Rome, March 29, 2006

My Dear Confrères,

The paths of the missions follow tracks set out by the Word, the Church and the Witnesses. We cannot determine them in advance and even if we can see them from a distance they cannot be genuinely understood until we spend our lives following them step by step. There are many paths that all lead to the same destination. Names, characteristics and methods may change but the fundamental outline remains the same: the goal of the missions in all parts of the world reflect the same light.
In this letter I have no desire to favor one form of mission work over another; I hope only to describe my experience at the Continental Assemblies. The 11th General Chapter suggested that these assemblies be held: they were an attempt to put the concept of “continentality” into practice – this was something especially emphasized in our São Paulo gathering. The assemblies represent our effort to be a family founded on unity in diversity. While respecting differing life experiences we strive to find a unitary path that will become more of a “sign”; a path that will define our mission.

The continental assemblies make an effort to understand the Congregation from the periphery so that we could celebrate the wonders of God in every corner of the world where we work. In this way we could divine those approaches that help us become visible and credible witnesses. Many ideas and suggestions came to the fore. There are two in particular on which we would like to focus.
The call to authenticity and the quality of our lives if we are to discover and believably proclaim the Lord in this world or live in solidarity with poor and outcast in our missions.
Closer collaboration with other – especially young people. This is a strong appeal to open our houses and mingle with people where they are. We should not fear young people - they are not “objects”, simple volunteers or collaborators but increasingly active protagonists of the missionary enterprise.
These are only a few notes compiled with the help of our many brothers in the missions.

1. Missionary Community

The atmosphere of these assemblies I would believe reflected our missionary life: it was fraternal and marked by a “family spirit.” It was wonderful to share our experiences, problems, challenges and hopes for the future. Everyone was convinced that missionary work is the fruit of communion – that “unity of intention” that was so dear to Allamano. All of us shared the desire to build or discover new paths, to share our hopes for the future and to put our own mark on missionary work in the various countries and continents. While the three assemblies all strived to achieve communion there was nonetheless a notable diversity in how they went about this. This is certainly a positive sign; it represents efforts to inculturate our message in the diverse geographic, ethnic, social and religious situations where we work.

Europe: we tried to recognize and understand the changes taking place on all levels in this continent. We examined all positive developments from the perspective of our Congregation. We must be devoted to Europe; it is a place of evangelization; we are a part of the changes taking place and are called to discern God’s plan for today – the call to conversion. Our confrères who work in Europe reaffirmed the priority of Mission/Vocation promotion and singled out certain areas for special work:
new evangelization of the marginalized;
migrants;
missionary spirituality;
sensitivity to the new problems of justice, peace and environmental concerns;
creating a missionary sensitivity among young people;
a detailed program for vocation recruitment.

Africa: The 11th General Chapter urges us to “continue and reinforce the projects initiated in the last six years and to promote new projects that promote a “continental” view and practice (11th CG, no. 100). Our African confrères discussed the concept of “continentality” at length. Africa represents a wide variety of cultural diversity but at the same time a type of cooperative planning has evolved – to the extent that there is a “continental dimension” to our missionary apostolate in this rich and long-suffering continent. Among all the many ideas that came to the fore there are three commitments on which we would like to focus: evangelization, mission/vocation promotion and inter-religious dialogue.
Evangelization: based on the Synod’s model of the Church as the Family of God we make youth work, inculturation and formation our priorities. We do this by creating apostolic communities that are examples of hospitality and communion.
Mission/vocation promotion: we should establish mission/vocation promotion centers in each circumscription. These centers can initiate projects and plans for mission promotion in the local church.
Inter-religious dialogue: This is an essential part of evangelization. Our Djibouti community should guide and lead in the area of promoting dialogue.

America: Our multi-cultural - ad gentes – communities are a reality. The assembly discussed the changing situation of this continent and the sort of work and identity our missionaries working there should assume. Everyone firmly agreed on the need for a strong spirituality based on following Christ, the missionary of the Father.
Assembly members proposed creating a school of “discipleship” where young people could be trained for missionary work and the total gift of their life.
They focused on initial and ongoing formation that takes into consideration societal and ecclesial changes; they further envisioned a plan for training IMC missionaries that recognizes and examines the challenges facing the missions.
One proposal that was definitely novel and a “sign of the times” was to share our discussion of the missions with the local church by becoming involved in continent-wide meetings on Justice, Peace and the Environment (GPIC), African Pastoral Encounters (EPA), Latin American Missionary Works Conference (COMLA), Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), Indian theology, Missiology, World Forum …

Asia: We certainly cannot overlook Asia – which in our case means Korea and Mongolia. Even though there was no specific assembly in Asia, our confrères working there have been in our heart and in our prayers.
The major challenge for Christian missionaries in Asia is the cultural diversity of that continent and its people: there are so many religious, cultures and philosophies flourishing there. One could well ask how should missionaries react to the diversity of culture and religion they confront and where there are so few Christians in spite of two thousand years of missionary activity.
Nowadays we talk about missio inter gentes as a new model of missionary activity that sees other world religions not as rivals or enemies of Christianity but rather as potential allies. We can work and collaborate with these other religions in the struggle against our mutual and real adversaries – the forces of evil: attachment to money and power, egoism, exploitation as well as unjust social structures and policies.

2. Weaknesses that beset the missionary

We missionaries also suffer from fatigue and lack of commitment. Some already feel they are senior citizens; others may be confused or disillusioned with the work they have done up to now or in which they are currently engaged. The difficulty of establishing authentic inter-generational relationships has led some to sit on the sidelines and wait for better times or to set out on their own and get involved in private projects – work not shared with others. The very real difficulty of setting up authentic communities that witness to fraternal life can contribute to our pessimism and the conviction that starting again is not worth the effort. After years of promotion we discover that the Community Life Plan/Program has still not taken root. At times it is little more than an academic exercise.
Financial demands are an increasingly serious problem that upsets some. Sometimes it creates difficulties between those with resources who can engage in new mission projects and those without resources who can only sit and wait. For this reason we must become aware of the fall-off of “offerings for the missions.” We must seek out new paths, and break our attachment to outworn schemes from the past. Times change and the missions change too. Many fail to keep up with the times – they are afraid of losing past certainties and take refuge in “we have always done it this way.” Lack of trust, giving up – these are problems that can afflict missionaries and create obstacles to missionary progress.

3. “The extra” that our Blessed Founder so wanted

We would urge all Consolata Missionaries to take courage and move forward in the Lord! These are words Blessed Allamano repeated over and over to his first missionaries especially when they were going off to the missions. The Congregation is changing; there are problems and weaknesses but in our hearts the fire is still burning. The work in which our missionaries are engaged present so many signs of hope throughout the world. There are so many witnesses to the Kingdom who are traversing the seas of history in spite of the fatigue they may endure of the outmoded means at their disposal.
With this awareness and strengthened by our faith we must not let ourselves be overcome by problems; we must react as men and as missionaries to today’s challenges; we must celebrate joyfully whatever is new on the horizon. Proclaiming Jesus Christ is always something new – even in those places where He is already known. He calls on us time and time again to set out and cast our nets for the apostolic catch – our service to the missions.
Guided by his Word and sustained by his Spirit – our charism through Blessed Allamano – we must renew our missionary efforts to meet humankind, the unfathomable mystery! We must be ready to encounter all men and all cultures with love.
Let us make the words of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, our own. He wrote in his first encyclical “Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbor is indispensable” (Deus Caritas Est, no. 28).

Fraternally: