spirituality and the missionary vocation - martagon and the missionary vocation lawrence nemer •...

Spirituality and the Missionary Vocation

LAWRENCE NEMER

• HIS TOPIC, which in itself is stimulating yet vague, encompassing yet limited, could be approached in many different ways. In light of this year's program with its workshops and papers, I have decided to try to present those elements with which I think all missionaries must be in dialogue as they work out their spirituality for mission. In choosing this path I realize that I am opting to paint the picture with broad strokes radier than with fine lines. Also, I am making no pretense to cover all the necessary elements; I realize that different religious traditions will have different emphases and different priorities. I am presenting the elements that I have found significant in the Roman Catholic tradition, not because I think they are normative but simply because it is the tradition I know best.

Stete of the Question

The Term "Spirituality"

Let me begin by saying something that I think everyone knows but no one seems to want to say aloud: the term "spirituality" in its present use is of recent vintage — it is a vague term — it can mean everything and it can mean nothing. When I first began research on this topic three years ago, I was amazed to discover that the category "missionary spirituality" only appeared in Bibliografia Missionaria late in the 1970s. Some articles on this topic had appeared earlier, but they had been listed under

Lawrence Nemer, SVD, is a professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is author of Anglican and Roman Catholic Attitudes on Missions: An Historical Study of Two English Missionary Societies in the Late Nineteenth Century (1B&5-1885).

Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XI, No. 4, October, 1983

LAWRENCE NEMER Spirituality and the Missionary Vocation

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"Missionary Cooperation," that body of "pietistic" literature that was meant to generate financial and prayerful support for the missionary movement.

The term first appears in Roman Catholic literature in the 17th century and was closely linked with what became known as the "French School of Spirituality." It emphasized the individual's reaction or response to God in his or her life — the attitudes that a person should develop, the ascetical practices that must be followed, the style of prayer to be pursued, etc. Great emphasis in this movement was placed on a "spiritual director." Through the 18th and 19th century, this term for the most part continued to be linked only with that one movement; in the general religious literature the words "piety" and "asceticism" were much more common (Sudbrack 1970:156).

However, in the first half of the 20th century, when "Manual Theology" dominated Roman Catholic thought, the word "spirituality" began to appear with more regularity in the manuals of both moral theology and dogma. Those authors that linked spirituality with moral theology saw it as that form of asceticism and life-style, together with its biblical and theological underpinnings, which led to Christian perfection (e.g. Tanquerey), disputing among themselves whether there was continuity or discontinuity between ordinary spirituality and mystical spirituality (e.g. Pourrat emphasized discontinuity) (Alexander 1980:249-50). Because their emphasis was on life-style and ascetical practices, these authors were comfortable in using such terms as Franciscan spirituality, Benedictine spirituality, etc. However, with the liturgical renewal that was growing strong in the 1940's and 1950's, there appeared a number of authors, such as Bouyer, who preferred to link spirituality with dogma (Alexander 1980:251) . They emphasized the change in people that was wrought by baptism, a change which demanded a life-style based on the Gospels. For them there could be only one spirituality, a Christian spirituality which might have different emphases.

In the 1960's and 1970's this term begins to turn up much more often — too often in the judgment of some authors — in Roman Catholic periodicals. With its increased frequency, its meaning becomes less precise and it begins to be used to cover an outlook or aspects of life that would never have been part of treatises on spirituality in the manuals. Thus some authors use

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"spirituality" to mean all the personal elements involved in the way persons live out their Christian faith, but restricting its use to the Christian tradition. Others, like Raymundo Panikkar, would say that it does not have to be limited to the Christian tradition, but that one could also speak of a Hindu or Buddhist spirituality (Anderson 1980:251). Emphasizing the personal aspect of spirituality, one author describes the relationship between religion and spirituality in this way: "Religion is what empires need to sustain themselves; spirituality is what people need to sustain themselves" (Fox 1978:731). Some of the most recent authors extend the meaning to "those aspects of human life which are seen by their subjects, or interpreted by their observers, as intentionally related to that which holds unrestricted value" (Alexander 1980:254). As a result, some authors speak of a spirituality of work, or of leisure, or of capitalism, or of Naziism or of whatever. I tell my students that when talking about spirituality for mission, I am usually talking about three facets of their life: their motivation, their style of life and their attitudes towards their task, and that each of these should be affected by the Bible, the theological understandings of their tradition and contemporary events.

