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Mission and Economics
Fear No Evil: A Missionary Response to Polarization
By Don McCrabb
In Northern Virginia, parents have come to school board meetings to protest “critical race theory” as a part of the curriculum.
A group of social workers developed some anti-racism resources and would like USCMA to put them on our website.
Our Sunday Visitor published an editorial on “wokeism” and concluded: “When Catholics approach society through a proper understanding of Catholic social teaching, any ideological call to ‘stay woke’ pales in comparison.” The editors go on to observe, “as our society and Church have become more polarized, the phrases ‘Catholic social teaching’ and ‘social justice’ themselves have become politicized and fallen prey to ideology.”
Jesus sends us “to the ends of the earth,” instructs us to make disciples of all nations, to baptize, to teach baptized disciples to “observe all that I have commanded of you,” and promises that he will be with us, “always, until the end of the age.”
The missionary is a missionary disciple sent by the Church, to a people, to do the missionary work of the Church. The missionary work of the Church is to serve, proclaim, and witness God’s reign of love, salvation, and justice. Missionaries are first and foremost with and for others—in their context, for their well-being—so that they, in the fullness of their own dignity and freedom as one created in the image and likeness of God, will be with and for Jesus.
Polarization in U.S. culture is an evil we need not fear. Missionaries embrace reality no matter how horrible. They embrace, rather than fear it, because they believe in the reconciling power of God.
USCMA grieves with our Precious Blood brothers and sisters as they mourn the death of their brother, Roger Schreiter. We also remember and celebrate his life and service as a missionary. One of his many contributions to mission was in reconciliation. His book, The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies (Orbis Books, 1998) was the basis of USCMA’s theme of reconciliation in 2019. Missionaries long for peace, and work for justice, but when justice fails, they seek reconciliation.
Bob’s colleagues, Robert Schroeder, and Steve Bevans, in their book Constants in Context, capture his belief in reconciliation: “In the midst of unspeakable violence, unbearable pain and indelible scars on people’s memory, the church as God’s minister of reconciliation proclaims that in Christ and in his community, healing is possible.”
Reconciliation is the final service, proclamation, and witness of the missionary. The missionary, in the name of the Church, gathers victims, wrongdoers, survivors, bystanders, neighbors, God, the dead, and future generations in a safe place with prayer and faith in the mercy of God.
Critical race theory is not evil. It is a tool to help people in the United States—because context is so important to this issue—to see injustice and racism woven into the fabric of our laws and public institutions. As a tool it is limited. It can diagnose; it cannot prescribe. It can reveal the truth, but it cannot, of itself, reconcile. The missionary honors the truth and, with prayer and faith in the mercy of God, invites and evokes reconciliation. Missionaries applaud any effort to reveal the roots of racism in our society, always keeping Jesus and his redemptive model—to save the world rather than condemn it—at the forefront.
A missionary Church needs to be with and for others—first the victim and the survivor but also the wrongdoer, the bystander, the dead, and the future generations. A missionary Church affirms anything that is good, true, or beautiful and completes it with the truth of the Gospel.
Pope Francis, in his reflection on the parable of the Good Samaritan in Fratelli Tutti, underscores the spirituality of the missionary. “Jesus trusts in the best of the human spirit; with his parable, he encourages us to persevere in love, to restore dignity to the suffering and to build a society worthy of the name.” (71)
Bob knew that reconciliation was the ultimate service of the missionary and as such, it takes the missionary to the periphery of every society. Even our own. The missionary does not seek to condemn but to engage. We can see in “wokeism” an opportunity for encounter and conversation. With critical race theory, it can be an invitation to dialogue and the possibility of common cause. If the Church is to be a field hospital, then it needs to be “in the field” where the women and men of this age wrestle with their hopes and dreams, their grieves and anxieties.
The new frontier for the missionary Church may not be a distant land but the peripheries of our own society – from the devastation and deprivation of the streets to the isolation and privilege of corporate America. Missionaries seek to restore the dignity of the victim and the conscience of the wrong doer and bring them together in peace.
This means, of course, that a missionary Church confesses its own participation in evil through its commitment to truth and its belief in the mercy of God. Yes, we have sinned. We have been asleep as racism has woven itself into the fabric of our social systems. We have circled the wagons when we should be out in the streets standing with and for the victims of injustice. Too often we are obsessed with the purity of our dogma and pass by the smelly mess of human suffering.
Yet, we fear no evil and rise with a prayer and faith in the mercy of God to serve, proclaim, and witness to his reign of love, salvation, and justice.
The Mission of Saint Joseph
By Dr. Donald R. McCrabb
Pope Francis declared 2021 the “year of St. Joseph.” In his apostolic letter, Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart), the Holy Father recognizes the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St. Joseph as the patron of the Catholic Church, the reflections other popes have offered on St. Joseph, the devotion this beloved saint has evoked in the faithful, and humanity’s need for “the father’s heart,” especially during the trying days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this brief reflection, I want to explore the “mission” of St. Joseph so that all missionaries – from those who give a handful of hours to mission through their parish to the women and men who dedicate years, even their whole lives, to mission – will see in St. Joseph inspiration, support, and accompaniment for mission.
A missionary is a missionary-disciple who is sent by God, through the Church, to do the missionary work of the Church. While we usually think of a missionary as going off to a foreign land, missionaries serve in our neighborhoods, cities, and across the country, as well as around the world. The mission of St. Joseph can be seen through four places that this “minister of salvation” went to serve “the person and mission of Jesus directly through the exercise of his fatherhood.”
The story of Joseph – and I refer to him by his given name to encounter first the man who becomes the saint – begins in Bethlehem where he lives (the Gospel of St. Matthew) or where he travels to in compliance with the Roman census (the Gospel of St. Luke). Bethlehem is the place of dreams, of discernment, of wrestling with God’s will while suffering the oppression of Rome. Bethlehem is the place of birth, it is where Joseph becomes a father, where he welcomes the three wisemen, where he rises to “take the child and his mother” and flees to Egypt to protect them from the evil of Herod.
Joseph’s mission takes him from his native country to provide for the well-being of Jesus and Mary. He is decisive and courageous leaving “by night.” Obedient to the will of the Father, Joseph “stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” (Matthew 2:15). Joseph dwelt in the land of Egypt to establish his young family in safety and to fulfill the scripture.
According to the Gospel of St. Luke, Joseph goes to Jerusalem multiple times. After Jesus is born, circumcised, and named, Joseph and Mary “took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” Joseph and Mary are clearly partners in the unfolding of Jesus’ mission to Jerusalem. Together, they heard the witness of Simeon and received his blessing. They would take Jesus “each year” to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. Then, when Jesus was 12, they could not find him “among their relatives and acquaintances,” so they traveled back to Jerusalem and, after three days, found him in the Temple “sitting in the midst of the teachers.”
All who heard Jesus were “astonished at his understanding and his answers.” Similarly, Joseph and Mary “were astonished.” Joseph witnessed Jesus embrace his mission, to “be in my Father’s house,” and to teach the teachers of the temple. The obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary in Nazareth points to the formation they provided him so he could “advance in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
Finally, there is Nazareth. According to St. Matthew, Joseph was warned in a dream not to go back to Judea but decides to go to “the region of Galilee.” Joseph chooses Nazareth as the town where he will care for the “child and his mother.” In making that decision, Joseph fulfills what was spoken through the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazorean.” Nazareth is the place of the “hidden years” of Jesus’ life but clearly the place where he would grow into adulthood. Nazareth is the “longest mile” of Joseph’s mission. It is a time of work – not just labor but craftsmanship, perhaps even artistry. It is a time when Joseph, presumably, taught Jesus how to be a carpenter as well as the religious traditions of his people. We know that Jesus could read and write – something that Joseph and Mary must have taught him.
Nazareth is also the place, we presume, where Joseph died. We know very little about the transition for Jesus – when he left home to find John the Baptist at the Jordan. We do not know if Joseph died before or after Jesus left. All four gospels attest to Jesus as a Nazorean and that he was the “son of a carpenter.” We do know that when Jesus begins his mission, only Mary accompanies him through those years to his death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph was a missionary. He heard and obeyed God’s word, he went where he was sent and “dwelt” where he was planted, and above all else, he loved Mary and Jesus. The mission of Joseph, as for every missionary, is to bring Jesus to the world. Through Joseph’s betrothal to Mary, his obedience to a God who reveals himself in dreams, his courage, his craftsmanship, and his fatherhood, Jesus could “save his people from their sins.”
Saint John Paul II said, “Saint Joseph was called by God to serve the person and mission of Jesus directly through the exercise of his fatherhood” and that in this way, “he cooperated in the fullness of time in the great mystery of salvation and is truly a minister of salvation” (as quoted in Patris Corde, page 6 )
In a recent address to seminarians (June 10, 2021), Pope Francis addressed their formators. “May they learn more from your life than from your words, as happened in the house of Nazareth, where Jesus was formed at the school of Joseph’s ‘creative courage.’”
Saint Joseph, minister of salvation, spouse of Mary, father to Jesus, Patron of the Church, Patron of Workers, Guardian of the Redeemer, Creative Courage, Shadow of the Father, pray for us.
Donald R. McCrabb is the Executive Director of the United States Catholic Mission Association.
Conscience and Vaccine Acceptance
By Dr. Donald R. McCrabb
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Conscience is a judgement of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he [or she] is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed.” (CCC 1778).
When faced with the question of whether to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, a person must decide if the vaccine is good or bad. It may seem silly, but it is good to step back and consider how we make moral decisions. Get the facts, weigh the benefits and risks, pray, decide, and act. As Catholics, we are concerned about our own health and well-being, as well as that of our families, neighbors, and everyone in the world.
As of this writing, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, more than 559,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States and 2.8 million worldwide. It has disproportionately affected the elderly, people of color, and those with preexisting health conditions.
There are now three vaccines available in the United States and more are on the way. The vaccine, coupled with continuing to wear a mask and observe other precautions such as social distancing and hand washing, is the best way to avoid getting the virus, according to healthcare professionals. Both Pope Francis—who has called the vaccine “the moral choice”—and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops have stressed the value of getting the vaccine, both for our own good and the good of others.
Still, we hear of friends and family members who are hesitant to get the vaccine and even of some who are hostile to it.
One of the controversies is the use of cell lines scientists created last century from the remains of an aborted baby. Pope Francis, and the US Bishops, have taken this reality into consideration. A group of pro-life scholars issued a statement through The Ethics and Public Policy Center that affirms the moral acceptability of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
You also need to know yourself. Perhaps you have a medical condition that may make you question the wisdom of receiving the vaccine. It is always best to consult with your doctor if you are not sure.
Of course, there is more to you than your own medical history. Have you developed a bias against the vaccine? Do you mistrust the medical experts because people you are close to speak poorly of them, or political or religious leaders you follow have spoken against them?
The work of conscience is to examine the facts for yourself. The vaccines have become a political issue and we need to see through partisan posturing and make a moral decision before God and God alone.
Saint John Henry Newman said, “Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.” It is our responsibility to gather the relevant information and to make an act of conscience. We may still have questions, and we may not be absolutely sure – because we fear we do not have all the facts – but we must make a decision and be confident that we considered the moral issues to the best of our ability.
Need a refresher on conscience formation? Consider this video by Catholic Central for a youth and young adult audience. The bishops have also published an article on conscience formation that you may find helpful. The discussion on conscience in the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be found here.
At the end of the day, you must decide. A moral decision is a decision we make before God, for our good and the good of others.
Donald R. McCrabb is the Executive Director of the United States Catholic Mission Association.
Thoughts on Animation
By Sr. Nancy Schramm, OSF, and Dr. Donald R. McCrabb
During the February Accompaniment & Solidarity gathering of USCMA members and friends, Nancy shared thoughts on a series of questions about animation. In the end, she focused on two:
- How do we awaken, engage, and sustain the faithful in mission?
- How do we keep our own enthusiasm for mission burning brightly?
Nancy saw that these questions are essentially two sides of the same coin: How goes it with my missionary spirituality?
Opening her reflections, Nancy described animation as meaning “to enliven.” It is our enthusiasm for mission. It is rooted, and fed, from the very core of our being .
In October 1978, Nancy served as a missionary in Brazil and told us a delightful story of her adjustments to the weather. She arrived in October; the rainy season begins in December and ends in June. As April arrived, Nancy was sick of the constant rain. Little sun. Moldy shoes. Clothes that wouldn’t dry after washing. It was depressing! When she complained to a friend, a Redemptorist priest, he replied, “But don’t you see, Nancy? Rain is the blessings that God showers on us.”
Something changed for Nancy. She began to see the rain—and her life and mission—with new eyes.
We see this same dynamic in the Gospel of Luke (10:17–20). The 72 had just returned from their short-term mission trip, rejoicing. “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name,” they say. Jesus wants them to see mission with new eyes and says, “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Echoing these words, Nancy proclaimed, “Our names are written in heaven.” We are collaborating with God in the unfolding of his kingdom or, as Nancy likes to say, God’s “kindom” because we are all “kin” to one another.
Nancy sees these themes picked up and expanded on by Pope Francis in Joy of the Gospel. In a section titled “Temptations Faced by Pastoral Workers” (paragraphs 76–109), Pope Francis affirms all the good done by pastoral workers. “The pain and the shame we feel at the sins of some members of the Church, and at our own, must never make us forget how many Christians are giving their lives in love.” Pope Francis goes on to embrace the challenges of “a missionary spirituality” while recognizing “particular temptations.”
Nancy’s reflections and insights stimulated a lively conversation among the participants. Don offers these take suggestions based on those conversations.
- We know how to mobilize our energy for mission—we do this whenever we prepare for a mission talk or mission appeal. We think about our audience, we gather our stories, we reflection on Scripture, we pull together insights from mentors, saints, and theologians. We take the time to craft our talk so the light of mission shines brightly.
- We know the importance of prayer to keep us connected—“tapped in” as some would say—to Jesus. He is the vine, and we are the branches. We should never tire of going back, repeatedly, 1,440 times a day (the number of minutes in 24 hours), into God’s inexhaustible love for us and for every person on the planet.
- Sometimes it is helpful to remember our childlike joy. Those moments in our lives when we were arrested—our breath literally taken away—by beauty, or when the horizons of our minds and hearts were expanded by truth, or we found ourselves jubilant—literally beside ourselves—over goodness. The glory of God is humanity fully alive. This is the energy, the core, the divine spark within us, that fuels our enthusiasm for mission.
- We must also be realistic and humble. There are blocks to our joy. Sin, routine, fear, ego, relativism, selfishness, creature comforts—the list can go on and on. Here Pope Francis provides us with a simple prayer of contrition. “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.”
Sr. Nancy Schramm, OSF was elected by the USCMA Board of Directors to serve as President in March 2019.
Donald R. McCrabb, D. Min., is the Executive Director of the United States Catholic Mission Association.
Disciples of Christ, the Peacemaker
By William P. Gregory
“In many families, in many communities, in parishes too, there is war!”
~ Pope Francis, Angelus, January 4, 2015
Jesus passes on to his followers his mission of reconciliation. He calls us all to be peacemakers (Mt 5:9), a leaven of unity in our fractured world. At this time, as conflicts of many kinds rend our nation, divide our Church, and strain many of our relationships, how can we respond with generosity to Jesus’ call?
This is a question Pope Francis has reflected upon deeply. He observes that “all the wars, all the strife, all the unsolved problems over which we clash are due to a lack of dialogue” (Address, August 21, 2013). If we want peace, therefore, we must draw near to those with whom we differ and seek to speak with them.
How do we do this as Christians? According to Pope Francis, we first have to recognize “the sacred grandeur of our neighbor” (Evangelii Gaudium 92). The person with whom we differ is one whom God never fails to gaze at with infinite tenderness. To all God’s beloved children, regardless of how they have lived or what they believe, God says: “Come to my house, enter my heart. My heart welcomes you. It wants to hear you” (Address, August 17, 2014). We must strive to view all others in that same light.
Second, engaging in dialogue means standing ready to receive something valuable from the other person. God “places in everyone a seed of his goodness” (Jubilee Audience, October 22, 2016) and so “whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new about God” (Evangelii Gaudium 272). We therefore need to make room for others in our hearts with meekness, openness, and a firm commitment to listen. This does not mean setting aside our convictions but rather being humble enough to be challenged by them in ways we may not anticipate. Doing this fosters peace, for “the root of peace lies in the capacity to listen” (Angelus, July 17, 2016).
Third, in speaking with others, we must not argue but rather seek to persuade with gentleness. Our words and tone must be nonviolent. This is not easy, particularly when others’ words are crude, confrontational, or express positions that trouble us deeply. But “to be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his teaching about nonviolence” (Message, January 1, 2017). Without giving up our convictions, we have to show that the other person is worth more to us than our own authentic certitudes (Address, November 10, 2015). Gentleness is the key to this.
Since it is natural for us to want to avoid conflicts as well as those who appear very different from ourselves, doing all of this requires courage and trust in God. We need to trust that God’s plan of unity for the human race is far greater and more powerful than all of our fears and divisions (Evangelii Gaudium 226–230). The fact is, we are all children of the same God and so there is always common ground to be uncovered with another person. More than that, there is growth and enrichment to be found in learning to step beyond ourselves.
Dialogue in practice never looks perfect, of course, for we are human. But with God’s help, every genuine effort can form a link in a chain of mutual understanding that gradually grows stronger over time. “By trying to understand the thinking of others, their experiences, their hopes, we can see more clearly our shared aspirations” (Address, July 11, 2015). And those shared aspirations will hold us together and form the basis of peace. “Are there differences? They remain to one side, to be looked at again later. But on those things that we are agreed, we are committed and we defend them. This is one step forward. This is the culture of encounter” (Address, July 11, 2015).
Unfortunately, there are some who are not inclined toward dialogue, peace, or the mutual respect that that is necessary to sustain just and harmonious relationships. In such instances, it may only be wordless or unexpected acts of care that can get through those defenses.
But we should never presume that dialogue would be fruitless. Likely, our own pride, anger, fear, or resistance to change present more immediate obstacles. But God, again, is greater than all these and gently encourages us to find our strength in God and to consider how we each may reflect God’s light outward in some small way. “God is peace” (Urbi et Orbi, December 25, 2013) and God is near.
Pope Francis reminds us that dialogue tears down walls of division and builds bridges of understanding. It creates fraternity and friendship and makes all people members of a single family. “For this reason, it is vital that it grow and expand between people of every condition and belief, like a net of peace that protects the world and especially protects the weakest members” (Address, September 30, 2013). Let us listen, therefore, to how the Lord may be calling us to sow greater peace in our families, our workplaces, our churches, and in society at large.
Be the Bridge: Common Ground, Dialogue, and Truth
By Donald R. McCrabb, USCMA Executive Director
The temptation was to lead with judgement. My working title was “False Witness,” and it was going to be a reflection on how to engage – really challenge – people who firmly believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden. Then I remembered Jesus and one of our basic principles of missiology.
First, Jesus. He told us “judge not lest you be judged” and that the measure we use will be used against us. He also had something to say about logs and splinters in people’s eyes.
As missionaries, we seek out those on the periphery. We are with and for them in their context, not our context. Imagine walking into an alt-right gathering to begin a dialogue. This is very serious stuff: Some of us are convinced that Joe Biden stole the election and others are convinced that he won the election and is the legitimate President of the United States of America.
