AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - 72 members of Neocatechumenal way of South Africa go in mission

Friday, 25 August 2017 missionary animation  

Johannesburg (Agenzia Fides) - From 11 to 21 August, to answer to the call of Pope Francis, 72 men and women of the Neocatechumenal communities of South Africa have been sent on a worldwide mission two by two, with nothing but a Bible in their hands, to announce the Good News in all of South Africa, Swaziland Botswana and Lesotho.
The group was blessed for their mission by His Exc. Mgr. Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town and President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) during a sending retreat in Cape Town, as he addressed them with the following words: "Through our Baptism we share, as the apostles, in the ministry of Jesus Christ of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God… The evangelization in the modern time is not only to take Christ to those who have not heard of Him, but also to people for who Christ is not more relevant, to rekindle their faith".
This same mission is currently being held in all parts of the world, as announced last year during the World Youth Days in Krakow, when more than 150,000 youth of the Neocatechumenal Way gathered for a vocational meeting.
"This mission is not just for consecrated people", said Dino Furgione, responsible of the Neocatechumenal Way in South Africa. "There are married people, single, young and old, priests and seminarians. This is the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the body of the Church as a true presence of Christ. We have experienced the fact that Christ accompanies us. And to the question he poses to his disciples in the Gospel of Luke:
"When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything? ". We can testify that we didn't lack anything! Some have indeed suffered some deprivations, but we all experienced the 'perfect joy' of Saint Francis, who also used to send his friars two by two". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/8/2017)


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