Bulletin 2013 Vol
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Bulletin 2013 Vol. 45, No. 7/8 - July-August “New Wines in New Wineskins”: “The New Evangelization” – Europe, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – 23- 27 APRIL 2013 SEDOS SEDOS Venue: At Centro “Ad Gentes” - Nemi (Rome) Sedos - Via dei Verbiti, 1 - 00154 Roma Servizio di Documentazione e Studi TEL.: (+39)065741350 / FAX: (+39)065755787 Documentation and Research Centre E-mail address: [email protected] Centre de Documentation et de Recherche Homepage: http://www.sedosmission.org Servicio de Documentación e Investigación ission is an act of dialogue because God's inner nature is dialogical: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1-3). New Evangelization, asserts MSister Lydia, of the Medical Mission Sisters, is “’A Journey of Mutual Transformation’ is for me a much better expression for what we can achieve together today. I can learn a lot from my fellow citizens and it is up to me to discover in their commitment to people and situations what binds us”. The SEDOS Residential 2013 Seminar which was held at Centro “Ad Gentes” in NEMI (Rome) 23-27 April, welcomed 124 participants, one of them was Ms. Avtzi KURYAKI, from WCC. We welcomed as gift from the goodness of the Lord, these four days of prayers, reflection and conversation around the very energizing topic on “New wine in New Wineskins”, New Evangelization in Europe, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We have been fully engaged in a process of mutual transformation, guided by very astute and faith-filled Speakers: Fr Giulio ALBANESE, MCCJ, Sr Susan SMITH, RNDM, Fr Noel CONNOLLY, SSC, Sr Agnes LANFERMANN, MMS, Fr Guylain PRINCE, OFM, Sr Mary MOTTE, FMM and Br Enzo BIEMMI, FSF. We made space to the Spirit and allowed Him to open our ears to hear with greater clarity his gentle promptings from within: ‘Mission should be built on relations’. The closing address of Sr Georgeanne M. DONOVAN, SMSM, and the President of SEDOS has captured so well the essential of the whole process of ‘mutual transformation. Some expressions strongly resonated within me: “Why do alone what we can do better together”? And so I gratefully make space to Sr Filo HIROTA, MMB, encapsulated some of fundamental attitude required for a successful commitment to evangelization today and she graciously accepted to offer her insights to the SEDOS’ Friends and Readers. The most important and relevant message I have been hearing since yesterday and this morning is that Mission is about relations and that we are called to go deep into our own humanity to understand who and what we are in a new way. We have been hearing different expressions that talk about the relations/attitude: to be humble, respectful, open, contemplative, personal, dialogue, collaboration, inclusion and mutuality. We are talking about the importance and need of these relations among equals. This truth means a call to a radical change in our way of being a missionary congregation in today’s world. I very much appreciated the vision given by Agnes of Mutual Transformation. It is not that we missionaries are the ones to proclaim the Good News but we are called to enable relations among equals that are life-giving and hope filled so that together we become the Good News to each other and to others. We live in a world whose structures and policies do not prioritize the life of the entire creation and the dignity/rights of every single human being. It is a world that excludes the majority. The challenge posed is: can we be a community with others as an oasis in the desert? Let us ask the same question in two different ways. Are we capable of being a community of men and women which is radically inclusive, welcoming and celebrating all kinds of diversity? Can we be sensitive and attentive to the concrete reality of people so that the experience of community for them be truly that of the Good News? This challenge to the hierarchical Church, I believe, is enormous. We need to go back to Jesus to understand His message of equal discipleship in a radically new way. Jesus continues to talk about the first will be the last and the last will be the first … talking about equal relationships. I wonder why the washing of feet on Holy Thursday has never become a sacrament? A big challenge for us is how to be and work in this Church so that this Church be more of the Church of Jesus in this sense. Sr Filo HIROTA, MMB, Superior General Executive Committee Member of SEDOS Welcome ood afternoon everyone. On behalf of the Executive Committee of SEDOS, it is truly a great privilege for me to welcome each of you to our 2013 SEDOS G Seminar here in Nemi. I welcome our participants