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The first speaker, Fr. James Kroeger, in his well-synthesized discussion of the “Mission Theology in the Vatican II Era”, affirmed that 40 years after the Vatican II, there has been a genuine renewal in the Church’s theological understanding of her mission and evangelization. This renewal has come, in what Fr. Kroeger graphically called “waves” or specific areas. And there are 9 “waves” of renewal:
First: An integral or comprehensive view of evangelization: This includes five “principal elements”, which today are understood as essentially interconnected. And these are: presence and witness of life, commitment to social development and human liberation, interreligious dialogue, explicit Gospel proclamation and catechesis, and prayer.
Second: The universal availability of salvation, as understood by the Vatican II, received a breakthrough-that is: while the grace of salvation is available to everyone, it is not automatic; it requires of us a positive response to God’s offer.
Third: The Church’s missionary nature affirms that while our triune God is a missionary God and the founder of a missionary community, which is the Church; the Church, in turn, does not only “do” some activities that faster mission. The Church “is” mission.
Fourth: The missionary responsibility of the local Church: This renewed standpoint underlines the “new way of being church” that is “the building up of a local Church” acting in communion with the universal Church.
Fifth: The culture within the evangelization process demands that an in-depth process of preaching the Gospel should try to reformulate and integrate Christian life and doctrine within the thought-patterns and practices of each people.
Sixth: The lay faithful’s full participation in the Church’s mission: Since mission belongs to the “entire” Church, therefore every baptized member of the Church-the lay faithful included-is an empowered, full-fledged evangelizer.
Seventh: Priesthood is inherently missionary. Every priestly ministry shares in the universality of the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles. Thus, priests should see themselves not only as shepherds, but also as missionaries.
Eighth: Interreligious dialogue is an essential element of evangelization. In this contemporary world, particularly here in Asia, interfaith dialogue is an urgent imperative to being a truly local Church.
Ninth: For a profound theological reflection and adequate appreciation of Vatican II’s missiological view, particularly significant areas to be considered as fundamental are: Christology, Kingdom theology, Pneumatology, Chatholicity, paschal mystery and the triunity of God.
Fr. Kroeger made famous the quote: “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.”
The second talk given by Most Rev. Jose Luis Azcona, dwelt on “The Missions of the Order Today” which included the “challenges, practices and methodology, with special attention on the missionary activities in Brazil.”
There were 7 main parts of exposition:
First: The Missions of the Order today: Based on the impressions of the recent General Chapters and the latest Priors General, Congresses and Missionary Encounters of the Order, today the missions of the Recollects have, among other things, great sensibility and concern for the missions, and above all, for the life, health and charismatic identity of the missionaries, by constantly insisting on the missionary condition of the Order “by tradition and legacy.” These priorities are also very well enunciated in the Mission Statutes of the Order as well as during the 2nd Encounter of Recollect Missionaries in Yopal, Colombia early this year.
Second: The Augustinian Recollect Missions in Brazil today gave us a historical backgrounder to the genesis of the Church in the Amazons which harked back to the year 1617, the arrival of the first missionaries. But the path of evangelization overlapped with that of colonization, which unfortunately divided the Church into three sectors: the first class church of the whites, the second class church of the natives, and at the lowest, that of the blacks. It took more than 2 centuries afterwards before a new phase, the so-called “spiritual reconquest of the Amazons” would set in, when the Catholic Church began to organize itself according to the orientations of Rome. With the integration of the Amazons to the rest o Brazil in the 70’s, the Church acquired an Amazon face.
Third: Human and Religious Reality of Two Prelatures: One is the Prelature of Labrea which was established in 1925 and was entrusted to the Recollects. With close to 80, 000 inhabitants, high illiteracy rates, this dominantly agricultural Prelature survives through outside help. The 10 Recollects working here at present continue the task as Religious Education teachers in their respective parishes. Next is the Prelature of Marajo. Situated at the mouth of the Amazons, it was established in 1928. With a population of around 400,000, it counts on 11 Recollect missionaries working particularly in schools. Just like in Labrea, the politico-economic problems delay the progress of the place.
Fourth: Evangelization and Popular Religiosity in our Missions in the Amazons: It is now part of the Recollects’ response to the widespread challenge of re-positioning the centrality of Jesus Christ in a society marked by Afro-Brazilian syncretism and other forms of popular religiosity on the one hand, and injustices and systematic exploitation on the other.
Fifth: Pentecostalism and the Augustinian Recollect Missions in the Amazons: Deeply rooted in the Amazons, the Assembly of God Pentecostal group which is clearly militant, with political inclination tending towards messiahnism, is one of the challenges which our Recollect missionaries are facing today. Our brother Recollects, especially those working in the communications media, try to clarify the difference between Catholicism and Pentecostalism.
Sixth: Social and Liberation angle of the Augustinian Recollect Evangelization in the Amazons: It is admitted that a preferential option for the poor by reason of a special presence of Christ in these people cannot spare our Recollect missionaries from entering into the area of total liberation and socio-transformative work and into the struggle against structures of social sin.
Seventh: In the Amazons, forever: Dedicated to their mission assignment, a number of Recollect missionaries have given up their lives for God and for the people of Labrea and Marajo. In fact, the beatification of some of them is already on the process.
The third talk on “The Recollect Missionary work in China and Taiwan” was expounded to us by Fr. Jose Javier Pipaon, OAR.