Rather than yelling at each other, staring each other down, or tossing talking points past each other, how can we enter an authentic dialogue and come to a common understanding of the truth? Let me offer a few ideas.
First, we must ensure safety, inclusion, and voice. The peace circle promoted by restorative justice may be a good model to use. We need to ensure the other that we are not here to hurt them, judge them, or to change their mind. We are here to be with and for them. Our primary goal is to establish a relationship of mutual trust and understanding.
Second, we need to encounter the other. We need to hear how they think of things, learn how they get their information, and how they come to their conclusions. We need to appreciate their “horizons of significance,” to borrow a concept from philosopher Charles Taylor, that they share with others. My son Martin wanted a pair of Air Jordans sneakers for his birthday because others, significant to him, value that style and brand of gym shoes. Changing horizons changes relationships.
Third, we need to establish a common ground. What can we agree on? Perhaps it begins with just some basic facts: that the Constitution gives the states the responsibility to conduct elections; that states conduct elections in different ways, but all states conduct their elections based on state law; that the mechanics of the elections are performed by paid and volunteer citizens of the state, and we must have some appreciation of their various roles.
Fourth, once some common ground has been established on how the elections operate in any given state, then we need to establish guidelines for identifying and validating complaints and accusations. We need to decide how we will determine if a complaint or accusation is credible; usually we expect some corroboration by two or three other sources.
Fifth, we can then begin to examine the election results and any complaints of fraud (a frequent complaint from the political right) and voter suppression (a frequent complaint from the political left) that might have occurred. The goal is to surface the complaint or the accusation and explore the evidence thereof. Can we agree on what happened?
Sixth, now the dialogue really begins to happen. We review what we have learned through this process and what we agree on. We also review the accusations (the breaking of law) and the complaints (errors, mistakes, etc.) and discern next steps. It would be good if all the parties could sign on to a statement of findings. What did we learn, agree upon, disagree upon, accept, and what actions need to be taken?
Seventh, once we have established shared truth, then we must agree to collaborate to act on what we have learned. Validated complaints require action – publication of what has been learned, a call for reform or improvement, the holding of workers (paid or volunteer) to account, exploring ways to eliminate these types of error in the future. Validated accusations must be taken to court because evidence has surfaced that the law has been violated.
As it is now, many of those left of center (Democrats and their progressive wing) have little or no compassion for those to the right of center (Republicans and their conservative wing). Seeing them as liars, idiots, or delusional will not build bridges. The reverse, too, is true. Seeing all Democrats, and those who favor the Democrats or oppose President Trump, as socialists, communists, and pedophiles will not build bridges, either.
This will be a hard and difficult process. It will require a good faith effort on all parties. In the end, it will clarify and revive what we expect of each other – that every citizen has a right to vote, that citizens must register to exercise that right to vote, that the state must make reasonable procedures to ensure that everyone who is registered to vote gets to vote, and that all votes are counted.
It would be unwise to predict the specific outcome of such a process; it will be different for each state. The promise, however, is a true experience of democracy. Through this process, partisan priorities are suspended to form a more perfect union built on a shared understanding of what is true, where the problems lie, and what, if any, laws have been broken.
Perhaps, as missionaries, we can become the bridge upon which these two groups could begin to meet, encounter one another, establish a common ground, dialogue, and collaborate with each other. What would it be like if, in every state, missionaries and other church leaders invited Republicans and Democrats together for a “truth and reconciliation” initiative? There are forces at play that want to divide our country – for political gain, profit, or both. If we truly want to be “We, the people” we must establish common ground, enter good faith dialogue, affirm the truth we have found together, and act on what we have found.
Mission & Migration
USCMA plans to hold its 2021 national conference in El Paso* to be in solidarity with the immigrant, the migrant, the refugee. With the theme Angels Unaware – Mission with People on the Move, the conference will be an opportunity to encounter others, learn about the peoples “on the move” around the world and in our neighborhoods, explore ways missionaries can respond, and envision more hospitable missionary communities.The theme is drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews (13:2): Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Angels Unawares is also a bronze sculpture by Timothy Schmalz installed in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican since September 29, 2019, the 105th World Migrant and Refugee Day. At its installation, Pope Francis said he wanted the sculpture “to remind everyone of the evangelical challenge of hospitality.”
The Church’s concern for the immigrant – for providing “a place in the inn” – is reinforced by Pope Francis in his recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti. The migrant, the immigrant, the refugee is first and foremost our sister or our brother. We and they share the same innate dignity before God. Consequently, they are gift, and they have inalienable rights. They have a right to find a place that meets their basic needs and those of their families.
Pope Francis outlines 15 concrete steps societies can implement immediately to welcome the stranger (Fratelli Tutti, paragraph 130). Many of these ideas require changes in public policy, such as simplifying the visa process. Others can be done on the local level, such as offering sponsorships or opening humanitarian corridors. Still others can be done by faith communities, such as providing temporary shelter, access to education, and promoting integration into society.
As Pope Francis reminds us, migrants need welcome, protection, promotion, and integration. What does this mean and what does it look like for our missionary communities, our dioceses and parishes, our volunteer programs, and our campus ministries?
Immigration was a key issue in the 2020 U.S. elections. As missionary disciples, we do not see politics, we see people – sisters and brothers made in the image of God. Regardless of how the incoming Biden Administration addresses immigration, or who controls Congress, as followers of Jesus, we want to welcome the stranger, be communities of peace, and be a collective voice for human dignity. We must act now on behalf of our migrant sisters and brothers even as we advocate for more long-term social and political change locally, within our states, and in our country. The Good Samaritan acted. He did not wait for the authorities.
This conference is an attempt to mobilize the Catholic community to see and encounter “angels” in our midst, to understand our moral and Christian obligation to them, and to discern how we will accompany them. Using the “see, judge, and act” methodology – also known as social analysis or the pastoral circle – faith communities will begin to see more clearly the people “on the move,” understand their own call to accompany them into society and towards citizenship and outline specific steps to welcome them.
Efforts to accompany the immigrant cannot be made in a vacuum nor in isolation. Efforts on behalf of migrants should be coordinated among countries and non-governmental organizations. People also have a right to integral human development within their home countries, which must address the policies and forces that cause so many of their own people to seek a better life elsewhere.
Mission with People on the Move was the USCMA theme for 2020 and continues to be the theme for 2021, as the needs of migrants have increased dramatically, the pandemic has complicated the Church’s outreach, and Pope Francis has underscored the importance of mission with and to migrants in Fratelli Tutti.
USCMA will continue to accompany the faithful as they use social analysis to discern their mission to migrants and grow in their understanding of the many challenges facing our brothers and sisters throughout the world. So much can be done in our parishes, religious communities, and through other missionary organizations.
*USCMA’s 2021 conference is planned for October 28–30 in El Paso, Texas. There are tentative plans to offer a border experience at the Columban Mission Center October 25–27, just before the conference begins. This immersion into the migrant experience awakens in us the compassion of the Good Samaritan. The needs of our sisters and brothers demand a response.
The USCMA Board of Directors is monitoring the spread of the coronavirus and the impact of the vaccines and will continue to follow the guidance of public health officials in determining whether it will be safe to hold an in-person meeting at that time. We will keep you apprised of developments throughout the year.
Regular updates and webinars on topics of interest to members will be offered through ENCOUNTER, on USCMA’s website, and through special emails. More importantly, members are encouraged to share interest and enthusiasm for mission and migration by writing me at [email protected].
Weaponizing Faith: A Post-Election Debrief
Recently, a handful of members came together for a post-election debrief. People talked about their feelings—of being on a roller coaster, worried, tense, depressed, sad, experiencing a trying time, and yes, even hopeful.
One person talked about “the Tuesday that lasted a week.” Another saw this as a time of death and rebirth, a “tomb and womb” experience. Some had to distance themselves from the news because it was driving them nuts. Others had flashbacks to other times, in other countries, where they witnessed similar “strongarm” tactics by dictators.
One participant shared a book they were reading, The Mind of Pope Francis, that provides an intellectual biography of the Holy Father. The author notes that when Jorge Bergoglio was newly ordained, there was significant conflict in Argentina. Both the right and the left weaponized the Catholic faith for their own political ends. The author argues that Pope Francis stresses unity over conflict, as one of his principles, because of this experience as well as the theological conviction that faith is meant to be incarnate and that our faith has unity as an end.
Another observation by the author is that Pope Francis emphasizes the periphery. In many ways, it is only the person speaking from the periphery—the missionary—who can truly speak for the common good because only she or he knows if the good in question is truly common or is reserved for the wealthy, the powerful, the few.
As I was writing this reflection, the presidential election was called for Joe Biden, four days after Election Day. He will be only the second Catholic to occupy the White House in the nation’s history. And yet Catholic voters appear to be as polarized as the general population. According to the AP VoteCast survey, Catholics made up 22 percent of the electorate and split their vote, with 50 percent going for Trump and 49 percent for Biden. White Catholics voted 57 percent for Trump, 42 percent for Biden. Hispanic Catholics voted 67 percent for Biden and 32 percent for Trump.
These numbers suggest that we as Catholics face significant challenges, including being fully present to the moment, not participating in division, and not allowing our faith to be weaponized.
Meghan Goodwin, the associate director of government relations for the USCCB, shared some of the bishops’ priorities as they prepare to meet the newly elected leaders coming to Washington in January. They are concerned about the effects of the coronavirus, access to health care, assistance for children and schools, support for those who are unemployed, the paycheck protection program, and the global poor. About a week after the election was called, the Holy Father called Mr. Biden to congratulate him on his victory. A Biden presidency could advance some of the Holy Father’s concerns, such as care for the poor, climate change, and migration. The other issues that also concern the U.S. Bishops include religious liberty and the rights of conscience, abortion, racial inequalities, and the economy.
The USCMA Board of Directors invited Catholic voters to make two decisions: the first was to determine which candidate they believe best aligns with the teachings of the Church; the second was how they plan to advocate for all Catholic values and beliefs regardless of which candidate wins the presidency and which party controls the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Perhaps it is time for missionaries, reflecting on Pope Francis’ call to “rediscover our vocation as citizens” (Fratelli Tutti, para 66), to do a thorough scan of our environment. Where do we currently reside? Who is on the periphery within a one-to-five-mile radius? Are we in relationship with them and, if not, are we called to be in relationship with them? Do we have relationships with Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives, working class and elites? Do we know the hopes and dreams, the griefs and anxieties that underscore their views of citizenship? Do we really have a personal relationship or are we totally dependent on “digital connectivity?”
USCMA is open to exploring the responsibilities of missionaries in their efforts to accompany Catholics & Citizens. There are several components to this initiative: knowing what is already in place, understanding more deeply the thought of Pope Francis and the larger corpus of Catholic Social Teaching on the vocation of the citizen, understanding the opportunities and challenges for missionaries, and exploring ways to learn with and from one another.
Please email me if you are interested in collaborating on this initiative.
Getting Our Hands Dirty with the Work of Compassion
Sister Nancy Roberta Schramm, OSFEssential to the life of any organization is contemplative time to reflect on mission: what is the spirit that moves us to be members of the USCMA and, of course, what is ours to do?
I need not repeat all of the challenges that we are facing because of these pandemic times. These past six months have changed all of us and our way of being in so many ways. We continue to pray for the many victims of Covid-19 and grow more fearful as the winter flu season quickly approaches. The political and social arenas for us as Americans and for the world are the most difficult ones that I have known. Deep wounds and grave evils in our society have shown their faces again and again, especially with the senseless murders of so many people of color; as they continue to occur, it is incomprehensible to our Christian hearts and minds. Our hearts also cry in solidarity with the people who have lost everything because of natural disasters, from the terrible hurricanes in the East to the unstoppable fires in the West.
This is our world of today. This is the world that USCMA must respond to and reach out to in order to be the presence of God’s love as we live the mission entrusted to us. Do you feel as overwhelmed as I do right now? Does the present reality seem to be beyond our capability to contribute a meaningful response?
I seek my inspiration for these questions from one of Pope Francis’ most recent talks, given September 12 to 250 members of the Laudato Si’ communities who were meeting in Rome. Francis uses two very important words, which I believe are in the hearts of every missionary that I have known, including in my own heart: contemplation and compassion. These are intrinsically part of our mission; as we contemplate our reality, the pains and struggles of all peoples, we grow in compassion and thus become co-creators of a new reality.
Robin Gomes, who writes for the Vatican News, summarized the Pope’s words:
Contemplation requires silence and prayer so that harmony, which is a healthy balance between head, heart and hands, or between thought, feeling and action, returns to the soul. Those who contemplate discover the tenderness of God’s gaze and that each one is important in the eyes of God. Each one can transform a little world polluted by human voracity into the good reality willed by the Creator. Those who contemplate, do not remain with their hands in their pockets, but instead find something tangible to do.
I see each one of us and the USCMA as embracing contemplation as a way to fulfill our mission. Through silence and prayer, a harmony is restored within us, one that does not allow us to simply lament the obvious wrongs while waiting for others to do something. Through contemplation, we discover the tenderness of God’s gaze, God’s love, and we are compelled to bring that love to others. That is our mission—not to remain with our hands in our pockets, but to do something tangible. We are compelled and strengthened by our own experience of God’s love to embrace actions that seek transformation of our world as willed by the Creator.
The second key word is compassion. Robin Gomes continues with the summary:
The fruit of contemplation, Pope Francis said, is compassion. We become compassionate when we see with the eyes of God and regard others as brothers and sisters of a single family living in the same house. God’s compassion is the opposite of our indifference and it is the best vaccine against the epidemic of indifference. The Pope said the world needs this “creative and active charity from people who do not stay in front of a screen making comments, but who are willing to get their hands dirty to remove degradation and restore dignity.” Having compassion is “choosing not to have any enemies” but to “see everyone as a neighbor.” How hard that is, especially today.
Seeing everyone as neighbor can break the pandemic of indifference. And again, we ask ourselves: How can the USCMA contribute to the transformation of a reality so extreme in its challenges? One thing I do know is that we need all of you, each member, to join us—the national board and the executive director—to develop actions that can make a difference. We cannot give excuses as did those who hurried past the beaten man who was robbed, but we must be like the Good Samaritan who bathed the man, found him a place to recover, left money to sustain this recovery and then promised to return to pay for anything that was needed. My mind and heart are moved by the symbolism of each of those Gospel lines in the parable and what they could mean to us as members of the USCMA and as individuals.
Let us call each other to collective action, not standing on the wayside with hands in pockets but getting our hands dirty, so that they become hands of compassion and transformation.
Thank you for being part of the USCMA and God bless you for giving your life to promote life, all life.Sister Nancy Roberta Schramm, OSF, is the president of the U.S. Catholic Mission Association. This piece is adapted from her address to membership at the annual meeting, held virtually on September 17, 2020
Mission and EconomicsIn instituting the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2016, Pope Francis stated that “in all her being and actions, the Church is called to promote the integral development of the human person in the light of the Gospel.” In the encyclical
Laudato Sí he would recognize that the “care of our common home” is an essential component of that mission. The creation of this dicastery under a new banner reflected the message of the Gospels, the practice of the tradition and Catholic Social Teaching, both of which are all deeply rooted in the two great commandments proclaimed by Christ himself. As the missionary works to bring the light of the Gospel to bear on the multifaceted challenges and issues that emerge in each missionary situation, the resources of this dicastery are invaluable.
In 1986, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued “Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy.” In it, they proposed three questions that can still be used to guide any reflection on mission, economic justice, and the economy whether domestically or globally. What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it? In the 21st century, it has become essential to add a fourth question, one that addresses the impact of the economy and economic activity on the planet.
Economies are human constructs that enable people to cooperate for the benefit of their own survival and for the development of and care for all of God’s creation. Each local and sovereign economy operates within a global financial system that exerts tremendous influence on the material well-being of people across communities everywhere and on the health and sustainability of the planet. Reflection and analysis of the structure and operating rules of each economic system, at all levels—if they are truly to serve the common good and the needs of all humanity—must be an integral part of any missionary analysis and planning that seeks to promote and sustain integral development.The rules governing even the smallest commercial and financial transactions have always drawn the attention of religious leaders and people of faith, who have evaluated them on the basis of their consistency with the biblical mandates on love of neighbor and how well they emulate the justice and compassion of God. This work of evaluation and recommendation will remain essential as the global interconnectedness of financial markets continues to deepen and exert its influence on the price, supply and demand of goods and services, down to local and regional marketplaces.
Since the Second Vatican Council, when the Church’s appreciation of the research and analysis of the developing social sciences increased, there has been a consistent call for a greater integration of the social and religious missionary activities of the Church in a way that strengthens both the spiritual and material well-being of believers. This is exemplified in the improved coordination between the work of relief and development projects and local religious leaders, such as in the fields of education, health care and agriculture, to equip their members and students with the skills and training required to promote integral sustainable development and to function and prosper in today’s world.
Finally, the publication of the encyclical, Laudato Sí, in 2015, has awakened a new consciousness around the world about the interdependence of human survival and the health of the planet. This has expanded the horizon of reflection for today’s missionaries and introduced a new set of questions about the relationship between mission and the economy. These range from the macro questions about cosmology and the origin stories reflected in religious traditions and in different cultures and narratives, to more basic questions about the real value of land and forests, waterways and air quality, as well as revisiting accepted customs and practices on agriculture, foods, nutrition, and biodiversity.
Pope Francis refers to the Earth as “our common home” that we share with all other species of plants and animals and upon which we depend for our survival as a species. How we integrate that perspective into the creation stories that we proclaim will eventually inform how these elements are valued in planning for land or agriculture or infrastructure or building and will have long-term impacts on the health, well-being, and prosperity of communities.
Throughout his pontificate Pope Francis has also raised the broader question about the adequacy of the practices and principles of the dominant economic system for a sustainable future and whether it is fit for the purpose extending the goal of inclusive integral development across all regions.
The scope and scale of the issues raised in Laudato Sí and in this blog call for a multidisciplinary approach that the New Dicastery must equipped to embrace, whether in debating policy at the global and multilateral level or in searching with missionaries and leaders of all faiths for innovative answers at the regional level or in supportive planning for projects in local communities.
Rev. Séamus Finn, OMI has directed the US Oblate JPIC Office since its inception and has been active in JPIC ministry at various levels for over 25 years. He represents the Missionary Oblates on the boards of directors of a number of organizations supported by the Oblates both in the U.S. and internationally. He is a leader in faith-based socially responsible investing, and is active with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Séamus served in parish ministry in Brattleboro VT, Puerto Rico, Miami Fl and Lowell MA. He completed his doctorate at Boston University School of Theology in 1991.
Catholic Citizens:
A New Era of Mission in the United States of America
Argentina celebrated its 200th anniversary as a country in May 2010. Then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J.—now Pope Francis—wrote a pastoral letter
for the bicentennial titled “We as Citizens, We as a People.” Although written for Argentina, the letter has implications for the United States—and for missionaries in the U.S.—as we stand on the eve of the 2020 presidential election.
All those living in our country have inherited both the successes and mistakes of earlier generations. We, as an intergenerational cohort of “citizens” must, as Bergoglio wrote, “take charge of all its achievements and all its imperfections because this is precisely the starting point from which we must make our contribution to the future.”
