Mission Animation

Lineamenta on Mission

ANIMATION AND FORMATION FOR MISSION

God calls everyone to the fullness of life and wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (Jn 10:10; Jn 14:6). He calls us to participate in His divine life, not of our own merit but of God’s grace (I Tim 2:4; Eph 1:4; I Thes 4:3). Initially for the chosen people of Israel, God’s call to salvation is for all when at a definitive time He sent His Son, Our Lord Jesus to redeem us and to make us one people in the institution of the new covenant in His blood (Rom 3:22; Jn 3:1). Our Lord Jesus did not only call His disciples to follow Him, He also transmitted His mission to them. Just as He was sent by the Father, so He sent his followers to spread His Gospel to all nations and become His witnesses to all peoples (Lk 24:47; Acts 1:8). He commissioned them to “go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to carry out everything I have commanded you” (Mt 23:19-20; Lk 24:46-48; Mk 16:15; Jn 19:26-27). Based on this mandate, the Church, or the people of God on earth, is by its very nature a people sent to evangelize all nations (Ad Gentes [AG], 5; Lumen Gentium [LG], 34). The Church is sent in mission to proclaim the Gospel of Our Lord and to be the instrument of His grace (PCP II, 104). Thus the missionary responsibility of the Church is an essential part of her nature. The Church exists because of mission and her purpose is no less than the proclamation and immediate inauguration of salvation, seen as a divine gift of spiritual and temporal liberation. Missio Dei or God’s mission to the world is manifested par excellence by Jesus Christ, who was supremely the sent one of God (Heb 3:1). Entrusting His mission to His followers, the missionary people of God is tasked to proclaim the Word of God, to enact his works of justice and compassion and to bring all to a fellowship whereby all experience the beginning of freedom of the children of God and the liberty of His full kingdom proclaimed in His word.
An animation and formation for mission necessarily has these elements: a) the knowledge and proclamation of the message (Kerygma), b) the human service of temporal liberation (Diakonia), and the building up of a fellowship understood already as a sharing in the life of God (Koinonia). All these three elements correlate with one another to point to God’s love and concern and made explicitly present in the world through a missionary activity of the Church where all of us participate because all of us received this mission from God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit through our baptism. Certainly, the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the whole People of God (AG, 35) and no believer in Christ, no institution in the Church can avoid this supreme duty to proclaim (Redemptoris Missio [RM], 3). As Christians, we must share not only the Gospel of Christ but our very selves in the witness of a holy life and in this way can be real evangelizers (1 Pet 3:15). Hence, the person evangelized goes to evangelize others (Evangelii Nuntiandi [EN], 25). Our mission of evangelization, which flows from the inner nature of mission itself, is one and the same everywhere in all situations but the variety of circumstances and culture affect our way of fulfilling our mission. Inculturation is needed and requires the “evangelizers to immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent”(PCP II, 206). As John Paul II pointed out, our basic missionary attitude before a people and its culture is respect (Redemptor Hominis [RH], 12).
In the local Church of the Diocese of San Carlos, we acknowledge the challenge of Vatican II to “send some of the better priests who offer themselves for mission”(Christus Dominus [CD], 35) and that of John Paul II who said, “There is no doubt about it: The Philippines has a special missionary vocation to proclaim the Good News, to carry the light of Christ to the Nations”(John Paul II, Address to the Asian Bishops, February 1981). The lack of personnel in this young Diocese, however, forbids us to answer the missionary call. Even if we are not involved in missionary work ad extra but we do help promote the missionary spirit in our local church through our participation in the programs and activities of the Pontifical Mission Society, the Mission Society of the Philippines and in the mission programs of the Augustinian Recollects, the Franciscans and the Carmelites.




Questions for small group discussions:

How can we promote and animate the missionary spirit in our Diocese?
How can we adapt the new methods, new fervor and expressions in our missionary activity in our Diocese?
How can we involve the lay people in missionary work?

