Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – In view of World Mission Sunday 2006, 22 October, the culminating event in a month traditionally characterised by intense commitment at all levels to support the missionary activity of the Church, Fides spoke with Archbishop Robert Sarah, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples about mission today.

Archbishop Sarah today the term “mission”, is used to refer to quite different concepts. Can tell us about the mission territories entrusted to Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and why?

Since it was established by the Pope in the 17th century the Sacred Congregatio de Propaganda Fide as it was called then, has been a unifying centre for the promotion, coordination and direction of the Church’s missionary activity. Today as in the past it is urgent and necessary to proclaim to the world that God, out of Love for mankind, sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ, who shed his blood on the cross as a ransom for humanity. Jesus calls us today to devote ourselves entirely to leading souls to Him.
However to lead souls to Jesus and salvation, missionaries must not use violence or cunning, instead they must work with the “gentle and loving ways proper to the Holy Spirit for the conversion of non believers, preaching, teaching, discussing, admonishing, exhorting and praying, leading them gently with oration, fasting and almsgiving, and finally with discipline and tears spent for them, to the light of the truth, the way to salvation and the administration of the Most Holy Sacraments” (Circular Letter Sacra Congregation to Apostolic Nuncios in MR,III/2, pag. 656-659).
One principal criteria for the responsibilities of Propaganda Fide is geographical-territorial: its competence extends to almost all Africa and Asia, and Oceania except for Australia, and a few territories in northern Canada and Latin America. Certain regions of Europe formerly dependent on the CEP, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Gibraltar passed under common Church law at the beginning of the year.
The Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples is responsible for a total number of 1,084 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, almost 40% of the universal Church’s presence in the world, distributed by continent as follows: 485 in Africa, 85 in America, 468 in Asia, 46 in Oceania. (info: 17 October 2006)
The duty of the Missionary Congregation is to coordinate ecclesial activity in every mission territory entrusted to its care, select bishops for appointment by the Pope, formation in seminaries, life and ministry of clergy and religious, the formation of active lay people, especially catechists who are the backbone of missionary activity… this comprises major economic consequences. The Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples has also the task of ensuring equal distribution of missionaries, formation of local clergy, entrust mission territories to the care of mission societies or institutes or some local Particular Church …

Mission Sunday this year will also mark the conclusion of the 1st Asian Mission Congress …

World Mission Sunday 22 October will mark the conclusion of the First Asian Mission Congress taking place in Chang Mai, Thailand. This important event, planned and organised over a few years with the help of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, is almost a first fulfilment of Pope John Paul II’s inspiration when he wrote in Redemptoris Missio that mission ad gentes in the third millennium should be directed “mainly towards the continent of Asia” (cfr. RM 37b).
Only 2.91% of the people in Asia are Catholic. Aware that they are “a little flock” encouraged by Jesus and reassured of His presence until the end of time they do not hesitate to engage in missionary activity. There are many opportunities and demands for announcing the Gospel in Asia and the little flock is not afraid to reach out to people. The main goals of the Asian Mission Congress are to share the joy of faith in Christ, increase awareness among Catholics in Asia with regard to Vatican II’s Ad Gentes decree, foster new courageous evangelisation. A task and a promising challenge in the third millennium.

Is Asia the first continent to hold its own Mission Congress?

No, the first continent to organise a Continental Mission Congress was Latin America and these events were called (COMLA). Since the Church in north America joined the initiative has been called the American Mission Congress. CAM 3 will be held in 2008 in Ecuador. These fruitful events inspired the Church in Asia to hold its own congress this year. Work is underway to prepare for an African Mission Congress in 2007.

Are these initiatives a sign that ‘only missionary sending Churches’ or ‘only missionary receiving Churches’ are a thing of the past?

These initiatives are great signs of the working of God’s grace, the first fruits of increased awareness with regard to mission Ad Gentes in all ecclesial communities, even the youngest ones. Forty years ago in its Ad Gentes decree on the Church’s missionary activity Vatican II, underlined that the Church is missionary by nature since its origin is the mission of the Son, the mission of the Holy Spirit, according to the plan of the Father. And this plan flows from the Father’s love (cfr. AG n.2).
This “charity soul of mission”, is the subject of Pope Benedict XVI’s message for Mission Sunday 2006 . The Pope writes: “The love which God has for each single person constitutes, in fact, the very core of living and preaching the Gospel, and all who hear it in turn, become witnesses. The love of God which gives life to the world is the love which has been given us in Jesus, the Word of Salvation, perfect icon of the mercy of our heavenly Father. … The mandate to spread the message of love was entrusted to the Apostles by Jesus after his resurrection, and the Apostles, inwardly transformed on the day of Pentecost by the power of the Holy Spirit, began to bear witness to the Lord’s death and resurrection. From that time on the Church continues this same mission which constitutes for all believers an indispensable and permanent duty.”. All believers must be for mission, every baptised person is a missionary, a witness of the Love of the Father: the Magisterium of the Popes and the Church insisted on this in recent decades and today we are beginning to see the first fruits, although the path is still long.

