Fernando Galbiati - Segretario generale P.U.M.
The Church in the Post-Modern World

 

The crisis in the world at a historical turning-point (RM, 30)

1.1. Historians ended the 20th century with the declaration that the Modernity that had developed in the space of the last five centuries ended in 1920 and a new age began. Incapable of defining it with a word that would describe it appropriately because it was 'too vague in its thought, hazy in its objectives and unforeseeable in its expressions, they called our historical age very simply the Post-modern era. Here the reference is obviously to the history of old Europe or of the West in general, but it extends to the entire world, linked and unified in the universal history of planet earth. "As the twentieth century drew to a close it showed an alarming allergy to historical memory. The ideology of consumerism, the use of the computer, of the internet and the mass-media, the privilege accorded to images and imagination compared to logical reason have increased above all among young people — the psychology of the 'gay sabre', rapidly destroying many idols of the past and also the strongholds of civil tradition" (Paolo Miccoli "Una grandiosa ricostruzione storiografica della modernità" in Euntes Docete Nova Series LIV/1 2001, p.193). This disconcerting evaluation is the result of the presentation of the recent (,powerful work that embraces the last five centuries: "Dall'alba alla decadenza. Storia della cultura occidentale 1500-2000", the fruit of a lifetime of research by the ninety-two-year-old historian Jacques Barzun.

"So the prospect of the third millennium of the Christian era, which opens in the sign of an epochal crisis, appears to the historian as a window open to the future, the harbinger of unsuspected innovations. In fact it is cultural crises that trigger the complex, deeply felt and polyvalent totality of a new historical age, rich in fascination and unknowns, and therefore more attractive for indomitable human curiosity. What can come in the near future from the encounter of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, etc... having taken into account the phenomena of emigration-immigration, extended tourism, the ecumenism of religious confessions and the transversal culture of the new mobile generations?" (id., p. 194-195).

There can be several answers to this question and the great historian Barzun suggests that a possible answer would be to submit (the endemic illnesses of Europeans to the therapeutic action of people in authority and of formators of spiritual life», thus providing a liberating and decisive cure which should constitute our future history (id., p. 195).

1.2. As in past ages when human civilisation and the very structure of the Church were turned topsy-turvy and seemed to be destroyed in the maelstroms of prevailing barbarity, it was the "formators of spiritual life" and not "the men in authority" who found in Christian principles and in actions of mercy and love the way to freedom and human dignity. Today as then "our own times offer the Church new opportunities in this field: we have witnessed the collapse of oppressive ideologies and political systems; the opening of frontiers and the formation of a more united world due to an increase in communications; the affirmation among peoples of the gospel values which Jesus made incarnate in his own life (peace, justice, brotherhood, concern for the needy); and a kind of soulless economic and technical development which only stimulates the search for the truth about God, about man and about the meaning of life itself. God is opening before the Church the horizons of a humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the Gospel" (RM, 3).

1.3. Any farmer could remind us that before the sowing-season, cold, snow and frost, strong winds and gales that bring rain are needed to prepare the ground to receive the seeds for the sowing. In fact, as the theologian Card. Walter Kasper declares, the current situation of the world is distinguished by two opposing characteristics. On the one hand we have the phenomenon of globalization. The world has become like a "global village". It is not only financial information and resources that circle the globe electronically a thousand times every single day, but through the modern mass media we can have access to information from all over the world. The modern means of transportation convey people and merchandise from one end of the planet to the other in just a few hours. Unfortunately, this has not made the world any more peaceful. Globalization creates new dependencies and injustices and establishes new forms of domination for the strong and the powerful. Therefore there are countermovements to globalization. Whenever people of different cultures move closer together, anxiety and problems increase and produce hatred and violence; therefore the particular interests of the various groups increase along with a rise in ethnic and cultural conflicts.… In the so-called "developed" societies there is an increasing loss of common values and fundamental convictions.…

This pluralism also has an effect on the personal identity of the individual... Many a time it even results in a "patchwork identity" and a syncretism of elements of the most diverse religious and cultural traditions; no attempt is made at a cognitive clarification.…

The attempt to find in this diversity, which can hardly be ignored, a unifying bond holding everything together seems to be increasingly hopeless. Post-modern philosophy has drawn some consequences from it. It has consciously dismissed the postulate of unity which previously marked all of Western thought. This results not only in the acceptance and tolerance of diversity, but also in a "fundamental option" for pluralism. Thus post-modern thought has arrived at a new qualitative pluralism, according to which universal and absolute values and norms simply do not exist. Reason itself has become plural. Truth, humanitarianism and justice now exist only in the plural. Therefore there is no longer a universal and definitively valid religion...

This is a situation that calls into question the very basis of Christianity and in which the Churches have a new challenge. In the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the Catholic Church defines herself precisely as a sign and instrument of unity and peace (LG, 1). Therefore today's world represents an immense challenge for her», (Walter Kasper: "The Unicity and Universality of Jesus Christ", in Cristologia e Missione Oggi, Urbaniana University Press 2001, p. 35-36).

1.4. After the historian and theologian also a famous missiologist with a great ecumenical spirit like David J. Bosch cannot refuse to examine the present crisis that concerns Mission in a special way. "As far as the Church, theology and mission are concerned the crisis is manifested, among other things, in the following factors: 1. The progress of science and technology, and with them, the world process of secularisation, seem to have made faith in God

redundant;. why turn to religion if we have the ways and means to; copes with the demands of modern life? 2. Connected to the previous point is the fact that the West which was traditionally not only the home of Catholic and Protestant Christendom, but the basis of the entire modern missionary movement — is slowly but constantly becoming dechristianised. 3. Partly for the reasons mentioned in the two previous points, the world can no longer be divided into "Christian" and "non-Christian" territories separated by oceans. Because of the dechristianisation of the West and the many emigrations of people of different faiths, today we live in a pluralistic world from the religious viewpoint, where Christians, Buddhists and followers of many traditional religions today live side by side... 4. Because of its complicity in the subjugation and exploitation of coloured people, the West — and with it Western Christians — tends to suffer from an acute guilt feeling. 5. Today more than ever before, we are conscious of the fact that the world is divided — in an apparently irreversible way — into rich and poor, and that the rich are, more or less, those who regard themselves (or whom the poor regard) as Christians.. Above all, according to most indicators, the rich are becoming increasingly richer, and the poor increasingly poorer. 6. For centuries theology, Western Church practices and ways had an unquestionable normative value also in "mission lands". Today the situation is substantially different…" (David J. Bosch, La trasformazione della missione: mutamenti di paradigma in missiologia, Queriniana 2000, pp. 16-17).

"The point is simply that today the Christian Church in general and the Christian mission in particular have to tackle issues that were never dreamt of before, which call for answers that are at one. and the same time relevant for our times and in harmony with the essence of the Christian faith: Today's "Church in mission" must face the challenge (of many new realities)... What I am saying is simply that we live, in the literal sense, in a world that is fundamentally different from the world of the nineteenth century; not to mention previous ages.… The dimensions of the present challenge can be understood only if we examine them against the background of almost twenty centuries of Church history" (ibid., pp. 267-269). Similar and equally profound reflections on our times can be found in the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world", Gaudium et Spes (nos. 4-10).

