Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) – The Director of Communications of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of Argentina, Fabio Rosso, sent a note to Agenzia Fides on the celebration of the closure of the XXVIII International Missiology Coursen in Argentina, organized by the PMS (see Fides 3/02/2010). This course was approved by the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, with the support of the Argentinean Bishops' Conference, through the Bishops' Commission for Missions. Cardinal Primate of Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, presided the closing Mass for the Missiology Course at the Parish of St. Mary of Bethany, along with Fr. Osvaldo Leon, National Director of the PMS in Argentina.
In his homily, the Cardinal told the students: "You have done the course in Missiology. Now you go as those who are sent, not to proselytize but to present Jesus. This is an offer that is valid only when you risk your lives, giving witness and not just with words. We must get closer to those to whom I will present my proposal and share in their path, which may run in the opposite direction to my own." He concluded: “You are not sent to impose; you must be humble and caring.”
The course participants this year numbered 59: 7 priests, 10 religious, 4 brothers, 4 seminarians, and 34 lay people. 7 PMS Diocesan Directors also participated: 5 from Argentina: Corrientes, San Roque de Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Rafael, Rio Gallegos, and Oran; 1 from Paraguay: Encarnacion; and 1 from Venezuela: Punto Fijo. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 22/02/2010)