The challenge, according to Bergoglio, was individualism, which was described by his friend Alberto Methol Ferre as a “libertine, hedonistic, amoral, consumerist individualism that had not ethical or moral horizon.” The solution, according to Bergoglio, was to become a “citizen within a People.” “Citizen” is a logical category to us, whereas “people” is a mythical and historical category. “Being a people is to share life, values, history, customs, language, faith, and dreams,” he wrote. It is the citizen who seeks the common good, who works for justice, but justice “within a People.”
Bergoglio identified four principles necessary for an “integral citizenship.”
1) Time is primary and supersedes space.
2) Unity is primary and supersedes conflict.
3) Reality is primary and supersedes the “idea” or ideal.
4) The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
These principles are the tools necessary to address the three tensions within human society: the tension between plentitude (abundance) and limitation (scarcity); the tension between the idea and reality; and the tension between globalization and localization.
As citizens facing a national election, we must ask, what time is it? Perhaps it is time to take seriously the essential civic responsibilities of our country—the identification of common concerns, the civil debate on how to best address those concerns, and the civic humility to assess the strengths and limitations of any policy initiative. Perhaps it is time to nurture “integral citizenship” focused on the common good, one that is rooted in the real and not in ideology, either social or individual. Perhaps it is time for Catholics to transcend partisan politics, calling each party to their “better angels.”
This type of engagement will require advanced skills in conflict mediation, resolution, and reconciliation. The mythical eras of revolution, civil war, emancipation, military superiority, and civil rights need to give birth to a new age of encounter, dialogue, and collaboration. “We the People” can defy economics and the tragedy of the commons to advance the triumph of the common good by balancing the needs of the one with the needs of the many.
Missionaries can play a unique and vital role in promoting “integral citizenship.” Missionaries can give witness to the power and richness of diversity as well as the challenges and messiness of intercultural living. In worship, art, and ministry, missionaries can accompany women and men in their efforts to articulate the culture of a diverse yet unified “people.” Missionaries so often serve as teachers and healers. What would it be like if we caught introductory courses on civics, economics, and law so everyone in this country would have a basic civic education? Imagine a collaborative effort among pastors, missionaries, universities, high schools, and elementary schools that offered, as a curriculum, integral citizenship to anyone who wanted it.
Having lived and worked among so many different peoples, missionaries know a lot about dialogue. Could the political discourse in America shift from partisan posturing to authentic dialogue? Given the disparities in wealth and income, what would it be like if the Church focused its efforts on economic, ecological, and racial equality? Finally, could the Church bring its faith, hope, charity, prayer, and energy to reconciliation within the United States o
f America? Could the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church serve the needs for unity in America?
Perhaps it is time for the church in the United States of America to take a much longer view of things, rather than focusing on the particulars of one political race or another, one election or the next. Perhaps the focus needs to be on the formation of an integral citizen capable of engaging others and of seeking dialogue and understanding on the real issues facing the commons, one who can do so with the belief that “we the people” is also a prayer, a dream, a possibility planted by God in the soul of America for the good of all.
Donald R. McCrabb, D. Min., is the Executive Director of the United States Catholic Mission Association.
Racism and Human Dignity
“The joy and pain of being a missionary” was the first testimonial experience I ever heard from a missionary when I entered our missionary religious order, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).
The confrere who shared that experience was a Congolese missionary in the Dominican Republic. He was referring to the joy he experienced in his missionary life and the mistakes and awkward moments it took him to immerse in the culture of his missionary country. Before that, all I knew about missionaries were the wonderful memories I had of Belgian missionaries who evangelized my home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. As I was growing up, I saw Belgian missionaries immerse themselves in the African culture: they shared people’s joy, ate their food, danced traditional rhythms, learned proverbs. But they also experienced the pain when, for instance, people struggled under the 32 years of oppression, corruption, and dictatorship of the former president Mobutu. Since that time, I realized that being a missionary will always have that empathetic mix of feelings: the joy and the pain of the people you are sent to are also the joy and pain of the missionary.
When it was announced I was going to be sent as a missionary to the United States, I was excited and joyful. I had heard about the “American dream” magic but also about the cowboy movies that left room for the fear of the unknown. When I met the real American people, I did not experience anything but hospitality, love, and affection; it is my continual honeymoon. I enjoy the American traditions, way of life, and holidays. In Texas, I always participated in the fourth of July parade, and I heard many people saying: “I love a patriotic priest.” I am fascinated by American achievements in the history of humanity. Part of our missionary creed is the time that we take to appreciate, learn, and immerse in the culture, embrace the flag, love the people we are sent to.
Reflecting on my joys and pains of being a missionary to America, I can only say that every country has its best things and its problems. As missionaries, we are commissioned to bring good tidings, but at the same time, we are the conscience of our society. That is why the joy and pain of the people are also the joys and pains of the missionary. We, CICM, have had missionaries martyred in Guatemala; others in China during the Boxer Rebellion; still others were expelled from the Dominican Republic for being the voice of the voiceless. The pain of a missionary is everything that hurts the sacred image of God in each person, just like God’s indignation when Cain killed his own brother, Abel (Genesis 4:10).
Looking back at the history of the United States, I can tell that African Americans are living in a society that was not designed for them, and racism is the problem. As I hear it said, slavery is America’s original sin, and there has not been a proper healing for both the wounded and the guilty.
When hate, anger, and hostility turn into oppression, dehumanization, squeezing the economic breath, and mistreatment of a category of people just because of their skin color, that is racism. Racism is evil because it attacks the inherent dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.
It is often said that those who harm others must prepare themselves psychologically. They must see their victims as dangerous, good-for-nothing, not human. They have to strip them of their humanity and God-likeness, make them equal to the devil so they can have the gratification of killing them, for if they see them as a brother, mother, son or loved ones, it will be difficult to kill them. That is why racism is a sin.
For the racism pandemic, we pray that the church will be a hospital, and God the physician.
Fr. Bernard Kayimbw Mbay, CICM was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He joined the CICM –Missionhurst community in 2006 and attended school of Theology in Cameroon. He was sent as a missionary to the US in 2010. Fr. Bernard learned English and Spanish in 2011 and was ordained to the priesthood in August 2013 and appointed as parochial vicar in Castroville, Texas. He is now serving as Pastor of Maria Reina de las Americas and Saint Therese of the Child Jesus in Mount Olive and Beulaville, North Carolina.
Mary's Presence,
As Developed by Experience in Mission
I am a Marianist (Society of Mary), and so I draw grace and encouragement in my life and in my ministry from Mary, the Mother of Jesus. A phrase from the wedding at Cana that I carry in my heart is “and the mother of Jesus was there” (John 2:1). Her presence to me was broadened and deepened when I experienced the faith, inspiration, and nourishment the people of India and Kenya, both places where I have served, receive from her.
It is notable to me that the Cathedral Basilica in Nairobi, Kenya, is dedicated to the Holy Family. This name affirms the centrality of the family as the home of the heart and selfless care in day-to-day life in Africa. As I participated in a Holy Week Stations of the Cross in a Nairobi slum, I was reminded of the faithful women followers of Jesus in the Gospels. They not only attended to his needs, but also suffered with Jesus during his passion and death. Jesus meeting his sorrowful mother and Mary standing at the foot of the cross has a new depth of feeling and reality for me since I stood with others in the community in the places where mothers’ sons were killed by violence. The same presence in grief was part of the prayer at the burial of children of single mothers.
My experience of Mary was broadened in India, as the cultural and social celebrations there are quite varied, with Marian shrines found throughout the country. They are popular destinations for pilgrimages. Yet, right in Bengaluru (Bangalore) was one of my most eye-opening gifts. St. Mary’s Basilica in Bengaluru was consecrated September 8, 1882. Each year, the city celebrates St. Mary’s Feast with day-long festivities that include speeches and a parade with chariots. Christians, Muslims, and Hindus are all participants in honoring Mary on this day—a witness to the inspiration and love Mary calls forth from human hearts. Life in India has many tensions and many groups in active struggle with one another, but Mary’s Feast expresses a unity of experience of the people of God.
The designation of Mary that has spoken to me over the years of my Marianist life is Mary as mother and model. My growth in appreciation of Mary is not limited to my time in mission, but the experience of Mary as mother was deeply enriched by my ministry in Kenya. I saw the care and willingness to endure suffering of mothers who toiled to eke out a living for their families. This added dimensions and depth to my perception of the person of Mary as a compassionate, sorrowful, and faith-filled mother.
My experience of ministry in India affirmed Mary as a model of faithful discipleship in all circumstances. She was a vibrant member of a diverse community, attentive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, placing her trust in God’s promise of the fullness of life for all God’s people.
The experience of ministry in Kenya and India remains a gift and a challenge for me to live the depth and the breadth of our one life in Christ. Mary is my mother and model in faithfully following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus and proclaiming the goodness, the Good News, of God with my life.
Kip Stander, SM is a Marianist priest, originally from Northern Kentucky, currently serving as the University Chaplain at the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. He ministered with his Brothers in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, as well as in Nairobi, Kenya and Bengaluru, India. Before going to India in 2011, he served for 8 years at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio Texas with the University Ministry team there.
Two thoughts that inspire and challenge him are:“See all, and see all with compassion.” (Thomas Merton)
“God will not be outdone in generosity and love.”
Decolonizing Mission
If you’ve ever refinished an old but beautiful wooden table, you know what hard work it can be—but how great the reward is! It takes time, dedication, and elbow grease, but if you persevere in stripping away the aged, distorting layers of varnish, you will see the beauty of the creator’s original intention.
In a similar manner, I believe that successive eras of history distort our understanding of the missio Dei, God’s mission to the world. In fact, if we divided up the history of the Church in mission into three major segments, we would see that from the time of the persecution and scattering of the Early Church in Acts 8 in the first century C.E. until roughly the early 4th century, the Good News of Jesus Christ was carried primarily by refugees, migrants, and persecuted Christians. When these “Christ-bearers” arrived in a new community as refugees, they found that, as foreigners, they were often at the bottom of the social hierarchy. But they “ministered from the margins” in the way of the One who washed his disciples’ feet and, according to tradition, God’s Word was thus introduced throughout the known world from Spain (St. James) to Egypt (St. Mark) to India (St. Thomas)[1]. In this first era, the Church kneeled to engage in God’s mission from the position of a servant.
In the second era of mission history (4th to 15th centuries), the Gospel was transmitted in Europe primarily from the top-down: the chieftains of the Franks, Slavs, Anglo-Saxons, and other tribes were converted (sometimes by military defeat) and then decreed Christianity to be the new religion of their kingdoms. Mass conversions, state-sponsored churches, and, often, coercive mission by the powerful towards the weak were the hallmarks of this era when Christianity advanced to the march of national armies.
Europe’s transformation of the world’s economy and the global political map was the primary movement in mission history’s third era from the late 15th century until the 1960s. Most students of mission recall that the modern missionary movement grew up hand in hand with the colonial movement. In fact, most observers of the period would have had difficulty separating the two: indigenous people saw the missionary priests and evangelists, doctors and educators, as colonial agents. But as detailed in Willie James Jennings’ masterful The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale University Press, 2011), the beginnings of the North Atlantic slave trade and Europe’s need to portray colonial mission as noble—to theologically justify the theft of indigenous lands and the trafficking of millions of human beings—also led to the racialization of mission whereby mission was an activity that sought to improve persons of color by making them more like the white colonizers and missionaries. Because, the reasoning went, they spoke “dialects” not languages; they believed in “superstition” rather than religion; they were “primitive,” and we were civilized. The blatant ethnocentrism and nascent assumptions of white supremacy, Jennings argues, begin here in the era of European colonial mission.
At its best, of course, colonial mission extended the church of Jesus Christ by placing highly dedicated Western missionaries in communities across the global South where their shared life together transformed all of them and sowed the seeds of the multicultural, polyglot movement that is global Christianity today. But at its worst, mission in the colonial era not only flowed hierarchically from the top down, from colonizer to colonial subject, it sowed other seeds as well—racist assumptions about who knows best in discerning God’s mission.
How can we see the beauty of the Creator’s original intention in reaching out in love and mercy to fallen humanity? An urgent task of mission today is to strip away the many layers of varnish that have accumulated over the centuries of mission history and that distort our view of God’s mission. Because mission in the way of Jesus Christ is best engaged in from the kneeling position as servants. It flows most naturally from below—as mission from the margins of society.
Any missionary will attest to two truths. First, that it was when they were at their weakest that they saw God move most powerfully. And second, that God’s mission is profoundly mutual: most missionaries say they were blessed much more by the people they were sent to help than any good they might have done. Yet these missional realities can be hidden by the distorting colonial narrative that foregrounds the Western missionary, upstaging the God of Love. It is imperative that we restore the lost beauty of God’s surprising, bottom-up mission. This is the task of decolonizing mission today.
[1] Mission historian Jehu Hanciles lifts up the role of migrants and refugees in transmitting the Gospel in his book, Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration and the Transformation of the West (Orbis Press, 2008).
Hunter Farrell is the Director of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary's World Mission Initiative and has worked as a missionary and leader of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in DR Congo, Peru and the U.S. for 30 years.
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Are We Missionaries?
The Challenge of a WordNo one will understand the speech of another. (Genesis 11:7)
In teaching listening skills to seminarians, I introduced the basics of linguistic theory – how human beings communicate with one another and where problems occur. In any verbal exchange, there is the messenger, the message, and the receiver of the message. The messenger encodes the message in some vehicle – usually words – and then sends that message to the receiver. The receiver must hear the message (no problems in transmission) and decode it before understanding is possible.
Seems straight forward enough, no? I want a cookie. I say, “May I have a cookie?” and my wife, who is putting away the box of cookies, hears my words and responds with “Sure, have the rest of them.” But something more was received than my message, because there are other messages being sent using other means: tone of voice, body language, eye contact. And there may be an underlying message about the relationship itself, or the context, or a message the receiver is trying to send, such as, “You saw that I was cleaning up, dinner is over, and I am putting the box away. You are interrupting me. Have what you want, there are not that many left, just finish them off and take care of your mess.
Recently, I have been having talking about the word “missionary.” At face value, the word is either noun or adjective: a missionary is a person who undertakes a “mission,” especially a religious mission; or it can be an adjective, as in is related to, engaged in, or devoted to “missions.”
Some Catholics have moved away from the word “missionary,” believing it was too closely aligned with colonialization or the missionary work of other faith groups. Others believe that, given the thought of Pope Francis, the word missionary is too exclusive, and it is better to use the more inclusive expression “missionary-disciple.” In this case, missionary is still seen as a noun rather than an adjective and must be conjoined with “disciple” lest the faithful see themselves as “students” rather than “practitioners” of the faith.
The case for “missionary” attempts to distinguish the gifts and ministries of he community without denigrating any of them. Fr. Tony Gittens, CSSp, author of Living Mission Interculturally: Faith, Culture, and the Renewal of Praxis, says that “mission” is who God is and what God does. Mission flows from the heart of God, is manifested and realized in the person of Jesus and is given over from Jesus to the Church. Mission, therefore, precedes Church so all who are baptized are baptized into the universal mission of Jesus. As the theme for the Extraordinary Missionary Month, October 2019, proclaimed, we are “baptized and sent.”
Those missionary-disciples who go beyond themselves, step outside their comfort zones, and cross some type of border to encounter and accompany others, in their context, and do so in communion with the Church and as a response to Jesus’ call are missionaries. They are doing an “external” ministry focused more on “being” the love of God for others rather than an internal ministry focused on forming and building up the community of faith through prayer and worship.
There is some substance and urgency to this question of “are we missionaries?” The Fellowship of Catholic University Students calls those people who, after college, give a year or two evangelizing other college students, “missionaries.” Some volunteer groups use the word “missionary” for their international placements and volunteers for their domestic placements. Some avoid the word missionary because it has too much cultural and religious baggage. Others embrace the word seeing it as setting themselves aside from others – from teachers to social workers – who may be doing exceptional service but not in the name of Jesus or his church.
There can be an intentionality, and accountability, in seeing missionaries as a type of minister within the church without judgement or exclusivity. On the other hand, the “signs of the times” may call for new language that both invites and distinguishes the many gifts within the faithful.
Mission comes from the Latin word “missio” which means “to be sent.” The challenge facing all of us in the church today is discerning for ourselves, and for our communities of faith, what it means “to be sent” today. What is ours to do? Is it better that I see myself as a missionary, a minister, if you will, to people on the periphery who takes on a role within the community so they community can go beyond itself? Or is it better for me to see myself as a missionary-disciple because that appears to be more faithful to what Pope Francis is teaching and is much more inclusive?
I hope we can continue this conversation. Please send us your thoughts on this question by emailing Julia Pinto, our communication and publication associate, at [email protected].
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
DOWNLOAD MARCH 2020 NEWSLETTER
Keep Telling Mission Stories:
Thoughts on the U.S. Catholic Mission Association - Chinese Catholic Relationship“I did not know there were Catholics in China. How many are there?” Should USCMA members be asked this question, the simple answer is “yes.” Consensus is that Chinese Catholics number approximately 10 to 12 million. Follow up immediately thereafter by telling a China mission story.
I first went to China in 1989. As I met Chinese Catholics, it became commonplace that they told stories of how their Catholic faith was built upon the legacy of the American Catholic missionary effort to China. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, American priests, brothers, sisters, and lay members from diverse religious congregations assigned to the missions in China nourished spiritual relationships with Chinese Catholics. I heard how their grandparents, parents, extended families, villagers, and strangers, as well as Chinese priests, vowed brothers and sisters, and laity embraced the Catholic faith and have passed it on and expressed it into these present days.
The American Catholic mission story continues to be revered among contemporary Chinese Catholics; in the same way, USCMA members and American Catholics would do well to learn and keep telling China mission stories. The combined opportunity continues to build bridges that increase reverence for a historical common past, a depth of spiritual understanding, and a foundation for future sacred Gospel-based relationships.
Knowledge of the China mission is a pillar of the USCMA past. According to the esteemed China scholar R.G. Tiedemann, more than 30 U.S.-based religious congregations of men and women were assigned missioners to China between 1900 and 1950.
Might this simple fact awaken USCMA members to once again tell Catholic China mission stories? Congregations of men might include the Passionists, Maryknoll, Society of Divine Word, Columbans, Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans. Among the congregations of women were the Adorers of the Precious Blood, Sisters of Saint Joseph, Sisters of Charity, Franciscans, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sisters of Loretto, and Maryknoll.
The list above is only a sampling. In fact, twentieth century American missionaries to China participated in an historic international Catholic and indigenous Catholic mission experience that reaches as far back as the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
USCMA members have creative resources available to tell China mission stories to the public: throughout the twentieth century, missionary correspondence was sent to membership and family, published in mission magazines, distributed through press releases to Catholic and public newspapers and radio, and even appeared in movies. China became synonymous with famine, natural disasters, war, disease, and political and social chaos. This inspired people in the pews. They learned that missionaries, together with Chinese Catholics evangelized in parishes, taught in schools, provided health care, and endured internment, prison, expulsion from mission, and even death. Instead of the Chinese Catholic church dying in the 1960s, its contemporary, resilient, and creative faith enlivens the world’s Catholics and people of all beliefs.