1.5. An authoritative and enlightened witness of hope regarding the new situation in which the world and the Church find themselves today comes to us from Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical. Letter Redemptoris Missio. He does this within the context of the worldwide mission to be carried out in today's world. From his reflections, which are also answers to emerging questions, we can find revealing indications and stimulating reflections for the purpose of evangelization. He points out that in our days "the number of those who do not know Christ and do not belong to the Church is constantly on the increase. Indeed, since the end of the Council it has almost doubled" (RM, 3). "If we look at today's world, we are struck by many negative factors that can lead to pessimism. But this feeling is unjustified: we have faith in God our Father and Lord, in his goodness and mercy. As the third millennium of the redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs" (id. 86).

Answering the frequently asked question "Why mission?" he warns: "The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom; a pseudo-science of well-being. In our heavily secularised world a 'gradual secularisation of salvation' has taken place, so that people strive for the good of man, but man. who is truncated, reduced to his merely horizontal dimension…" (id. 11). He observes the changes taking place but, fully aware of history, he is not excessively afraid and proposes as the only remedy Evangelization: "Our own time, with humanity on the move and in continual search, demands a resurgence of the Church's missionary activity.… The history of humanity has known many major turning points which have encouraged missionary outreach, and the Church; guided by the Spirit, has always responded to them with generosity and farsightedness. Results have not been lacking. Not long ago we celebrated the millennium of the evarigelization of Rus' and the Slav peoples, and we are now preparing to celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the evangelization of the Americas. Similarly, there have been recent commemorations of the centenaries of the first missions in various countries of Asia, Africa and Oceania…" (id. 30).

1.6. The Pope is fully conscious of the situation described and of other present-day problems: "The mission ad gentes faces an enormous task, which is in no way disappearing. Indeed, both from the numerical standpoint of demographic increase and from the socio-cultural standpoint of the appearance of new relationships; contacts and changing situations, the mission seems destined to have ever wider horizons. The task of proclaiming Jesus. Christ to all peoples appears to be immense and out of all proportion to the Church's human resources. The difficulties seem insurmountable and could easily lead to discouragement, if it were a question of a merely human enterprise ..." (id. 35).

Speaking of the "parameters of the Church's mission ad gentes" the Pope describes the "new worlds and new social phenomena". "The rapid and profound transformations which characterise today's world, especially in the southern hemisphere, are having a powerful effect on the overall missionary picture. Where before there were stable human and social situations, today everything is in flux..." (id. 37b). He then speaks of the problem of the young, "who in many countries comprise more than half the population..." (id.) He mentions "among the great changes taking place in the contemporary world, migration (which) has produced a new phenomenon..." (id.). Speaking of cultural sectors, or modern equivalents of the Areopagus, the Pope stresses the main factor that has concerned them and in general is changing everything. "The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications, which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a 'global village'. The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration in their behaviour as individuals, families and within society at large. In particular, the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media ..." (id.)

1.7. However, all things considered, The Pope declares that "our times are both momentous and fascinating. While on the one hand people seem to be pursuing material prosperity and to be sinking ever deeper into .consumerism and materialism, on the other hand we are witnessing a desperate search for meaning, the need for an inner life, and a desire to learn new forms and methods of meditation and prayer.… This phenomenon — the so-called 'religious revival' — is not without ambiguity, but it also represents an opportunity. The Church has an immense spiritual patrimony to offer humankind..." (id. 38).

The presentation of the world situation from the viewpoint of Mission which John Paul II offers us is a synthesis and a masterpiece of historical analysis, of philosophical evaluation and theological sublimation of temporal reality, which leads, despite everything, to Christian hope. "I see the dawning of a new missionary age, which will become a radiant day bearing an abundant harvest, if all Christians, and missionaries and young Churches in particular, respond with generosity and holiness to the calls and challenges of our time" (RM, 92).

These long citations of qualified individuals, such as a historian, a theologian, a missiologist and the Pope himself, go to prove the reality of a situation we all experience more or less consciously today, perhaps a situation that shakes us greatly or saddens us profoundly. The evils of the Graeco-Roman and Jewish society at the time of Christ were no different to those in our present society, so much so that the beloved apostle considered the world "totus positus in maligno" ("the whole world is in the power of the evil one", [1 Jn 5:19]). Who can rebuild the world and make it -entirely free in Christ? Undoubtedly it is his Church founded with the Mission to "Go... make disciples of all nations; baptise them..." (Mt 28:19). She still preserves her power to revive and bring life, she still offers a meaning to human activity and gives an eternal value to the history of all nations, none excluded. ((The number of those awaiting Christ is still immense: the human and cultural groups not yet reached by the Gospel, or for whom the Church is scarcely present; are so widespread as to require the uniting of All the Church's resources... We must increase our apostolic zeal to pass on to others the light and joy of the faith, and to this high ideal the whole People of God must be educated. We cannot be content when we consider the millions of our brothers and sisters, who like us have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but who live in ignorance of the love of God. For each believer, as for the entire, Church, the missionary task must remain foremost, for it concerns the eternal destiny of humanity and corresponds to God's mysterious and merciful plan" (RM, 86). "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age") (Mt, 28:20).

It is in this promise of Christ's that the Pope, following the guidelines offered by Vatican II, invites us and urges us to the missionary commitment in a new world and in a new dimension. "I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church's energies to a new evangelization and to the mission ad gentes. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples" (id. 3).

II. The Church's missionary commitment in our time

2.1. The Second Vatican Council was rightly defined as "the first universal Council" (K. Rahner) because for the very first time the Church was represented by her Bishops gathered from every continent. This fact gave Vatican II its special characteristic not only because of the number and provenance of its participants, but above all for the vastness and newness of the issues discussed and also for the unexpected conclusions reached under the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit. The newness and diversity of the issues discussed, its approval of wide-ranging texts, its openness to ecumenism and to non-Christian religions as well as to the great problems of the rapidly changing modern world, its spirit of understanding and love for humanity and its history made Vatican II a truly "missionary" Council. It was also a milestone in the history of the Church, one of God's obvious "surprises" for his people, travelling with all men and women towards a new world that was coming into being with all its challenges.

2.2. Mission in all its extent, value and relevance was the common denominator of the discussions and the guideline for the Council resolutions. For this reason 35 years after the Council and during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio, the Holy Father John Paul II, recalling in his intervention that "the mission ad gentes... is the first task that Christ entrusted to his disciples"; declared, "may every particular Church, every community, every association and Christian group feel co-responsible for this extensive action wherever they live and work". And he concluded: "This is the principal task of Peter's Successor, who is called to guarantee and to promote the communion and universal mission of the Church. It is the duty of the Roman Curia and of the Bishops who share this lofty ministry with him. It is also a responsibility which no believer, whatever his age or condition, can escape" (L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, n. 5, 31 January 2001, p. 6). As well as reiterating the recommendations of the Council, the Pope's appeal stressed that its perception that "there is a new awareness that missionary activity is a matter for all Christians" (RM, 2) is still valid. But the missionary duty involves in the first place those who through Christ's mandate and their consecration are the first mission workers. In fact in our time this has assumed a special urgency due to the fact that "missionary activity specifically directed 'to the nations' (ad gentes) appears to be waning" (id.).

2.3. The primary responsibility for this work lies with the successors of the Apostles: the Pope and the Bishops. This is clearly expressed by Vatican II and reconfirmed by Redemptoris Missio: "My brother bishops are directly responsible, together with me, for the evangelization of the world, both as members of the College of Bishops and as Pastors of the particular Churches. In this regard the Council states: 'The charge of announcing the Gospel throughout the world belongs to the body of shepherds, to all of whom in common Christ gave the command'" (RM, 63: LG 23). The practical consequence of this responsibility is that "the Synod of Bishops … should, among the concerns of general importance, pay special attention to missionary activity, the greatest and holiest duty of the Church" (RM, 63: AG, 38).

