Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Durham (Fides Service) - From 16 to 20 March 25 national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Europe met for their annual assembly, this year hosted by St Cuthbert's College Ushaw, in the city Durham, in northern England. The theme of the meeting was "The challenge of universal mission in a changing Europe". Archbishop Henryk Hoser, SAC, president of the Pontifical Mission Societies and Secretary adjunct of Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples attended the meeting. On Sunday 18 March Archbishop Hoser ha concelebrated Mass for the PMS on Holy Island, Lindisfarne, with Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The Cardinal stressed the need to address spiritual hunger in mission work before material needs. He shared his own missionary experience. After a long journey he arrived in a town in El Salvador and the first thing the people asked him to do was to celebrate Mass. Then they invited him to share a meal. "It was there that I learned the lesson to always put spiritual things first" the Cardinal said.
Addressing the 25 national directors present, hosting national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies for England and Wales Fr. John Dale said the Church as a global family was the concept underlying mission work today. "Mission is not just about humanitarian development projects - he said - Mission today is universal and about pastoral solidarity. At the heart of mission today is the spirit of the Church as a world family. That is why we help each other. What the Church in the South brings is vitality, enthusiasm, youth and numbers. The Church in the North provides tradition, stability and experience - especially of surviving crises ".
Other speakers included Prof. James Dunn, expert in New Testament, who teaches at Durham University; Chris Bain, director of CAFOD Catholic Agency for Overseas Development which works in collaboration with Caritas Internationalis Federation who reported on CAFOD’s activity and goal, and interactivity with the Pontifical Mission Societies; Prof. Maggie Roux, senior lecturer in Media Studies at Leeds University and Clare Openshaw also a lecturer at Leeds University, who both spoke about evangelisation via the media. The meeting concluded with a Mass presided by Archbishop Hoser. The annual meeting for PMS national directors of Europe in 2008 will be held 3-8 April in Warsaw, Poland (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/3/2007; righe 29, parole 415)