The participation of American Catholics in the China mission story has been historic. Their prayers, fasting, financial support, and engagement in political debate has continued into the present day. I would suggest that by retelling China mission stories, USCMA members will connect with new, multiple audiences aware of China. In the U.S., this includes the Chinese diaspora communities of both generational and new Chinese Catholics. These stories will resonate with devotional Catholics, allow tourists to have the knowledge and poise to visit and worship with Chinese Catholics, and assist educators to value and bring to the classroom these mission stories as faith-based and cross-cultural narratives. In ways both surprising and humbling, the retelling of China mission stories might provide courage and wisdom to the numerous contemporary Catholic and faith-based efforts committed to redefining their shared presence with Chinese Catholics and to being in service to and learning from the people of China.
The opportunity of USCMA members toretell mission stories is directly related to the stewardship and preservation of archives, which is paramount. Consider using social media in creative ways to bring these inspiring China mission stories alive.
For more on the USCMA-Chinese Catholic missionary participants and archive legacies:- R.G. Tiedemann, Reference Guide to Christian Missionary Societies in China: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century (Armonk: New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2009).
- Passionist and Maryknoll digitized photography, available at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Culture, University of San Francisco: http://www.ricci.usfca.edu/ and the University of Southern California International Mission Archive: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll123/id/9240.
- Those seeking to understand the tiered spiritual realities of contemporary Catholic China can go to the U.S.-China Catholic Association at https://www.uscatholicchina.org/.
Fr. Rob Carbonneau can be reached at [email protected]. He is the historian of St. Paul of the Cross Province; adjunct professor of history, University of Scranton; executive director emeritus, U.S.-China Catholic Association; and affiliated research fellow, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Culture, University of San Francisco.
DOWNLOAD FEBRUARY 2020 NEWSLETTER
Finding Christ in the Ordinariness of LifeA few weeks after arriving in East Africa as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner, I was accompanied back to the rectory by the host of a family I had visited. The walk was nearly two miles. Over the entire distance, I thanked my host repeatedly and begged him to return home to his family. He was unmoved. After arriving at the rectory, our conversation continued and, before I realized it, I found myself escorting him back toward his home. About halfway there, he turned, shook my hand warmly and said he had business to attend to; he would be taking a different path onward. We at last parted and I returned alone to the rectory.
It wasn’t long afterward that I learned the Kiswahili verb for this over-the-top East African courtesy —kusindikiza, “to accompany.” Despite my initial Scandinavian-American discomfort with the practice, I came to appreciate it as my mission went on. It has since become instructive in my current ministry.
I’m now a returned lay missioner who serves as a member of the Vocation Ministry Team of the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers, accompanying men discerning life as prospective missionary priests and brothers. In an era when all are called to missionary discipleship, I’m sometimes asked, “So, why mission as a priest, sister, or brother? Is mission any different for those in clerical or consecrated life?” In response, I humbly relate the meaningful distinctions I’ve discovered in the company of priests, sisters, and brothers — distinctions that speak to the essentiality of these lifelong vocations as core to being a “Church in mission.”
Mission is often perceived and presented as something “done” by and for the Church. But, in its full measure, it’s more truly experienced as something “lived into.” It is something disclosed much as a story unfolds, word by word, step by patient step, until the turning of the page is experienced as a movement of personal and communal transformation. Story is, as the writer, Flannery O’Connor noted, “an incarnational art.” The success of mission depends entirely upon the perceptive abilities we bring to the stories and people we encounter, recognizing in flesh and blood rather than in ideology and plan the person of Christ among those who receive and welcome us. The longer we gaze (at times incredulously and seemingly stupidly) toward those who so generously impart to us their lives and stories, the more clearly we perceive the face of Christ before us.
The perceptive abilities so essential to mission are the means by which we discern divine mystery all around us. As Willa Cather observes in her classic novel, “Death Comes for the Archbishop”:
The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.
The vows that have come to characterize consecrated life are intended to sharpen perception of the meaningful and divine. Poverty draws our focus away from those things that would distract and ultimately possess us. Chastity perceives the beloved in all who are loved by God. Obedience overcomes the myopia of placing one’s desires before others. Living these vows in community provides perpetual opportunities to practice them and to cultivate the patience and perseverance needed when brokenness and suffering seem the only way forward.
Time is, perhaps, the characteristic that most visibly distinguishes consecrated life from most (but not all) lay commitments in mission. Consecrated life is premised on the fact that we can’t (and don’t) get the point of the story — our story, God’s story, the stories we encounter in others — all at once. It takes a lifetime, perhaps longer, of listening to make sense of the incarnational mystery embedded within. Through vows and oaths, missionary sisters, brothers, and priests commit themselves publicly to this task and equip themselves for it. They do so in order that the Church, as the entire people of God, should be empowered to do much the same across all vocations. In the end, mission is incarnational or it’s nothing. Those who have committed their lives to the practice of perceiving it are, fortunately for Catholics, among our most capable and inspiring teachers of living it.
When my hosts in East Africa accompanied me at length down winding paths, they offered much more than courtesy. They taught me something sacred about time, story, and the step-by-step pace needed to perceive Christ incarnate in the ordinariness of life. So, too, have the missionary sisters, brothers, and priests who have walked at length with me. The road is long and, at times, rugged. It can be lost. It can always be found again. It is our road home.
Greg Darr is a Minnesota native and US Army veteran. As a Maryknoll lay missioner in Kenya, Greg worked with a Church-sponsored program assisting internally displaced and refugee communities toward developing local initiatives in reconciliation and peace-making. Greg also served in the U.S. with Mercy Corps and Catholic Volunteers in Florida. Now a member of the Vocation Ministries Team of the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers, Greg is married with two high-school-age daughters who inspire him daily.
DOWNLOAD JANUARY 2020 NEWSLETTER
A Very Different MissionErin Clark Washam was an active missionary with Family Missions Company from 2013 to 2015 in Beijing, China. She wrote this reflection about evangelizing in 2014. Erin now lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Gregg, and their son, Pierson.
When the Lord called me to be a missionary, I had my own set of ideas and dreams of what that might look like. I pictured the whimsical side of bringing Christ to the nations and setting sail to distant isles where I would preach to hundreds and cause conversions in the masses. But the Lord gave me a far different and more beautiful reality.
In the Chinese city where we live, we cannot openly preach to the masses. We rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal the souls in whom He has already been working or ones that are open to His promptings.
In the first month of our arrival I met Honey, a 27-year-old Chinese national. She was beautiful, loving, and magnetic. She immediately clung to me, attempted to teach me Mandarin until late in the night, gave gifts welcoming us to China, and showed us many pictures of her family and friends. Honey did not know the Lord. She grew up in a small village that only had Muslim mosques and was thirsting for love and truth.
I finally listened to the whisper of God begging me to direct my attention to discipling Honey. I finally recognized that Christ called me to China to serve her and help her begin this process of conversion and healing. I began setting aside time to visit Honey at work, inviting her over for meals, and asking her to join our weekly prayer meetings.
After four months, Honey came to our prayer meeting and sat in for my talk on Mary. Since I had prepared my teaching for Catholics, I had to throw out my preparations and start from scratch, introducing God the Father, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ the Son, and Mary the Mother of God. It was a nerve-racking, yet blessed meeting, and I thanked God for Honey’s attendance.
The next day I stopped in to see Honey at work. She took me aside and pulled out from her purse an aged image of Mary and baby Jesus! She said that when she had felt alone or had no one to speak with, she would pull out this image and talk to this woman. Tears flooded my eyes. Our Mother had begun working on Honey prior to my arrival in China. Mary had brought us together so that I would, in turn, bring Honey to Jesus Christ, Her Son.
It has been three months since she came to that first prayer meeting and God has continued his marvelous work. Honey now attends every Tuesday meeting, shares during the time of reflection, asks clarifying questions when given a scriptural text, and has been wearing a cross necklace, earrings, and a bracelet daily.
In Chinese culture, many do not share feelings or personal experiences even with friends, yet Honey told me that from the very first time we met, she trusted me and desired to open up about herself. (All glory be to God!) At the end of July, Honey invited me to her hometown to celebrate her son’s third birthday and I revealed to her for the first time that I was a missionary. That night we stayed up until 4 a.m. talking about the faith, her struggles, and how she now finds meaning in her sufferings. It was an amazing opportunity for us both to be vulnerable and share our desire for healing from Christ.
In The Way, St. Josemaria Escriva says something that characterizes the mission here in China, “Among those around you — apostolic soul — you are the stone fallen into the lake. With your word and your example you produce a first circle… and it another… and another, and another…. Wider each time. Now do you understand the greatness of your mission?”
After seven months of prayer, trials, and deep reflection, I believe that I finally do understand! The greatness has been, and always will be, spreading the Good News of Christ to the nations. But I am now content starting with just one soul at a time.
Family Missions Company (FMC) is an apostolate of lay Catholic missionaries. Committed to the Great Commission of Jesus, we proclaim the Gospel and serve the poor throughout the world. We serve under the blessing of our bishop in the Diocese of Lafayette, and at the invitation of the bishops in all areas we serve. We train and send out families and singles as full-time missionaries.
To learn more about FMC, visit their website at https://www.familymissionscompany.com/.
DOWNLOAD DECEMBER 2019 NEWSLETTER
Eucharistic Presence and Mission
Recently, controversy has flared up around a Pew Research Center poll that asked, among other questions, how Catholics understand Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Asked to choose between whether the bread and wine of the Eucharist “actually become” or “are symbols of” the body and blood of Christ, only one-third of Catholics chose the former. Does this mean that Catholics as a whole no longer believe in the “real presence” of Christ in the Eucharist?
Some interpreters of the poll results—such as Bishop Robert Barron, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles—said yes, and called for more effective education of Catholics in basic Catholic doctrine. Others, like sociologist Mark Gray, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, blamed a careless wording of the possible answers as misleading. Gray cited earlier surveys in which Catholics and even other Christians overwhelming stated their belief in Christ’s “real” Eucharistic presence. Theologian Xavier Montecel, studying sacramental theology at Boston College, suggested that most Catholics likely “take Jesus at his word” when he said at the Last Supper that the bread and wine were his body and blood.[1]
This is my own sense. Catholics may not completely understand or even fully accept the technical doctrine of “transubstantiation,” but they do believe that in the context of the Eucharist and the words of institution within the Eucharistic Prayer, the bread and wine do not remain bread and wine but truly become the body and blood of Christ.
What is less understood, though, is that this Eucharistic presence is not something for its own sake, a kind of miracle of Christ becoming present where he was not present before. In the Eucharist, rather, Christ becomes present to be given to us in the eating of his body and blood so that we ourselves can be transformed into his presence in our world. Eucharistic presence, in other words, is for mission.
Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy speaks about a number of ways in which Christ becomes really present when Christians celebrate liturgy. He is present in all the sacraments. He is present in the Word proclaimed in them, “since it is he himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church.” He is present when people gather together for worship, as he promised—when two or three gather together in his name (Matt 18:20). He is present in the priest who presides, especially and in a particularly clear way at the Eucharist. And he is present sacramentally in the bread and wine that become his body and blood.[2]
All these “presences” call us to mission. Except for perhaps the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Sick (and perhaps even these!), all the sacraments call us to witness to the Gospel by our lives. The Word of God calls us to conversion and witness. The church community shapes us and strengthens us for loving and selfless service. But it is most especially in the Eucharist that we called to mission. In the Eucharist, Christ becomes present in his broken body and poured-out blood, so that, nourished by him, we can be broken open and poured out in our daily life.
As Catholic author and publisher Gregory Augustine Pierce insists, the most important part of the Eucharistic celebration is the dismissal, when we are sent out, strengthened by the Eucharist, to be Christ’s real presence for all we meet.[3] In the Eucharist—the celebration itself and the bread and wine we receive—Christ becomes present among us and in us so that we may be present to one another. Theologians in the Orthodox Church speak of our daily life as the “Liturgy after the Liturgy.”
Faith in Christ’s Eucharist presence does not mean that Christ is just there—on the altar, in the monstrance, in the tabernacle, in our heart, or in our midst. It is rather faith that he is present, continuing his mission of calling us to new life, sharing his life with us, empowering us to be transformed. Faith in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is accepting his invitation to become renewed as a member of his body, his presence to the world, sharing in his life of service. Faith in the Real Presence commits us to mission, to be the real presence of Christ for the life of the world.[1] For a further discussion of the controversy, see Heidi Schlumpf, “Do Catholics ‘Actually’ Believe in the Real Presence?” NCR Online, https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/do-catholics-actually-believe-real-presence.
[2] Vatican Council II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), in ed. Austin Flannery, Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2014), 7.
[3] See Gregory F. Augustine Pierce, The Mass Is Never Ended: Rediscovering Our Mission to Transform the World (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2007), 38.
Stephen Bevans, SVD, is Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD Professor of Mission and Culture, Emeritus at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois.
DOWNLOAD NOVEMBER 2019 NEWSLETTER
Mission – Essential and Required
Sr. Nancy Schramm, OSF, USCMA President, addressed the members on September 19, 2019. This is an excerpt; her address is available at uscatholicmission.org/2019-membership-meeting.To successfully fulfill one’s mission, a critical sense of the present reality must be part of the journey. What has been in your mind and heart lately? What are you struggling to understand and deal with as you seek to contribute to a better world, one where the Gospel values can be readily perceived and lived so that God’s love for everyone can be felt and shared? Is it:
Our current political scene both nationally and internationally?
The continued allegations and condemnations due to the sexual abuse cases?
Our seeming incapacity to attract and walk with today’s youth within the Church?
The denial of climate change and its effect on our common home? Especially the suffering of so many people due to the hurricanes and earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The pain of separation of migrant families who are forced to flee from their homes because of violence and oppression? The list goes on and on…
But as Gospel people, as missionary disciples, we are called to respond to these realities that weigh on our hearts. They call us to change our thinking, to build relationships with others and to act.
In our time, new understandings of missionary discipleship are emerging. Orbis books recently published Go Forth Toward a Community of Missionary Disciples with selected writings of Pope Francis, which really spoke to me and I believe are important for USCMA. “…in the hundreds of speeches, messages, homilies, and interviews the pope has given in the six years since his election, the missionary reform of the church emerges again and again as the great integrating theme of his papacy.” (p. xiv) “What [Pope Francis] most wants from everyone in the church to know is that mission is an essential and required part of Christian identity. It is not optional. But more than an obligation, it is the transcendent path of life, hope and joy for our wounded and broken world. Mission is mercy, tenderness, compassion, peace, solidarity, and care for others in imitation of the infinite love of God.”
The last section of our Preamble for the USCMA Bylaws continues to inspire me: “Mindful of the rich diversity of gifts and talents among all the members, and toward enhancing effectiveness of the various ministries in which they are engaged, the association fosters collaboration with all persons of good will who share its commitment in service to human promotion, justice and peace, in the context of cross-cultural evangelization.”
Here is one of the most important keys for the association to live its mission. We are USCMA. We are mission. We are the people who must commit to the service of human promotion, justice and peace according to God’s plan for our world. At times our mission may seem beyond our capability, with so many difficulties to overcome. At times I am discouraged just thinking about the enormity of today’s challenges in comparison to the people who are available to meet the challenge. But then the Lord reminds me that where two or more are gathered in God’s name, God is also present.
This reflection leads us then to where we want to go. What is ours to do and who will do it? As a board and as your president, we have been thinking about this, knowing full-well that God has entrusted this moment in history to us. It was not a coincidence that leadership duties have been passed on to us during these times, and if we trust in Divine Providence and the wisdom and graces that only God can give, we will be instruments of God’s hands.
Let’s go down the path to a continued commitment to mission! Let us not lose sight of who we are and why we are!
Let us go down the path as a prophetic community with courage to confront our reality and call it for what it is. To make Gospel choices as individuals and organizations whether they be popular or not.
Let us go down the path having a preferential option for the poor, directing our energies and time and talents to standing with those who need us most.
Let us go down the path of finding new partners, especially in the youth of today who have so much desire and willingness to contribute, who often are discouraged by not finding where to channel their deepest desires.
Let us go down the path of mutuality, inclusivity and new attitudes of dialogue and collaboration, allowing God’s Spirit – and not fears – to guide us.
We, the USCMA, need to recommit our organization and our members to a life totally centered on God’s love and promulgated through mission. This is easy to say, but it will require lots of energy and wisdom to meet our goal.Written by Nancy Schramm, OSF
USCMA PresidentDOWNLOAD OCTOBER 2019 NEWSLETTER
Mission and the BishopsIn the wake of ongoing scandals within the hierarchy of the American Catholic Church, including the handling of the sex abuse crisis and revelations of financial improprieties in some dioceses, the U.S. bishops are facing a crisis of credibility. Responding to their call to mission—heard as a personal request from our Lord Jesus in the depths of their souls—may be the cure.
A diocesan bishop must “teach, sanctify, and govern” his church. How is he called to mission? All Christians, by virtue of their baptism, are called and sent. Ordination presumes and builds upon baptism; it does not replace it. Each bishop receives from the Risen Lord what the apostles heard from Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). Just before he ascended into heaven, Jesus said “you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) underscores their mission “to all nations.” Therefore, every bishop is to have “solicitude” for the whole church (Apostolorum Successores).
The bishops, like all of us, need to purify our “narrative” of mission. First, missionaries may be lay, religious, or ordained who serve in their neighborhood, across their country, or around the world. For some, mission is the focus of their existence, whereas others weave mission into their spiritual, professional, and family lives. While there are still lone priests going off to exotic places, or small bands of sisters in jungles teaching the faith, those are just a few of the many stories of mission today. Second, missionaries are not saviors, know-it-alls, or cheap labor; they are neighbors who dwell among a people, making their “joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties” their own.
Bishops could recognize, call forth, and celebrate the missionary impulse already present in the faithful—lay, religious, and ordained. Some bishops, to celebrate Extraordinary Missionary Month (October 2019), have scheduled a special Mass to bring together the local church around mission. What would it be like if, annually, local bishops convened all the missionaries living within the diocese for prayer, witness, and discernment, just as they do with catechists and teachers?
Each bishop could also invite his priests to reflect on their own call to mission and how mission, as one dimension of the parish, engages and revitalizes the faithful. Studies have shown that engaging the faithful in meaningful activity that reaches beyond the immediate needs of the church strengthens Catholic identity, encourages leadership, and promotes generosity.
Moreover, in his pastoral planning with his priests, the bishop could help the faithful “notice” the refugee, the migrant, the immigrant who is coming into the dioceses and encourage them to reach out in a spirit of hospitality, welcome, and solicitude. The leaders of the diocese could also identify and discern those who are on the periphery of their society—the forgotten and marginalized people who need the mercy of God. How can the local church “dwell” among the drug addicts, the prostitutes, the homeless, the gang members in their own neighborhoods?
Finally, the bishop could prayerfully discern to “dwell” among the people—as a human being, a witness to the love of God poured out in the person of Jesus, freed of the prestige and pressure of his office. Mission calls each of us beyond ourselves, outside of our comfort zone, to cross some type of border, to risk a personal encounter with a stranger, all in the name of Jesus.
Pope Francis, in The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium, 2013), envisions the renewal of the church through mission. Mission is the framework, the lens through which all pastoral practice and plans must be seen. This will not be easy, nor will it happen quickly, but mission is the fundamental nature of the church; unless we are intentionally missionary, we will no longer be church. It will be challenging for us because of the “principalities and powers” we face. The polarization of partisan politics has infected the faithful; too many of our sisters and brothers in the faith judge Catholicism not by the demands of mission but by their politics.
