The Claretian Mission Style Guidelines General Prefecture of Apostolate Claretian Missionaries. 2015 2 ÍNDICE DE CONTENIDOS Sección I: 5 Encuentros continentales sobre la Misión Claretiana 1.Introducción a los encuentros 7 Miguel Ángel Velasco cmf. Pref. General de Apostolado 1.En un mundo en cambio. La Misión claretiana 13 Miguel Ángel Velasco cmf. Pref. General de Apostolado 3. Teología para nuestra Misión. Dos presentaciones del encuentro, desde África y desde Europa 3.1. Guidelines and conclusions of “Theology for our Mission”. Henry 35 Omonisaye cmf. Superior Mayor West Nigeria 3.2. La Misión Claretiana. Encuentro “Teología para la Misión”. 47 José Cristo Rey García Paredes cmf 4. Los continentes, sus iglesias y los Misioneros Claretianos 4.1. África 4.1.1. Mission and Missionaries in Africa 69 Most. Rev. Anselm Umorem MSP. Auxiliar Bishop of Abuja 4.1.2. The future of Claretian Mission in África 77 Emmanuel Edeh cmf. Consejero general 4.1.3. La Misión Claretiana para East Africa 83 4.1.4. La Misión Claretiana para West Africa 87 4.2. América 4.2.1. América. Prospectiva continental 2035 93 Enrique Marroquín cmf. Sociólogo 4.2.2. La Congregación en América. Mirando hacia el futuro. 125 Rosendo Urrabazo cmf. Presidente de la Conferencia MICLA 4.2.3. La Misión Claretiana para América 131 4.3. Asia 4.3.1 Asia and the Church: Challenge and response 137 Cardenal Orlando B. Quevedo OMI 4.3.2. The Congregation in Asia. Toward the future 145 Vincent Anesthasian cmf. Presidente de la Conferencia ASCLA 4.3.3. Doing Mission in Asia. Some Key considerations for the Claretian 159 Missionaries. Samuel Canilang cmf. Director del ICLA 4.3.4. La Misión Claretiana para Asia 197 4.4. Europa 4.4.1. Europa. La sociedad y la Iglesia. Una visión 203 Juan Rubio Fernández. Director revista Vida Nueva 4.4.2. Misioneros Claretianos en Europa 217 Joseba Camiruaga cmf. Presidente de la Conferencia ECLA 4.4.3. La Misión Claretiana para Europa 245 Sección II 253 Rasgos del Estilo Misionero Claretiano. Congregación 5. Rasgos del Estilo Misionero Claretiano. Prefectos Apostolado 253 4 First Part Continental meetings on the Claretian Mission 6 1 Meetings presentation 8 Claretian Continental Missionary Encounter Introduction I want to start this encounter by thanking all of you for kindly being here with us. This, as you know, is an encounter for discussing our missionary work on this continent. No easy task but by no means impossible, especially for the people here present. Our Encounter aims to create a climate for personal engagement, prayer, relaxation, listening, imagination, trust ... that is, all the things that the Holy Spirit gives us when He is present. In this kind of environment which, no doubt, will be easy to create, it will be easier to carry out this work of deliberation about our Mission as Claretian Missionaries in Africa in the coming years. First of all, before we get underway, let me explain a little of the rationale for this important encounter. Those convened here are called the Prefects or those responsible for the Apostolate of the Major Organisms, and those responsible for the coordination and the prioritizing of areas of evangelization, as handed down to us by the last General Chapter and the Encounter of Major Superiors in Colmenar Viejo. Let me recall these priorities: Vocational Youth Ministry, Bible Ministry and Biblical Animation Ministry, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, Missionary Procure, New Technologies in Information and Communication, and the Internet; it was also possible to come as a coordinator of a priority area of the Organism, which was not included in the four priorities. The invitation to the encounter has been made both to lay people as well as to Claretian Missionaries, the condition being that they were actually responsible for these priority areas of Major Organisms. The basis of this meeting is the need to seek out the Mission that the Spirit wants us to pursue. We will start, from the outset, by writing up a musical score with the guidance of the Spirit. As discussed a thousand times in the recent workshop “Theology for our Mission”, it is the Spirit who ‘calls the tune’ for God’s unique mission. Indeed, we must be clear from the outset that we are looking for our own “voice” in the score of infinite instruments and voices that make up the great symphony of God’s Mission for humanity. The last Synod on the New Evangelization has focused on what is the ‘raison d’être’ of the Church: evangelization. This is the only work that the Father and the Son have entrusted to the Church: to continue the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Pentecost sends out the disciples to proclaim Jesus Christ to all people; this is the ‘raison