Can you give examples of the growth in mission awareness in territories once solely the object of “mission” ?

If we look at Statistics of the Catholic Church 2006, taken from the Church’s Central Statistics Office and elaborated by Fides, in the past year Catholics have increased in number on every continent except Europe. Priests have also increased consistently in number in Asia, Africa and America, but decreased markedly in Europe and slightly in Oceania. The number of Brothers has increased everywhere except in Europe while women Religious have increased in number in Asia and in Africa, but their number has decreased in Europe, America and Oceania. The number of major seminarians, diocesan and religious, has increased in Asia and in Oceania while there are more minor seminarians in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Therefore positive signals of growth for the Church on every ‘missionary’ continent, whereas sad to say Europe is living a period of crisis and restriction. We are accustomed to see in response to this situation, clergy and religious from new continents, Latin Americans, Asians, Africans, ministering on the ‘old’ continent in parishes, hospitals and all manner of different Catholic realities.
We also have missionaries from Latin America in Africa, in European and Asian territories once part of the USSR, or in Korea. From Africa, the Republic of Congo, missionaries have gone to Asia, there are African missionaries in Japan and Taiwan. From Korea Catholics look towards Mongolia, and East Timor for a missionary commitment. Certainly today mission has no frontiers. Church groups and movements, religious institutes, parishes, associations are working to share the news of the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth… If Pope John Paul II said that the mission entrusted by the Lord to his Church is still only at the beginning (cfr. RM 1), we can respond that his words have been heard and mission awareness and commitment is growing at every latitude.

Mission horizons have extended it is true but today the Church faces new challenges. What are the main ones?

Before speaking of challenges and lines of action we must remember that the principal agent of mission is the Holy Spirit. He works in missionaries and those who listen to them, He gives counsel for decisions, and difficulties, points the way to reach the hearts of people. We must be attentive to the Holy Spirit, pray to Him and listen to Him, obey Him even when he inspires attitudes in contrast with our way of thinking and acting. “Today all Christians, the particular churches and the universal Church, are called to have the same courage that inspired the missionaries of the past, and the same readiness to listen to the voice of the Spirit.” (RM 30).
If we look at what the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples considers difficulties, in first place we find missionary animation and formation. Many new social and religious phenomena are attacking humanity, we see a profound transformation of the realities in which we live. Changes are rapid, it is difficult to keep up with events. Nevertheless man does not appear to benefit from all this progress, instead he appears in all his fragility, insecurity and dissatisfaction. Humanity of the third millennium has more than ever need of Jesus Christ, to know of the Father’s love and the power of His Spirit. Hence the need for constant in-depth mission animation so that every member of the People of God, every child, every elderly or sick person, is aware that the mission to know and love and proclaim Jesus Christ is part of being Christian. As Pope Benedict XVI writes in his Message for Mission Sunday 2006, believers in Christ must “capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world.”
Connected with animation is also the important question of formation. If the times in which we alive are complex, at times indecipherable, still more urgent is sold, profound formation, anchored in the Gospel and the Magisterium, nourished by prayer and the celebration of the Sacraments, deepened in front of the Eucharist, at the school of Mary, Mother of the Lord and Mother of the Church. Formation concerns every member of the Church. In particular for seminarians and those preparing for the priesthood. If we wish to safeguard the future of our local Churches, those in mission territories especially, we must insist on the concept of formation and the quality of formation. “Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of "doing for the sake of doing". We must resist this temptation by trying "to be" before trying "to do".” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 15). We will be able to tackle the great challenges only if we keep our eyes and heart on the person of Christ himself, “who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem” (NMI 29).

One special urgency of mission in our day is dialogue with other religions …

Inter-religious dialogue is part of the Church’s mission to evangelise, keeping in mind the principle that salvation comes from Jesus Christ. Through dialogue “Through dialogue, the Church seeks to uncover the "seeds of the Word," a "ray of that truth which enlightens all men''; these are found in individuals and in the religious traditions of mankind. Dialogue is based on hope and love, and will bear fruit in the Spirit.” (RM 56). Inter-religious dialogue cannot be understood as a new form of religious syncretism which excludes conversion to Jesus Christ and the evangelising mission. The Church is involved in authentic dialogue, but it should be remembered that the task of inter-religious dialogue is to open the path for the announcement of Christ, Way-Truth and Life and therefore rather than replace it leads to announcement. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 21/10/2006)