who have traveled from near and far to come for this event. At this time, I would like to invite our participants from abroad to stand so that we know who you are and can give you a proper welcome to Rome and, in particular, to Centro Ad Gentes in Nemi. We welcome our presenters who have traveled from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and other parts of Europe. And we welcome our translators and all those who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes for many months to prepare for this conference. We want all of you to feel at home in Nemi throughout this week. Let us enjoy the sun when it shines and make our own sunshine when the showers arrive. We gather today as a learning community: ready to listen to the insights of others, ready to share from the wealth of our own lived experience, ready to grapple with the challenges before us in light of “New Evangelization” — challenges of which we are aware and new challenges that we will discover together. Some of us have been asking ourselves: What is the “new” in New Evangelization? What is the New Wine for New Wineskins? Perhaps it is a call to a new commitment to proclaim the Gospel in witness and proclamation — with new methods — with new expressions — in a new way — within a new cultural context, a new reality — with new passion. Perhaps it is simply an invitation to engage with the Holy Spirit in the task of creating a new model of being Church for today. And, to be sure, at the heart of our reflections and discussions is the faith conviction that Jesus is the Light — we pray that we can reflect his light in our world with new courage. Today, we gather as a discerning community of faith, seekers on a journey who desire to live our discipleship of Jesus with integrity, with passion and with joy. Hopefully, the experience of these next few days will have positive influences on our ministry and mission when we leave this sacred space. Once again, I say: Welcome! Benvenuti! Bienvenidas! Bienvenue! Sr Georgeanne M. Donovan, SMSM President, SEDOS — 23 April 2013 Giulio Albanese, MCCJ Identikit del Missionario nel Contesto della Nuova Evangelizzazione criveva pertinentemente Giovanni d’oggi dal punto di vista Paolo II nell’enciclica Redemptoris dell’evangelizzazione, si possono distinguere SMissio : tre situazioni. Anzitutto, quella a cui si rivolge l’attività missionaria della chiesa: popoli, “Il numero di coloro che ignorano gruppi umani, contesti socio-culturali in cui Cristo e non fanno parte della Chiesa è in Cristo e il suo vangelo non sono conosciuti, o continuo aumento, anzi dalla fine del Concilio in cui mancano comunità cristiane è quasi raddoppiato. Per questa umanità immensa, amata dal Padre che per noi ha inviato il Suo Figlio, è evidente l’urgenza della missione” (Rm 3). Mai il campo è stato esteso come oggi. Mai come nel nostro tempo sono esistiti sulla faccia della terra miliardi di persone e miriadi di gruppi culturali a cui la Parola di Dio non è mai arrivata. E, badate bene, la loro percentuale sta aumentando vertiginosamente di giorno in giorno. Mai in termini statistici, la Parola di Dio è stata aliena a tanti uomini e a tante donne come oggi. Nel mondo, poi, si rilevano situazioni abbastanza mature da poter incarnare la fede estremamente contraddittorie: la devastante nel proprio ambiente e annunziarla ad altri crisi dei mercati finanziari che ha penalizzato i gruppi. È, questa, propriamente la missione ceti meno abbienti innescando la cosiddetta ad gentes. (52) Ci sono, poi, comunità recessione su scala planetaria, il perdurare di cristiane che hanno adeguate e solide modelli di sviluppo economico e tecnico nei strutture ecclesiali, sono ferventi di fede e di paesi industrializzati che non tengono conto vita irradiano la testimonianza del vangelo nel del Bene Comune. Non dimentichiamo poi loro ambiente e sentono l’impegno della che circa tre quarti della popolazione missione universale. In esse si svolge mondiale vive in situazioni di povertà, e si l’attività, o cura pastorale della chiesa. tratta in gran parte – ironia della sorte – dei Esiste, infine, una situazione intermedia, “non evangelizzati”. Ma anche nei Paesi specie nei paesi di antica cristianità, ma a industrializzati di tradizione cristiana (Europa volte anche nelle chiese più giovani, dove e America) la situazione culturale e sociale è interi gruppi di battezzati hanno perduto il così cambiata da quando fu fatta la prima senso vivo della fede, o addirittura non si evangelizzazione che la maggior parte della riconoscono più come membri della chiesa, gente non si ritrova più in sintonia col conducendo un’esistenza lontana da Cristo messaggio evangelico come fu presentato e dal suo vangelo.