christmas2006

‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

FORMATION FOR WHAT MISSION?

by Fr. Michael Doyle, CSSp

"May we watch the race?" the request came from a group of young Melanesian women, mostly barefoot, who presented themselves at the door of the Spiritan House in Aitape, Papua New Guinea, on the second Tuesday of November, 1994. They were Postulants, Novices and Junior Professed from a missionary sisterhood of Franciscans and the race in question, as every pundit would know, was the Melbourne Cup, Australia's premier horse race, to be picked up by the Spiritan satellite "dish". As they gathered around the screen chattering excitedly and picking their favourites, I was reminded of a day some years ago when as a Senior seminarian in Dublin I was deputed by classmates to ask the Superior for permission to see a TV program. "Absolutely not," was the response with more than a hint that even raising the matter indicated a certain lack of missionary spirit. The program in question? - the Funeral of Pope Pius XII! How the concept of mission, and preparations for it have changed in the interim.

At about the same time as the horse race, Aitape's very erratic mail had delivered a newsletter from our East African Province, a young, dynamic, and rapidly growing segment of the Spiritan family. In it Joe Mashaka, a seminarian who had spent part of his training in Papua New Guinea, shared his reflections on the experience. Pondering his two years in the "land of the unexpected", he posed himself the question: "Do I still see or understand the mission situation the way I used to perceive it in Missiology class, from homilies, conversations, pamphlets? I suppose not." He continued with a brief description of the many things he was called upon to do (mechanic, ambulance driver, magistrate, politician, nurse, are just a few) and was forced to conclude that "for none of these was I trained." His soul searching led him to formulate in a positive vein the question which headlines this chapter: "Formation for what Mission?"

At this time also I was very much aware that our confreres in Haiti, that troubled land, have grappled with this issue for many years as they stood bravely with fellow countrymen and women against the forces of oppression. The very mention of Haiti conjures up a multitude of images, the expulsion of a Catholic Bishop in 1961 by "Papa Doc" Duvalier (for which he incurred an excommunication, later lifted), the expulsion of Spiritan Father Antoine Adrien and companions in 1969 for alleged "communistic activities" when they attempted to conscientize students and others to the injustices prevalent in the country (no excommunication); the repeated assassination attempts on Father Aristide (subsequently installed as President of the country) from one of which he was saved by a quick thinking Canadian Spiritan who gunned the car in which they were traveling through dense bush in pitch darkness to escape a hired mob; the stern demeanor of John Paul II during his 1982 visit as he rebuked the political leadership and demanded change; heavily armed U.S. Marines patrolling the streets and on and on. Formation for what mission indeed?

Challenged by the changing face of mission, Spiritans in common with other missionary congregations, have attempted to reformulate objectives in the context of "the signs of the times", to use a much quoted phrase of Vatican II. While the essential core remains constant - proclamation of the Good News of Jesus to those who have never heard it or only partially so - the manner in which this is undertaken will vary according to context and opportunity.

Mission today consists more in listening than in talking, listening to the poor who reveal to us the face of God, listening for the cries of those muffled by society. Listening leads to an appreciation of cultures other than our own, as we constantly seek ways of integrating the gospel into the traditions of others and allow ourselves to be evangelized by the Spirit actively present before our arrival.

Mission is seen as service and liberation, action on behalf of justice. The promotion of peace and development is essential to it. As our second founder, Francis Libermann, put it in his original Rule "We must make ourselves the advocates, the supporters and the defenders of the weak against all who oppress them."

Mission too is dialogue - ecumenical dialogue, inter-faith dialogue, dialogue with the modern world and (sometimes the most difficult) dialogue within the Church itself. The concept of dialogue is full of implications for action and attitude leading to a breakdown of the barriers of ignorance, self-satisfaction and egoism. But we can only dialogue if we are prepared to listen.

Missionary life has always been a serious challenge to which the lives and deaths of many heroic men and women bear witness down through the centuries. Physical hardship, disease, mindless opposition, communication problems and loneliness all took their toll. Many of these no longer pertain thanks to advances in technology and medicine, but mission today and tomorrow still calls for radical commitment. The effort to evangelize in such a way that others will be free to fully live the gospel in their own culture, to dialogue honestly at all levels, and to support the oppressed in their struggles will force us to forget ourselves and our own little worlds, and even the familiar and comforting vision we hold of our Church.

