by Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle
We publish the address given by Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization , on the occasion of the International Missionary Meeting “The Missio ad Gentes Today: TowardS New Horizons.” Organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Pontifical Mission Societies, the meeting was held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 4, in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, as part of the Jubilee of the Missionary World and Migrants.
Rome – Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, fellow missionaries of the Gospel, I welcome you, in the name of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Section for First Evangelization and the Young Particular Churches, of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, and of the Pontifical Mission Societies to this International Missionary Meeting on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Missionary World and of Migrants being celebrated today and tomorrow. It is opportune and necessary to study together, to reflect together, to listen to each other, to learn from each other in a synodal way, as we deal with the topic: The Missio ad Gentes Today: Towards New Horizons. In this jubilee celebration, let us allow the theological virtue of Hope to point us to new horizons.
The discernment of new horizons in Missio ad gentes needs to be done periodically by the Local Churches, national and continental episcopal conferences, mission societies, institutes of consecrated life, associations of the laity and ecclesial movements. Vatican II already said in AG 6: “Various stages, which are sometimes intermingled, are to be found in this missionary activity of the Church; first there is the beginning or planting and then a time of freshness and youthfulness. Nor does the Church’s missionary activity cease once this point has been passed; the obligation to carry on the work devolves on the particular churches already constituted, an obligation to preach the Gospel to all who are still outside. Moreover, it often happens that, owing to various cases, the groups among whom the Church operates are utterly changed so that an entirely new situation arises. Then the Church must consider whether these new circumstances require that she should once again exercise her missionary activity.”
In this introductory address I will offer a few random thoughts, three in number, that might help in animating the missionary spirit and stimulate the imagination. Please do not expect a comprehensive academic treatise. I just want to “think aloud” with you. I will try to bring the Decree of Vatican II on the Church’s Missionary Activity ad gentes, promulgated sixty years ago, in dialogue with some of our significant experiences.
First Point. Mission and Concrete Catholicity
In my opinion, this theme that pervades the conciliar document Ad gentes deserves more attention than it has been getting. The missions of the Son Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit have revealed the Father’s will for universal salvation. The disciples of Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit, go on mission to bring the Gospel to all, to all the nations. In communities and peoples that receive the Gospel, the Church is born. Christian mission manifests clearly the universality of the offer of salvation and the catholicity of the Church. The Church is missionary by nature, because it is both the fruit of mission and the bearer of mission.
When we talk of the catholicity of the Church as correlated to the universality of mission, we are not dealing with a mere concept or romantic ideal. According to Ad gentes, catholic communion is concrete catholicity, involving concrete peoples living in concrete cultures, histories, glories, strengths, failures and limitations but united in the one faith. We hear in AG 4: “On that day was foreshadowed the union of all peoples in the catholicity of the faith by means of the Church of the New Alliance, a Church which speaks every language, understands and embraces all tongues in charity, and thus overcomes and dispersion ot Babel.” The same truth is expounded in AG 15: “The Christian faithful who have been gathered into the Church from every nation and “are not marked off from the rest of men either by country, by language, or by political institutions, should live for God and Christ according to honorable usages of their race. As good citizens they should sincerely and actively foster love of country and, while utterly rejecting racial hatred or exaggerated nationalism, work for universal love among men.”
I believe missio ad gentes is at a threshold with regard to living out universal communion in and through concrete catholicity. We see in societies and in the local Churches a renewed appreciation of their localness that identifies them as unique peoples. But we are not blind to the ideological tendency to affirm a people’s uniqueness in opposition to other peoples’ uniqueness. Diversity becomes a cause of division, rather than of mutual enrichment. Being local could lead to isolation. We are back to Babel. We are surrounded by countless national and international conflicts. Unfortunately these destructive tendencies have entered a number of local Churches. Sometimes ethnicity, caste belonging and national identity have a more powerful influence than the Gospel of universal love and fraternity. A renewed missionary activity should celebrate the presence in local cultures of what is good and true, consonant with the Gospel, while humbly being open to the Holy Spirit’s purification of what is corrupt and false in our cultures. From the cultural perspective, no local Church can separate itself from other local Churches either due to false superiority or false inferiority. All cultures need to be purified and ordered to the Gospel of Jesus by docility to the Holy Spirit. Local Churches recognize in each other the faith of the one Catholic Church in the one Lord, one Spirit, one Gospel, one Eucharist and one Apostolic ministry, yet taking flesh in diverse local wisdoms and expressions. The collaboration of local and foreign missionaries within the same local Church gives concrete form to the catholic communion of local churches. Missionary cooperation among local Churches through prayer, missionary animation and charitable contribution is living out concrete Catholicity. The horizon of fraternity in the world is shrinking. Christian mission should expand the horizon of communion.
Second Point. Mission as the Epiphany of God’s Saving Plan.