2.4. With the Bishops also "priests are called by virtue of the sacrament of Orders to share in concern for the Church's mission" (RM, 67). Indeed, "without priests the Church would not be able to live that fundamental obedience which is at the very heart of her existence and her mission in history, an obedience in response to the command of Christ: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations' (Mt 28:19) and "Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19; cf. 1 Cor 11:24), i.e., an obedience to the command to announce the Gospel and to renew daily the sacrifice of the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood for the life of the world" (Pastores Dabo Vobis 1). Furthermore "the spiritual gift that priests have received in ordination prepares them, not for any narrow and limited mission, but for the most universal and all embracing mission of salvation 'to the end of the earth'. For every priestly ministry shares in the universal scope of the mission that Christ entrusted to his apostles) (RM, 67: PO, 10: AG, 39).

1. The formation of the Clergy for Mission: The Pre-Conciliar Popes

2.1.1. Although missionary activity is the responsibility of the whole "People of God", it is above all the responsibility of the clergy. This is why we are discussing this fundamental problem here since the future of mission depends on its solution. With Blessed Father Paolo Manna, Founder of the Missionary. Union of the Clergy (1916), we feel that "the key to the missionary problem lies in the hands of the clergy", since they are the leaders and the "form of the flock". For this reason always, but above all in the 20th century, there has been a strong commitment in the Church to encourage missionary vocations. The first duty was to increase the number of local clergy and perfect their formation in mission territories.

Together with the constant effort to increase vocations in and for the missions, a missionary orientation became necessary and urgent in the formation of priests in every part of the world. In fact this formation conditioned the- style of mission in the past and it will have to guide the style of the "new" mission in a "new" world for the future. A return to the dispositions laid down in 1623 by the newly created Congregation de Propaganda Fide has become evident and necessary. As well as declaring "absurd" any attempt to change the customs and life-style of local peoples in order to "transfer France or Spain or Italy to China", this Congregation asked that the largest possible number of native people should be trained well and ordained priests. This was always, at least in theory, the line of development or "plantatio Ecclesiae" for subsequent centuries until Leo XIII's Encyclical Letter Ad Extremis Orientis Oras (1893).

2.1.2. Benedict XV published the first great missionary document of the 20th century: the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud (1919). Several times in this Letter he repeats the recommendation that the best hopes for the young Churches lay in their commitment to give their young people a thorough training with a view to priestly ordination. The reason was obvious: they could speak the language and touch the hearts of their compatriots much better than foreign missionaries. "As the Catholic Church of God is foreign to no nation, so should every nation yield its own sacred ministers and follow them as teachers of the divine law-and spiritual leaders... The Apostolic See has always urged the heads of the mission to look upon this grave duty with the care it deserves, and to carry it out diligently" (Enchiridion della Chiesa Missionaria EDB-1997. Ench 105, 106). He orders the "Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith" to use "ways and means, suited to the various regions" (id.).

Also Pius XI, the "Pope of the Missions", in the Encyclical Letter Rerum Ecclesiae (1926), reminds bishops of their duty to foster vocations to the missions; both clerical and. priestly; and he exhorts them to "suffer patiently for the love of Christ and of souls; the loss of on of your clergy, if, indeed it can, rightly be called as loss". He insists, like his Predecessor and with the same arguments, on the creation and formation of native clergy reminding them that "the clergy placed in charge of the faithful in each new community by the Apostles were not men brought in from the outside but were chosen from the natives of that locality" (id., 133)

2.1.3. Pius XII renewed the same appeal in his Apostolic Exhortation Menti Nostrae (1950). But where Pius XII's interest for the apostolate and missionary: formation seems most specific and strongest is in his Encyclical Evangelii Praecones (1951) on the 25th anniversary of the Encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae: It brought him "no small consolation" to repeat what he had said on 24 June 1944 to the directors of the Pontifical Missionary Societies: "The Catholic missionary movement both in Christian and pagan lands has gained such force and momentum and is of such proportions, as perhaps was never witnessed before in the annals of Catholic missions" (Ench. 202).

Documenting the Church's successes in every part of the world, Pius XII mentions as a noteworthy fact the foundation of many regional seminaries and he points out that "attached to the College of Propaganda Fide in Rome a Missionary Institute has been inaugurated; while in Rome and elsewhere not a few university chairs of missiology have been founded" (id., 206).

Pius XII's Encyclical Letter Fidei Donum (1957) introduced a new element to the Church's mission: the so-called "Fidei Donum" missionaries. These are diocesan priests from older Churches offered for temporary service in the young Churches of Africa in urgent need of help in their many emergencies. He explains the relatively new decision, declaring that, if in other times "the life of the Church, in its visible aspect, extended its force — especially in those countries of old Europe from which she spread — toward what could then be called the limits of the world, today on the contrary she presents herself as an exchange of life and energy between all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ upon earth …. 'If you want to love Christ', said St Augustine, 'spread charity all over the earth, for the members of Christ are all over the world'" (Ench. 285, 186). Asking bishops of the older Churches for the help of missionaries, the Pope paraphrases the meaningful affirmation common to Fr Manna, and repeated later also in Redemptoris Missio (2): "This missionary inspiration, furthermore, spreading through all your dioceses, will be a pledge of spiritual renewal for you. A Christian community which gives its sons and daughters to the Church cannot die. And, if it is true that the supernatural life is a life of charity and grows with the giving of one's self, it can be asserted that the. Catholic vitality of a nation is measured by the sacrifices it is capable of making for the missionary cause (id., 297)..

2.1.4. Pope John XXIII in his Encyclical Letter Princeps Pastorum (1959) stresses the necessity of the formation of the local clergy, (appropriately no longer called "native"), (Ench., 333). He cherishes the hope that before long ((the local clergy will be able to select from among its ranks just and holy men capable of governing, forming and educating their own sees... and are able to lead their students to sanctity (id., 338). However he rightly declares that "furthermore, the Church has consistently demanded that her priests be given a sound and thorough intellectual training…" (id.). Recognising both the parity of the clergy in all the Churches, as well as the method of study necessary for all, John XXIII declares explicitly: "For well-considered reasons, connected not only with the proper intellectual and spiritual training of Church students but also with the special needs of the various races and those habits of thought and action which are peculiarly their own, this Apostolic See has urged upon the missionary and local clergy the detailed study of missiology... Accordingly, local seminaries in mission lands will not fail .to provide study courses in the various branches of missiology and in such special skills and techniques as are likely to be of particular value to the clergy of those regions in their future ministry. This instruction must naturally be in strict accord with the sound teaching and tradition of the Church. It should also be aimed at sharpening the students' minds, so as to enable them to form a true estimate of the cultural traditions of their own homelands, especially, in matters of philosophy and theology, and to discern the special points of contact which exist between these systems and the Christian religion" (id., 341).

He confirms a truth, a truth that at other times was remembered in times of strong nationalism, namely, that the Church "does not identify herself with any one culture — not even with European and Western culture — with which her history is so closely linked; for the mission entrusted to the Church pertains chiefly to other matters that is, to matters which. are concerned with religion and the eternal salvation of men" (id., 341, 342).

