CREATIVE FIDELITY TO THE MISSION
2. A Look at the Present: The “signs of the times” which challenge the Congregation of the Mission today
Context:
There are varied Signs of the Times at the different national and international levels of our world. Every Continent, has its own challenges and difficulties to face. The same can be said about the challenges and opportunities of the worldwide Catholic Church. The world in its turn is divided, generally speaking, into two: developed and developing countries. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find common challenges and possible solution for both at the same time. Following the lead of the provinces, some of the challenges and opportunities for each “world” are mentioned below.
Synthesis of Provincial Assemblies:
The positive and negative “signs of times” of the developed countries:
- The positive “signs of the times” are:
- globalization and very fast communication;
- solidarity;
- a generous welcome of refugees;
- a call for cultural understanding and religious pluralism due to the rapid spread of non-Christian religions and sects.
- The negative “signs of the times”are:
- consumerism;
- relativism;
- silent secularism;
- loss of meaning (that is, the meaninglessness of life);
- lack of vocations;
- mass immigration as a matter of concern in some countries.
The positive and negative “signs of times” in the developing countries:
- The positive “signs of the times” are:
- the Catholic Church is experiencing rapid growth with a good number of vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life (Africa-Asia and Latin America);
- people are much more interested in faith and thirsty for the Word of God;
- an eager longing for peace, justice and evangelical freedom;
- The negative “sign of the times” are:
- youth are forced to flee their countries and illegally immigrate with appalling consequences of exhaustion, death, hiding out, stress and uncertainty of every kind; the refugee crises is a major phenomenon today;
- an unclear political life, lawlessness, human rights’ abuses, and the reality of so many prisoners, tortures, mass killings, and disappearance of citizens;
- the rapid spread of sects especially in Africa and Latin America;
- in some places, no peace or security, no legal recourse; only corruption, bribery, and nepotism;
- weak social services especially in the areas of education and health care;
- people come to know ethnic and tribal violence, religious fundamentalism (Islamic, Hindu, Christian), cultural and linguistic clashes and superstition.
Meeting these challenges and difficulties in a creative and innovative way demands that the Congregation of the Mission acts:
- to ensure a sound and solid formation for its incoming candidates, and, through ongoing formation programs, updates its member and encourages them to be skilled evangelizers;
- to provide an effective and creative response to the refugee crises;
- to be creative in building upon the good of the past which remains effective in the present–some of our ministries and institutions are powerful resources which must be properly valued and employed and re-oriented;
- to develop a concrete national and international networks of cooperation among the CM Provinces–internal and inter-provincial reconfiguration is one form of this exercise;
- to respond as a 21st Century community to the needs of the poor while avoiding the over-structured reality of the Congregation which can discourage creativity;
- to promote alternative education which emphasizes character building;
- to promote creative leadership wherever it can be found; this leadership can, for example, collaborate effectively with NGO’s to eradicate diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, etc;
- to be open, sensitive, and responsive to new contexts and situations, and to plan, execute, evaluate and celebrate with people whom we serve and collaborate with;
- to make “organized charity” the target of an effective and creative ministry to promote justice, peace, and the integrity of all creation;
- to empower the poor as masters of their own destiny.