World Mission Sunday 2012 & St. Guido Conforti

What it Means to be Church

On Sunday, October 21st the Church worldwide will be celebrating WORLD MISSION SUNDAY. This year the celebration of World Mission Sunday has a very special meaning as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, with its decree Ad Gentes, the opening of the Year of Faith and the Synod of Bishops on the theme of the New Evangelization both of which contribute to reaffirming the Church’s continued desire to engage with more courage and zeal in order that the Gospel reaches the ends of the earth.

The Holy Father reminds us in his message for WMS: “The celebration of the Year of Faith and of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization aims to relaunch missionary cooperation and activity in the different contexts of today. Humanity needs Catholic missionaries and we cannot allow a crisis of faith to become an obstacle for evangelization. Faith in a loving God is at the very kernel of our missionary activity and this “is a gift that is given to us to be shared; it is a talent received that it may bear fruit; it is a light that must never be hidden, but must illuminate the whole house.”

The Challenge of this Mission from the USA

In light of all that has been said, I would propose that there are at least three main areas where the first proclamation is experienced in many parishes nationwide. They include:

• First, the Catholic parish in the midst of a diverse, multi-religious neighborhood, both ecumenically and inter-religiously. Often parish life is quite insulated from this surrounding environment, like a Catholic island in a sea of humanity with no real meaningful connection. It is not merely on a social level, but on a level of faith, where they may not see that relationship as a necessary part of the mission of the parish, the first proclamation of the parish community. There are exceptions of course but few and far between. Some work is done through diocesan officers specifically charged with ecumenical and interfaith responsibilities, but with waning budgets and other priorities, this work is often undervalued.

• Second, the Catholic parish in a rich and diverse multi-cultural environment is attended to with greater resolve. The diverse cultural groups in the USA are made up of people at many different levels of acculturation to the American experience. While the Church has served as a conduit for this process of adaptation throughout U.S. history, the bishops today are very clear about the fact that the Church’s mission is not to Americanize but to evangelize. This means respecting the languages, customs and style whereby particular cultures live their Catholic faith while seeking to form their emerging Catholic identity in light of the Word of God and Church teaching.  The New Evangelization in this regard is about finding a fit between Catholic identity for today and the diverse cultural identities that comprise our parishes and neighborhoods. 

• Third, the thoughtful appreciation of global solidarity that each Christian, family, community, and parish is exemplified by many generous projects that local parishes carry out with other poorer communities worldwide, support of the Pontifical Mission Societies and missionary congregations, parish twinning, among other things. The assistance of missionary priests from outside of the United States in many parishes also underlines the global connection US Catholics feel more and more, a kind of reverse-mission. The bishops encourage this solidarity when they said: “At a time of dramatic global changes and challenges, Catholics in the United States face special responsibilities and opportunities. We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with the peoples of the world. We are also citizens of a powerful democracy with enormous influence beyond our borders. As Catholics and Americans we are uniquely called to global solidarity.”