2. The formation of the Clergy for Mission: the Second Vatican Council

2.2.1. The Second Vatican Council began just over two years after the Encyclical Princeps Pastorum and subsequent Encyclicals were inspired by the doctrine of the Council which, in John XXIII's coloured expression, "opened a window on the world for the Church". In fact through the Council also Mission in a certain sense changed its theological perspective (AG, 2), as well as its form of commitment, which includes not only Proclamation, but also Inculturation and Dialogue. Consequently also the missionary formation of the clergy could not be excluded from the general "updating" to the new prospects for doctrine and missionary activity that the Council had formulated.

* Note in this regard an esteemed theologian and Cardinal: "The new evangelization programme launched by Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi inserted an unusual factor in this situation (of American Catholicism). To the surprise of many, Paul VI reread Vatican II as a great Council concerned mainly with evangelization so as to make the Church more competent in proclaiming the Gospel to the modern world. Following in the footsteps of Paul VI, John Paul II has invited all Idnds of societies, both cultural and political, to throw open their doors to Christ" (Card. Avery Dulles in: Il Concilio Vaticano II — Recezione e Attualità alla Luce del Giubileo [ed. by, Rino Fisichella] - San Paolo 2000, p. 128).

2.2.2. On his part Pope Paul VI had clearly expressed his thought by declaring: "It will be said that the Council, rather than being concerned with divine truths, was concerned mainly with the Church, her nature, her composition, her ecumenical vocation, her apostolic and missionary activity… This is true.

But this introspection was not an end in itself, it was not an act of pure human wisdom… or in order to devote heir to reaffirming her rights and describing her laws, but to order to find the word of Christ living and operative within her, in the Holy Spirit and to scrutinise her testers, that is, Christ's design and presence above and within herself and to revive within her that faith that is the secret of her certainty and her wisdom, and that love that obliges her to sing God's praises unceasingly…. But we cannot neglect a important observation in our examination of the religious significance of this Council; it was deeply concerned with the study of the modern world… Yes, the Church of the Council was deeply concerned not only with herself and the relationship that unites her to God, but also with man as he really is today… The religion of the God who became man has met the religion (because this is what it is) of the man who becomes God…. A stream of affection and admiration has flowed from the Council over the modern human world. See, for example, the countless languages of people existing today have been allowed to express liturgically the word of men to God and the Word of God to men… and a pastoral and missionary invitation in the light of the Gospel has been addressed to all men. (Homily during the 9th Session: 7 Dec. 1965).

Also John Paul II follows the same line of thought when he occurs "We know that the Second Vatican Council, twenty years ago, had as one of its principal tasks that of reawakening the self-awareness of the Church and, through her interior recourse, of digressing upon her fresh missionary impulse for the proclamation of the eternal message of salvation, peace and mutual concord among peoples and nations, beyond all the frontiers door that yet divide our planet, which is intended by the will of God the Creator and Redeemer to be the common dwelling for all humanity". (Encyclical Letter Slavorum Apostoli [1985] n.16).

** In this contest I would like to present a selection and synthesis of the main Council documents that deal with mission and particularly with the Formation of the Clergy for Mission and missionary activity.

2.2.3. The principal conciliar document on Mission, approved last of all almost as a summary of the entire conciliar work, is the Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity ad gentes (7 Dec. 1965).

The fundamental missionary affirmation is the first of the "Doctrinal Principals" of the Decree Ad Gentes: "The Church on earth is by its very nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, it has its origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit" (AG, 2). Her task, "missionary activity", "is one and the same everywhere and in all, situations, although, because of circumstances, it may not always be exercised in the same way" (id., 6). Briefly, "missionary activity flows immediately from the very nature of the Church. Missionary activity extends the saving faith of the Church, it expands and perfects its catholic unity, it is sustained by its apostolicity, it activates the collegiate sense of its hierarchy, and bears witness to its sanctity which it both extends and promotes" (id.). Therefore "missionary activity is nothing else, and nothing less, than the manifestation of God's plan, its epiphany and realisation in the world and in history; that by which God, through mission, clearly brings to its conclusion the history of salvation" (id., 9).

2.2.4. Speaking in Chapter II of "Missionary Work" the document also deals with the "constitution of the native clergy" and declares: "Those things which have been decreed by this Council concerning the priestly vocation and priestly formation are to be religiously observed wherever the Church is being planted for the first time and also by the young Churches. Special importance is to be attached to what has been said about closely combining spiritual, doctrinal and pastoral formation... These general requirements for priestly training, both pastoral and practical, which have been laid down by the Council, must be accompanied with a desire to face up to the particular nation's way of thinking and acting. Therefore, the minds of the students must be opened and refined so that they will better understand and appreciate the culture of their own people; in philosophy and theology they should examine the relationship between the traditions and religion of their homeland and Christianity. In the same way, priestly formation must take account of the pastoral needs of the region; the students must learn the history, goal and method of missionary activity as well as the peculiar social, economic and cultural of their own people. They should be formed in the spirit of ecumenism arid properly prepared for fraternal dialogue with non-Christians. All this demands that, as far as possible, studies for the priesthood should be undertaken in close contact with the way of life of their own people) (id., 16).

2.2.5. As for the new Churches, the Decree expresses the hope that "they borrow from the customs, traditions, Wisdom, teaching, arts and sciences of their people everything which could be used to praise the glory of the Creator, manifest the grace of the Saviour; or contribute to the right ordering of Christian life. To achieve this, it is necessary that... theological investigation should be encouraged-and the facts and words revealed by God, contained in sacred Scripture, and explained by the Fathers and Magisterium of the Church, submitted to a new examination in the light of the tradition of the universal Church. In this way it will be more clearly understood by what means the faith can be explained in terms of the philosophy and wisdom of the people, and how their customs, concept of life and social structures can be reconciled with the standard proposed by divine revelation. Thus a way will be opened for a more profound adaptation in the whole sphere of Christian life" (id., 22).

The Decree declares that "it would help greatly if the young Churches took part in the universal mission of the Church as soon as possible and sent missionaries to preach the Gospel throughout the whole world, even though they are themselves short of clergy. In a sense, their communion with the universal Church will be perfect when they themselves take an active part in missionary work on behalf of other nations" (id., 20).

2.2.6. Dealing with "Missionaries", which, according to the Council, all priests are potentially, the Decree establishes that the future missionary must be prepared for such an important task by a special spiritual and moral formation..." (id., 25). "It is very necessary for the future missionary that he undertake missiological studies, that he know, that is, the teaching and the laws of the Church regarding missionary. activity, that he be aware of the paths which have been followed by the messengers of the Gospel down through. the centuries, and that he be familiar with the present state of the missions and with the methods considered most effective in the present time... It is necessary that those who engage in missionary activity, even for a time, should receive a training suited to their condition" (id., 26).

2.2.7. Bishops of the particular Churches should "make present and, as it were, visible the missionary spirit and zeal of the people of God, so that the whole diocese becomes missionary... [They should] after a proper training, send to those dioceses which lack clergy some of their best priests who offer themselves for mission work, where at least for a time they would exercise the missionary ministry in a spirit of service" (id., 38). As for priests, they are "the collaborators of the order of bishops in that threefold sacred duty which, of its nature, pertains to the mission of the Church. They must be profoundly aware of the fact that their very life is consecrated to the service of the missions.… University and seminary professors will instruct the young as to the true condition of the world and the Church, so that the need for a more intense evangelization of non-Christians will be clear to them and feed their zeal. In teaching dogmatic, biblical, moral and historical subjects, they should focus attention on their missionary aspects, so that in this way a missionary awareness will be formed in future priests" (id., 39).