He started out with some historical considerations: He said that the growth of Catholicism in China since its inception in the 13th century, with a 3-century interruption after that, has been very slow due to multiple reasons such as: the Catholic doctrine offered had insistently a European face, which would ultimately ban Chinese customs. This is aside from the strong influence of Buddhism and the identification of the missionaries with invaders. Although it had long been the desire of the Recollects to evangelize China, they at long last, was able to enter the empire, particularly in Shanghai, in 1907. In 1911, the House of Shanghai was canonically established. Later, the Recollect Fr. Francisco Ochoa would be asked to proceed further into the interior of China.
Then the arrival of the Recollects “to the desired land”: Fr. Ochoa’s optimism led to realization of a dream, when in 1924, the 5 pioneering recollects arrived in Shangqiu which belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Kaifeng, where Fr. Ochoa waited for this brothers. Being the Superior, Apostolic Prefect and Titular bishop of Recollect nuns from Spain and 3 A.R. Sisters from the Philippines to work in the Holy Childhood nursery in Shangiu. In 1945 alone, the communist persecution, the Recollects suffered imprisonment and expulsion from China. Even the very first Chinese recollect, Fr. Jose Shan, would die as a martyr in 1967.
Finally, the missionary works of the Recollects there: The first accomplishment would include the opening of 4 mission centers with the central mission house inaugurated in 1925; the establishment of a minor seminary in 1929 where, of the 82 seminarians who entered, 18 became Recollects; the Holy Childhood began in 1924 took care of the abandoned girls; the dispensary of Shangqui under Fr. Colomo, the medical doctor of the missionaries and the people; the building of a cathedral which was blessed in 1931. But the Recollects were not spared from all forms of persecution by anti-imperialist movements leading to the expulsion of all foreign Recollects. The nine Chinese Recollects would faithfully continue the seed of the Recollection despite the continuing control of the church by the government, as in the case of the so-called patriotic church created in 1959. Certainly there is only Church in China, although lived in two ways: one recognized and controlled by the government, the other persecuted by the government. Recent updates speak of government’s tightening control over the seminaries, with the prohibition against professors from Hong Kong and Taiwan from teaching their much-appreciated courses, among others.
The fourth talk by Most Rev. Emiliano Cisneros, OAR, dealt with “The Identity of the Augustinian Recollect missionaries. Being and Living.”
There were six salient points:
First: Mission of the Church and Missions in the Church: Before Vatican II, the “missions” were understood as special projects within the evangelization work of the Church. With Vatican II, particularly on the Decree Ad gentes, the “missions” were restored and integrated within the broader and proper frame of the mission and life of the Church. One thing is the “mission” of the Church: to bring the gospel to all men; and another is the diverse situations of people to whom faith in Christ is brought.
Second: The mission and the missions in the Augustinian and the Augustinian Recollect history and spirituality: What is today called mission ad gentes is a preoccupation that was totally alien to St. Augustine although in his writings and sermons he talked of preaching the Gospel that it may reach all men. While ministerial apostolate was also alien to the monastic life ad vocation, St. Augustine and his followers let the spiritual wealth of the monastery flow outside its walls-they administered to the churches of North Africa, integrating and when necessary sacrificing the holy leisure of contemplation in the monastery with the just business of service to the faithful. Even the Augustinian experience which arose from the Great Union is also a response to the new needs of the world that emerged at the threshold of the 13th century. This spirit of renewal birth to the Augustinian Recollection which expanded its geographical and evangelizing horizon in America and the Philippines.
Third: The mission today: the world view of the Gospel Proclamation: Statistics has it: Of the more than 6 billion inhabitants of the planet, only 17% are Catholics. Hardly one-third of the whole believe in Christ. And this is what is meant by Pope John Paul II when he said that the “mission is at its beginnings.” The need for the mission arises as we see that our world is a globalized world, and it is, from the viewpoint of faith, a contradictory world: autonomous, materialistic, neo-pagan. The evangelizing church, with the empowerment of the laity, must consider the environment of the mission which now includes new social phenomena like new customs, new forms of culture and new models of life in great cities.
Fourth: Our missionary being (esse) and acting (agere) as Augustinian Recollects: This refers to the missionary identity and commitment of the Recollects as a warehouse of so enormous a wealth of grace to share in the Church through the following elements: contemplation, the power of community, apostolic availability, adaptation to new realities and situations of the mission, spirituality of communion, and specifically, missionary communion and cooperation.
Fifth: Are we walking along this road? Our missionary history is long. And there are still many chapters to write, with the Spirit’s intervention, with humility, docility and creativity. While the Recollects are present in those fields in which the Church requires religious presence and missionary commitment, there is still a need to balance the percentage of persons dedicated to these ministries in relation to the total number of members of each institute of the Recollect family, plus the demand of distinct distribution of our presence.
Sixth: Formation for the mission: The Vita Consecrata of John Paul II enunciates certain criteria in the formation for the mission. [1] the missionary dimension of consecrated life and religious vows. [2] to keep in mind the mission spirituality characterized by docility to the Holy Spirit. [3] Apostolic charity after the example of the Good Shepherd [4] Openness to the universality of the Church, which leads to knowing our life and history. [4] above, the call to sanctity.
Thank you very much. Muchisimas gracias.
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