Transcript Trends in Mission – SA

Two Preliminary Considerations
RM 2 : Missionary Activity is a matter for
all Christians, for all dioceses and
parishes, Church institutions and
associations.
RM 41 : Mission is a single but complex
reality, and it develops in a variety of
ways.
Different Elements of Mission:
1. Proclamation and Catechesis
2. Witness
3. Dialogue
4. Human Liberation
5. Prayer and Contemplation
Mission as Proclamation
“Proclamation is the
foundation, summit
and center of
evangelization”
(Dialogue and Proclamation # 10)
Mission as Proclamation
“Proclamation is the
permanent priority
of mission.”
(Redemptoris Missio # 44)
Proclaim the gospel in prophetic witness
and proclamation
Paul VI:
“There is no true evangelization if the name,
The teaching, the life …of Jesus of Nazareth…
are not proclaimed.” (EN 22)
Two aspects of Evangelization
Not only “announce” but also “denounce”
-- culture of death, aspects of culture, justice--1971 Synod:
“Action on behalf of justice…a constitutive
part of preaching the gospel.”
Mission as Proclamation
Bosch: a bold humility!
We do have something to say, to offer!
People need the gospel!
We need to speak boldly the truth of Jesus
Christ
We need to speak boldly against injustices to
people and land
We need to proclaim with confidence that
God “has entrusted the message of
reconciliation to us” (2Cor 5:19)
Recently, two passages from St. Paul …
1 Thessalonians
2:1-8
1 Corinthians
9:16, 19-23
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
“You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to
you was not in vain … as you know we had courage in our God
to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For
our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or
trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be
entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not
to please mortals . . . . But we were gentle among you, like a
nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care
for you that we are determined to share with you not only the
gospel of God but also our very own selves, because you have
become very dear to us.”
1 Corinthians 9:16, 19-23
“…woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! … For though I am
free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so
that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in
order to win Jews. To those under the Law I became as one under
the law . . . so that I might win those under the Law. … To the
weak I became weak. I have become all things to all people,
that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of
the gospel, so that I may share its blessings.”
Mission as Witness
“The first means of
evangelization is the
witness of an authentically
Christian life” (EN #41)
The church’s greatest problem
today is that its witness does
not measure up to its teaching;
it does not always
“practice what it preaches.”
MISSION AS WITNESS
WITNESS
Personal
“The missionary who, despite
all his or her human
limitations and defects, lives
a simple life, taking Christ
as the model, is a sign of
God and of transcendent
realities. But everyone in
the Church, striving to
imitate the Divine master,
can and must bear this kind
of witness… In many cases it
is the only possible way of
being a missionary.” (RM 42)
MISSION AS WITNESS
• Communal
– “community is mission”
– “Take… a handful of Christians who, in
the midst of their own communities,
show their capacity for understanding
and acceptance, their sharing of life and
destiny with other people, their
solidarity with the efforts of all for
whatever is noble and good… Why are
they like this? Why do they live in this
way? Such a witness is already a silent
proclamation of the Good News and a
very powerful and effective one. Here we
have an initial act of evangelization.”
– (EN #21)
WITNESS
Institutional
– church-sponsored institutions: schools, hospitals
– “The need for collective witness is precisely in this
that the strength of a Catholic school should lie; it is
a challenge it has to face… We have to work together
and cooperate as a school community. It is as a
community we have to embody and bear witness to
our way of looking at life, our scale of values, our
aim in formation, our Christian freedom and joy.”
(Karl Mueller, SVD)
“A greater harmony between the
mission we do and the life we
live is crucial.” He goes on to say
that “often the split or the lack of
harmony, between these two
dimensions of our SVD calling
leads either to a crisis that
undermines our vocation or to an
attitude of mediocrity that
compromises our witness to
God’s Kingdom.”
Fr. Superior General Antonio Pernia, SVD
Mission as Dialogue
“Proclamation presupposes and
requires a dialogue method in
order to respond to the
requirements of those to be
evangelized and to enable
them to interiorize the
message received. ”
(Marcello Zago)
What is Dialogue?