The promise of mission is the promise of intimacy with the Lord. It is in and through mission that we will know that the Lord is with us always, “until the end of the age.” Mission teaches the faithful through witness, sanctifies through encounter, and governs through accompaniment. Mission may be one way for the bishops to revitalize their episcopacy and see the promise of the Lord “in the land of the living.”
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Now Is the Day of SalvationThe Urgency of the Extraordinary Missionary Month
If you have not heard, Pope Francis has called for an Extraordinary Missionary Month for October 2019. If you have heard, what are you going to do about it?
Now is the time. The stakes are high.
What is the context, the environment, that we find ourselves in today? We can step back and look at the planet, what Pope Francis has called “our common home,” and see what is happening to the climate, ecosystems, and all types of life forms. We could narrow our focus to globalization – the systems of exchange of goods, information, culture, information – that is happening around the globe. A third context is the Catholic Church – still very much a missionary Church – all over the world, including in the United States. Narrower still is the political din, of the noise of which drowns out substantial, meaningful, civic conversation or debate. Then there are the trials and tribulations of the American Church, which is still suffering from the sexual abuse scandal and the complicity of our bishops. Are we blessed to live in neighborhoods of peace? Our most immediate contexts – family and work – have their own share of joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties.
Amid these overlapping contexts, many of us find ourselves broken or bruised, struggling to make it through the day, searching for some reprieve, some basis for hope.
Pope Francis famously said, “I am a sinner.” Most of us readily agree with that statement; we are aware of what we “have done or failed to do.” There is more to sin, though, than personal agency. Sin has a ripple effect. It infects, taints, colors, the environment. If sloth is one of the deadly sins that we struggle against, the ever-present smart phone makes any chair a coach to potato in. This is the social dimension of sin. Weeds and wheat grow together – in our own hearts, in our relationships, in our many contexts, and even in our social media habits.
For me, this gives clarity. The sins I struggle with – from racism to gluttony – are like quicksand. The more I struggle against them, on my own, the worse they become. I need a savior – a teacher, a guide, a friend – who can pull me out, and up, and forward. Oh, happy fault. As I acknowledge my sinful condition, I know, in my bones, my need for Jesus. He, and he alone, can save me. He, and he alone, can satisfy the deepest desires of my heart. He, and he alone, can give me the peace that is beyond understanding.
As a Church, we face the same struggles with sin. We can easily get caught up in the rush from one program to another, searching for the retreat, or religious education program, or the adult formation program, or devotion, that will satisfy our holy longing. What we need is mission.
We come together at Mass to be feed by Word and Sacrament – bread for the journey – but a journey to where? We are being sent, “As the Father has sent me, so now I send you” (John 20:21) into our families, our neighborhoods, our jobs, our city, our country, and our world. We are sent to be a witness to the saving love of God we have encountered in the person of Jesus through the very same Church that so often hurts us, or disappoints us, or just frustrates us.
This is why we need an extraordinary missionary month so we can remember that we are baptized and sent to become the love we have received by giving that love to others. Jesus is faithful. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on him, we will survive the trails and tribulations of life even as we move beyond ourselves, step outside of our comfort zones, cross some type of border, and risk a personal encounter with a complete stranger. It is only in Jesus that we will come to see ourselves, and others, as beloved children of God and we will meet one another as human beings, “neither Jew or Greek, free or slave, male or female.” We are not to persuade, sell, conquer or use the other person, or be used by them. They are not a problem that needs to be fixed and we are not saviors. We are just people – disciples and friends of Jesus – who want to inhabit the same space as others and be with them in our joint efforts to advance the common good.
USCMA has resources to encourage individuals and communities to make October an extraordinary missionary month. You can access them on our website.
Today, each one of us needs to take a moment to consider how we will help make October 2019 an extraordinary missionary month. Gather with others. Pray. Tell the stories of mission. Consider the cry for mission within your own neighborhood, city, country or continent. Discern – where and how is the Lord calling you to serve as missionary? Give the love you have received by giving your time, talent, and treasure to mission.
The din will fade, the fog will clear, and we will see, and be with, Jesus through others. Mission opens the door to solidarity; it stretches a community to go beyond itself; it feeds our soul. Now is the time. Now is the day of salvation.
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Between Our Home Gardens & the Dust on the Moon
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Vatican II Lectionary), July 21, 2019, Year C
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Presbyterian Ruling Elder Buzz Aldrin celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the moon. The first food and drink consumed on the moon was the blessed bread and wine from Aldrin’s church, Webster Presbyterian, near Houston, Texas.
Each year, on the Sunday closest to July 20, Webster Presbyterian holds its Lunar Communion Sunday. This year, many Christian Churches will be joining Webster in spirit. The co-director of the Presbyterian Office of Worship, David Gambrell, has suggested that the name be changed to Cosmic Communion Sunday.
Every Christian who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior and is baptized is a witness to what Jesus has accomplished on our planet. Aldrin’s action reminds us deeply that Jesus is Lord and Savior not only of humans, but of everything animate and inanimate on our planet and its satellite.
The Scripture readings for today, especially St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, help us appreciate what Aldrin’s church and he did. When St. Paul stuns us by stating that something is missing in the sufferings of Christ, and that he, Paul, fills up what is missing, we begin to appreciate the vital importance of our actions. Presbyterian Biblical scholar William Barclay calls Paul’s statement “a daring thought” ( The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians, The Daily Study Bible Series, rev. ed., 1975, p. 126).
St. Paul continues Colossians by explaining that the mystery hidden in ages past is now unfolded, with Jesus at the center. Christ is our hope of glory, and every Christian is called to proclaim that glory. Webster Presbyterian Church went as far as the moon to do it.
What are we and our church doing to proclaim the mystery of Christ, our hope of glory? Most of us will not be astronauts, but Paul makes it clear that every Christian in every age is called to make Christ known to every person and race and culture.
When poet laureate Archibald MacLeish reflected on humans circling the moon, Christmas Eve, 1969, he linked our adventure with humility. His short essay “Riders on Earth Together,” concluded with these moving lines: “To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold—brothers who know now they are truly brothers.”
Our Gospel today proposes the account of Martha and Mary—Martha busy with so many tasks of hospitality, Mary seated at the Lord’s feet. We note that Jesus does not reject Martha's ministry. He calls Mary’s the better part, telling us that both the tasks of hospitality and the choice of being at His feet in admiration are important.
Is it probable that Aldrin’s celebration of Communion is the more important part, but the work of getting to the moon and exploring it is necessary too? This may lead us back to Paul’s view that somehow, he fills up what is lacking in Christ’s suffering. Christian ministry is varied, with so much of it hidden.
Missiologist Stephen Bevans, SVD, underlined the new, cosmic dimension of our joint witness, when he wrote: “To think in terms of the vast amount of time, the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, to think of the vastness of space in this universe of billions of light-years in diameter, to think in terms of the complexity of cosmic and biologic evolution—such a perspective changes completely our understanding of doctrines like creation, redemption, Christology, ecclesiology, and mission itself” (“My Pilgrimage in Mission, International Bulletin of Mission Research 43 [Jan. 2019, 1]:89).
If Christ’s “blood is on the rose, and in the stars the glory of His eyes” (Joseph Mary Plunkett), is it not the responsibility and privilege of every Christian to make that known? Between the roses in our home gardens and the dust of the moon?
This piece was originally posted on the website of the American Society of Missiology (asmweb.org)
Rev. Harry E. Winter, OMI, is the coordinator for the ministry of Mission, Unity and Dialogue (MUD) for the Oblates of Mary Immaculate USA province. He is semi-retired in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and maintains the MUD website (www.harrywinter.org).
A Vessel for God: Eucharist and Mission
The Eucharist is the ultimate gift that we have been given as Catholics. There is not one of us who is worthy of this gift, yet we are given it freely because we are loved. Mother Teresa shared a reflection on the Eucharist, “I held the Host with two fingers and thought: How small Jesus made Himself, in order to show us that He doesn't expect great things of us, but rather little things with great love.” We are loved without judgment. We are loved with hope. Hope that we might grow to be better, hope that we will choose to say “Yes!” more to this relationship, and hope that we will bring the energy surrounding that “Yes!” to those around us. We are given the Eucharist so that seed of inspiration can be planted. Our inspiration does not need to bring us to the ends of the earth, it does not need to bring us to the biggest fights or the bloodiest battles. It needs to bring us one step closer to fighting injustice, one step closer to accompanying those who live on the margins, one step closer to loving every person like we are called to do.
Mission is similar in that we do not need to go to the ends of the earth to participate in our call to mission. For some of us, it can be just as difficult to reach out to a struggling neighbor as it is to go abroad and be immersed in a different culture. The Eucharist gives us the courage to be filled with the grace and make that step outside of ourselves, however small or large, and take that step with love. When I was reflecting on this topic at Mass a few weeks ago, I was struck during the consecration; a part of Mass I have heard hundreds and hundreds of times. However, when listening to the words:Take this, all of you, and eat of it,
for this is my Body,
which will be given up for you.
Take this, all of you, and drink from it,
for this is the chalice of my Blood,
the Blood of the new and eternal covenant,
which will be poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace knowing that is our call. Our call is to give our bodies over to help others. Take this all of you… When we serve the people around us we give ourselves to them. Since moving into Franciscan Mission Service’s volunteer house in Washington, DC three years ago, I have had the privilege of living with Catholic lay people whose hearts are on fire to spread the Gospel through mission. I have been humbled by the Eucharist centered individuals who have dedicated their lives to doing work that brings others closer to God. I have been blessed to see Christ work through their call for overseas mission in a similar way that I have seen Christ lead me to mission in a different way.
FMS Overseas lay missioner SaraJane Cauzillo serving in Bolivia shares what her mission morning is like: “My mission starts at 8:00am when I arrive at the hogar (a home for young women). It’s usually the calm before the storm. The girls are finishing breakfast, and still slugging around wishing they were still in bed. We exchange good morning hugs and talk about the dreams we had last night or the homework that is to be done in the day.”
FMS Overseas lay missioner Hannah Haggarty serving in Jamaica shares what her mission morning is like:“It no longer shocks me when a stranger hands me their child in the converted cargo vans used for public transportation. The 28 passenger capacity “bus” has at least double that many people crammed on trying to reach their workplaces. It takes about 75 minutes to travel 5km. It is not air-conditioned, and there is usually extremely loud music blaring through the speakers. There are no formal bus stops in Kingston, so when it is time to get off I climb my way towards the front of the bus and I have mastered shouting “bus stop!” to the driver when I get close to school. Then I walk about ¾ mile and am welcomed with open arms by 31 rambunctious grade 2 students. And the day begins.”
As for me, my mission morning starts at 7:45am every day to the sound of a bell ringing through the hallways at Bishop McNamara High School. The quiet halls are then filled with loud footsteps, chatter about homework, complaints about tests, and of course- billows of laughter. My day is consumed by to do lists that inevitably get longer, answering questions about community service hours, and teaching my classes. At the core of everything I do, I try to be available.
Corpus Christi is a feast day to remind us to revel in the mystery and gift that Jesus has given us. Each of us should be humbled coming to the table in front of the Body of Christ. The Eucharist is the gift of the ultimate relationship. When we humble ourselves and become fully present to those around us, we are as close as we can get to the true relationships we are being called to live out. I try to remind myself that I am merely a vessel to bring more joy, love, understanding, and peace into the world. I do it by being present to my students and coworkers for conversation, for prayer, and ultimately for relationship. How do you do it?
Reflection by Amanda Saunders
Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at Bishop McNamara High School -
Kim Young Gil (1940 - 2018) was inspired by today's gospel and Ezkiel's dry bones
Four Faces of the Holy Spirit
June 9, 2019
Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
As a gentle loving breath or strong driving wind, the Holy Spirt comes today showing us at least four faces – mercy, justice, understanding and peace.
The Church, in her loving kindness, gives us two powerful, different, and complimentary images of Pentecost. The first is a loving breath and the second, a driving wind.
The Gospel of John (20:19-23) has the frightened disciples gathered behind locked doors on the morning of the first day of the week. Suddenly, Jesus, risen from the dead, is with them. “Peace be with you,” he says to them and shows them his wounds. The disciples rejoice seeing the Lord. “Peace, be with you,” Jesus says again and then adds, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breaths on them, like the gentle breeze through Elijah’s cave or a mother’s face to face play with her infant, and Jesus says “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Jesus comes in peace to be with us, his disciples. He sends us – just as the Father sent him – to bring mercy to sinners and justice to those whose sins cannot be forgiven. Jesus gives us, his disciples, his Spirit and with that the power to forgive sins, to lavish the mercy of God on those who have failed God, neighbor, or self, and the power to retain sin so justice is served.
Sin makes us uncomfortable. It should. It is still real and pervasive in our own hearts and minds, in our society, and in our world. It is a happy day, as the song says, when we are truthful enough about ourselves, and our society, to see and repent of our sins and to let Jesus wash those sins away. Perhaps some sins are retained – like the sexual abuse of children by priests and the failure of our bishops to deal with this “laceration” of the Body of Christ – because the full truth of this sin is still being revealed. Purification has its own time. Salvation is not just for us personally, it is for our neighborhood and city, our family, extended family, our tribe, the organizations we work in, and the groups we belong to. All of us “have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
The second Pentecost story is the one we know so well – from the Acts of the Apostles – when the time was right, the disciples were in one place, a strong driving wind comes from the sky filling the house, and the Holy Spirt came, like tongues of fire, that part to rest on each one of them, filling each of them with the Holy Spirit, and giving them the power to speak in foreign languages so they could proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit comes – filling the house and filling each one of us – giving us the power to speak and understand people with a different language, culture, way of life. The Gospel transcends all cultures which means it can hold all cultures – purifying, illuminating, and unifying them.
The Holy Spirit comes – just like Jesus – not to condemn mankind but to save it. The Holy Spirit comes as peace – both a pledge and a promise. We are called to wholeness and holiness – individually, as a community, as a country and as a world. We have the power to recognize sin. We have the power to forgive sin. We have the power to retain sin in service to justice and mercy. We have the power to transcend ourselves, move outside of our comfort zone, cross borders of language, class, economics, or culture, and encounter the stranger as a sister or brother. We can be peacemakers. We can be handmaids to the Kingdom of God.
We, as Catholic Christians living in the United States of America in the year 2019 – just a couple of decades into the 21st Century, less than 2% into the third millennium – would do well to upgrade our appreciation, and appropriation, of Pentecost. It is not just another memorial of something that happened long ago. No, it is the font of all that has happened in and through the Church. We are Spirit folk now. The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert and now the Spirit sends us into the world to transform the world with the power of the Gospel. In one sense, “ordinary time” is the season of Pentecost because it focuses on how the community of disciples, over time, in time, and through time, live out the mission Jesus entrusted to us.
Let us challenge ourselves this Pentecost to be Spirit folk. What does that look like? Come together in prayer and discernment and ask where God is sending your community of faith. Are you being sent to the peripheries within your own neighborhood or city? Perhaps there is a home mission God is calling you to, or a global mission? Your community may be so gifted that God is calling you to all three. Second, identify everyone within your community that has had some experience of mission – of being sent in service to others. Third, convene the community for a mission on mission. Fourth, build Cenacle time – when the community comes together in prayer seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit – annually. Fifth, celebrate the vigil of Pentecost – waiting for the Spirit to come to send you forth to the “ends of the earth.”
It will not be comfortable. We will need to leave the flesh pots of Egypt to enter deeply into mission because our witness needs purification, our prayer and worship authenticity, our dialogue modesty and confidence, enculturation epic and iconic, justice real and immediate, and reconciliation all encompassing. We are not alone. We enter mission with others, we are sent on mission with others, we have the communion of saints to accompany us, and Jesus himself will be with us “to the end of the age.”
Come, Holy Spirt, Come! Fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love … and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Jesus ascends by John Singleton CopleyThe Ascension of Jesus
May 30, 2019
The Ascension of Jesus is a powerful reminder of how Jesus bridges the human and divine. Born a vulnerable baby, Jesus survives despite the evil intent of King Herod to kill him and now, a teacher and friend to all people, the resurrected Christ has overcome death, once and for all.
There are various accounts of the Ascension in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and yet, the most explicit account of Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, to reclaim his place on the throne is written in the Acts of the Apostles.
When they had gathered together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”Acts 1: 6 - 11
This year, as USCMA continues to build bridges of global solidarity among all the faithful, we would encourage all Christians to reflect upon the significance of the Ascension.
Forty days after the Resurrection, the apostles gathered around Jesus. While the 40-days of Lent was a time of personal reflection where we, nowadays, prepare for the death and resurrection of our beloved; then, the apostles had spent a significantly longer period in the midst of Jesus, his ministry and message, and the devil hardening the hearts of those surrounding them. For them, this gathering on the hillside must have been bittersweet. The Messiah, who they had already watched suffer, die and return to them, “leaves” them again just as they look to him to truly “restore the kingdom.”
As missionaries, we too look to Jesus to restore the kingdom. However, our perception is slightly different from the apostles who, as Jesus reminds them (and us) did not have an understanding of God’s time; the mission of Jesus was not coming to an end but beginning. It is this moment, in Jesus’s response to his apostles, that the Church is both given her mission and sent on mission. Ad Gentes beautifully reiterates that the Church does not have a mission, rather mission has a Church.
Unlike the Father who acts by “his own authority,” it is Jesus who sends his disciples on mission. Jesus says, “you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” As disciples, we are called to bear witness to the Truth, as Jesus did. Our mission goes beyond ourselves to encounter others, to cross borders so we can gossip the Gospel. We are not alone. Even before he ascends, Jesus foreshadows Pentecost - where the Holy Spirit will be with all those who have taken up Jesus’ mission.
Jesus proclaims his disciples “will receive power;” this power will enable them to fulfill this mission. Again, the apostles did not yet know the significance of this promise. It is important to recognize the distinction Jesus makes between the Father who acts of “his own authority” and the disciples who are strengthened and made powerful by God.
Then, Jesus ascends; “as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Imaginably, at that time, the apostles are surprised, confused, and in awe. They are witnesses to this miracle, to the divinity of Jesus. But they are also in some sense being tested to see if the ministry of God has truly taken root, has wholly consumed their hearts and minds, so that they can go forth and preach the Good News. They are a small group of believers, “left” to face the world without Jesus. Now, as missionary disciples, we know that God is the past, present and future; the Ascension reinforces the universal availability of Jesus.
In the midst of Jesus’ ascension, two men appear beside the disciples. This echoes the Resurrection story in the Gospel of Luke where two men appear to the disciples at the tomb, saying “why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.” (Luke 24: 5-6) Now, two men adorned in garments, question the disciples, “why are you standing there looking at the sky?” They are challenged to not simply seek Jesus in their present but understand, “This Jesus” who is familiar to them, “has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” A promise yet to be fulfilled. We have this promise – then and now, as disciples of Christ – that he will “come again to judge the living and the dead.”
