Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) -On Thursday 9 March at the International Convention for the 40th anniversary of the Council Decree Ad Gentes on the missionary activity of the Church, Rev. Juvénal Ilunga Muya, Docent at the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Urban University, reflected on the theme “Mission and Inculturation”. In the present day context of religious pluralism, any Christian who wishes to think about personal responsibility for the mission which Christ entrusted to his Church reflects on important questions. “The fundamental question is how is missionary activity motivated - said Rev. Ilunga -This questions demands clear distinction between mission and inter-religious dialogue, or discussion and conversation with members of other religious traditions. While dialogue can be a path for mission, it is necessary to say that it is one of the critical points of the latter … given that dialogue with every other religion must be undertaken, the challenge today is to overcome the problems which in dialogue emerge”. The speaker turned then to reflect on “missionary responsibility in the context of religious pluralism” and of the new understanding of the relationship between mission and Church identified by the Council in its Ad Gentes decree. On the specific theme of Mission and Inculturation Rev. Ilunga said: “Inculturation is not an end in itself (or there would be a risk of absolutising a certain tribe or caste ), it is at the service of growth in charity and the promotion of missionary impulse. Therefore inculturation can never mean exaltation or primacy of one culture over another. It must be oriented towards charity and faith and when this relational character, that is Churches reciprocal responsibility for each other, of inculturation is understood, we can no longer remain on the doorstep of our local Church or culture. And the Council insists: ‘The task of announcing the Gospel in every corner of the earth belongs to the bishops...it is they who, either themselves directly or by encouraging fervid cooperation on the part of the faithful, must supply missions not only with workers for the harvest but also with spiritual and material aid (LG, n.23). This cooperation by the faithful demands that they be welcoming hosts to those who are different, to strangers. It is in this collaboration of the whole people in spreading the Gospel, the universal love of Christ, that inculturation must be set”.
The second conference on Thursday, 9 March was presented by Jesuit Fr Luis Ladaria, Secretary General of the International Theological Commission who illustrated the theme “Mission Today and Challenges of Tomorrow”. “That evangelisation is a duty for the Church and for every individual Christian - said Fr Ladaria - it is clear from the Lord’s explicit command: «Go out into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creatures » (Mk 16,15) and: «Go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey the commandments I have given you » (Mt 28,19-20; cf. also Acts 1,8). There should be no doubt therefore about the Church’s duty to evangelise. In response to these explicit words of the Lord, the Church and every individual Christian must assume an attitude of listening and obedience”. After illustrating the fundamental theological presuppositions for an adequate understanding of mission Ad Gentes, the speaker dwelt on challenges to evangelisation in the world today: the evangelisation of culture and “the necessity of evangelising cultures from within not from outside that they may be penetrated by the Gospel from their roots”; the relationship between evangelisation and human promotion, since “evangelisation cannot be identified with human promotion, while at the same time there are close connects between these realities”; the relation which connects mission ad gentes with the process of new evangelisation, both “must go hand in hand in the Church’s global mission of evangelisation today at the beginning of the third millennium”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2006; righe 44, parole 668)
