Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - The President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Archbishop Henryk Hoser, on the final day of the Congress Friday 11 May, intervened on the scarcity of structures in young Churches for the formation, sending and support of their own Fidei Donum, formulating proposals in this regard. First of all Archbishop Hoser began his address by underlining the dynamics of the Fidei Donum encyclical “between two poles, to points of orientation and motivation”: the first pole is the faith (“without the faith there can be no evangelisation ”), the second is the state of the world (in the Gospel we often encounter the Lord's compassionate glance for the concrete situations of people). “The text of the Encyclical offers this twofold angle: motivation stemming from theological reflection and motivation deriving from contextual knowledge of the time and ambit of missionary activity; in other words, from its reading of the situation, offered, found and assigned, by Divine Providence”.
The president of the PMS then made suggestions with regard to formation for mission also in more recently founded Churches. An “indirect” preparation foresees on-going pastoral and formative activity at the level of ordinary parish pastoral and at that of institutions dedicated to formation (the Pontifical Missionary Union can offer support by programming catechetical and didactic paths; the elements of missiology can be divulged in seminars, novitiates, schools…). Whereas 'direct' preparation includes 5 elements: vocational and missionary discernment of candidates; linguistic preparation; specific preparation on the hosting country (history, geography, problems); practical problems (vaccinations, equipment necessary for mission…); preparation and signing of contract with the hosting bishop, preceded by a visit to the mission territory diocese by a superior or person in charge of the mission.
“Missionaries sent by their own ecclesial community must realise and feel that the bond with them remains ” Archbishop Hoser said, indicating three forms of support: prayer on the part of the parish, the religious community, the diocese; logistic and material support (collections, exchange of letters, sending necessary material and equipment…); sharing information on projects and on missionary life and missionary animation.
“In recent decades we have been a rapid maturation of the young Churches - the PMS president affirmed -. This is demonstrated by the growing numbers of missionaries South-South, among Churches in developing countries. A new wave of missionaries - priests, religious and lay people - is circulating in Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America. There are no exact statistics but the wave is sizeable and stable. One notes also another movement: numerous priests, consecrated persons and lay men and women leave their home country to settle in the northern hemisphere in Europe or North America”. This movement often escapes rules and control, although some of the priests are sent to work among emigrants of their own nationality, or help older Churches in difficulty due to a scarcity of vocations. Archbishop Hoser stressed the importance of the knowledge of languages “this would appear to be more necessary in Europe and in North America than in post-colonial countries”, and good knowledge of the history of the evangelisation and the more recent history of the country. He then indicated basic elements of the contract to be made between the sending Church and the Church receiving the Fidei Donum missionary: identification of the parties, identification of the missionary, contract object, preparation for mission, financial obligations, settling of conflicting situations, holidays, dissolving a contract, duration of contract.
With regard to lay missionaries, “ever more numerous all over the world”, Archbishop Hoser said “their stability is much more fragile compared to that of priests of religious”, moreover they have little experience and their theological and missiological preparation is often insufficient. In these cases a written contract is ever more necessary, since the laity are less bound by the rules of Canon Law. In particular “lay people can be teachers in professors in schools and seminaries, specialists in farming, construction, mechanics, printing and in many other fields of use in developing countries. The important thing is that they help form local people to take over from them when they leave”.
After illustrating the elements which “make” a missionary, in the light of the teaching of Vatican II, Archbishop Hoser remarked on the great change in the model of the missionary, which prevailed from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century who “arrived to find representatives of European administration often from his own country of origin. Of course he proclaimed the Gospel, promoted education and development for the poor and needy, opened parishes, schools and hospitals. But at the same time he was aware that he was exporting a civilisation or culture which he deemed superior. He had at his disposal material means sent from his own country or supplied by the colonial administration”. Instead today “the exchange of missionaries among young Churches offers quite a different figure. The missionary no longer has the logistic support of the past. His country is relatively poor, the Church which sends him on mission, generous in personnel, can offer very limited material assistance. The missionary is rich in his own creativity, initiative and imagination”. Archbishop Hoser concluded saying the missionary must be organised (he must be able to depend on international bodies which help missionary activity, develop projects of self-support, integrating with local ecclesial structures) and prepare in view of progress on the path of inculturation. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 12/5/2007; righe 71, parole 925)