The feast of the Epiphany of our Lord has always been associated with the universal mission of the Church. Vatican II explains why in AG 9: “Missionary activity is nothing else, and nothing less, than the manifestation of God’s plan, its epiphany and realization in the world and in history; that by which God, through mission, clearly brings to its conclusion the history of salvation.” Mission is an Epiphany moment, a manifestation of God and His love. But there is another important Epiphany that happens in mission. According to AG 8: “Missionary activity is intimately bound up with human nature and its aspirations. In manifesting Christ, the Church reveals to men their situation and calling, since Christ is the head and exemplar of that renewed humanity, imbued with that brotherly love, sincerity and spirit of peace, to which all men aspire.”
At a time when even some believers are lukewarm towards the necessity of mission and some social institutions consider mission as an imposition of beliefs destructive of people’s freedom and identity, we need to rediscover the “epiphanic” dimension of mission. This is a horizon rich in possibilities, as well as challenges. How does the Church engage in mission? What do we manifest? What do people see and hear? Do people see the face of God and the face of true humanity in Jesus through our missionary engagement?
The Church is also called to be attentive to opportunities for missio ad gentes which the Holy Spirit indicates through many “epiphanies”. Let me give some examples. If missio ad gentes is going forth to peoples and nations to bring the Gospel, let us look at people who are going forth or in constant movement towards other lands. There are millions of migrants, many of them Christians, looking for a safer and more tranquil life.
Migration is an epiphany of missionary activity. For example, Bishop Paolo Martinelli invited me for two days in December to celebrate Mass, which is part of the novena widely practiced in South America and the Philippines, in preparation for Christmas, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. For nine days in Dubai, 30,000 migrants attend Mass every day.
Almost all of them are Filipinos. And then in Abu Dhabi, 16,000 people go to Mass every day. All of them are migrants. It is an epiphany. They are missionaries.
There are more than one hundred million refugees running, roaming, hiding in different parts of the world. Every day millions of seafarers, fishermen and tourists cross international borders. Forests are denuded, hills collapse, rivers are polluted, floods flow from the mountains to cover towns and villages, polluted air travels from the atmosphere to human lungs; weapons of war fly high and far to wipe away whole villages. Social media, the internet, the web, digital technology penetrate all sectors of society, reshaping minds and consciences. Creation moves in torment and groans as it awaits the epiphany of the freedom of the children of God. Do we see what God is manifesting? Do we see the new prophets revealing God’s face and the face of humanity today? Do we see the new missionaries in constant movement that the Lord is sending? Are we quick to complain about the lack of vocations but slow to see the epiphany of new ones? I am just asking.
Third Point. Missiological Studies
Vatican II acknowledges the special calling of those called to mission especially in AG 23: “Those people who are endowed with the proper natural temperament, have the necessary qualities and outlook, and are ready to undertake missionary work, have a special vocation, whether they are natives of the place or foreign priests, religious or lay people.” Every gift from God must be recognized, nurtured and equipped for the service that must be rendered by that gift. For this reason, Vatican II calls for a solid and wide-ranging formation for missionaries ad gentes. They should be as prepared as those engaged in other ministries in the Church, if not more prepared. Let me quote AG 26: “It is very necessary for the future missionary that he/she undertake missiological studies, that he know, that is, the teaching and the laws of the Church regarding missionary activity, that he be aware of the paths which have been followed by the messengers of the Gospel down through the centuries, and that he be familiar with the present state of the missions and with the methods considered most effective in the present time.” In AG 34, we are told: “Since the proper and methodical exercise of missionary activity demands that those who work for the Gospel should be scientifically prepared for their tasks, especially for dialogue with non-Christian religions and cultures, and should be effectively assisted in carrying them out, it is desirable that for the good of the missions there should be fraternal collaboration among certain scientific institutes which specialize in missiology and in other sciences and arts useful for missions, such as ethnology, linguistics, the history and science of religions, sociology, pastoral techniques and the like.”
Sixty years after the promulgation of Ad gentes, I have the impression that some Catholic educational institutions, for various reasons, do not accord to missiological studies the status that Vatican II intended it to have. But if the Church is missionary by nature, then the spiritual, human, pastoral and intellectual preparation for mission should come naturally as a priority, especially given the changing missionary terrain of our contemporary world. I would even say that all ecclesiastical disciplines should have a missionary pastoral thrust.
The 2022 reform of the Roman Curia with Praedicate Evangelium created the new Dicastery for Evangelization with two sections. During Vatican II, it was called the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. AG 29 states: “For all missions and for all missionary activity, there must be only one competent dicastery, namely that of ‘Propaganda Fide’, which is responsible for regulating and coordinating throughout the world both missionary work itself and missionary cooperation, while respecting the rights of the Eastern Churches.”
The Dicastery for Evangelization, the Section for First Evangelization and Young Particular Churches, with the Pontifical Urbaniana University and the ecclesiastical faculties affiliated with it, the four Pontifical Mission Societies, and the Pontifical Colleges under the responsibility of the Dicastery, renews its commitment to the mandate received from the Second Vatican Council, particularly in promoting solid missiological studies that engage with courage and creativity in the emerging horizons of the missio ad gentes today.
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