The story of the Ascension does have a slight variation in both the Gospel of Luke and Mark. In Luke 24:44 – 53, Jesus appears to his apostles, proclaiming he has fulfilled all that was written, and says, “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” – the same promise evident in Acts, where the disciples will receive power from God. Then Jesus leads them out, blesses them and ascends into heaven. “As he blessed them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” (Luke 24:51) The Gospel of Mark contains two stories – the Commissioning of the Eleven and the Ascension of Jesus.
“[But] later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.
He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16: 14 – 18
“So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”
Mark 16: 19 – 20
Jesus ascends to the Father, so his mission – the kingdom of love, justice and peace – becomes our mission. His Spirit becomes our Spirit. His body, our body.
Reflection written by Nadia Barnett
USCMA Publications and Communications Associate
Emblème by Foi et Lumière
Radical Encounter – The Mission of L’Arche
Jesus sends us on mission. We are baptized for mission. Pope Francis calls us to embrace mission. Jean Vanier, who died May 7, spoke of the mission each person has in life.
Love is to recognize that the other person is a person, is precious, is important and has value. Each one has a gift to bring to others. Each one has his or her mission in the larger family of humanity. Each one reveals the secret face of God. (“Google This: Jean Vanier and What it Means to Be Human,” Huffington Post, 02/06/2015).
Mission begins with encounter and encounter is what grounds and sustains mission. Jean Vanier taught us that by his example; more importantly, the 154 L’Arche communities in 38 countries,with 10,000 members teach us this by embodying it daily.
Here in Washington, D.C., there are four L’Arche communities. Recently, they held their annual fundraising breakfast. People came together to simply be human with each other and to allow L’Arche to touch and free a tender place within their hearts—a place that knows pure love.
In USCMA’s tribute to Jean Vanier after his death, we called him the “missionary of tenderness.” As I reflect on his life and teachings (he wrote 30 books) and see how his vision awakened a depth of humanity and mission in others, four key truths emerge that speak to, and support, the missionary impulse.
- Be. Megan, an assistant member of a L’Arche community in Washington, talked about how difficult it was for her to shift from always “doing” to just being with others. L’Arche calls people—both with and without intellectual disabilities—to be with and for each other. There are plenty of things to do. The difference with L’Arche is that people do things with one another, from sweeping the sidewalk to cooking dinner. Missionaries are called to inhabit the place and time where they are, whether as a volunteer in Jamaica for a year, establishing a mission in Liberia, or doing a short-term mission trip to Haiti. In mission, who you are with, and how you are with them, is much more important than what you do.
- Be at ease. Vanier encourages us to be at ease with our bodies, our emotions, our stories. Fr. Henri Nouwen, the famous spiritual writer, spent the last 10 years of his life in Daybreak, a L’Arche community in Canada. Nouwen experienced a deep sense of loneliness throughout his life, and it was L’Arche that freed him to be at ease in his own body, to be reconciled with his emotions and desires. Please, God, may each of us experience moments in our life when we completely inhabit and are totally at ease with our body, with no shame, living from within rather than from the temptations of the flesh. This is much harder than it sounds. How much of our time is spent enhancing our appearance so others will think well of us or protecting ourselves from possible emotional harm? Missionaries are called to be at ease with themselves so they can be a transparent witness to Jesus, the mercy of God.
- Be present. Bob, also from L’Arche, talks about the importance of being present to another person. Andrew, a core member, goes to church every Sunday at a nearby parish. He is known and loved by the people. Of late, Andrew gets up and walks around the church during Mass. Rather than suppress his need to walk, or remove him from the community, his companion, Bob, walks with him. It is a prejudice to believe that I have nothing to learn, nothing to receive, from someone who lives with disabilities. Being present is meeting the person where they are in that moment. It is being open to hearing, and holding, their story. It is honoring them with the fullness of your attention. A missionary is always present to her or his people—in their time, and in their place.
To be lonely is to feel unwanted and unloved, and therefore unlovable. Loneliness is a taste of death. No wonder some people who are desperately lonely lose themselves in mental illness or violence to forget the inner pain. (Jean Vanier, Becoming Human, 2001)- Resist. There is no naiveté in the thought of Jean Vanier nor the day-to-day struggles of living within a L’Arche community. Community is messy. There are so many good things about the culture we inhabit but there are also a lot of competing “goods and shoulds.” Pope Francis, in his first encyclical, contrasted faith with idolatry. We must resist making something that is not God—an ideology, a nation, a thing, a career—into God. Unless we put our faith in God, our lives will break down into a multiplicity of desires. Nothing will ever satisfy us. Jean Vanier talks about the importance of resistance to the tyranny of culture. Resistance is a purification. What do I really want? What do I truly need?
There is that little compass within each one of us where we know what is right, what is just, what is good, what is true. (“The Gift of Living with the Non-Gifted,” interview with Jean Vanier, Wall Street Journal, 04/03/2015)
Mission is only possible when we truly encounter another person—to be, to be with them, to be present to them, and to resist all the distractions to be something or someone other than who we are in this moment.
Pope Francis has called us to see mission more as a question of time than of place. Who in our neighborhood is suffering and needs healing? Can we, as a community of believers, come together to be with them in their needs?
Perhaps we are called to join the mission of L’Arche. Perhaps we are called to learn from L’Arche how to be with and for others. Perhaps we will simply be inspired by L’Arche and be more present to those around us. Perhaps L’Arche will open our hearts to hold people in prayer who are much different than us. All of it is mission. All of it begins, and is sustained, through encounter.
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here
The Cross and the Mission
One year, while praying the Passion, I was drawn to St. John—the beloved disciple of Jesus who stands with Mary at the foot of the cross.
I imagined myself as John comforting Mary before the tortuous execution of her only son. How do you see it? Is Mary near the foot of the cross or some distance away? Is she standing or kneeling? Is she fainting or alert, with her eyes fixed solely on Jesus? Where am I, now John, in this scene?
At first, I am strong, silently standing behind Mary, holding her as she watches Jesus slowly die on the cross. I lift my eyes, but I cannot watch. There is so much blood. I cannot stop his screams echoing in my ears along with the jeers of the crowd and the harsh commands of the soldiers. The air is laden with the stench of slaughter. Quivering, my knees buckle, and I collapse.
Time drags and there is no end in sight. I do not want to be here. Jesus, my teacher, my friend, my hope, is in pure agony. I cannot watch anymore. I cannot move. I am paralyzed by fear and horror. I am on my knees, heartbroken, ashamed, terrified. I lift my eyes to see Jesus one more time before I decide to run off and hide like Peter and the others, but I can’t; in front of me, standing directly before her son, is Mary. Still on my knees, keeping my eyes on her, I inch closer.
I am a terrified child, clinging to my mother’s cloak. As I draw next to her, I feel the tenderness of her hand cradling the side of my head as Jesus says, “Woman, behold your son.” I came to comfort her, but she is comforting me. I lift my eyes to Jesus. I am pierced by the longing in his eyes; a dying man entrusting his mother to a broken man. Mustering both strength and tenderness, he says to me, “Behold, your mother.” Here, at the foot of his cross, the Church is conceived.
Here gathers the crowd of witnesses—all the missionaries who have given their lives in service to the Gospel. Just in our lifetime, and from our country, we remember Sister Dorothy Stang, Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, who died serving the indigenous people of the Amazon Rainforest. Father Stanley Rother, from Oklahoma, who was killed in Guatemala for his work with the poor. The five Adorers of the Precious Blood who died during the civil war in Liberia.
There is another type of martyrdom missionaries embrace, they share the hardship of others and witness their suffering. These missionaries saw firsthand the genocide in Rwanda. Other missionaries today serve and accompany the people of South Sudan, with all of their suffering. Short-term mission trips have developed into long-term relationships, returning every year to the pain and poverty of the people of Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
On Good Friday, we stay close to Mary as we witness the suffering of people all over the world. We want to hide our eyes, but we keep them wide open. We want to run away, yet we stay close by. We want to get lost in distractions, but we reach out in compassion and concern. We want to collapse in defeat, but we rise up to face the pain of our friends close by or on the other side of the world. Our hearts are broken, and we risk having them broken again.
We know deep within our souls that we can move beyond ourselves; we will not be defined by our comforts. We are willing and able to cross borders just to encounter and be with others. We can and will risk a personal encounter with a stranger, shouldering their hopes and fears, their sorrows and joys, as our own. Every moment, any service, all the relationships we form through mission, we gratefully and prayerfully embrace in the name of Jesus, whose Gospel we proclaim and whose Kingdom we serve.
We are all called to mission. For some of us, it will mean a few hours a week preparing for a short-term visit to a sister parish in another country. For others, the call to mission will draw us to religious life, community, and a life-time commitment. Still others will contemplate the meaning of mission in the life of the Church, praying and pondering from afar while holding God’s people deep within their hearts. Many of us are just beginning to awaken to our call to mission and are finding ways to be with and for others in our neighborhoods, through pilgrimages, on immersion trips, through justice and peace, and with a commitment to reconciliation.
It is here, at the foot of the cross, where mission takes root.
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here
Radical Conversion: From Me to Mission
Forget candy, give up consumerism. Giving up alcohol this Lent? Dial back individualism instead. Donating to CRS Rice Bowl? Surrender nationalism.
Let me be clear: Any spiritual exercise that supports you in purifying your soul, opening your heart to God and others, and sharing your gifts with your sisters and brothers, especially the needy, is the stuff of Lent. No judgment here. Just an invitation to dive deeper in so we can go further out.
As we become adults in the faith, we begin to see the gap between who we are and who we are called to be. We are convicted, not only by “what we have done, but what we have failed to do” (Confiteor). Those of us who have a few more years of experience wonder about the wrongs we have done, the people we have hurt, the missed opportunities, the time we have wasted, the injustice we have ignored, the fleshpots we cling to.
Think of Lent as a renovation. You can clean a room so it is nice and neat. You can also spruce up a room by painting it, getting new carpet, new furniture, new decorations. Remodeling a room is more demanding—changing the dimensions of the space, the lighting, even the purpose of the room. Finally, there is a whole-house renovation, requiring you to tear into the structural elements that limit the space; you open up the house so it can become a different type of home. Lent is the season to tear into those structural elements of our lives.
That kind of renovation is radical conversion. And it has one purpose—mission. Just as we renovate a house so it does more than merely sit there, looking beautiful, with no inhabitants, we do the hard work of conversion so we can be free to take the Gospel to “the ends of the earth,” to a time and place where we can live with, and be for, the people God has sent us to.
This Lent, we invite all of us to dig deeper and look at those structural assumptions we make about God, others, and self and—like gold that is tested in fire—burn away all those cultural assumptions we have about ourselves, about others, and about God. This purification will stretch our hearts and minds to, in the words of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “embrace the whole universe.”
Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the desert for a time of preparation for the demands of mission. The Church, in her wisdom, has given us three foundational Lenten practices—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—so we can accompany Jesus into the desert and join him in the mission that will take him to Galilee, Jerusalem, the Cross, Easter Sunday, and the wild winds of Pentecost. The same Spirit that moved Jesus into the desert moves us into mission.
So, as we begin our missionary excavation, we will lift up in prayer all that limits and expands our embrace of humanity; we will give up through fasting all that weighs us down and separates us from those on the periphery; and we will show up to be with and for others in numerous and wonderful ways.
As we do so, we will explore the missionary process, the six components of mission, and the various—and complementary—models of mission. We will see why Pope Francis has looked to mission as the key to the renovation of the Church in our world at this moment in human history.
For, as we know from Ash Wednesday, we are dust and unto dust we shall return. Dust—dirt, soil, earth—is a building block of life. It is pure potential before air, sun, and water. Ontologically, we come from the relationship of our parents, and we are ordered toward relationship with others, even the hermits among us. Like dust, we are pure potential, and our relationships—first with God and then with others—are the ecology of our perfection.
So we pray that you wore those ashes proudly, for God transformed you from dust into the wonder that you are today. And God is not finished with us yet. As long as we open our hearts and minds to the expansiveness of the Gospel—a time and place where justice flows like a river, peace dwells in the land, and all glory belongs to God alone—we are growing into the image of God we were born to be.
Our Lenten reflections will be posted on the USCMA website, Facebook, and Twitter, so join us as we prepare for the victory of Easter and the wonder of Pentecost.
May God, who has begun his good work within you, bring it to clarity and conviction this Lent.
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here
The Annunciation of the Lord
The Gospel of Luke (1:26 - 38) tells the story of the Annunciation; the story of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary, proclaiming her the Mother of Jesus, and Mary’s fiat, her “yes.”
Mary’s response of wonder, humility, and self-awareness will serve us well in our own journey of Radical Conversion.
When Gabriel greets Mary “as full of grace” and “The Lord is with you,” she is deeply troubled and pondered the meaning of this greeting. She did not react to the greeting; she absorbed it, took it into heart, and wondered what it might mean. Humble, Mary’s first concern was not herself but the message. Mary, like us, probably experienced times of closeness to God, or moments of grace, but to be told that she was “full” of grace, and that the Lord is close to her, caused her to ponder. Her response is the appropriate human response to God – awe. That wonderful emotion that is a mixture of wonder and fear, humility and curiosity.
Did Gabriel read Mary correctly? Was she afraid? That was his word, not hers. She was deeply moved and pondered his message; she did not flee or fight him. He continues with his message – “Behold, you will conceive,” give birth to a son, name him Jesus, who will be great, called the Son of God, he will have David’s throne, and he will “rule over the house of Jacob forever.”
The first words from Mary’s mouth is an innocent question. There is no resistance here, no fear, just an honest question. Mary knows how babies are made. She also knows that she is a virgin, that although she is betrothed, committed to Joseph, she has not had a sexual relationship with a man. How can it be that she will “conceive?”
Gabriel responds – the breath of God that gave life to the world will come upon you, the creative power of God that created all that is in six days will overshadow you, and you will conceive the Son of God. He goes on to announce that Elizabeth, who was thought barren because of her old age, was in her sixth month, for “nothing is impossible for God.”
Her innocence satisfied, Mary matches Gabriel’s proclamation. “Behold,” – see and pay attention to the truth I am about to say – this is who I am, a “handmaid of the Lord” and I say yes, I say amen, I say let it be in and through me, “according to your word.”
As adults, we easily become jaded. We loose innocence and wonder but we excel in the ability to ponder and, hopefully, we have learned something about humility. The truth, however, is the truth. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, born of Mary, born just like you and me, to save us. God has given us all that he has in his Son Jesus. Mary gave all that she had because her people, and all generations, need to be in right relationship with the God of the living.
Generativity asks of us wonder, humility, and self-awareness. Mary, our Mother, teaches us what that looks like. When we are troubled, ponder rather than panic. Let our questions be innocent rather than resistant, or judgmental. Let our fiat, our yes to God, flow from the center of our being. Let us be the “handmaid of the Lord.”
Human Fraternity: The Fruit of Inter-Religious Dialogue
On February 4, 2019, Pope Francis and Ahmad el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, an authority on Sunni Islamic thought, signed a document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. This historic moment took place in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
The document says:In the name of God and of everything stated thus far; Al-Azhar al-Sharif and the Muslims of the East and West, together with the Catholic Church and the Catholics of the East and West, declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard.
The document is remarkable on so many levels; it deserves our thoughtful and prayerful reading and, most importantly, it warrants dialogue, cooperation, and reciprocal understanding in our neighborhoods, cities, states, and country.
More to the point, as missionary disciples, this moment in the history of the Church calls all of us to a renewed understanding of, and commitment to, inter-religious dialogue.
Rooted in Vatican II, the call for dialogue is a call for encounter and solidarity. In Nostra aetate, the bishops of the Second Vatican Council overwhelming exhorted the faithful in this way: “through dialogue and collaboration with followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values, found among” the women and men who embody the faith of these religions.
The Church has acted on these words. Pope Paul VI established an office in Rome in 1967 to welcome everyone so that “no pilgrim, no matter how distant he may be, religiously or geographically, no matter his country of origin, will any longer be a complete stranger in … Rome.” Indeed, every year since 1967, the Church sends greetings to Muslims throughout the world at the end of their fast of Ramadan, on the Eid al Fitr. Pope John Paul II, in his 1985 address to Muslim youth in Casablanca, said:Christians and Muslims: We have many things in common as believers and as human beings. We live in the same world. It is marked by numerous signs of hope, but also by signs of anguish. Abraham is the model for us all of faith in God: submission to his will and trust in his goodness. We believe in the same God, the one and only God, the living God, the God who creates worlds and brings creatures to their perfection.
Pope Francis, in his address to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on November 28, 2013, stressed:
Dialogue does not mean renouncing one’s own identity when it goes against another’s, nor does it mean compromising Christian faith and morals. To the contrary, “true openness involves remaining steadfast in one’s deepest convictions, clear and joyful in one’s own identity” (EG no 251) and therefore open to understanding the religion of another, capable of respectful human relationships, convinced that the encounter with someone different than ourselves can be an occasion of growth in a spirit of fraternity, of enrichment and of witness. This is why interreligious dialogue and evangelization are not mutually exclusive, but rather nourish one another. We do not impose anything, we do not employ subtle strategies for attracting believers; rather, we bear witness to what we believe and who we are with joy and simplicity.
Interreligious dialogue begins with joy and simplicity in who we are and what we believe. It moves to encounter – meeting another as a human being who shares with us all that is essential to our common humanity. This profound encounter builds a relationship of reciprocal understanding and leads to dialogue and collaboration.
Read carefully Human Fraternity. I found my own reading confused by my cultural assumptions of liberal and conservative, right wing and progressive. While the document clearly condemns abortion, it also calls for the rights and freedom of women. While it affirms the centrality of the family, it also champions the poor and the vulnerable.
The world continues to change. There is a saying of the Prophet Muhammad that the Arabian Peninsula should not contain any religion but Islam. Nevertheless, Pope Francis presided at Mass at the Zayed Sports City on February 5 with 130,000 in attendance. He preached on the Sermon on the Mount: “In Jesus, we are the Father’s beloved children. The Christian life means living out the joy of this blessedness.”
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.” (Catholic Prayers)
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here -
Mission, Ecumenism, and Christian Unity
I reached out to four missiologists to see if they could pen an article on mission and ecumenism in honor of the week for Christian Unity, January 18–25. Nope, they were too busy—doing mission!
One, however, suggested an article by Christian Brother Jeffrey Gross called "A Century of Hope and Transformation: Mission and Unity is Catholic Perspective."* I cannot do the article justice. There is too much rich information in it that it would take a master’s thesis just to tease out all the nuances and implications.
But here are his powerful concluding thoughts with my comments added afterward.
“Edinburgh in 1910 spoke of Christians finally coming to imagine a global, universal church articulated then by Bishop Charles Gore, and asserted by Karl Rahner in a historic 1979 address.”
We often talk about the third wave of mission, which is mission's attempt to understand and navigate the third wave of globalization, the establishment of independent countries, and the elimination of empires. Gross reminds us that missiologists have been wrestling with these questions for some time and discerned the development of a "global" church as early as 1910.
“Living into this evolutionary, inculturated, post-Eurocentric vision will be the mission challenge for all Christians in a post-colonial, pluralistic globalized world.”
Missionaries are called to see things from multiple perspectives; they cannot rely on a Eurocentric or Western perspective. How much of our religious imagination is influenced by where we are raised? When Jesus was born in a manger, was it hot or cold, humid or arid? If we are from countries above the equator, we think of Jesus being born in winter; it was cold, the Holy Family had to struggle to stay warm. For those from countries below the equator, perhaps it was dry, hot, needing ventilation and the shooing away of flies.
