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7. Missionary Animation and Vocation Promotion Print E-mail
Written by Consolata.org   
Tuesday, 07 February 2006
71. Enucleation of the orientation

“Confronted with the need to clarify the rapport between mission and vocation promotion and the other activities of our Institute, the Chapter reaffirms that they are an integral part of our ad gentes (cf. Cost 17). The Chapter has chosen them as priorities within the “qualified services” to our Institute and the church” (XGC 95).

Each Consolata missionary nurtures in his heart a special love and passion for the evangelization of peoples, which moves him to do AMV. He also takes inspiration and motivation from the example of Blessed Joseph Allamano who opened his local church to global horizons and to the necessities of mission ad gentes, for which he recruited vocations, enkindled enthusiasm and raised funds for the evangelization of peoples.

Within the call of each baptized person to be an evangelizer, the missionary vocation ad gentes remains the choice we propose with the radicalism of the Gospel. This choice, when lived in community, becomes a witness of what we wish to be in the Church and the world.


72. Aspects which motivate the orientation

In general:

1. AMV is a qualified service for mission and churches which at present are open to it. This service engenders a greater missionary impulse in them. Without it, and also due to their internal needs, they tend to look inwardly, and become insensitive to the universal evangelization.

2. The continental meetings of AMV with the Consolata Missionary Sisters, have been an important occasion for formation, and have helped to join forces together, share experiences, focus on specific criteria, content, strategies and programs acceptable to both in the field of missionary formation of the youth and the accompaniment of their vocational journey.

3. The drawing up of the Regional Directories of AMV and of Basic Formation will certainly promote a greater clarity of content and criteria for vocational accompaniment, and bring about a greater unity of mind and heart.

4. AMV is often the task of one missionary, and not the responsibility and participation of all the confreres and local communities. It is imperative that all our parishes be involved in this service. At times there is lack of teamwork, of coordination and unity of intent among the mission animators. There is need to make our AMV more incisive, to give it a greater spirit of prophecy, and a closer communion in the realization of the projects.

5. The number of missionaries prepared for the vocational accompaniment of young people is very small.

In the continents:

6. In Africa and Latin America our AMV is received primarily by many young people. In Europe and North America there are fewer young people who receive our AMV and it is more difficult to gather them together.

7. In the same geographic areas our many communities and parishes offer great opportunities to carry out initiatives directed towards the animation of the local churches to the mission ad gentes, and the proposal of the missionary vocation to the youth.

8. In Africa the establishment of some centers of AMV (CAM’s) has been planned and initiated and the missionary magazines have increased, yet there is still a need for more personnel in the field dedicated to AMV. There is also the challenge to involve more the episcopal conferences in the projects of formation for mission.

9. Some of our Regions of Latin America, have tried different ways of doing AMV in the communities. But the number of full time personnel involved in AMV has diminished, the programs devised were not well carried out, and collaboration with the diocesan and national missionary centers has been very difficult.

10. In Europe many services are provided to the Institute, while the personnel available for AMV is reduced.

11. In North America, due to the increase of immigrants from various countries, the awareness of multiculturality has hightened. For an effective AMV, this phenomenon must be taken into account and methods need to be adopted that are suitable for working within the context of the variety of cultures that are present.

12. In Europe we, as missionaries ad gentes, feel the need to offer our specific contribution to the civil and ecclesiastic communities. At the continental level, the Regions have jointly prepared strategies, programs, and initiatives to meet the need. The animators would do well to rely on the collaboration of the Consolata Lay Missionaries. Openness to global situations, and the needs of peoples, of the churches and of mission, rekindles the possibility of multiple ways of cooperation, including also economic cooperation.

13. In Asia (Korea) our method of AMV is becoming a point of reference and inspiration for the local church.


73. Practical Proposals

1. In each continent a project of AMV should be planned and implemented, with clear indications of strategies, criteria, means and objectives for the various sectors (youth, vocations, means of communication, cooperation).

2. Keep always in mind the programs of the local churches and, if there are none, promote them by our influence and initiative.

3. Continue the continental meetings of AMV with the Consolata Missionary Sisters, with assurance of a continuity of animators, and informing the other missionaries of any new results in this field.

4. In the Regions of the continent of the Americas the AMV programs should be developed according to the orientations of CAM/COMLA.

5. Establish specific communities of AMV by involving parishes, formative communities, and the Consolata Lay Missionaries. Establish CAM’s non only for missionary activities, but also for the production of aids and for reflection on AMV and the programs of mission spirituality.

6. Utilize as a teaching tool such things as world events, emergencies, and crucial situations (Aids, immigrants, child soldiers, violations of rights…) to promote a missionary conscience and cooperation.

7. The Regions and the General Government should appoint and prepare more personnel for the activities of AMV, keeping in mind the situations specific to each continent. They should also make sure that there are animators who are well prepared for vocational promotion. The vocational accompaniment and discernment should be conducted together with the formators who are in charge of beginning basic formation.

8. Promote missionary cooperation of the Christian communities, groups and associations wich are sensitive to the themes related to mission. (Cf. Orientations for the Mission 6, above.)

9. Follow and involve in AMV those persons who have collaborated in missionary projects, or have participated in a missionary experience, even a brief one, in the missions. A privileged field for AMV at present are the schools and all the students in the various grades.

10. Learn how to “tell” about mission, especially when a missionary returns to his country, presenting, according to the different audiences, not only what he has lived and the projects that he has achieved, but also his personal experiences of God, the evangelical dimensions of that experience, and the life of missionary spirituality and communion.