Mission Update Winter 2015
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Divine Word Missionaries P.O. Box 6099 Non-Profit Org Techny, Illinois 60082-6099 U.S. Postage PAID Divine Word Missionaries www.svdmissions.orgGet connected with the missions... DivineWord Missionaries DivineWord Follow what we are Get doing out there. connected with the world! Divine W rd Missionaries Magazine Winter 2015 Mission Updates from around the World From the Desk of Fr. Richie Vaz SVD Get connected It is possible to give without loving, with the but it is impossible to love without giving. –Richard Braunstein missions... My first six months as mission director have been immensely uplifting DivineWord and reassuring. As I reflect upon 2014, I cannot help but rejoice at Missionaries the mighty ways God used your prayers and generous giving to help Divine Word Missionaries make a lasting difference by touching and improving the lives of the poor they serve. You have made it possible for us to carry on the mission entrusted to us by our founder, Saint Arnold Janssen, who said, “Missionaries are ambassadors of divine love. They are called to . establish the kingdom of divine love wher- ever it does not exist.” In this Winter 2015 issue, you will find new stories from some of our dedicated missionaries around the world. The Lord continues to bless Divine Word Missionaries with many vocations, especially from mission countries. These young men will become the missionaries who spread the gospel around the globe. Your contributions help us venture into new territories to respond to DivineWord the cry of the suffering humanity, to establish faith communities and Follow provide the people with spiritual nourishment, better education, what we health care, and socio-economic programs for a better life. are doing out there. I am truly humbled by your commitment to Christ’s command to love one another as sisters and brothers. Please continue to pray with Divine Word Missionaries as we strive to steward resources faithfully and spread the joy of the Gospel across the globe in 2015 and beyond. Be the part of our mission to let God’s love flow into our loveless world to bring true life and joy, peace and harmony. Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Richie Vaz SVD Mission Director P.S. Please give this issue of Divine Word Missionaries Magazine to anyone whom you think might benefit from its content or have them Get visit our website: www.svdmissions.org. Over the years we have told our mission story with pen and connected ink, the printed word and now, in 2015, we will meet the challange of spreading the word through our website and social networking. YOU CAN HELP. “Like Us” on Facebook... with the follow us on Twitter...and post your thoughts on our missionary world! work... we would like to hear what you have to say! www.svdmissions.org DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES ANINTERNATIONALCOMMUNITYOFROMANCATHOLICPRIESTSANDBROTHERS Our New Saints and Catholic Social Teachings 2 Philip Gibbs SVD Down on the Farm–in Madang Madang is home for Brother Larry...The farm boy who grew up north of Bellevue in frigid Dale Kueter winters and hot summers is happy and 4 comfortable with life and temperatures in the equatorial zone. Taking Stock of Good Deeds About two million people were affected by the Typhoon Haiyan...Emergency aid from around Heinz Kulueke SVD the world came in the form of food, drinking 8 water, medical care, and trauma work that included the burial of the dead. With the aid of our generous benefactors, coupled with the coordinated efforts of a Divine Word Missionary Disaster Team, the reconstruction work is progressing well. God Goes before Us Ashwin Vas SVD 12 Not Bored Anymore The young people are hungry Albert Nampara SVD to know the truth about life 14 and are exploring their own personal path in life. A Different Kind of Feast I was surprised to see scores of people from our Andrzej Dzida SVD 17 parish moving about outside with flaming torches. After a moment, I realized that they were hunting flying termites. Rejoice! From a distance, I hear somebody calling me, “Sir, 18 how are you?” Then, I ask, “But where do you know Stephen Bonsu SVD me?” “Sir, you taught me in the technical school,” they answer. This brings great joy in my heart. Divine Word Missionaries Mission Center • P.O. Box 6099 • Techny, Illinois 60082-6099 The Society of the Divine Word is an international Catholic missionary congregation with over 6,000 members from 70 countries. They work in over 70 different lands on all the continents except Antarctica. Website: WWW.SVDMISSIONS.ORG DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES MAGAZINE, Vol. L VIII No. 1 Winter 2015 issued quarterly Divine Word Missionaries • Mission Center, Techny, Illinois 60082 Subscription $20.00 a year Editorial Team: Carolyn Schmit • Bro. Dan Holman SVD • Carmelita J. Linden Branch Office: Pittsburgh, PA Winter 2015 We'd love to hear from you: 800-275-0626 1 Our New Saints Pope John XXIII had a brief papacy, but his impact on the Church and its social teaching was great. He convened the Second Vatican Council and led it through its first session in October 1962. He also made major contributions to Catholic social reaching through his encyclicals Mater et Magistra (1961) and Pacem in Terris (1963). John XXIII struck a more optimistic tone in the papacy with his openness to the modern world. He saw people becoming more concerned with human rights and social justice, and believed the modern world might be more receptive to the Church because of its social teachings. He believed the Church needed to be in dialogue with the world and work to bring justice to oppressed and impoverished people. John XXIII encouraged people of faith to recognize the “signs of the times” and respond to issues and social problems based on reading Scriptures in a new light (a change in emphasis with earlier social encyclicals, which were grounded in natural law). He recognized advances of the working class, women in public life, greater consciousness of human dignity, developing countries achieving independ- ence, and arms negotiations. Pope John saw these events in the world as witnesses of God’s providential care. Using the signs of the times, John XXIII refocused Catholic social teach- ing on the questions of poverty and economic justice. Pope John Paul II was influenced by his philosophical studies in phenomenology, which rejected the Cartesian duality of mind (primary) and body (secondary) for the concept of an integrated and incarna- tional “spirited body-being-in-the- world.” This led to his Theology of the Body and an emphasis on human flourishing through work and creativity. John Paul II in- vited people of faith to become “co- creators of the kingdom of God” and build a more just world by bringing their creativity, knowledge, and skills to the development of the common good. 2 www.svdmissions.org Divine Word Missionaries and Catholic Social Teaching Philip Gibbs SVD John Paul II was influenced in his social reflections by his personal experi- ence of the Solidarity movement in Poland. He lifted up the experience of the Solidarity movement, which was organized and confrontational but not violent, as an example for the whole world to show that the complex problems faced by peoples can be resolved through dialogue and solidarity, rather than in struggle to destroy the enemy through violence. Under Pope John Paul II, Catholic social tradition becomes an essential dimension of preaching the Gospel; he calls it “doctrine” rather than “teaching” to emphasize that this is an essential part of the Church’s task of evangelization. Pope John Paul II ended any speculation about whether the social mission of the Church is integral and fundamental by declaring that “the new evangelization which the modern world urgently needs . must include among its essential elements a proclamation of the Church’s social doctrine.” Catholic social tradition has “permanent value” and is “genuine doctrine” that enables the church to “analyze social realities, to make judgments about them and to indicate directions to be taken for the just resolution of the problems involved” (Centesimus Annus, Nos. 3, 5). Both our new saints have had a profound influence on the mission of the Church and Catholic social teaching. Among the documents of the Second Vatican Council was Ad Gentes, the Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church. Collaborators on that document included Bishop Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, and Father Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI. Father Johannes Schütte SVD, who was the superior general of Divine Word Missionaries, was chair- man of the editorial committee for that great mission document. Among his many works, Pope John Paul II published the encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, subtitled “On the permanent validity of the church's missionary mandate,” in which he invited the whole Church to renew her missionary commitment. Divine Word Missionaries, encouraged by Catholic social teaching play a vital part in the re- newal of that missionary commitment throughout the world today. (Note: The author referenced resource material from: https://educationforjustice.org/) Winter 2015 We'd love to hear from you: 800-275-0626 3 Down On the Farm –In Madang Dale Kueter Dale Kueter and his wife, Helen, visited Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand in April and May 2014. While in Papua New Guinea, they visited Brother Larry Kieffer SVD. Dale and Bro. Larry are life long Bro. Larry and Helen Kueter friends who grew up on neighbor- ing farms near Bellevue, Iowa. 4 www.svdmissions.org Divine Word Missionaries m Divine Word Missionary Brother Larry Kieffer SVD forest. It is easy to understand why Bro.