“Ecumenical formation for common witness and common understanding, and harvesting the dialogue results in pastorally accessible forms will be a continuing opportunity and challenge. Attention is needed especially to cross cultural contexts, to understand the ecumenical situation and the heritage of relationships or tensions, even—or possibly especially—for those from Asia, Africa and Latin American ministering in North Atlantic contexts.”
Over the past century, the Catholic Church has recognized that most of the world has heard the Gospel; mission is done by most, if not all, Christian churches; and that historically, all Christian churches, including the Catholic Church, have been unfair to each other. These dynamics have played out in various cultures. The Catholic Church is now committed to understanding culture, the history of ecumenism within that culture, the need for dialogue, and efforts to promote common witness.
“It will be important to reach out to the most difficult fellow Christians and ecumenical formation in the most difficult Catholic contexts. For Catholics it will be especially important to develop leaders with an ecumenical and missionary spirituality, among the bishops and curial leadership.”
Many of the Christian churches have agreed to play nice with each other. Some have not. Consequently, the Catholic Church needs leaders—especially bishops—with both an ecumenical and missionary spirituality.
“Continuing attention needs to be given to include mission, cross-cultural and ecumenical training for catechists, clergy and pastoral workers, even as inter-religious formation continues in importance.”
All those involved in Christian formation—from catechists to bishops—need formation themselves in mission, cross-cultural education, ecumenical formation, and formation in inter-religious dialogue. This need is greater today than ever before with the rise of identity politics and ideological tribalism. Identity politics means I define myself, and others, in one mutually exclusive way. If I am pro-life, that position defines who I am and determines the goodness, or badness, of everyone else. I bond with others who view the world the same way, thus forming an ideological tribe. Dialogue is not possible between and among those of different ideologies.
“There will be need for continued dialogue on mission, ecumenical discussion of issues that are disputed within the churches, like inter-religious dialogue, inculturation and the Eurocentric heritage in a global Christian family, focusing on the new Pentecostal, African Initiated Churches, and evangelical voices.”
In many ways, Gross is prophetic. As a whole, we are not even close to continued dialogue on mission, ecumenism, common witness, inter-religious dialogue, and inculturation. There has been some progress between Christian and Muslims but these are in the very early stages. Much progress has been made among the mainline Christian churches but is just beginning with the more evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Indeed, even dialogue within the churches themselves—between the more conservative and liberal wings of a church—is becoming more and more difficult.
Jesus Christ was sent by the Father, in and with the power of the Spirit, to save humanity. As missionaries, we have been sent to give witness to this Good News through the integrity of our lives, the compassion of our service, and the power of our words. To do that well, in this day and age, we need to be culturally sensitive, ecumenically aware, skilled at inter-religious dialogue, and passionate about the possibility and promise of a common witness.
Missionaries would do well to add ecumenical awareness to their preparation to reach out to, engage with, and serve others through mission trips, projects, and partnerships. This is one very practical way that Catholic missionaries can live out the Spirit of the week for Christian Unity.
*Gross’ article can be found in A Century of Catholic Mission - Roman Catholic Missiology 1910 to the Present, edited by Stephen B. Bevans, SVD, Volume 15 of the Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series.
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here -
Baptism of the Lord
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16)
There are three things to notice in Sunday's Gospel – John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, and fire.
Jesus receives baptism from John and in doing so identifies with sinners, although he himself is not a sinner, and accepts the mantle as the “baptizer” but will do so with the Holy Spirit and fire. The time of promise comes to an end with John the Baptist and the time of fulfillment begins with Jesus. He, and he alone, is Emmanuel; God is with us.
In the baptism of Jesus, the fullness of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is revealed for all to see. St. Luke is very strong on this point. The same Spirit powered fulfillment in Jesus, that descends on him at his baptism, drives him into the desert, launches his mission that is clearly described in his reading of Isaiah in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, is the same Spirit powered mission of the Apostles that St. Luke chronicles in the Acts of the Apostles. The Spirit of the Living God is one with Jesus just as the Father and he are one.
Fire. Fire is not an element, like water, air, or earth. Fire is a chemical process of transformation. It both purifies – like gold that is tested in fire – and animates life, the spark of breath and matter embodied. Baptism gives believers the Holy Spirit, who purifies them of their sins and empowers them for mission.
Jesus is God with us. Jesus is the Spirit of the Living God purifying us and empowering us for mission. We are disciples of the fulfillment. We have everything we need to continue the mission of Jesus – his Spirit of purification and mission.
We are facing challenging times in our political, church, and our economic life. In our political life, fear has replaced facts and posturing for dialogue. In our church life, we are so bruised by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, that we are turning dangerously inward. Even our economic life, with record low unemployment, is showing signs of a recession.
Purification and mission. The mission Jesus entrusted to us, his Church, has not changed. We are to incarnate the saving love of God for the redemption of the world. We have everything we need – life, love, purpose, a Messiah, guide, Savior, friend, and the Holy Spirit who leads us directly into the heart of God. In, through, and with Jesus we are a “beloved” child of God. As we fall deeper and deeper in love with God, we too will enter the purification of our own deserts so we can discern the mission God is entrusting to us, and, in a way unique to us, take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Now that is a baptism!
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Epiphany
“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” (Matthew 2:2).
Epiphany is the “manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.” What is manifested, what is revealed? The clues that today’s gospel give include a star, visitors “from the east,” a newborn king, three gifts, and a dream.
The star has cosmic significance. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the day star, or morning star, seems to refer to both the prince of evil – Satan – as well as the prince of peace, the Messiah. Another reference comes from the Canticle of Zechariah, Luke 1:67-79 – “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Scripture uses the word “magi” which is the plural form of “magus” meaning wise. The Gospel of Matthew never really tells us how many “magi” there are; the tradition has “three” because there were three gifts. What is clear, however, is that these magi come from the east – from Gentile lands – to give homage to a “newborn king.” The gifts themselves, each rich with meaning, is a gesture of homage – or worship.
Symbolically, in Matthew’s Gospel, written for Jewish Christians, the world comes to Jesus until Jesus sends his apostles out to the world (Matthew 28:16-20).
The dream, of course, echoes the dreams of Joseph, that announce of the coming of the Messiah and our relationship to him.
Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one of God, who comes for the salvation of everyone. The wise visitors seek him, find him by following a star and encounter him with Mary, his mother. For missionaries, the Epiphany is a celebration of mission – that we sent by Jesus, just as he was sent by Our Father, to “all nations” – to every person in the world.
Now, Jesus is our star, our “dawn from on high,” and, as missionaries, we will follow him wherever, and whenever, he sends us.
Advent - The Season of Longing
Missionaries take the long view of Advent. It is much more than longing for and preparing for this Christmas. It is preparing the world for the ultimate reign of God. And when I say "the world," that’s shorthand for every human being—all 7.6 billion of us and counting—inhabiting this planet, all cultures, all countries, and every human institution we have created.
Advent magnifies and appropriates preparation as a perennial characteristic of the spirituality of mission. Advent is the BIG prepare—like preparing for college, getting married, studying for a career in medicine, adopting or giving birth to a child. It is the biggest of the BIG preparations because we are preparing for the salvation of the world.
In addition to preparation, three other themes emerge in Advent that characterize mission spirituality: watching, waiting, and expecting.
Missionaries watch the signs of the times. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have a commitment to the poor, and they take that commitment to every relationship they forge. They live and work among the poor, the marginalized, the periphery of society. They also take the poor into boardrooms where decisions that will impact the poor are made—in finance, public policy, and development. What is happening today and how can we serve the poor through those events? Watching.
The Missionaries of Saint Columban know a thing or two about waiting. Their charism is for the conversion of China. They have spent decades waiting, watching, for an opening to bring the Gospel to the Chinese people. They, and their sacrifice, are in sharp contrast to John Chau, the American Missionary recently killed as he attempted to meet the indigenous people of North Sentinel Island. The Columbans know, in their bones, that the Lord is working in and among the Chinese and there will be a day when the Gospel will be freely proclaimed, and they will be able to make disciples, to baptize and teach them “to observe all that I have commanded you." Waiting.
Sister Dorothy Stang, a sister of Notre Dame de Namur from Dayton, Ohio, went with several other sisters to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. They went there to work with the bishop to teach the indigenous people their catechism and prepare them for the sacraments. They brought with them a radical expectation—justice. They did not lead an armed revolution or mobilize political power. They simply taught the indigenous people their human rights, the same rights the Brazilian government recognizes for all of its citizens. Sister Dorothy was murdered by the landlords who were threatened by her work. Expecting.
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ suffered the death of five of their sisters during the civil war in Liberia more than 25 years ago. They had to close their mission and begin the long process of reconciliation. After years of preparation, mobilizing sisters from all over the world, the sisters have returned to Liberia. This Christmas will be their first Christmas in Liberia since the death of their five sisters. Preparing.
Here is the thing about a missionary approach to Advent: it takes the long view with a microscopic lens. Every day—advocating for the poor, engaging the Chinese people, teaching people about the faith and their basic human rights, serving the people in a war-torn country, caring for the growing number of refugees, teaching the truth about global climate change—the Word of God is Emmanuel. Advent never ends, Christmas is always coming, and it will never be defeated by the rich, the powerful, the frightened, or the apathetic. In the end, it is not about what we do or what we say, but about who we are becoming.
Who am I—who are we—"that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"
Article by Dr. Donald McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here -
Christ the unKing
Our end-of-the-year feast, Christ the King, is an opportunity to reflect and peel back the layers of what goes into “kingship,” for better or worse: those things that are appropriate and praiseworthy as well as the truly un-Christlike and how they might relate to the current crisis in the Church.
Historically, at least a bit of the disease that has infected our global institution came from the civic relationships our Church has had, over many centuries, with secular, dominant European powers, in particular royalty and their kingdoms.
When you see images of our popes carried regally aloft seated on a papal throne, with voluminous robes, wearing the Papal Tiara, you get the picture. The tiara is not just one crown, it is three stacked together. Happily, this tradition has been abandoned by an accessible pastor who lives in modest rooms and eschews the trappings of papal glory, but the legacy of an exclusive select group of “princes”—the Church’s cardinals—is deeply rooted.
The Creation of our Feast
The Feast of Christ the King is a very recent feast, created in 1925. It was born out of centuries of power struggles, from around the year 800 until mid-19th century, over papal control of varying swaths of territory called the Papal States. Popes very literally had royal, civic power and engaged in warfare with competing kingdoms to maintain it.
However, by 1920 the Italian State had virtually annexed everything under papal control. A final sorting out of papal temporal control came with a concordant between Pope Pius XI and King Victor Emmanuel in 1929, creating the small but independent Vatican City State we know today.
Subsequently, when Pius XI created the Feast, it was an assurance that the Church retained power, and in fact in an ultimate form. Our King is Jesus Christ himself, with dominion over the entire universe.Winds of Change
Pope Francis and the best and brightest have dug down through these layers of privilege to name the issue: clericalism. Recently, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich put it this way: “I think we take our eye off the ball if we don’t deal with the business of privilege, power and protection of a clerical culture. If these are not eradicated from the life of the church, everything else is a sideshow.” Or as Journalist Kenneth Woodward ends a lengthy analysis on this issue: “A final suggestion: stop treating cardinals and bishops as royalty rather than, as Francis has preached, as servants of the church”.
To help clear away all of these royal misappropriations of Christ the King, let’s check out the Gospels of the three-year lectionary for this feast, then you decide. Year A: Matthew 25: the well-known judgement scene, where the folks who did or did not feed, clothe, visit, and serve Christ the poor will be separated in the final kingdom. Year B: Luke 23: Jesus dying on the cross, being recognized by the repentant thief as one giving his innocent life, the ultimate act of service, with the assurances thereafter of entering the Kingdom. Year C: John 18: Jesus before Pilate totally devoid of any temporal power, symbolically stripped naked, acknowledges that indeed he is a King. Some kind of king indeed!
Please note, in each Gospel rendition of king and kingdom, we witness clear, direct encounters! Those entering the kingdom (Mt), are those who touched the lives of the hungry, thirsty, sick and incarcerated. Next, (Lk) the deep encounter of two dying men, the final relationship. This was the encounter that bonded their lives—they entered the kingdom together. Finally, (Jn) Jesus’ encounter with Pilate is a moment of radical revelation of what our true king looks like.
Jesus turns the notion of “kingship” on its head, as in his “the least shall be greatest in his kingdom” mantra. As a reflection on this feast, perhaps each of us can prayerfully call to mind a favorite story of a Jesus encounter that most powerfully represents the presence of his reign of love, compassion and mercy.Mission as Encounter
These provide the images of what Jesus’ reign, his “mission” looks like, what a church in mission needs to look like, what the shepherds must model. Servant leadership, how to “rule.” Modeled over and over by Pope Francis in word and deed. All the while as he pushes us to take the encounters to the margins. We do have a great well to draw from: Catholic Social Teaching. It’s the Church’s “owner’s manual.” Featuring: Immigrants and refugees; anti-war/peacemaking; anti-abortion advocacy/alternatives; advocating on behalf of the homeless; addressing poverty, human trafficking, local, national and global extreme inequity, racism care of the earth, environmental degradation. There is virtually no limit to persons and structures to be encountered, to experience and to be touched by the reign of God.
And still so much to be done within the Church itself. Our Catholic laity seem to understand best that our hierarchical, all-male leadership cannot turn this around and recover much-needed credibility by themselves. The laity are asking, in a clear voice, for inclusive engagement, meaningful encounters on all levels of Church governance. And it cannot be delayed; it is urgent. It must include opportunities, new structures whereby they can be heard and listened to, to be active participants, to have a sense of ownership, in creating a renewed, healthy community of faith.
It may take a while, but we must hope that we are at a tipping point toward deep institutional reform. May Christ the unKing be our only King and constant guide.
Article by Father Bill Vos, Diocese of St Cloud
November 15, 2018
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download the current ENCOUNTER e-newsletter here -
Generosity in Ministry
When Jesus sends the 70 disciples out with instructions to travel in twos, to leave their baggage at home, and to eat and drink what their hosts put in front of them, he’s letting life do the teaching for once. And the core teaching is to trust in the graciousness and generosity of those you encounter.
St. John Baptist de La Salle took this lesson to heart in the mission he undertook in 1680. He founded schools that didn’t charge a cent, supported by a community of brothers who offered their teaching and the “gospel free of charge.” At the heart of a mission that began in simple circumstances in 17th century France was gratuity.
As we near the tercentenary of his death in 1719, the mission of this man and the community he founded is now pulsing and vibrant in 79 countries. As with any global movement that begins as a mustard seed, there are questions. For de La Salle, patron saint of teachers, and the movement he launched, the question is, “How in the world does a single school in a single town not charging a single sou give impetus to a global movement?” The answer, again, is that single word, gratuity.
The evangelical momentum driving the mission to offer free education was met with the same “meh” and venom the 70 encountered. Established educational centers of the 18th century depended upon fees; there were prolonged conflicts, legal and at times violent, opposing the principle of putting quality education within reach of the poor and working class.
Teaching and mentoring the poor in the skills of reading and writing opened doors to them that were previously bolted shut. Free education stoked the fear that the poor would set aside menial labor for meaningful labor. By ensuring that the voiceless found a voice, the least were favored and the oppressed restored to dignity; gratuity offered a critique of the prevailing social and economic structures in the age of the Ancien Régime.
Today, even if an educational mission charges tuition and fees, this gift of the Spirit retains its sharp, prophetic edge. And even if mission is often thought of as a physical geography, it is always attentive to the spiritual geography. Pope Francis’ call for dialogue and encounter with those on the border must include the scores of young people who are disaffected and who have disaffiliated from the faith community. Mission that moves to these borderlands might find in the Lasallian charism of gratuity a GPS for the journey.
Concretely, this charism takes shape in generosities of presence and space. We often encounter the young, especially adolescents and young adults, at the intersection of belief and disbelief. The first generosity is to be present. In the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, this generosity is framed as accompaniment. The one who accompanies, if as mentor, is called to “respect the mystery that all persons carry in themselves and trust the Lord who is already at work in them (Instrumentum Laboris, 130).
The young people of the pre-synodal meeting detailed the profile of the mentor as “a faithful Christian who engages with the Church and the world; someone who constantly seeks holiness; is a confidant without judgment; actively listens to the needs of young people and responds in kind; is deeply loving and self-aware; acknowledges their limits and knows the joys and sorrows of the spiritual journey” (IL, 132).
A generous presence is marked by non-judgment and deep listening. The Synod notes that “the rage of young people in the face of rampant corruption, growing structural inequality, contempt for human dignity, human rights violations, discrimination against women and minorities, organized violence, and injustice does not seem to be taken into due account. . . . There seems to be a lack of space to discuss these issues in Christian communities” (IL, 128).
Young people will always seek one another out. But they also hunger for a trusted space in the company of trusted adults to express what is happening interiorly. This leads to the second generosity: space. Space for reflection, for solitude, and for heartfelt conversation about what matters.
Community space is key. Not only does it offer the possibility for welcome, peace, and respect for me, but a challenge to offer the same to you. A community is a setting for encounter and a witness to the accessibility and nearness of the loving presence of God.
The mission to the borderlands is a rugged one, and it doesn’t take much for us to get turned around. Jesus has it right—we need to pack light. But we’ll do well to include a go-to GPS—being generous with presence and space—in our mission to ensure “the Reign of God comes near you” (Luke 10.9 and 11.20).
Article by Brother Timothy Coldwell, FSC
October 12, 2018
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download this ENCOUNTER newsletter here
Fortitude in Life & Mission
It started as a simple question on the heels of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Catholic Church: what virtue will help missionaries weather this storm personally and continue to serve mission?
We were wrong. It is not a simple question.
It is not a simple question because the context of the question keeps shifting. Sexual abuse of anyone is wrong. The sexual abuse of a child by an ordained adult male is, and should be, a crime. What if the ordained male was himself the victim of sexual abuse? It is still wrong, and reprehensible, but why didn’t someone responsible for his formation “catch” the problem and deal with it? How many times can a person “sin” against their vows of Chasity? What if the behavior in question was not done as an adult but rather as a high school student at a drinking party?
At first blush, the virtue of justice is clearly relevant. Justice, as understood by the Catholic tradition, is giving each their due. People need food and water to sustain life. Consequently, it is unjust to prohibit access to food and water. Justice, however, is different from law. Law is an attempt to foster justice within a society but, in an of itself, it cannot promise justice. Law – the codification of criminal behavior – cannot adequately account for context. The law might say that everyone deserves so much food and water; what happens if a person requires more or some require less?
What of the other virtues of prudence, fortitude, and temperance? Prudence is right judgement. Fortitude is the ability to stay the course regardless of the “slings and arrows.” Temperance is the ability to regulate one’s appetites. The theological virtues, of course, are faith, hope, and love. Faith is the abiding trust in the goodness of God. Hope, a conviction that the promise of God will come to be and that our actions participate in that promise. Love, the passion, energy, and sacrifice for God and others that faith envisions, and hope requires.