The Decree Ad Gentes has become the "Magna Carta" of the Church's Mission. Gathering the heritage of the past and the experience of evangelization of all times; it opened missionary work to the modern and post-modern world where many missionary paradigms have changed. In this context it gave reasons and clear guidelines for meeting the new needs that change imposes: among these, missionary Formation is undoubtedly of prime importance.

2.2.8. The Decree on Priestly Formation: Optatam Totius establishes that "since only regulations of a general nature can be made; owing to the wide diversity of peoples and countries, each nation or rite should have its own "Programme of Priestly Training". This should be drawn up by the episcopal conference and should be reevised at regular intervals and approved by the Holy See" (OT, 1). This rule is very important for having a formation adapted "to the circumstances of time and place", to the need of each culture and the special circumstances of each people, "so that priestly training will always answer the pastoral requirements of the particular area in which the ministry is to be exercised" (id.).

2.2.9. The Decree then offers guidelines for developing study in "orienting towards theology" in order to give meaning and purpose to the seminary curriculum. "Philosophical studies should be taught in such a way as to lead the students gradually to a solid and consistent knowledge of man, the world and God. The students should rely on that philosophical patrimony which is forever valid, but should also take account of modern philosophical studies, especially those which have greater influence in their own country, as well as recent progress in the sciences. Thus... students will be prepared to enter into dialogue with their contemporaries.… Careful attention should be paid to the bearing of philosophy on the real problems of life... The students themselves should be helped to perceive the connection between philosophical arguments and the mysteries of salvation" (id., 15). In other words it must be an inculturated study, adapted to times and places and open to mission.

In theological studies "students should receive a most careful training in holy Scripture, which should be the soul, as, it were, of all theology... in the treatment of dogmatic theology, biblical themes should have first place; then students should be shown what the Fathers of the Church have contributed..., then the later history of dogma, including its relation to the general history of the Church" (id., 16). "In like manner the other theological subjects should be renewed through a more vivid contact with the Mystery of Christ and the history of salvation" (id.).

2.2.10. Therefore the recommendation is for a theology that is based on the Bible. It must not be separated from the living reality of the Church to lose itself in speculations regardless of how interesting or satisfying they may be; a theology that leads to faith and strengthens it, in other words, a theology that is a "missionary theology". For this reason quite rightly the Decree recommends that "students should be introduced to a fuller knowledge of the Churches and ecclesial communities separated from the Holy See.… They should also be introduced to a knowledge of whatever other religions are most commonly encountered in this or that region, so that they may recognise more clearly how much goodness and truth they possess through the Providence of God, and learn how to refute their errors and bring the light of truth to those who are without it" (id.). It is easy to see how the Church's situation in the modern world makes these dispositions still an essential duty today for every seminary and theology school in every corner of the world. An important recommendation is that "great care should be taken to achieve an overall training which is coherent and solid, avoiding problems which have little importance today or which should be left to higher academic studies" (id., 17).

2.2.11. Under the heading "Attention to Strictly Pastoral Training" the Decree speaks of a pastoral style in "education for dialogue". "In general those aptitudes should be cultivated in the students which are most conducive to dialogue amongst men. They include the willingness to listen to others and the capacity to open their hearts in a spirit of charity to the various needs of their fellow men" (id., 19). Also openness to the reality of the world is needed in "training in the missionary spirit". "Students should be filled with that truly Catholic spirit which habitually looks beyond the boundaries of diocese, country or rite, to meet the needs of the whole "The Fathers of the Council... confidently entrust to superiors and professors in seminaries the duty of training Christ's future priests in the spirit of the renewal promoted by the Council itself…" (id., 22).

2.2.12. The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests: Presbyterorum Ordinis; speaking of the "nature of the priesthood", declares: "Since they share in the function of the apostles in their own degree, priests are given the gram by God to be the ministers of Jesus Christ among the nations, fulfilling the sacred task. of the Gospel, that the oblation of the gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16)" (PO 2). The "functions of priests", first of which is to be "ministers of the word of God", require that they "owe it to everybody to share with them the truth of the Gospel in which they rejoice in the Lord" (id., 4).

One of the priest's important duties is "the formation of a genuine Christian community", which "ought not merely to promote the care of the faithful within itself, but should be imbued with the missionary spirit and smooth the path to Christ for all men" (id., 6). Then priests "are to be sincere in their appreciation and promotion of lay people's dignity and of the special role the laity have to play in the Church's mission... Priests should not forget those fellow Christians who do not enjoy complete ecclesiastical union with us. They will regard as committed to their charge all those who fail to recognise Christ as their Saviour" (id., 9).

2.2.13. A declaration, not new in doctrine, but certainly new in the force and depth of its content, reminds priests that "the spiritual gift which priests have received in ordination does not prepare them merely for a limited and circumscribed mission, but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation 'to the end of the earth' (Acts 1:8). The reason is that every priestly ministry shares in the fullness of the universal mission entrusted by Christ to the apostles. For the priesthood of Christ, of which priests have been really made sharers, is necessarily directed to all peoples and all times, and is not confined by any bounds of blood, race, or age, as was already typified in a mysterious way by the figure of Melchizedek. Priests, therefore, should recall that the solicitude of all the Churches ought to be their intimate concern. For this reason priests of those dioceses which are blessed with greater abundance of vocations should be prepared gladly to offer themselves — with the permission or encouragement of their own ordinary — for the exercise of their ministry in countries or mission or tasks that are hampered by shortage of clergy" (id., 10). The Decree even speaks of "international seminaries" for special apostolic needs and recommends that priests "are not to be sent alone into a new territory", but they should be sent in groups "so that they might be of mutual help to one another". Likewise they must "pay careful attention to their spiritual life and their mental and bodily health" (id.). "It is also of the greatest advantage that those who go to a new territory should take the trouble to learn not only the language of the place but also the special psychological and social characteristics of the people they wish to serve in humility" (id.).

2.2.14. The "Conclusion and Exhortation" of the Decree is of surprising realism and frankness: "This sacred Council, while keeping in mind the joys of the priestly life, cannot pass over the difficulties too which priests encounter in the circumstances of their life today. It knows also how much economic and social conditions, and even men's morals, are being transformed, and how much men's sense of values is undergoing changes. Hence it is that the Church's ministers, and even sometimes the faithful, in the midst of this world feel themselves estranged from it and are anxiously seeking suitable methods and words by which they may be able to communicate with it. The new obstacles opposing the faith, the apparent fruitlessness of the work done, the bitter loneliness they experience — these can bring for priests the danger of a feeling of frustration.

But this world as it is entrusted today to the Church as the object of its love and service, this is the world God has so loved as to give his only-begotten Son for it (Jn 3:16).… The same Holy Spirit, while urging. the Church to open new avenues of approach to the modern world, also suggests and fosters suitable adaptations of the priestly ministry" (id. 22). Among these we muse surely include a missionary theology which it content and praxis speaks to modern men and women and to their entire world, now made smaller by globalisation and the interchange of its cultures and religions. The final comforting words are Jesus' words: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (Jn 16:33).

With great parresia the Council wanted to open the ways of the modern world to the Church and it was to this world that it showed the Way of the Church. In the words of John Paul II, "Man is the primary and fundamental way for the Church" (RH, 14).

