century: there we find a
sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning" (Novo
Millennio Ineunte, n. 57).
3 John XXIII convoked the Council with these words, which
manifest his global aim: "The Church today assists in a crisis now taking
place in society. While humanity is at the turning point of a new era,
tasks of an immense gravity and amplitude are awaiting the Church, as in
the most tragic ages of her history. In fact, it is question of putting
the modern world in touch with the vivifying and perennial energies of the
Gospel" (Apostolic Constitution Humanae Salutis, 1962, n.
3).
4 "The Apostolic Letter Evangelii Nuntiandi provides
the key for a concise reading of Vatican II; it carries out a discernment
of the first phase of the Post-Council and indicates a way and a programme
for the life and mission of the Church. It is centred on the evangelizing
mission and emphasizes her multi-dimensionality so as to avoid all
reductions; it will overcome false opposition between the withdrawing of
total identity and opening the world out to degeneration and
disintegration..., it is the source of the holiness, charity and unity of
the Church.... Its principal fruit was the Puebla Conference" (G.M.
Carriquiry Lecour, A Risk for Latin America, Florence, 2003, p.
233).
5 The phenomenon of globalization is the closer integration
of all Countries and peoples of the world, the result of the enormous
reduction of the cost of transport and communication, and the dismantling
of the artificial barriers of revenues from goods, services, knowledge and
(to a lesser extent) people by means of borders. Cf. General Secretary of
CELAM, Global Plan 2003-2007, Bogota, 2003, 27-28.
6 J. Esquerda Bifet, Teologνa
de la Evangelizaciσn, Madrid,
1995, 70-75; M. Zago, Gli Ambiti della Missione 'ad gentes' in
AA.VV., Cristo, Chiesa, Missione, Roma, 1992, 167-185.
7 Missionary activity among peoples and human groups who are
not yet evangelized remains necessary, particularly in certain parts of
the world and in particular cultural contexts. It is clearly seen, then,
that the mission ad gentes has become necessary everywhere in
recent years" (John Paul II, To the Participants of the Symposium on
the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of 'Redemptoris Missio', 20
January 2001; L'Osservatore Romano, 31 January 2001, p. 5).
8 "At the dawn of the new millennium, I wanted to stress
this aspect of the holiness of life, precisely as the master key to every
apostolic project, which must have its centre and starting point in
Christ, who is to be known, loved and imitated". John Paul II, To the
Bishops of Paraguay during their ad limina Visit, 7
April 2001.
9 R. Ballan, El Valor de Salir, Lima, 1990, 29-78.
10 J. Lσpez-Gay, "The
Relationship between the New Evangelization and the Mission ad gentes
according to the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, Seminarium I,
1991, 91-105.
11 "The time has finally come for Latin America to
strengthen mutual services among the particular Churches and to project
herself beyond her own borders, ad gentes. It is true that we have
need of missionaries. Nevertheless, we must give from our poverty" (cf.
Latin American Bishops' General Conference, Puebla, n. 368).
12 "We can say with satisfaction that the challenges of the
mission ad gentes proposed at Puebla have been assumed, starting
from our poverty, sharing the riches of our faith, with which the Lord has
blessed us; nevertheless, we acknowledge that missionary awareness of
ad gentes is still insufficient and feeble" (IV General Conference of
the Latin American Episcopacy, Santo Domingo, n. 125).
13 Latin American Episcopal Conference, Missions Department,
Given from our Poverty, Bogotα,
1987.
14 Even though the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio is
only quoted once in the Post-Synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in America,
we can say that the permanent validity of the mission ad gentes and
its urgent application, in and by America, finds fitting resonance in n.
74 of the Exhortation.
15 IV General Conference of the Latin American Episcopacy,
"Santo Domingo, n. 142.
16 G.M. Carriquiry Lecour, op. cit., pp. 195-197.
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