All of these thoughts provoked by a horse race! And as the young religious cheered their choices down the straight my attention was not on the thoroughbreds but on what the future might hold for these young missionaries in training, and others like them, who take up the challenge to "go out to the whole world to bring the Good News to every creature."
Oh yes, the race was won by Jeune.

From Fr. Michael Doyle's book, What Am I Doing Here!

What Am I Doing Here! is the story of a call answered and a vocation lived. Fr. Michael Doyle, an Irish Spiritan, leads us on a journey of his life as teacher, counselor, professor, administrator, missionary and pastor. A host of delightful episodes reveal the rich experience of the author's time spent in Canada, Rome and Papua New Guinea. In his book, Fr. Mike shares with the reader the challenge of a life of service, related in a down home style that is unpretentious, humorous and often deeply passionate. (Paperback, 159 pages).

Price: $20.00 CAD

Libermann Day - February 2nd, 2010

Feb. 2, 1852

SURVIVING DISCOURAGEMENT
by Fr. Bernard Kelly, CSSp

Spiritan Missionary News
Vol. 26, No. 3, August 2002

Death of François Libermann at about 3:45pm, while the community is singing the Magnificat of the Vespers of the feast of the Purification. Père Ignace Schwindenhammer takes over as interim Superior General as Vicar General of the Congregation.

There were many sudden turnings in Francis Libermann's life. Brought up in a Jewish ghetto in Saverne, he went through a crisis of faith at the time of his rabbinical studies at Metz. At the age of 24, he was baptized a Catholic in Paris. He entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice but the onset of epilepsy seemed to close the door on his hopes of becoming a priest. The Sulpicians were kind to him and gave him welcome at their house at Issy, where he did odd jobs and went to Paris frequently on messages. Sometimes a feeling of rejection swept over him, he found it hard to accept the hopelessness of his situation.

The nobleman who was asked what he did during the French Revolution and replied " I survived" was reporting no mean achievement. Today, in an age of "disposables"' survival is also an achievement. Amid the pressure of the modern world, the prospect of our same, everyday, average life stretching out before us sometimes blurs the importance of survival. It was when Liberian's interest in survival was at its lowest that most hung in the balance. In his temptation to suicide he could not have guessed that the most creative part of his life was still to come. Ten years later, when God wanted a missionary leader, Libermann was still around, now with special qualities that had developed in the dark days; courage and compassion and a refusal to be overcome by discouragement.

Libermann regarded discouragement as " the universal evil" in the Christian life. This was not a theory that he plucked from the sky, but a truth that he learned the hard way. From personal experience he knew the havoc that discouragement could wreak. The momentum of his personal life had been cruelly halted by the onset of epilepsy. He experienced contradictions and failure on the way to establishing his missionary society. In Rome in 1840, his partner in the enterprise became discouraged and abandoned the project.

The following extracts from Libermann's letters to the Superior of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception (Castres), in August of 1843, reflect the attitude of a realist at war with discouragement. Faced with a world where good and evil grow together, Libermann saw that encouragement could not take the shape of indiscriminate affirmation. At the same time, he advocates pushing tolerance and gentleness to the limit in the service of encouragement. Encouragement heals because it reaches the heart. Encouragement liberates, it enables a person to give all that he or she has to give.

"Always remember that gentleness and persuasion penetrate into the soul, while firmness and rigour cause only an external change. Severity and direct opposition to people's evil dispositions serve merely to break them; it almost never leads to a cure. Tolerate the evil for a long time, and if, at times, you think you ought not to suffer it any longer, suffer it still, and you will see in the end that you did the right thing. You will find that you will hardly ever see happy results from severity and direct opposition.

Remember what I told you in Paris; many people are lost through discouragement. This is the universal evil especially among the devout. Sustain and encourage and you will see that Our Lord will come to your assistance."

Libermann remains to this day a model for us in times of hurt, disappointment, rejection and discouragement.

Francis Libermann stained glass, Saverne, France

Death of Fr. Francis Libermann

"At half past three in the afternoon, as I told you yesterday, our dear Father was almost unconscious, apparently seeing and hearing nothing. This lasted until two this afternoon. Suddenly, he woke up and opened his eyes. He was shown a crucifix and we said to him, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph... In manus tuas Domine, commendo spiritum meum". He saw, understood and was transformed. It was very beautiful. We were convinced that he had had some sort of vision. They began the Magnificat in the chapel and he expired".

(Schwindenhammer).

Spiritan Anniversary Diary
Published by
The Generalate of
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit
2002
p. 40