In this review and selection of Council texts, as well as in the documents of the Popes prior to the Council, I have chosen and cited texts that refer to the fundamental points of the Church's life and doctrine in mission. For obvious reasons of time and space, I have preferred to ignore the missionary Encyclicals of the two post-conciliar Popes because they are very well known, as well as the official documents of the Holy See: these will all be included in a study now being prepared. The purpose of this discourse, as I have underlined several times, is to convince you of the necessity of encouraging the creation of a Missionary Theology for the formation of the Clergy of a Church that is "by its very nature missionary" and now "missionary de facto" in the five continents.

III. The missionary formation of the clergy today

1. The commitment of the PMU

3.1.1. "The subject of mission has been the passion of my whole life: For thirty-five years and more I have studied and been concerned with nothing else. Recently, I travelled around the world and I visited many of my own institute's missions and many others. I travelled with the intention of writing books; but since I always had my eyes and ears open and attentive and a warm heart, I could not help but make many observation and takes notes which, thinking about them again and again, confirmed certain conclusions I had reached" (Fr Paolo Manna, Osservazioni sul metodo moderno di evangelizzazione).

These words of the Founder of the "Missionary Union of the Clergy", recently declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II, on 4 November 2001, provide me, with the reason for this long intervention in the same spirit and for the same intentions: si licet parva componere magnis… (if I may be allowed to compare my little affairs with great ones…). Two years ago, in the Programmatic Discourse to the Superior Council, I presented a general picture of Mission in the bi-millenary history of Christianity. Today I have proposed the history of the post modern world in detail, with the same intent to convince us all that the world has changed profoundly and that with it also Mission must change! When Fr Manna wrote the above-cited text, he had radically changed many of his ideas about Mission after a prolonged visit to Asia and America. His thoughts and suggestions were "reserved" for almost four decades, but today, especially after the Second Vatican Council, they seem outdated for some aspects.…

3.1.2. I wanted to cite selected Council texts because it is and will be for many years the point of reference for the Church's doctrine and activity. The conciliar declarations and the subsequent official texts of the Holy See, the Ordinary Synods of Bishops and the Continental Synods have given directives and guidelines in abundance for the aggiornamento [updating] the Council intended. Going back to the fundamental ideas that justified the creation and expansion of the -PMU in the Church in recent years, in line with Fr Manna and his successors in their appointment as Secretaries General, I have insisted on presenting the missionary spirit of its clergy as being determinative for the Church's mission. A spiritually well-trained clergy, dedicated and highly motivated by the missionary ideal and ready to sacrifice themselves personally to spread God's kingdom in the world, is what the Church still needs. But I am taking the liberty of saying that what was valid for the Church's clergy before the Council, in the context of a world little changed from previous centuries and well defined in its geography and history, seems no longer valid in this post-modern age for the reasons mentioned. Indeed I venture to say that an "additional" and in a certain sense "exceptional" missionary formation would today be the opposite of what the Church wants and needs. In a Church recognised as being "by its very nature missionary", Mission is and has been declared by the Magistenum not the exception, but the norm for those who share in the Priesthood of Christ: just as it is, albeit in a different way, also for all those who believe in Christ and are members of his Church.

3.1.3. Here Fr Manna's motto — "All Missionaries!" — returns even more validly and with a more binding meaning. He was referring mainly to the Church's clergy: "Therefore not two vocations for two different priestly ministries, but one vocation for one priestly ministry to be carried out, according to the needs of souls, in every part of the world" (Operarii autem pauci! (1909), pp. 67-68). Consequently if, according to the Council, Mission is the Church's entire life, activity and purpose, also her clergy must be missionary. This means that they must have a Missionary Formation. This formation involves not only spiritual formation, but also theological and pastoral formation, as can be seen from the documents of the Church that insist on this unity in the training of seminarians. The missionary dimension should be the inspiration for priestly spirituality like "apostolic charity", and "concern for all the Churches". Mission should be the essential element of her ministers' sacred and profane study, both serving each other in a unified vision of a world created by God for his glory and redeemed by Christ for our salvation. Theology as "Stella retrix", Philosophy as "ancilla Theologiae" and the Sacred Sciences as "intellectus quaerens fidem" should constitute the way and quality of pastoral activity that obeys Christ's command "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them... teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20).

3.1.4. With honesty and out of duty I feel obliged to say that, no matter how often it has been affirmed and called for in the Church's documents, this centrality of Mission in formation in seminaries is still a pious desire if not indeed a distant dream even in seminaries in omission lands». It is true that there are activities and methods to bring mission closer to future priests: lectures, publications and visits by missionaries to tell them about missions and inspire seminarians to take an interest in the missionary problem. But all this leaves mission in the background, it makes it almost an optional, an interesting but distant reality, when other religions and other cultures are now part of the life and reality in which the future priest must live and work. Also missiology lessons are still a rare occurrence in most seminaries and on the whole they are relegated to a course of culture or to extra-curricula interventions. This does, not do justice to a subject that should be central in studies and incorporated in the systematic theological studies of future priests. In many issues of the magazine Omnis Terra, the official publication of the international PMU, this topic has been presented over and over again. It has published the opinions of Church dignitaries on the subject and explained the attempts made in the past or still being made at Episcopal Conferences - such as those of the Church in Asia — to bring the Church's missionary dimension into Catholic theology; but little has been achieved. There is a shortage of professors trained for this work and there is no sincere and devout commitment to this fundamental element of the Church's mission in the modern world. In other words, there is no overall view of history, no conception of the sacred sciences as the Theology of the Proclamation, as they were at the beginning of Christianity, and basically there is no determination to make Catholic Theology a missionary Theology in a wholly missionary Church!

3.1.5. How can we bring the gospel proclamation in a secularised world, one that is still three quarters non-Christian, if all the Catholic clergy are not sensitised and trained for this task? This, in my opinion, is the real problem and I venture to say the contradiction in the Church today! We speak about and we see the necessity of the "New evangelization", we recognise the urgency and necessity of evangelizing the still non-Christian masses, but we do not prepare priests to be missionaries. "It is the education and formation of priests that is the 'problem' in today's Church, just as it was under different aspects. in Fr. Manna's time"; this is what I said. in my discourse two years ago and the reality has not changed.… Indeed I would venture to say that, according to what educators and formators are saying in seminaries, of which: we have reported sad and gloomy evaluations about their work, the situation has become extremely alarm iñg for a missionary-pastoral programme now necessary everywhere. Some of them call for what they define as "Apostolic desire", namely, a "missionary shock" to give them direction and decision, in their vocational choice and a desire to give themselves totally to the Gospel cause. In their studies young seminarians lack real deep motivations. for their life and future work and there is little perception of the newness and difficulty of the present historical situations: this could be offered by a real (catholic!) missionary culture, capable of offering young men the prophet's "visions" (Joel 3:1) and arousing an enthusiastic commitment among candidates for the priesthood.