“It is the norm of every form of Christian
mission whether one speaks of simple
presence and witness, service or direct
proclamation. Any sense of mission not
permeated by such a dialogical spirit would
go against the demands of true humanity
and against the teachings of the Gospel”
(Dialogue and Mission, no. 836)
We should do mission today through
dialogue with
Respect
Openness
Willingness to learn
Attentiveness
Vulnerability
Hospitality
Humility
Evangelical mentality
“The Church proposes; she
imposes nothing” (RM 39)
This translates into…
Learning the language
Bonding with the local people
Respecting and studying the
culture
Learning about the local
religions
Connecting with other
religious leaders
Coming with our “cups half
empty”
Mission as Dialogue
Just as God is dialogical in Godself and
in the world . . .
So the church needs to give of itself in service
to the world
So the church needs to learn from the world, its
cultures, its religions—and so learn more about
God’s unfathomable riches
Just as God’s missionary presence is
never about imposition but about
persuasion and freedom . . .
So must the church never impose, but
emphasize witness, and proclamation as an
answer to a question
Mission as Dialogue
Just as God “humbled” Godself in
the incarnation
So the church needs to do mission not
out of superiority, but in humility and
vulnerability
In fact, missionaries of the future
will not come from rich, dominating
countries
Church of the future will be poor
Will do mission “out of poverty”
John Paul II – Mission Sunday Message 2002
“The main
road of
mission is
sincere
dialogue.”
Living out and
proclaiming the
Good News of
the Gospel
So Mission is always done in dialogue,
but it must also be a real
evangelization….
Evangelization and Human Liberation
David Bosch said that
“the relationship between
the evangelistic and the
societal dimensions of the
Christian mission
constitutes one of the
thorniest areas in the
theology and practice of
mission.”
Evangelization & Human Liberation
In EN 31, Pope Paul VI provides three reasons for the
close links between evangelization and human liberation.
First, there is a connection in the anthropological order:
humans are not abstract beings but persons subject to
economic and social factors.
Second, there is a connection in the theological order:
God’s plan of creation cannot be isolated from God’s
plan of redemption which requires the establishment of
justice.
And finally, there is a connection in the order of charity:
the Good News cannot be proclaimed effectively unless
it promotes justice and peace.
Evangelization & Human Liberation
As regards the question as to “How should the
relationship be understood in terms of priority?”
Paul VI in EN 34 affirms the primacy of evangelization
over human liberation and says “the church proclaims
liberation and cooperates with all those who are suffering
on its behalf. She affirms that primacy of her spiritual
function and refuses to substitute for the preaching of
the kingdom of God a proclamation of liberation of the
merely human order. She declares that her advocacy of
liberation would not be complete or perfect if she failed
to preach salvation in Jesus Christ.”
Prayer and Contemplation
“The missionary
must be a
contemplative in
action.”
(Redemptoris Missio # 91)
Prayer and Contemplation
• Relate to the world “on a deeper
level of attention” (W. Teasdale)
• To see the world through God’s eyes
• “allows one at once to acknowledge
one’s own wounds…and to learn to
wait, watch, and listen.” (R. Schreiter)
Prayer and Litrugy
“The church lives
from the center
with its eyes on the
borders.”
(Robert Hawkins)
Prayer and Litrugy
“The church in mission has two
eyes, one always looking at
Jesus, the other at the
world… Only when the two
eyes are opened, will reality
be seen clearly and in its full
dimension.”
(Archbishop Antonio Tagle)
Conclusion: Mission in Many Modes
“Mission is a multifaceted
ministry, in respect of
witness, service, justice,
healing, reconciliation,
liberation, peace,
evangelism, fellowship,
church planting,
contextualization, and
much more.” (TM 512)
Question …
Which of the five
aspects of mission
(proclamation, witness,
dialogue, human
development, prayer and
liturgy) do you think is
least evident in the
church as it goes
about its mission in
your country or region
today? What problems
does this cause?