Fr. Alfredo Becerra Vázquez, C.M.
Rome, January 2007

In this year, 2007, we are celebrating 390 years since the foundation of the Congregation of the Mission. St. Vincent founded it fort the evangelization of the Poor and the formation of the Clergy. Today the Congregation has defined its end in the following way: “The purpose of the Congregation of the Mission is to follow Christ evangelizing the Poor.”
We are called to configure our persons and our life to that of Jesus Christ. “In this vocation we live in a way that is conformed to our Lord Jesus Christ who apparently, when he came into this world, chose as his principal task to help and care for the poor. «Misit me evangelizare pauperibus»”.
St. Vincent stressed to his missionaries the importance of an integral commitment on behalf of the poor: “If there are some among us who believe that they are in the Mission to evangelize the poor and not to care for them, to meet their spiritual needs, and not their temporal needs, I would say to them that we have to help them and assure that they are helped by all means, by ourselves and by others… To do this is to evangelize by word and deed; it is the most perfect way; and it is what our Lord practiced”.
Our spirit

There are two articles in our Constitutions that are key for a better understanding of our spirit:
“Therefore, the spirit of the Congregation comprises those intimate personal attitudes of Christ which our Founder recommended to the members from the beginning: love and reverence towards the Father, compassionate and effective love for the poor, and docility to divine providence” (Const. 6).
“The Congregation, furthermore, tries to express its spirit in five virtues drawn from its own special way of looking at Christ, namely, simplicity, humility, gentleness, mortification, and zeal for souls. Speaking of these five virtues, St. Vincent said: “The Congregation should pay special attention to developing and living up to these five virtues so that they may be, as it were, the faculties of the soul of the whole Congregation, and that everything each one of us does may always be inspired by them” (Common Rules, II, 14)” (Const. 7)
How many and where we are

In 2005 the Congregation consisted of 3,419 incorporated members: 31 bishops, 3,096 priests, 168 brothers, and 52 students of philosophy and theology (who have made vows).
We work in more than 80 countries. We are organized into 48 Provinces, 3 Vice-provinces and 3 International Missions. We are present on 5 continents:
In Africa we have five Provinces and one Vice-province. The Provinces are: Ethiopia, Congo (with the region of Belgium), Madagascar, Nigeria and St. Justin de Jacobis (Eritrea). The Vice-province is: Mozambique.
In America we have 18 Provinces, 1 Vice-province and 1 International Mission. The Provinces are: Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama), Argentina (including Paraguay and Uruguay also), Brazil-Rio de Janeiro, Brasil-Curitiba, Brazil-Fortaleza, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico (including Dominican Republic and Haiti), USA-MidWest, USA-Western, USA-New England, USA-Southern, USA-Eastern and Venezuela. The Vice-province is Costa Rica. The International Mission is in El Alto, Bolivia.
In Asia we have 6 Provinces: China, Philippines, India-Southern, India-Northern, Indonesia and Orient (including Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and Syria).
In Europe we have 18 Provinces and one Vice-province: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain-Barcelona, Spain-Madrid, Spain-Salamanca, Spain-Zaragoza, France-Paris, France-Toulouse, the Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Italy-Naples, Italy-Rome, Italy-Turin, Poland and Portugal. The Vice-province is Saints Cyril and Methodius (Ukraine).
In Oceania we have only one Province and two International Missions. The Province is Australia. And the International Missions are: the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
In the countries where there are two or more Provinces (Brazil, Spain, the United States, France, Italy) the Visitors and their Councils meet regularly to coordinate the apostolates that they are able to undertake together and to carry out common projects (houses of formation, popular missions, spiritual retreats, etc.).
Conferences of Visitors and Provinces have been organized by continents: in Latin America (CLAPVI), in Europe (CEVIM), in Africa and Madagascar (COVIAM), in Asia and the Pacific (APVC) and in the United States (NVC). They meet periodically to organize activities in common: meetings on formation and pastoral work, etc. The Daughters of Charity and laity of the Vincentian Family also participate in some of these initiatives.
SIEV and CIF

In order to promote Vincentian studies there have been founded: first, the International Secretariat for Vincentian Studies (SIEV) that offers “Vincentian months” of specialization for the confreres in general, for young members working in formation and for the Directors of the Daughters of Charity. We also have the St. Vincent de Paul International Formation Center (CIF) whose headquarters are in Paris and to which the Provinces send confreres for their Vincentian recycling.
Actually, a history of the Congregation of the Mission is also being written.
Our tasks according to the Constitutions and Statutes

We evangelize the poor by means of popular missions (Const. 14), today above all in parishes (Stat. 10); we also have many missions ‘ad gentes” (Const. 16), each Province should accept at least one mission in a poor country or where the Church is not yet sufficiently established (Stat. 5).
The Congregation, after the General Assembly of 1992, has begun new missions in Eastern Europe (Albania and the Ukraine, then Siberia and Lithuania), in Tanzania, in the Solomon Islands, and in Bolivia; it has strengthened the provinces of Cuba and China (in Taiwan missionaries are prepared for China) and the Vice-province of Mozambique.
In the preaching of popular missions and in the missions ad gentes, we frequently count on the collaboration of the Daughters of Charity and many lay volunteers inspired by the spirit of Saint Vincent. Among these volunteers some vocations emerge for the Daughters of Charity and for the Congregation of the Mission.
We have seminaries for the formation of the clergy (Const. 15). The Superior General receives many requests from bishops of mission countries who have few or no native clergy. There are many confreres named for the spiritual assistance of the Daughters of Charity, either as provincial directors or as preachers for their retreats, as confessors and chaplains. “Since the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity share the same heritage, members should willingly give them assistance when asked, especially in the matter of retreats and spiritual direction. They should also show a brotherly spirit of cooperation in those works which have been undertaken together.” (Const. 17).
We are advisors for lay Vincentians: “Lay associations founded by St. Vincent and those which are inspired by his spirit should be of special concern to our members, since they have the right to our presence and to our support.” (Stat. 7) In this sense we work with the International Association of Charity in different countries, with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, with the Vincentian Marian Youth, the Association of the Miraculous Medal, with Lay Vincentian Missionaries (MISEVI) and other groups of Vincentian inspiration.
In some countries education in schools is a much needed apostolate to which many missionaries are dedicated, from the primary level, as in India, to university studies in the Philippines and the United States (Stat. 11).
Challenges for the future

In the last General Assembly (2004), the Congregation of the Mission identified three challenges: to revitalize our vocation, to revitalize our pastoral activity and to revitalize our community life. Lines of action have been drawn up by the different conferences of visitors in order to define these commitments. These will be evaluated in the next General Assembly (2010).
Best wishes to all the members of the Congregation of the Mission. May God bless you in your apostolic works and confirm you all in your Vincentian vocation each day in the service and evangelization of the poor.