Catholic Education

Lineamenta on Catholic Schools

CATHOLIC EDUCATION

God calls every one to participate in His Life and to be one with Him because of His great love for us. Initially He manifested this call to the people of Israel and sent His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ to make His call more explicitly for everyone. Eventually Jesus established the Church from His followers who became the New People of God and sent His Holy Spirit to guide and sanctify her and commissioned her to spread the Gospel “to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47). In fulfilling this mandate “to proclaim the mystery of salvation to all and to restore all things in Christ, Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man’s life, even the earthly part of it insofar as that has a bearing on his heavenly calling. Therefore she has her role to play in the progress and spread of education.” (Gravissimum Educationis [G.E.], Introduction)
The Educational Mission of the Church or Catholic Education encompasses the whole aspect of human life, physical and spiritual, and includes all peoples, even those outside the fold of the Church, because all are called to participate in God’s life and to enter the Kingdom of God. Everyone “has an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his sex, his cultural background, and his ancestral heritage.”(G.E., 1) Every Christian has “become a new creature by rebirth from water and the Holy Spirit...called what he truly is, a child of God, is entitled to a Christian education.”(GE,2).
Vatican II declaration on Christian Education underscores the role of parents in Catholic Education (GE, 7). “Parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it.”(GE, 3) While it stresses the role of the family in educating the children, it also recognizes the role of the civil society and the school whom parents entrust a share in the work of education (GE, 3, 5 & 6). Moreover, the Council states, “the office of educating belongs by a unique title to the Church, not merely because she deserves recognition as a human society capable of educating, but most of all because she has the responsibility of announcing the way of salvation to all men, of communicating the life of Christ to those who believe, and assisting them with ceaseless concern so that they may grow in the fullness of that same life.”(GE, 3)
The Church has shown great consideration for the Catholic School System (pre-school, elementary, secondary and tertiary) “to promote effectively the welfare of the earthly city and preparing them to serve the advancement of the reign of God.”(GE, 8) Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle points out in his talk at the CEAP National Convention in Davao City on September 14-16, 2005: “Catholic education has a triple purpose: First is the development of the human person…second is to contribute to the welfare of the society,…and third, the advancement of reign of God through faith and the life of the church.”(Most Rev. Luis Antonio G. Tagle, DD, Renewal and New Directions in the Catholic Church: Implications to Catholic Education in Perspective [CEAP, September 2006], p.27) The aim of Catholic education is to advance higher culture and to mould students so that they may become people who are “truly outstanding in learning, ready to shoulder society’s heavier burdens and to witness the faith to the world.”(GE, 10) Education should form “the whole person, so that all may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society.”(c.795). Hence, the Catholic School is an important center in educating Christians who form a truly Committed Christian Community where each one experience love, freedom, justice and peace.
In our Diocese of San Carlos, Catholic schools, whether they are administered by the diocese or by religious congregations, perform a task in integral education and that is to teach and live the Gospel of Christ in all aspects of formation and cultural development. The service of the Catholic school is carried out in various forms such as catechetical ministry, campus ministry, adult literacy program, educational apostolate of the laity and education for peace, justice and integrity of creation. In the school apostolate, members of the catholic school community have an active participation in the saving mission of the Church through integral evangelization and all forms of relevant and liberating formation activities in all strata of society with special concern for the poor and the underprivileged.

Questions for small group discussions:

How can we make Catholic education in our schools share the priorities of the wider Church and promote Filipino values that resonate with the values of the Kingdom of God?
How can we make our Catholic education system a potent force in transforming our society into a truly human, Filipino and Christian society?
What can we do to have a collaborative effort of all our educational institutions to realize our goal for a qualitative Christian education and at the same time serve our poor constituents of our Church?

Women

Lineamenta on Women

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE RENEWING CHURCH

God created both man and woman in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27). They are both equal before the eyes of God. A far cry from that original egalitarian state, throughout history in some societies though, women were marginalized and had secondary role. But this was not so with Jesus Christ. “While women were second class citizens in his own social milieu Jesus paid great respect to them and associated women with himself in his ministry (Lk 8:1-3). He even chose women to be the first witnesses to his resurrection (Lk 24:1-10; Mt. 28:1-10).”[PCP II, 51]. While the Apostles and their successors were to follow the way Jesus showed his love for women, there was also the reality of a pervasive patriarchy of the Christian churches in our history and the irony that women were marginalized by the very institutions that proclaimed the fundamental dignity of all persons grounded in God’s love. The experience of being marginalized was and is formative in the way women are thinking of their role in the church. In the Scriptures, in traditional formulations of doctrine, in liturgy and in the role of women in sacramental and pastoral ministry, women were represented largely by figures, images, descriptions and positions that presented them as accessories to males and male images and roles. As long as women accepted this role, there was no conflict between their self-understanding and their experience of being marginalized. The women who were nurtured, however, within the Christian tradition became aware that there was a fundamental contradiction between the Gospel and Jesus Christ’s concern for justice on the one hand and the preaching and practice of the Christian churches on the other. The Gospel is reinterpreted in the light of the good news for women and the churches are challenged to proclaim and practice the good news for all, including women.
The women are not only the most active participants of the liturgical and pastoral activities of the Church but are also greatly involved in catechesis and Christian community organizing and services. After the Vatican II renewal of the Church, the women experienced empowerment in their involvement in the activities of the Church reserved exclusively for men, like special ministers of the holy eucharist, holy mass servers, professors of philosophy and theology, head of social action and other pastoral programs of the Church. In some places where there is a lack of priests, the women are taking charge of the administration of the local church as a woman pastor. Exclusive women organizations in the Church like the Catholic Women’s League, Daughters of Mary Immaculate, Mother Butlers’ Guild, Children of Mary, etc. grew in numbers and influence. They are not only concerned with women’s issues in the Church and society. This new phenomenon of more active role of women in a renewing Church is emulating the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary and women saints in the growth of Christian faith and gives birth to Christian feminist spirituality that opens new worlds in Church language, concepts and apostolate.

Question for small group discussion:
1. What is the role of women in the parish? Why?
2. What are other possible involvements of women in the parish so that they can have a meaningful contribution to the Church in our diocese?