Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - On the feast of St Joseph, Saturday 19 March, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, will ordain Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the new Secretary Adjunct of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the President of the Pontifical Mission Societies. On the eve of his ordination, which will take place at the chapel of the Pontifical Urban College, the Archbishop kindly agreed to speak with Fides.
Archbishop Hoser, you have years of missionary experience, how will this serve you in your new responsibility as president of the Pontifical Mission Societies?
My missionary experience lasted for 21 years, one third of my life. What does it mean to me today to be President of the Pontifical Mission Societies? Too little time has passed since my appointment for me to answer this in regard to such a complex task, in some ways very different from my work until yesterday. Although, my new duties will in fact be a summary of my life as a missionary. Every missionary expresses the value of solidarity towards others, but if it were not for the solidarity of others, of all people with missionaries, the missionary would be an end to himself, instead of a point of light of the universal Church where he witnesses in situations often difficult if not hostile.
Initially my story is no different from that of other missionaries. For me, as for all missionaries, there is no particular moment when one learns to be a missionary. You hear this vocation which changes your life, you hear the Lord calling, and then you realise that you become a missionary with time. Through a succession of discoveries. Through defeats and failures. Through personal relations with the people in mission territories. And still more by emerging oneself without prejudice in their life, their problems. Their individual and collective stories. To be a missionary means to share the culture of peoples with whom one comes into contact. Use not only their tongue but also their language. What we call inculturation of a missionary is in fact his ability to live the cultures of the people he encounters on his path of evangelisation. This goes hand in hand with relative alienation from one’s own culture of origin, as it is evident among the older missionaries.
Today I take part in debates on missionary work. I am one of those who try to solve the many problems which arrive every day at the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Pontifical Mission Societies. I take part and listen with the ear of one who has lived those cultures. I take part and listen with the ear of “the other side”. The riches of a missionary experience lived fully enables one to read complex realities and understand fully the conditioning which these complex realities exert on the missionary world, in those territories, among those peoples.
An example? Developed countries, nations with more technology, have legislative systems more advanced which are rigidly observed and which guarantee the principles of democracy and civil coexistence. It is different in countries where governments are weak and unable to manage public interests: in these conditions to survive a person must have good sense and be able to “navigate” in those particular conditions. Persons who are practical, but who at times, to survive, go against their conscience. We must not forget the unspeakable conditions of suffering of individuals families, societies! But nevertheless these people never lack the joy of life! I have vivid memories of the vitality of the young Churches. Their audacity, their courage. But I also recall the sense of being abandoned by others which is strong in these young Churches. A sense of solitude, difficult to bear!
What a great challenge this is! Because these Churches are rich in creativity, full of initiatives involving thousands of faithful. Vocations flourish everywhere. They are so numerous that at times, the resources for good formation of quality are lacking.
Contrary to Churches of old Christianity which doubt their identity and their history, young Churches “dare”! “They dare” to be proud to belong to the Church of Christ. They dare to show their belonging in public. I have met wonderful Christians. Courageous believers. From the pages, even the darkest, of recent history, of the history of these peoples there will come a series of stories of canonised saints. Of this I am certain.
John Paul II’s continual going among people is a call to all of us to be missionaries. What invitation can be addressed today, in the complexity of the historic and social dynamics of peoples, to priests, men and women religious and laity involved in various degrees, to Christian families, so that Pope John Paul II’s call to be missionaries in society today is not only an occasional moment but a reason for living?
The question is as complex as the complexity evoked by “the historic and social dynamics of peoples”. In my reply I will indicate two memories and express one conviction.
In the Conciliar Constitution “Lumen Gentium” it is said, speaking of the missionary nature of the Church “through her work, whatever good is in the minds and hearts of men, whatever good lies latent in the religious practices and cultures of diverse peoples, is not only saved from destruction but is also cleansed, raised up and perfected unto the glory of God, the confusion of the devil and the happiness of man”. And the constitution adds: “The obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on every disciple of Christ, according to his state” (LG 17). So it is clear that the extraordinary complexity of the world today where ideas “change and contradict each other” (John Paul II), is none other than a “prime resource” waiting to be purified, from which to extract valid elements to render man great and manifest the glory of God, His presence. Participation of every baptised person, indeed I would say of every person of good will, in this undertaking is absolutely necessary. But why is this participation necessary? Because the Church is composed of individuals who are unique. They cannot be copied. They exist, they live, at all levels, a complexity of interpersonal relations starting with the family. Moreover it must be said that every person is given a proper vocation which corresponds perfectly to the circumstances of time and place. So these vocations are unique and cannot be reproduced.
To every person Christ entrusts part of the responsibility for the Work of Salvation of humanity. The Church is made up of these people and these vocations. So the loss of even one of these persons is a loss difficult to repair. “Every person is another chapter” the Pope says. Now, a person is not happy if he loses his vocation, if he does not spend his life for this vocation, which means at the same time to respond concretely to this mission .
The Council quotes St Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (l Cor 9,16), and adds that the Church must make these words her own: “she must continue to send missionaries to ensure that the new Churches are fully instituted and carry on in turn evangelisation”. The evangelised must become missionaries, they in turn must evangelise. This is what it means to be Christians. This is the sign of their maturity. Happiness is to discover one’s vocation and live it! We realise that in a world ever more complex, there is ever greater need of missionaries of a new generation able to offer people all the charismatic riches of the Church.
Lastly I come to my conviction, which is the conviction of John Paul II: “God is preparing a great Spring time for Christianity of which we already see the dawn” (RM 86).
I think the post-Conciliar crisis is coming to an end. Above all the crisis of confidence in the Church and her teaching. The void of sense cannot last. The monotony of post-modern life becomes “arid land and desert”. The culture of pleasure has shown all its limits. Structures of sin are built at great cost and they underline the basis of elementary anthropology. The logic of market deprives most of the people in the world access to vitally necessary basic goods. This is why Manicheism is so present and tempts so many Christians. They have the impression than evil is stronger than good, that evil is omnipresent and could overcome. Now, it is God who makes Spring! “because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace (Lk 1,78.79). Light for the nations (Lk 2,32). The earth is ready to welcome the One who shares our history and is always present in our daily life. This is why I chose the motto from the first Letter of St John: “God is greater”. God is greater than our crisis of identity, our mediocrity, our self doubting, God is greater than evil and the Evil one, “for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 Jn 4,4). “Take courage! I have conquered the world” said the Lord. This is also my answer. (Agenzia Fides 18/3/2005; righe 110, parole 1.537)
