A
Reflection on Mission
by
Fr. Anthony Gittins, CSSp
SMN,
Vol. 20, # 1
Spiritan
Father Anthony Gittins describes himself as one who
"tries to be a missioner in Chicago after previously trying
to be a missioner in Sierra Leone, West Africa." He teaches
theological anthropology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and
works with Genesis House, a program for the Homeless.
Are
you a missioner?
"Well, I support missionaries through prayer and sacrifice,"
you might answer. And missionaries in the field will tell you their
efforts wouldn't go very far without that vital support. But, in
addition to that, our baptism invites us to be truly missionary in
the way we live each day. We are called to be people who make daily
efforts to announce the Good News of Jesus. Any baptized person,
therefore, who is not "missionary" is not yet fully Christian.
Imagine
yourself for a moment as a missioner not necessarily doing exotic
things thousands of miles from home, but perhaps helping at a
neighbourhood shelter for homeless people or a soup kitchen. That or
a similar activity could be a measure of your missionary, and
therefore your Christian, commitment. Let's explore this.
'Mission'
and 'Mass' come from the same Latin word meaning 'to send'. At the
close of each Mass, the Church sends us forth to continue the saving
work of Christ in the world. Just as blessing ourselves with holy
water as we enter a church reminds us of our baptism, blessing
ourselves as we leave Mass should remind us of our mission.
Missioners:
overseas and at our doorstep
In
years past, the Church linked Jesus' command to "Go, teach all
nations and baptize them," with axioms such as "Outside the
Church, no salvation." This inspired Catholics to send out waves
of missioners, convinced that eternal damnation awaited those who
died without 
baptism.
Throughout history several occurrences created new bursts of
enthusiasm for mission that challenged the church to broaden its
understanding of itself and its mandate to "announce the good
news". First, the 'discovery' of the New World meant missioners
had to be sent out to bring Christianity to the inhabitants of these
lands. Second, some of the people encountered, far from being blank
slates open to Christianity, practised ancient and sophisticated
religions. These people were not always thrilled to see and listen to
missioners, no matter how well intentioned, whose message of 'Good
News' too often brought gun toting colonizers and deadly diseases.
And third, those waves of mission enthusiasm eventually waned,
sometimes followed by centuries of neglect or lack of interest in evangelization.
In
the 30 years since the Second Vatican Council, our understanding of
our faith, mission and the mercy of God has matured. We now recognize
better that God's great gift of salvation is not confined to members
of a parlicular church. This, coupled with a greater respect for
religious diversity, has caused some Catholics to question whether
the burst of mission fervour begun earlier this century has not run
its course. Still others wonder whether the waning interest in
convert-making today is because the Church has changed too much and
that we have thrown out the evangelizing baby with the baptismal
water. Some argue that reinterpreting evangelization is yet another
example of the post-Vatican II Church 'watering down' former
teachings. A closer look, however, reveals that evangelization still
remains at the heart of the Christian agenda, but in a fuller, richer
light and undertaken in a different spirit.
Evangelizaition:
Jesus' job description
If
we take a closer look at Jesus' saving work, how he revealed God's
love and what he calls us to do as his followers, we see it comprises
four essential elements: Proclamation, witness, dialogue and liberation.
PROCLAMATION,
Pope Paul VI declares, "There is no true evangelization if the
name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom, and the
mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not
proclaimed". We should not confuse 'proclamation' with
'proselytizing'. Proselytizing has connotations of brainwashing,
aimed at gaining converts, paying scant respect to personal freedom,
and presuming that any coercive end justifies the salvific means.
Conversely, proclamation gently yet firmly announces the message
while showing the greatest respect for others' thoughts, beliefs and
freedom. We, like Mary, must proclaim to all God's greatness and love
(Luke 1:46-55) and what God has done for us. All the baptized are
called to proclaim this good news, this Gospel.
WITNESS.
There has to be a certain "fit" between what a person says
and what a person does. Jesus not only spoke about God's love but his
life constantly and consistently bore witness to it. It makes little
sense to say we believe in God,..and in Jesus Christ, unless our
lives show we are Christian. The word 'martyr' comes from the Greek
for witness. We are called, in a real sense, to be martyrs for our
faith -not necessarily to die for it, but certainly to live for it.
Jesus did not baptize; rather, he evangelized by proclaiming and by
the witness of his entire life to the unconditional love and
compassionate forgiveness of God.
DIALOGUE.
Jesus often spoke with non-Jews, going so far as to declare that the
faith of a Roman centurion surpassed that of any in Israel (Matt.
8:10) Dialogue with those of other faiths should not threaten us, or
them. "The Catholic Church rejects nothing which is true and
holy in these (non-Christian) religions. ... (They) often reflect a
ray of that Truth which enlightens all persons." (Vatican II)
History is filled with shameful accounts of so-called Christians
condemning and destroying others - all in the name of the God of love
- if they refused baptism or believed differently. In his recent
apostolic letter on the approach of the third millennium, Pope John
Paul II explicitly calls upon the Church as a whole to repent of such
intolerance and violence. Dialogue in the spirit of Jesus demands
that each party be able to both speak and listen. Authentic dialogue
exists only when each party is willing to be changed. Ecumenism,
which began as a movement only in 1910, seeks to restore unity
through sincere dialogue and respectful collaboration between
Christians divided by denomination. Interfaith dialogue attempts
something similar but between Christians and members of different
world religions. Inter-religious dialogue involves the Christian with
any adherent of any religious system, no matter how small scale or
local. And even beyond that, there should be dialogue with all
persons of good will, whether agnostic or atheist.
LIBERATION.
Jesus defined his mission "to bring Good News to the poor,
liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the
downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord's year of favour" (Luke
4:18-19). "Liberty to captives", includes solidarity with
those in all kinds of addictive situations; "setting the
downtrodden free", includes all that empowers or ennobles the
broken-spirited; "giving new sight to the blind" embraces
offering vision, encouraging insight, helping remove blind spots.
No
exemptions
Of
course the four elements cannot always be practised at the same
time. At times they will be in tension, and sometimes one, sometimes
another will be emphasized, but they are not optional. There can
never be a 'watering down' of the Good News of salvation. Good News
wants to be told, needs to be told, must be told. All Christians, by
virtue of baptism, are called, commissioned and sent to evangelize,
to build God's realm of justice and peace No Christian is exempt, for
that would deny our identity. It is up to the Christian community to
see that its members evangelize, each according to his or her gifts
and abilities.
Where
are today's missioners?
Mission
still means 'being sent', but we no longer limit this to the purely
geographic sense of going to a foreign country. Mission today has no
borders, no particular geographic location, but is among us and
around us wherever we are.
In
Boston no less than in Bangladesh, in Edmonton no less than in
Ethiopia, Christ still needs a voice, a pair of hands, a life of
witness: yours.
See
the work of Brother Theo in Papua New Guinea
Read
about the Spiritans in Africa
Read
about the Spiritans in Mexico
Welcome to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members, founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your prayers. May God bless you.