3.1.6. One declaration that gives us cause for thought is the one by the theologian Card. Avery Dulles, who points out: "The reluctance of Catholics to evangelize has many roots, historical, sociological, cultural and political. I shall restrict my attention to the theological roots. Catholic theology, in my opinion, still lags behind the evangelical shift that has taken place on the level of the Church's pastoral leadership. The program of evangelization calls for a renewal of Catholic theology, so that it may contribute to, rather than retard, the evangelical effort... A theology that is both Catholic and evangelical differs from medieval Scholasticism and Counter-Reformation apologetics. These theologies contained much that is true and permanently valid; they lent themselves well to the situation of earlier centuries, when Europe was a self-contained Christian society. But they are no longer adequate for the complex global culture of today... Christian faith, understood in evangelical terms, is much more than an intellectual assent. It is a complex act involving the whole person - mind, will and emotions..." (Evangelizing Theology: Why we must be Witnesses [p. 4, 6] — The Society for the Propagation of the Faith USA).

2. The Holy Father's Directives: Pastores Dabo Vobis

3.2.1. It is also true that Catholic theologians have done much in this regard, but evidence

shows that it is not, enough. The most authoritative voice in the Church — the voice of John Paul II — confirms this in a document that is of great importance for the formation of the clergy for Mission: the post synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis on "The Formation of Priests in the Circumstances of the Present Day". This document give an excellent presentation of the initial and on-going formation of priests, "considered by the Church one of the most demanding and important tasks for the future of the evangelization of humanity" (PDV, 2): In fact, "without priests the Church would not be able to live that fundamental obedience which is at the very heart of her existence and her mission in history, an obedience in response to the command of Christ: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations' (Mt 28:19) and 'Do this in remembrance of me' (Lk 22:19; cf. ,1 Cor 11:24)" (id., 24). The Church is called to this task "with a renewed commitment... urged on... by the urgency of a new look at the contents and methods of priestly formation; by the concern of bishops and their communities about a persisting scarcity of clergy; and by the absolute necessity that the 'new evangelization' have priests as its initial 'new evangelizers'" (id. 2). We ought to note the number of times the Pope uses the word new almost to indicate that new methods are needed for the new times.

He points out that in recent years and in "present ecclesial and cultural circumstances, attention has shifted from the question of the priest's identity to that connected with the process of formation for the priesthood and the quality of priestly life. The new generation of those called to the ministerial priesthood display different characteristics in comparison to those of their immediate predecessors. In addition, they live in a world which in many respects is new and undergoing rapid and continual evolution. All of this cannot be ignored when it comes to programming and carrying out the various phases of formation for those approaching the ministerial priesthood" (id., 3).

3.2.2. Speaking of the "nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood", the Pope declares: "'The priest's identity', as the synod fathers wrote, 'like every Christian identity, has its source in the Blessed Trinity'.… It is within the Church's mystery, as a mystery of Trinitarian communion in missionary tension, that every Christian identity is revealed, and likewise the specific identity of the priest and his ministry.… 'Even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that, they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me' (Jn 17:21).... In this context the ecclesiology of communion becomes decisive for understanding the identity of the priest, his essential dignity, and his vocation and mission among the People of God and in the world" (id., 12). Then presenting priests' fundamental relationship with Christ he declares: "In the Church and on behalf of the Church, priests are a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ — the head and shepherd.… In a word, priests exist and act in order to proclaim the Gospel to the world and to build up the Church in the name and person of Christ the head and shepherd" (id., 15). . .

"In this way priests, like the apostles, act as ambassadors of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:20). This is the basis of the missionary character of every priest" (id., 16). After citing the Council teaching (PO, 6), the Pope underlines: "By the very nature of their ministry they should therefore be penetrated and animated by a profound missionary spirit... (cf. OT, 20)" (id., 18). He then insists on saying that, "precisely because within the Church's life the priest is a man of communion, in his relations with all people he must be a man of mission and dialogue... Today, in particular, the pressing pastoral task of the new evangelization calls for the involvement of the entire People of God, and requires a new fervour, new methods and a new expression .for the announcing and witnessing of the Gospel. This task demands priests who are deeply and fully immersed in the mystery of Christ and capable of embodying a new style of pastoral life, marked by a profound communion with the pope, the bishops and other priests" (id., 18).

3.2.3. Later going on to the spiritual life of priests in the exercise of their ministry, the document declares: "The Spirit of the Lord anointed Christ and sent him forth to announce the Gospel (cf. Lk 4:18). The priest's mission is not extraneous to his consecration or juxtaposed to it, but represents its intrinsic and vital purpose: consecration is for mission. In this sense, not only consecration but mission as well is under the seal of the Spirit and the influence of his sanctifying power. This was the case in Jesus' life. This was the case in the lives of the apostles and their successors. This is .the case for the entire Church and within her for priests: all have received the Spirit as a gift and call to holiness in and through the carrying out of the mission (EN, 75). Therefore, an intimate bond exists between the priest's spiritual life and the exercise of his ministry" (id., 24). Of special interest and relevance are the paragraphs on "the formation of candidates for the priesthood". Among its various aspects there is that of "intellectual formation understanding the faith". The Pope declares that "intellectual formation has its own characteristics, but it is also deeply connected with, and indeed can be seen as a necessary expression of, both human and spiritual formation.... The intellectual formation of candidates for the priesthood finds its specific justification in the very nature of the ordained ministry, and the challenge of the 'new evangelization' to which our Lord is calling the Church on the threshold of the third millennium shows just how important this formation is" (id., 51).

3.2.4. He explains some of the reasons why "candidates for the priesthood and priests should have diligent care of the quality of their intellectual formation", and he declares that "these 'pastoral' reasons for intellectual formation reconfirm what has been said above concerning the unity of the educational process in its diverse aspects. The commitment to study, which takes up no small part of the time of those preparing for the priesthood, is not in fact an external and secondary dimension of their human, Christian, spiritual and vocational growth. In reality, through study, especially the study of theology, the future priest assents to the word of God, grows in his spiritual life and prepares himself to fulfil his pastoral ministry. This is the many sided and unifying scope of the theological study indicated by the Council (OT, 16)" (id.). An important and significant consideration is the one the Pope makes for a serious study of philosophy: "Nor must one underestimate the importance of philosophy as a guarantee of that 'certainty of truth' which is the only firm basis for a total giving of oneself to Jesus and to the Church. It is not difficult to see that some very specific questions, such as. that concerning the priest's identity and his apostolic and missionary commitment, are closely linked to the. question about the nature of truth,. which is anything but an abstract question. if we are, not certain, about the truth,, how, can we: put our whole life on the line, how can we have, the strength to challenge others' way of living?" (id., 52) He then declares, "the so-called 'human sciences' can be of considerable use, sciences such as sociology, psychology, education, economics and politics, and the science of social communication. Also in the precise field of the positive or descriptive sciences, these can help the future priest prolong the living 'contemporaneousness' of Christ. As Paul VI once said, 'Christ became the contemporary of some men and spoke their language. Our faithfulness to him demands that this contemporaneousness should be maintained'" (id.).

3.2.5. But "the intellectual formation of the future priest is based and built above all on the study of sacred doctrine, of theology". In the theologian "the two aspects (of faith and mature reflection) are intimately connected, intertwined their intimate coordination and inter-penetration are what make for true theology and as a result decide the contents, modalities and spirit according to which the sacred doctrine (sacra doctrina) is elaborated and studied" (id., 53). "Moreover, since the faith, which is the point of departure and the point of arrival of theology, brings about a personal relationship between the believer and Jesus Christ in the Church, theology also has intrinsic Christological and ecclesial connotations.... These Christological and ecclesial dimensions which are connatural to theology, while they help candidates for the priesthood grow in scientific precision, will also help them develop a great and living love for Jesus Christ and for his Church. This love will both nourish their spiritual life and guide them to carry out their ministry with a generous spirit. This was what the Second Vatican Council had in mind when it called for a revision of ecclesiastical studies, with a view to 'a more effective coordination of philosophy and theology so that they supplement one another in revealing to the minds of the students with ever-increasing clarity the mystery of Christ, which affects the whole course of human history, exercises an unceasing influence on the Church and operates mainly through the ministry of the priest'" (id.). Other official documents had already emphasised this reality (cf. The Theological Formation of Future Priests [1976] Congregation for Catholic Education).

