Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - During an Academic Act on March 8 at the Gregorian University to mark the 75th anniversary of the university’s Faculty of Missiology Archbishop Robert Sarah, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples gave a paper with the title “Putting out into the deep…to renew the missionary spirit in the Church”.
Reading in a missionary key John Paul II’s call to “put out into the deep”, Archbishop Sarah began by underlining that “to renew” does not mean “to change”, but rather “to vivify” and where necessary, “adapt” to present-day situations. He then articulated his conference considering three aspects: Jesus was in Peter’s boat when he gave the order to put out into the deep, Jesus continues to imprint this apostolic dynamism today, Jesus indicates the priorities to which, with Him, we must respond.
“It is not out of place to say that mission is ‘the work of the Church’ to be undertaken only under the guidance of the Bishops” said Archbishop Sarah, recalling that the responsibility for mission is expressed in the Church at various levels with different grades. “The strength of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples lies not in its juridical duties, which are also important, but in the fact that it is at the service of the Successor of Peter and the Church… Our helmsman certainly is Jesus. However He expresses himself through his Vicar who in turn needs the collaboration of all the Bishops and the whole Church. Mission is by no means outdated. It is therefore necessary. But woe to anyone who attempt to put out into the deep on any other boat except that of Peter”.
With regard to the significance of renewal the secretary of Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples said “mission is renewed first of all by not repeating ourselves. A changing world challenges our operative decisions, scenes and methods of action, the plans and means to adopt. We cannot in honesty continue as before”. It is necessary therefore to avoid the opposite risks: feeling the weight of abandoning proven methods with a loss of courage or launching novelties, drifting away from the boat of Peter, or acting as if mission were a personal endeavour. “It is not enough to ‘do’ new things, we must ‘be’ new ‘within’. Mission demands apostles rich in the wisdom of the elders and the dynamism of youth, it demands contemplatives in action” the Archbishop said. “Mission can never be ‘renewed’ once and for all. It demands missionaries with a mentality of renewal, which is not the same as a mentality of the provisional, missionaries capable of renewal without pessimism”.
In his conclusion Archbishop Sarah identified urgent priorities for the future of mission. First of all to consider “where” there is need for mission today, and he was referring to the growing phenomenon of human mobility which he said will soon produce multi-cultural and multi-religious countries. Then it is necessary to rethink the origin and mobility of missionary workers. “If we give Christian Europe the merit of having evangelised a greater part of the world in the past, today we must realise that the strategy is not the same - said Archbishop Sarah -. Mobility and exchange of missionaries must be planned on a wider and more secure scale. Christ continues to call and to send. Our task is to rearrange the movement of our frontier apostles”. Lastly illuminated dialogue with everyone (“without dialogue mission dries up or cannot progress”) and the arduous path of inculturation, “a priority demanding reflection and the gift of wisdom”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/3/2007 - Righe 40, Parole 566)
