AMERICA/CANADA - BISHOP FRANÇOIS LAPIERRE OF SAINT-HYACINTHE: “MISSION HELPS US TO LOOK FURTHER TO SEE IN DAILY LIFE THE TRAGEDIES AND HOPES OF THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. MISSION IS A CALL NOT ONLY TO GO OUT OF OUR COUNTRY BUT TO GO OUT OF OURSELVES”

Monday, 24 November 2003

Saint-Hyacinthe (Fides Service) – At the Second American Mission Congress in Guatemala City (25-30 November), the Church in Canada is represented by 150 delegates, many of them young people. “There is amazing interest for CAM2” Bishop Lapierre of Saint-Hyacinthe, in Canada told Fides Service. The Bishop is a member of the Society for Foreign Missions of the province of Quebec. In the interview below, the Bishop, who will be one of the speakers at CAM 2, illustrates aspects of the Canadian mission situation.

Why, in your opinion, does the Church in Canada, always active in missionary activity and present today with 2.500 missionaries overseas, appear to be less in difficulty than other Churches with regard to mission?
I believe that this active participation in the Church’s missionary work is partly due to the fact that our local Church was founded by missionaries. Blessed François de Laval, first bishop of Quebec, was one of the founders of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. It was he who wished the first seminary built in Quebec to be known as “Seminary for Foreign Missions”.
Missionary tradition has always been present in the history of our Church. In the 19th century many missionary congregations and societies sent their members to work in our country. In the 20th century our country’s own Missionary Society was founded. I myself entered the Society for Foreign Missions of the Province of Quebec because my diocese had hundreds of priests whereas priests were scarce in other countries.
I think that missionary zeal is still strong today because since the Council our Church opened to lay missionaries. Many dioceses developed their own missionary experience. I have seen that missionary vocations stem from experiences of solidarity, the concern of many young people to share the life of the poor. Charity is often first, it leads to the discovery of Christ the missionary.

In what sectors are Canadian missionaries engaged ?
Many work in the vast parishes of third world countries. They accompany the local communities, work for the formation of community leaders. Others are present in the world of education, in colleges, schools. Others work like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta among the poorest of the poor and the sick.

What areas and events are the main obstacles to the Church’s missionary work today?
This is not an easy question. I would say that what is new and is sometimes a problem for mission “beyond frontiers” is the fact that we speak ever more frequently of the need for mission here. There is growing awareness that our Church must also live mission inside our own country.
I would say that we were used to having a geographical vision of mission. Now we suddenly discover that missionary challenges exist not only far away but right here at home, that the person next door is not necessarily our neighbour. So the temptation is to oppose mission at home to mission far away. I am convinced that this is a false dilemma because no Church can find the solutions to all its problems within its own frontiers.

What is the attitude of the Church in Canada towards CAM 2 ?
The interest shown for 2nd American Mission Congress is amazing. More than 150 delegates from Canada will be attending, most of them young people. Why this interest? I think that the continental dimension is significant. The all-American identity is still little developed, and for many, Americans are only people in the United States.
We were used to have missionaries going from north to south. For some years seasonal workers have come from Mexico, hundreds of immigrants have come from Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile. They live here in Saint Hyacvinthe, the city where I live. This is causing a change of mentality, and opening of spirits. With realising it these people are like new missionaries.
On the other hand I think one positive effect of globalisation is the realisation that faith too must be globalised, it is important to establish new links between Churches, that is we must not only give we must receive.

What lines must be followed by Mission in the third millennium to have that “springtime of mission” of which the Pope speaks in Redemptoris Missio ?
For us in Canada we must first of all realise that we live in a missionary situation here in our own country. This realisation has implications for our way of living the different ministries, our manner of working in the Church. Something very important in my opinion is to re-discover the missionary nature of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation. Baptism is given first of all for mission and not only for personal salvation as people too often think. This helps us to see more clearly that mission is not on the outskirts of church life, it is its central axis. “Church, your life is mission”: we find it difficult to grasp the full meaning of this statement.
This vision leads us to see that mission is first of all the mission of God working in our history. Hence the importance of an attitude of contemplation. In “Redemptoris Missio” Pope John Paul II affirms that the future of mission is connected with contemplation. Hence the vision of mission as dialogue rather than conquest. To develop a culture of dialogue I think it is most important today to recognise that what is different is not a threat, it is an expression of God who is always greater. The realisation that dialogue and proclamation are not opposite, but that dialogue, an imperative for peace, is also a proclamation of Christ, the way and the encounter.

What aspect of Mission ad Gentes would you highlight ?
I think that Mission ad Gentes is the opposite to “l’esprit de clocher” “a parish mentality” as we say here. Mission ad gentes is contrary to a spirit which closes people in the little worries of everyday life. Mission helps us to look further and to discover in everyday life the tragedies and the hopes of the world in which we live. Mission ad Gentes opens us, it brings not only out of our country, but out of ourselves. It teaches us that only charity without frontiers can renew the Church. (S.L.) (Fides Service 24/11/2003 - lines.83, words 1.052)


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