3.2.6. The Pope recognises that "theological formation is both complex and demanding. It should lead the candidate for the priesthood to a complete and unified vision of the truths which God has revealed in Jesus Christ and of the Church' s experience of faith. Hence the need both to know 'all' the Christian truths without arbitrarily selecting among them and to know them in an orderly fashion. This means the candidate needs to be helped to build a synthesis which ill be the result of the contributions of the different theological disciplines, the specific nature of which acquires genuine value only in their profound coordination" (id., 54). The Pope then outlines the two directions in which the study of theology should move: God and the human person. "The study of the word of God [involves the study of] sacred Scripture 'which should be the soul, as it were, of all theology' (OT, 16), [of] the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy, the history of the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium. The second direction is that of the human person, who converses with God…. Hence the study of dogmatic and moral theology, of spiritual theology, of canon law and of pastoral theology. Because of its relationship to the believer, theology is led to pay particular attention both to the fundamental and permanent question of the relationship between faith and reason and to a number of requirements more closely related to the social and cultural situation of today. This is true of the study of the Church's social doctrine which ... is to be counted among the 'essential components' of the 'new evangelization'.... This is likewise true of the study of missiology, ecumenism, Judaism, Islam and other religions" (id.). After warning about confusing the common teaching of the Church with the opinions of theologians, he declares that "there is no 'parallel' magisterium, for the one Magisterium is that of Peter and the Apostles, the Pope and the Bishops" (id., 55).

3.2.7. The document then indicates another problem which "is that of the relationship between high scientific standards in theology and its pastoral aim. This raises the issue of the pastoral nature of theology'. It is a question of two characteristics of theology, which are not opposed to each other, but which «work together, from different angles, in favour of a more complete 'understanding of the faith'". The pastoral nature of theology «enables future priests 16 pro, claim the Gospel message through the cultural modes of their age and to direct pastoral action according to an authentic theological vision" (id.). One of these present-day cultural modes constitutes "a further problem that is strongly felt these days... [namely] the demand for the evangelization of cultures and the inculturation of the message of faith" (id., 55). In this regard it affirms that "it is very important that in the whole intellectual and human formation the dimension of inculturation be seen as necessary and essential. But this means we need a genuine theology, inspired by the, Catholic, principles on inculturation. These principles are linked with the mystery of the incarnation of the Word of God and with Christian anthropology, and thus illumine the authentic meaning of inculturation.... Inculturation seeks to obey Christ's command to preach the Gospel to all nations even unto the ends of the earth.… The Gospel penetrates the very life of cultures, becomes incarnate in them, overcoming those cultural elements that are incompatible with the faith and Christian living, and raising their values to the mystery of salvation which comes from Christ (cf. RM, 67).

The problem of inculturation can have a particularly great interest when the candidates to the priesthood are themselves coming from indigenous cultures" (id.).

3.2.8. The document notes that "following the teaching and the indications of the Second Vatican Council and their application in the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, the Church decided upon a vast updating of the teaching of the philosophical and especially theological disciplines in seminaries. This updating, which in some cases still needs amendments and developments, has on the whole helped to make the education available a more effective medium for intellectual formation" (id., 56). It then declares that it is necessary to "oppose firmly the tendency to play down the seriousness of studies and the commitment to them. This tendency is showing itself in certain spheres of the Church, also as a consequence of the insufficient and defective basic education of students beginning the philosophical and theological curriculum. The very situation of the Church today demands increasingly that teachers be truly able to face the complexity of the times and that they be in a position to face competently, with clarity and deep reasoning, the questions about meaning which are put by the people of today, questions which can only receive a full and definitive reply in the Gospel of Jesus Christ" (id., 56).

3.2.9. It is precisely this present-day great need for number and breadth of subjects as well as for the necessary cultural adaptation that takes us back to the discourse about a Missionary Theology whose pastoral-missionary purpose would be to offer unity, completeness, and functionality for theological study. In fact concluding the reflections on "pastoral formation" the document declares: "Awareness of the Church as a 'missionary' communion will help the candidate for the priesthood to love and live the essential missionary dimension of the Church and her different pastoral activities. He should be open and available to all the possibilities offered today for the proclamation of the Gospel, not forgetting the valuable service which can and should be given by the media. He should prepare himself for a ministry which may mean in practice that his readiness to follow the indications of the Holy Spirit and of his bishop will lead him to be sent to preach the Gospel even beyond the frontiers of his own country (RM, 67-68)" (id., 60).

Conclusion

At the end of this long discourse I wish to propose one fundamental question: "Is it possible today to devise and formulate an inculturated. philosophy and theology in the world's different cultures, including the 'new' secularised culture of the West?" It should include what is essential, express it in terms suited to the. men and women of today and answer the evangelical needs of our time. There is no shortage of competent missionary-minded theologians to do this, and it is also true that the Council gave episcopal Conferences the task of drawing up a Ratio Studiorum adapted to their own cultures and historical necessities. But. more than thirty years after the Council, what has been done about it? Who will carry out this urgent and essential duty for the missionary Church of the 21st century? The work, according to the directives proposed by the Magisterium, requires commitment, great collaboration and obviously the awareness that it is not an easy task. In fact the new curriculum cannot neglect the human sciences or exclude any of the sacred sciences that the document mentions and rightl3 demands. But what makes all the difference and what is also the greatest difficulty, is their organic and unitary presentation in modern terms and in relation to mission. This mainly pastoral-missionary orientation should emerge from the fact that all divine and human reality, Trinity and Incarnation, is Mission; the whole ecclesial reality is in a missionary tension; all human and Christian life in its religious, moral, cultural, family and social realities, etc... gains meaning and value in the history of salvation brought by the Redemption of Christ the Lord and only Saviour.

Within the context of the desired "amendments and developments" (PDV, 56), and considering the necessities of a world that has changed profoundly, it is now time to consider seriously and put into practice this option that respects the directives given by the Church. In fact only in this way would she answer the demands for a formation of the clergy for the new or first evangelization of the modern and post-modern world. Here it is not a question of preparing courses for specialists and students of university faculties, but simple, coherent treatises for the basic preparation of 90% of the Catholic clergy for a missionary-pastoral programme. With great confidence and respect for modern theologians, I think that they should know and emulate the great theologians of the past (such as the Fathers of the Church who founded theological science and in particular, at the dawn of the second millennium, St Thomas and the Scholastics), who offered the doctrine necessary for the "science of the faith", that is, a living theology that could be understood by the men and women of their time, a theology that was against the heresies then in vogue and the errors of Islam. Today too, in equally worrying times, they can re-formulate a "Corpus doctrinale", a "Summa Theologica" that answers the needs of the Church and her clergy at the dawn of the Third Millennium. In its specific finality and its universal vision, this Theology cannot but be a Missionary Theology.

 

Ref.: OMNIS TERRA, n. 329, 36th year, July-August 2002.