Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abuja (Fides Service)- To mark the celebration of World Mission Sunday, the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, south east Nigeria, organised its 4th Pastoral and Mission Weekend 22-23 October. The theme of the event was The Church as Mission and the Missionary Activities of the People of God.
The national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Nigeria, Mgr Hypolite Adigwe, the first guest speaker delivered a paper titled : Reaching the World through Collaborative Ministry with the Laity. He reminded the participants that the Church by its very nature is missionary and that Christ’s mandate to Go to the whole world and proclaim the Good News could not have been addressed to an individual. According to him, Christ, to illustrate what He wanted chose disciples who helped Him in his work. These were men and women who collaborated with him in different capacities. The early disciples and apostles learnt from him and chose from among their converts those who worked closely with them, again, each according to his gifts. Apart from the selection of the seven deacons to take care of the material needs of the Faithful, the Scripture is replete with passages, which express the necessity of working together to achieve results. He was able to examine the development of ecclesiology as seen in the Church’s official documents within the last century as it battles with the effort to understand more fully the position of the Laity within the Church in an attempt to restore the lay members of the faithful to their original position within her fold, and discussed collaborative ministry with some practical applications as they affect the Church in Nigeria. He drew the illustration from the “missionary” point of view.
Accordingly he pointed out that the Pontifical Mission Societies, in collaboration with the National Missionary Council of Nigeria has developed what it termed project for Advancing Missionary Animation, Formation, Organisation and Cooperation for the Church in Nigeria. This has been approved by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and is taking off gradually, the implementation being spaced out for up to 2008. As stated in the preface, “It is a project that enlivens the spirit of mission and evangelisation in the young; harnesses the zeal of the adults to “reinforce and give new impulse to their diverse charisma”; strengthens the Catholic families in their bid to make the members “changed and saturated with enduring love of Christ” and to transmit this to the immediate environment; and opens the avenue to the sick and the aged to appreciate the worth and value of suffering and places at their disposal the constant spiritual nourishment for growth. Above all, this project demands a steady and active involvement in the Church group, society or organisation to which you belong, and encourages those who are not active in any group, or perhaps do not belong to any, to wake up and enrol in at least one of them. These programmes call for massive collaboration of all so that soon, we will convince ourselves, our lay people, and the universal Church that we are serious about giving the lay members of Christ’s Faithful their rightful place in the Church so that together, we shall proclaim the salvation of all to the world. Over 800 aspirants to the priesthood study at Bigard Memorial Seminary, one of the largest Catholic seminaries in the world. The college is named after Madame Stephanie Bigard and her daughter Jeanne who founded the Pontifical St Peter Apostle Society in 1889 to promote the formation of local clergy. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/10/2005 righe 38 parole 465)