Perhaps we need to consider fortitude in more depth. It is more than just “bucking” up or “plowing ahead.” There is a tenacity involved with fortitude – a single-mindedness, but one in service to a higher good, such as truth or the dignity of the human person. It also involves courage because the road will not be smooth, or straight, or well-lit. It will be rocky, with hairpin curves, deep valleys, relentless peaks, and poor visibility. It involves humility – knowing who I am, what I stand for, and what I can, and cannot, see. Which means I am committed to openness and dialogue; I may learn things about myself, my Church, and my culture that I do not wish to know or accept.
The sexual abuse of children, and others, by priests. The inadequate response, and in some cases cover-up, by bishops. The conviction and imprisonment of Bill Cosby. The allegations of sexual abuse of women by Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. The allegations against Donald Trump himself before he became President of the United States. The ongoing revelations of sexual abuse coming to light through the #MeToo movement.
We will need fortitude just to stay with one another through these difficult days. We will need fortitude to ask all the hard questions. Does one crime mitigate another? Does underage drinking temper the guilt of sexual assault? Does our system of justice recognize that the same experience of abuse can paralyze one person and mildly wound another? Do victims and survivors have a moral responsibility to report their abuse – to facilitate their own wellbeing, to protect others, and to help the sinner to see his sin? Is there a statue of limitations on these crimes and why?
Perhaps it is time to make an unwavering commitment to all victims of sexual abuse. A tollfree number for everyone. A clear and transparent process of intake for medical, legal, psychological, and spiritual support that ensures the well-being and freedom of the victim.
Where the church is concerned, seminarians would need to participate, as part of their formation, in this effort to reach out to the sexually abused, those who live in the shadows, the peripheries of our society. Missionaries, too, need to understand the sexual mores of the culture where they serve and call them to recognize the dignity of all women and men. Let us be the field hospital for the sexually abused even as we recognize, confess, and atone for our own crimes of sexual abuse. The doctor with cancer can still cure other cancer patients.
Because we are on mission, though, we do not despair but rather look for models of the virtues and behaviors of which I have written here. One outstanding example is the African Faith and Justice Network. Thanks to their work, religious women have come together and learned how to advocate for themselves and their people. First, they addressed violence against women and children. Having achieved some level of success, they are now confronting human trafficking, a serious problem in many African countries. They are marvelous examples of the virtue of fortitude. May the Spirit of the Living God open our hearts and minds to the witness of others – from around the world – so we have the strength and the fortitude to navigate these troubled times.
Dr. Donald R. McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association made possible, in part, by a grant from Catholic Communication Campaign.
Download this ENCOUNTER newsletter here.
Scandal
We knew this would happen. Jesus told us there would be scandal.
Still, it hit us like a ton of bricks. The immensity of the Pennsylvania grand jury report released August 14 about the sexual abuse of children and others by priests is overwhelming. Even “overwhelming” seems too small of a word. It does not capture the horror, shock, sadness, and outrage that wells up within us.
There is more. The numbers overwhelm, too. This is not a passing thunderstorm. It is a tsunami of apocalyptic proportions.
There is still more. There is the insidious cover-up by bishops that reveals a cold-hearted, calculated, and coordinated effort to protect and advance a clerical culture that ignores the suffering of the people of God. Today’s reading from Ezekiel 34: 1-11 cuts with surgical precision, “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves!”
I, we, have been traumatized, too, and feel guilty. Rationally, we know there are degrees of trauma. My suffering pales in comparison to the trauma of the victims, especially young children. Still, something dear to me has been ripped away. I have been betrayed by men who I thought cared about me, cared about us, and who said they loved us. If I do not empathize with the victims on some level myself, does that not make me guilty by association with priests and bishops who are directly involved in this scandal?
There are two immediate temptations. One is righteous indignation. The other is avoidance. Righteous indignation is more about me and less about the suffering of others who are also traumatized. The evil done by these priests and bishops reduces them, humiliates them, as “the mighty have been cast down from their thrones.” Should my indignation, however, inflate me, robbing me of my own humility? When it does—and it will because we, too, are sinful people—it robs us of our own humility. Righteous indignation also increases the division between perpetrators and victims. How many perpetrators were victims themselves? Our anger about this scandal can, and should, be righteous. It will give us the energy we need to see this through but only if it, too, flows from the infinite love of God for humanity.
Avoidance is the other temptation. The Pennsylvania report is grotesque in its explicit description of this horrendous exploitation of children and other innocents. We don’t want to look at it. We want to hide our faces from it. As a priest friend said, “I want to hide my head in the sand.” I have read two books, and watched far too much Netflix, since this scandal broke. We cannot avoid this painful reality. It is only by looking at it squarely, with both eyes wide open, that we will begin to see the truth—the entire truth–that this evil can reveal to us.
Pope Francis has called us to penance and prayer (see the Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to the People of God, August 20, 2018). At first, I was indignant. Penance? I did nothing wrong. Sack cloth and ashes for priests and bishops, yes, and more power, prestige, and money for the laity–but no penance. Prayer? Please! What is needed is swift, comprehensive, and devastating action by the people of God. Forget any proportional response, bring on the nukes.
The Holy Father goes on to say that penance and prayer “will help us to open our eyes and our hearts to other people’s sufferings and to overcome the thirst for power and possessions…” Penance, then, helps us focus less on ourselves and more on others—exactly the stance and disposition of the missionary disciple.
As missionaries, we see the arc of divine love. It begins with the simple dwelling of a missionary disciple, a witness who proclaims the love of God for humanity among strangers living on the periphery of society through her or his life and service. It takes root through contemplation, shared prayer, and culturally sensitive liturgy. It grows through the inculturation of Christianity among the people, inter-religious dialogue, and social justice. It finds its finest achievement, not in power, prestige, or institutions, but in reconciliation because God so loved the world that “he gave his only Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it.” Penance, then, is ultimately about others, and about mission—about experiencing God’s love more fully.
As we look at this scandal with the eyes of mission—the divine, trinitarian heart beating with unquenchable love for every person—all 7.6 billion persons, and counting, inhabiting this planet, we see the wisdom of penance and prayer.
Penance to keep us humble but also to bring us together. I may not have sexually abused anyone. I may not have known about the suffering of others, or looked away when I saw suspicious activity, nor participated, in any way, in the bishops’ cover up, but I may still be complicit. How? By the subtle ways we have bought into the clericalism that Pope Francis identified: inflating the status of the clergy to avoid my own work of salvation; demanding more from our clergy than is possible by supposing no weaknesses like this could exist; and distancing myself from the work of the Church by commodifying the sacraments, its ministries, and its ministers.
Penance and prayer will help us see. It will prepare us to face the hard, painful, and freeing truth of the “earthen vessel” we call the Church that holds the treasure of divine love. This will lead all of us back to mission. When the Church is purified so that it truly is a beloved community held together and animated by the mission entrusted to us by Jesus himself, then there is a chance that the trauma of this moment will no longer dominate our hearts and minds; the truth will set us free, we will be reconciled, we will be salt again, be a light for all to see, and our tears will be turned into dancing.
August 22, 2018
Dr. Donald R. McCrabb
USCMA Executive Director
Encounter is the basis of mission. With encounter, witness becomes a heartfelt connection, justice the work of right relationships, and liturgy a joyous celebration of Emmanuel – God among us. ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association. Download the latest ENCOUNTER newsletter here. -
Walking
Do we walk with Jesus or does Jesus walk with us?
Fr. Tom Axe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and one of my mentors, introduced me many years ago to the idea that “Ordinary Time” was a time when we “walk with Jesus.” Indeed, one of the great gifts of the liturgical calendar is that it sacramentalizes the whole year so that, as a community and as individuals, we can walk with the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Mission changes all of this. We walk and Jesus accompanies us.
In Matthew 28, Jesus sends us – his disciples – to all nations to proclaim the Gospel, to baptize, and to teach everyone we encounter his promise that he would “be with” us to the end of time. Jesus has sent us, just as the Father sent him (John 20:21), so that we are now the ones walking.
This is important for three reasons: because mission is a destination, we are a community on mission, and we must discern our spirituality as missionaries.
Jesus sent us to all nations. He is sending us to a place and to a people. Pope Francis has helped us appreciate that place is defined more by the situation in which we find ourselves than by mere geography. Sr. Dorothy Stang, SND de Namur, who was martyred in 2005, was not sent to Brazil or even the Amazon per se, but rather to the indigenous people of the Amazon in Brazil. Her mission had a destination, a place defined by the people and their needs. As missionaries, this is what we are about. People with needs – the homeless within our parish boundaries, immigrants settling within our cities across our country, or the struggling Church around the world.
Jesus sends us out with one another. We cannot do mission alone. That means knowing how to be with and for others in mission. We must be able to dialogue with each other, to have the hard and painful conversations, to manage conflict, and to discern a collaborative course of action. How can we be with Jesus, and with our neighbors, if we cannot be with others in mission?
Jesus accompanies us. Jesus is compassionate, not compliant. If we can walk, he will not carry us. While Jesus acknowledges our limitations, our weakness, even our sin, he does not want us to be dependent on him – he wants to wean us from milk and put us on solid food. Jesus is always our teacher, our guide, our North Star, and he promises to be with us, to befriend us. Where we are headed, our destination, our purpose, and our mission is for us to discern in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our path to holiness and only we can walk it. If we stumble and fall, Jesus will be there to catch us or pick us up. He will always save us – even from ourselves – but he will not coddle us, or enable us, or give us a free ride.
Now what? Walk. Put your hand to the plow and do not look back. If you are unsure what your mission is, connect with others to discern it for yourself. The Lord will reveal to you your mission – it will be a people with needs and it will be your needs, and your gifts, that will make you a perfect match. One young man, after spending a summer with Native Americans on a reservation in the western United States, felt that he learned much more from them about honesty, peacemaking, and living in harmony with the earth than they did from him about mathematics. A free exchange of gifts from which everyone benefits to the glory of God. This is mission.
We hear it even in the language of the movies. We need to step up, to pull on our “big boy” or “big girl” pants. We need to do what is right. And that is harder and harder with all of the distractions that are thrown in our way. We are beset by the 24/7 news cycle, a super abundance of movies and television programs, and a barrage of advertisements always promising to “change our lives” forever by blessing us with a perfect world, immaculate homes, stylish clothes, and the perpetual perfect smile of over-the-top happiness. And of these distractions wreak havoc on our desires – pulling us and pushing us in multiple directions, robbing us of confidence and clarity, toying with our emotions, dividing our heart, and freezing our soul.
Yes, Jesus saves us. He picks us up when we are down, and he carries us when we are weak or abandoned. He finds us when we are lost among our distractions, desires, and anxieties. Mostly, though, he joins us in our journey of holiness, the mission that he has entrusted to us, and accompanies us through the good times and the bad. Below is a mission prayer, from the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Pray it this summer – with others – as Jesus walks with you and you walk the mission he has given you.
Mission Prayer
Lord, our God, help us to walk with you
On the pathway to the beatitudes and
To live out your mission in today’s world.
Bind us to all women and men of our time
So that together we may bring the
Good News to the ends of the earth.
Open our hearts and our Christian communities
To the needy, the afflicted, the oppressed.
May we radiate the Living Christ
And transform our lives in the hope of the Resurrection.
This prayer we make to you
Who is the living God, now and forever.
AMEN
Archdiocese of Vancouver (modified)
Article by Don McCrabb, USCMA Executive Director
ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association. USCMA relies exclusively on memberships and donations to fund its service to the Church and the world – building bridges of solidarity through mutual relationships.
Download the latest ENCOUNTER newsletter here.
Donations are warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated. Donate HERE. Membership in USCMA will connect you to the growing network of missionaries - lay, religious and ordained. To become a member, click HERE. Organizational memberships are also available. -
1) Sacred Scripture – we will never exhaust its meaning, we will never plumb its depths.
The Age of the Spirit
Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202) was a radical Franciscan who is famous for one thing: he preached that the Old Testament defined the age of the Father; that the first 1,000 years of Christianity defined the age of the Son; and that, in the 1200s, the age of the Holy Spirit had begun. His ideas led to some wild expressions among people of that time and could easily be interpreted as anti-institutional Church at a time when the Church was only just beginning to grow as an institution. But the notion of the “age of the Spirit” has always had an allure to it—that somehow something extraordinary would emerge in the midst of our very ordinary Christian lives.
Joachim himself thought that the arrival of Saints Francis and Dominic was a harbinger of this new age. People have thought, too, that the emergence of nation states, democracy, or the advancement of science, would bring in a new age. Certainly, the so-called discovery of the New World brought similar ideas—a whole continent on which people could paint their ideals, whether it was the formation of New Spain or Plymouth Colony, with its dream of becoming “a city on the hill” that would shed its light upon everyone.
What is the sobering insight in all this? That new ages, idealistic dreams, and ages of the Spirit, all default to the lives that we live every single day. Sure, advances are made—who would erase the scientific and medical revolutions we have experienced? But, just as surely, our lives continue with their daily ups and downs. The Spirit doesn’t bring us to a new universe; rather, it transforms from within the universe that we all are called to live in.
We have begun, again, what liturgists unfortunately call “ordinary time”—the time from now until Advent. The Sunday count will begin at the “seventh Sunday after Pentecost” and make its way into the thirties. However, to look at our church life as “ordinary time after Pentecost” is to miss the exact insight that Jesus’ death and resurrection and the celebration of Pentecost are meant to instill in us. We are not living “after” Pentecost. Rather, we are living out Pentecost, because everything we do as a Church spills over from the Paschal Mystery and Pentecost to these grace-filled moments that make up our Catholic lives.
The Sundays after Easter begin the outline of what life in the Spirit is all about because they reveal the Easter gifts that the Spirit makes possible: Scripture, Sacrament, Church, love, virtues, and service. The period of Ordinary Time fleshes out these Easter gifts, helping us grow, Sunday by Sunday, into the “missionary disciples” Pope Francis reminds us all to be. Because that’s what our baptism makes us: committed followers of Jesus who, alive with his Good News, bring that Good News to every corner of our lives, and every corner of the world.
We Catholics have a problem recognizing much of this because our lives seem to be packaged, and we don’t even appreciate the packages we have been given. Imagine receiving a beautiful gift from a grandmother. It is wrapped in gold paper and a magnificent bow. We gently open the gift and stare at it in amazement—something so personal and so precious, we feel unworthy of it. So, we re-wrap it, set the ribbons and bow as perfectly as we can, and put it in back of a drawer. Months go by, years go by. We might take the package out and admire it. But, as time goes by, the package seems to become the whole reality. We forget what was in the package.
These things we do as Catholics—especially the Eucharist, but also our reading of Scripture, and our care for others, and our sharing of faith—these things package the greatest core of our Catholic faith: the Holy Spirit has been given to us, empowering us, and making it possible for us to live our lives as Catholics. For all Catholic and Christian life, when lived authentically, is actually life in the Holy Spirit. Ordinary time helps us unwrap the most precious gift of our union with God and with each other in the Spirit.
Every sacrament we celebrate, every Biblical passage we read, every sacramental we use, every commitment we make—all of this is to dispose us to the Holy Spirit, and all of this reveals the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We easily recognize ourselves as being centered on Christ; but only with difficulty do we see ourselves as being enlivened, energized by the Spirit. Yet the very things missing in our Church life—especially that sense of mission, of reaching out, of meeting and engaging with the other, of being expansive in our faith, of being welcoming and accepting—are the things that become clearer when we give ourselves more fully to the Holy Spirit.
So, it’s not the “seventh Sunday after Pentecost,” it’s the “seventh Sunday of Pentecost.” We are counting these glorious days when all our moments become charged with the Holy Spirit, whom the Risen Christ gave us as his greatest Easter gift.
Article by Fr. Frank DeSiano, CSP, President of Paulist Evangelization Ministries
ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association. USCMA relies exclusively on memberships and donations to fund its service to the Church and the world – building bridges of solidarity through mutual relationships.
Donations are warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated. Donate HERE. Membership in USCMA will connect you to the growing network of missionaries - lay, religious and ordained. To become a member, click HERE. Organizational memberships are also available.
Breathe Deep
It is Pentecost. As missionaries – lay, religious, and ordained disciples – we need to be skilled at breathing deeply.
How many times have we told friends and family to “just breathe” when they are overwhelmed? Pentecost is all about breathing. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit comes as a rushing wind and tongues of fire. In John’s Gospel, Jesus breathes on the Apostles and gives them the Holy Spirit.
We need to practice intentional breathing, breathing deeply and exhaling.
Intentional Breathing
Mindfulness practices and centering prayer emphasize the importance of breathing. Today, in our culture, it is even more important to be intentional about our breathing. What are we breathing in?
The Apostles immediately talked about “God’s deeds of power.” (Acts 2:11). Are we breathing in the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Galatians 5:22-23a).
Or, are we breathing in “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, and carousing? (Galatians 5:19-21a). Almost sounds like the nightly news.
Missionaries are sent to inhabit the land where God has called them, to be with the people who live in that land. We cannot run and hide from the culture we live in, nor can we surrender to “multiplicity of desires.” We must stay, breathe, and be mindful about our environment, about what we are breathing.
Breathe Deeply
The Holy Spirit, through the Church gives us loads clean air.
2) The Sacraments – precious moments when we encounter the Risen Lord in our midst.
3) Personal prayer – of contrition, petition, contemplation, even rage.
There are no movements in our hearts that the Lord does not want to receive from us. I have found that when I catch my breath and can confess to the Lord my sin and my brokenness, he is already there accepting me, healing me, lifting me up. Thank God for the grace of reconciliation.
Of course, the list goes on.
1) The communion of saints. There are times when Jesus is just too much – too far ahead of me – and I am tired or discouraged. It is in those moments when the saints encourage me to take the next step.
2) The virtues – strong and gentle guidelines for daily living.
3) Theology - how do we understand the movement of God in this time, this place, among these people, with all their hopes and dreams, fears and sufferings?Each one of us will develop our own “rule of life” where we breathe deeply from the riches of our faith.
Exhale
But how long can we inhale? How long can we hold our breath? Go ahead, try it. At some point, you must exhale. Mission is exhaling.
Jesus said “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)
In mindfulness practice, we breathe in for 8 seconds and exhale for 12. We need to identify for ourselves, before God and others, how we are sent. A Church that is not “sent” – not on mission, not exhaling – is literally “stuffy.”
We know that call, that still small voice within us that beckons us beyond ourselves, prying us out of our comfort zone to cross some type of border and risk a personal encounter with a stranger, all in the name of God. We are breathing out, we are sent, we are missionaries.
Next Steps
The people asked Peter on Pentecost “what are we to do?”
1) Breathe. Literally. We offer a simple Spirit Prayer – a body prayer – to help us breathe. Friends from Franciscan Mission Service helped us demonstrate this prayer. Check it out.
2) Discern. Mission is a corporate and collaborative effort. Come together, breathe together, pray, and discern where Jesus is sending you. Need help? See our resource on Discernment.
3) Forward this newsletter to a lay person you know that has a mission heart.
Article by Don McCrabb, USCMA Executive Director
ENCOUNTER is an electronic newsletter of the United States Catholic Mission Association. USCMA relies exclusively on memberships and donations to fund its service to the Church and the world – building bridges of solidarity through mutual relationships.
Donations are warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated. Donate HERE. Membership in USCMA will connect you to the growing network of missionaries - lay, religious and ordained. To become a member, click HERE. Organizational memberships are also available.