Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lyon (Fides Service) - The work of the annual general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies opened with a concelebration of Mass on May 6 presided by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. At the end of the Mass the Cardinal signed the revised statutes of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Reflecting during his homily on the liturgical readings the Cardinal said: “The Church, the people of the new covenant, far from closing in on herself is called to proclaim to the world the salvation brought by Christ since she must carry on the mission of Christ... It is from the continuation in the Eucharist of the sacrifice of the Cross and from communion with the body and blood of Christ that the Church draws the spiritual strength to fulfil for her mission”.
Cardinal Sepe encouraged the national directors to draw inspiration in their work of missionary animation from the work and writings of Pauline Marie Jaricot, who “helps us realise that the Pontifical Mission Societies are truly charismatic, a gift of the Holy Spirit, each with its own genuine charisma confirmed by the Church. It follows that those who agree to be national directors agree to enter the spirit of this charisma, they assimilate it, live it and make it bear fruit”. The task of the national director, Cardinal Sepe said, is to live and bear witness to communion with Christ and the Church by helping every Catholic to become ever more aware of his or her missionary identity and vocation. “We must educate our people to a missionary prayer in the spirit of the Our Father, involving children, young people, mothers, the sick, the elderly. We must be present in seminaries, novitiates and movements… missionary animation must reach the entire people of God in the old and the young Churches in order to orient the whole ecclesial community towards missionary cooperation and help every Particular Church and member of the Church to participate not only by right but also in effect in the Church’s missionary work.”
The morning session of the assembly opened with a report by Secretary general ad interim of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith Fr. Fernando Galbiati who spoke briefly of the work of the past year which included examining over 6,000 requests from mission territories for economic aid. Padre Galbiati, who is also secretary general of the Pontifical Missionary Union, also mentioned the Union’s Omnis Terra publication circulated in five languages which offers clergy and missionaries all over the world valuable mission formation prepared by experts and also its annual Mission Studies Correspondence Course dedicated this year to Medicine and Mission.
The Pastoral Session of the Assembly opened in the afternoon with a talk on the figure of Pauline Marie Jaricot by Prof. Claude who illustrated the social and cultural environment in which the foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith lived. He said the young woman was attentive to the “signs of the times”. In her day there were stirrings of ecclesial and missionary renewal which she made concrete in the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Living Rosary. There followed a conference by Prof. Jean Marie Donegani who spoke on the “present-day signs of the times in France and Europe and challenges for mission” illustrating from the sociological point of view the situation of secularisation in today’s society which leads many European Catholics to live their faith from a purely subjective point of view.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 7/5/2005 - Righe 43; Parole 602)
