Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aparecida (Fides Service) - The principal traits of the Church's mission and the theme of 5th General Conference of the Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean on discipleship and Mission, were illustrated by Bishop Filippo Santoro of Petrópolis, Brazil, in an interview with Fides.
What are the characteristics of the most important missionary dimension in Brazil?
First of all it is a mission in a secularised world, and perhaps this aspect is the less developed in our missionary activity. The world has a great influence on life style, ways of thinking, deciding and acting. In this sense I think Church Movements are very important because they give special attention to the worlds of culture, art, communications. Today people are interested in a new life a new experience. And Church Movements offer the opportunity to encounter Christ in person not a theory; they offer an experience of family and work which is different from that offered by the secularised world. As with every reality it starts from the encounter with Christ, fascination with Christ and this transforms, and things which seem most secularised, most distant from God, become channels to communicate the presence of the Lord.
Besides the evangelisation of the secularised world, also important in the Church's mission is the popular dimension for which it is indispensable to have a mission which respects popular religiosity, symbols and signs which reveal the merciful and human face of God. Also important is the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Marian Shrines, devotion to the Saints, channels which lead to a personal encounter with Christ.
We cannot overlook the world of culture. Hence the importance of Catholic schools and universities. This is a great challenge but, as with every challenge, the point of departure is God's intervention through the power of the Holy Spirit who renews everything from within.
What have been the most shared and the most important issues discussed at the Conference?
I found the theme of disciples and missionaries most important, the starting point with a great influence on all the other themes. Important too was analysis, looking at the situation, but what interests us most, is to look at the missionary heart. Before we say how missionaries work I think it is important to indicate where missionaries are born: not from any human initiative but from a gift of God. This gift changes people, communicating the presence of Christ, transforming life, illuminating it, and enabling the person to live with new enthusiasm and fullness. So the birth of the missionary is the point which determines falling in love with Christ, developing a passion for Him. All this is not in our hands it is a gift of grace which we recognise and at this meeting we are trying to open our eyes to those elements which are at the origin of this reality.
Another interesting aspect is to see how a disciple grows. This calls for a pedagogy, a method but keeping in mind the method of Jesus: Jesus touched the hearts of people and this is what we must do. Today what is in crisis is not so much the response to the faith as the dominating culture which reduces everything to immediate instinct and success, and possessing more man is prevented from asking himself transcendent questions. So the method of which I speak is to touch peoples hearts, awaken their humanity and the ability to think about the transcendent meaning of life. This cannot be achieved simply with courses of mission formation. It must be a pedagogical method like that of Jesus and which the Church has used by means of her Saints. A method which awakens humanity and offers Christ as an experience, as the answer to the longings of humanity. This is when true interest in Christ leads one to say like St Peter, "Lord to whom shall we go?. You alone have words of eternal life ". Hence the need to bring people to this conviction, or we will offer answers which fail to meet the aspirations of man. The answer we must give is the beauty of the presence of the living Christ in our midst, a presence which transforms the whole of society. (FP/RG) (Agenzia Fides 25/5/2007; righe 60, parole 819)