d’être’ of the Church, to be sent, to be “God's messenger”; the Church is, by its very nature, God’s Mission. We, Claretian Missionaries, participate, within our own particular charism, in the one mission of the Church: the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The Spirit asks us to participate in the one mission of the Church, from within our charism, in communion with other charisms, ministries and services that make up the Church. The Mission, which the Spirit urges forward in the Church, results in an incredibly beautiful and committed symphony of charisms, ministries and services that speak of God's love for humanity. The circular Letter from Fr General includes an adjective in describing our participation in the mission of the Church: Missionaries. It is an adjective which becomes for us, as for the Church as a whole, a noun. We are MISSIONARIES, within the Church which, being missionary itself, can only be true to itself. But ... what does it mean to be missionaries in a Church which is already missionary itself? It is really vital for us to know what it means to be a Claretian Missionary within the Church’s Mission. There is no doubt that our Constitutions and our history give us a clear framework, but do not exempt us from a specific search about what our mission today is all about. As missionaries within a Missionary Church, we must be on the front line, where we are needed most “urgently, timely and effectively” in the Mission of the Church. But ... how do we define our mission as Claretians Today, at the beginning of the XXI century? The Synod on the New Evangelization, the Circular Letter of Fr General, the passing of the years since the “MCT”, ... everything invites us to reflect on our mission in today's world; on the musical notes, on the voice, which has to be interpreted by this instrument, which is the Congregation in the context of the Church; in the context of the music of the Spirit’s Mission. This is the reason that the General Government has promoted the reflection appropriate to this encounter: a reflection on the Claretian Mission now and in the years to come. It is a reflection on the Claretian Mission at the present moment of time. The first opportunity was the workshop “Theology for our Mission”, which took place in Colmenar Viejo in September 2012. The second stage consists of five encounters on the Claretian Mission on the different Continents. The first is this one, in Latin America, and later, but still in the current year, we will hold the ones in Africa, Asia and Europe. The basic objective of this series of meetings is to specify the characteristics of the Claretian Mission for the coming years, on every continent. The third stage will be taken up again with a synthesis of our thinking; at the encounter of the Prefects of Apostolate of the whole Congregation, we will share all our reflections and experiences at these meetings, so that we come to some conclusions about what the Spirit calls us to do as a Congregation. This encounter is, therefore, the moment to delineate the characteristics of our mission on every continent in the coming decades; we will take it step by step. We begin by going back to what was a workshop for our “Theology for our Mission” and the contents of the Circular Letter “Missionaries”, which Fr General addressed to the Congregation last September. We will continue with a presentation about the present and the immediate future of our continent and the Church on our continent. After a day of rest and contact with reality, we will begin the work of discussion and synthesis to define the following: lines of action, appropriate recipients and strategic locations of our Mission as Claretians on the Continent. The process of the clarification of our charism, which we have begun, should eventually establish three levels of deliberation: the Claretian Style, priority Lines of Action and priority people to work with, as well as strategic locations. The Claretian missionary style must be fundamentally common to all the Claretian Missionaries; the lines of priority, the recipients and the strategic locations should define our missionary programmes of action, steering us towards renewed and effective activity in the current continental climate. We already have some markers to work from; for example, aspects of the Claretian style we have in common, features of which can be gleaned from what Fr General's 10 circular letter has already given us. Regarding Priorities, priority people and strategic locations, we are not starting from scratch, neither in our experiences of the past nor in the guidelines from the workshop at Colmenar, but we have to be creative. There will be time to step back from the dreams, but we have to dream.