Some Recent Systematic Studies

Before examining some historical expressions of mission spirituality, let me describe some of the principal books of the past decade dedicated to the topic of missionary spirituality. The most comprehensive treatment of this topic in English is the book by Michael Reilly, Spirituality for Mission. Reilly discusses the meaning of spirituality (Protestant and Catholic), examines the biblical and theological bases for mission and points out how contemporary missionary spirituality is being shaped by the events in today's world.

A second major work is A Spirituality of the Road by David J. Bosch (Herald Press, Scottdale, PA 1979). The lecture series which Bosch gave at the Mennonite Missionary Study Fellowship in 1978, this material is not an analytical or critical study of missionary spirituality; rather it is an attempt to look at certain aspects of missionary spirituality in light of Paul's experience and spirituality as expressed in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. In his first lecture, Bosch acknowledges his uneasiness in talking about a missionary's spiritual life because


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of the many misconceptions that are present on the topic. Nevertheless, from what he says, it is clear that spiritual life for him means going beyond the prayer life. It also includes the attitudes one has towards the task. Studying Paul's letter, he reflects both on the personality of the missionary as part of the message, as well as on the relationship of the missionary to the people he or she serves. His final lecture on "The Courage to be Weak" is a penetrating reflection on the significance of the cross for a missionary's spirituality.

Two other works, possibly not so well known, come from Asia. The older work is by Yves Raguin, SJ, who has spent many years working in various countries in Asia and who wrote on missionary spirituality twenty years before it was a fashionable topic. Entided I Am Sending You . . . Spirituality of the Missioner, this book is based on his lectures at the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila and was published by the Institute in 1973. In this work he discusses the biblical and theological basis for mission, the charisma of the missionary vocation (e.g. frontier person — where faith meets unfaith), the role of missionary witness, the complexity of the conversion process and the emptying process (kenosis) so essential to missionary spirituality. What makes this book particularly worth reading is the author's deep understanding of and sensitive respect for the great religious traditions of Asia, and his emphasis on the impact that these must have on the missionary's spirituality.

The second book from Asia was done by Clement Godwin, SVD, who spent seventeen years in India. Entided Spend & Be Spent: A Reflection on Missionary Vocation, Spirituality and Formation, with Particular Reference to India, this book is the result of many conferences, seminars and retreats the author gave to Indian priests, brothers and sisters (Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore, 1977). Godwin, in his chapters on Evangelization, the Missionary Vocation (he also talks about Frontier people), Missionary Spirituality and Missionary Formation, does an excellent job of summarizing the developments in Roman Catholic thought on these topics since Vatikan II. I found this book particularly enriching in two ways. First, he uses not only western but also Indian sources. The conclusions which he gives of meetings, seminars and synods held in India force the western missionaries again to look at their role and spirituality. They also highlight the fact that missionaries are not only those who come

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from outside India. Secondly, the spirituality he talks about addresses so many of the issues that obviously come from the personal experiences of missionaries—dealing with a new home and new people, what does it mean to adapt, how to handle tensions with local leaders, rootlessness, strains of frontier life, etc.

Some Historical Expressions of "Spirituality for Mission"

When I teach the "Models of Missionary Activity" course, my students are always amazed that the Church has not always carried out missionary activity in the same way or with the same understandings. They are even more surprised to find that not even the spirituality has been the same. At the risk of being more superficial than historians generally will tolerate, I would like to talk about four examples of rather diverse missionary spiritualities. Each could merit a paper in its own right; I offer my few simple reflections to jog the memory of those familiar with these movements, to stimulate the curiosity of those who are not and to remind all of us how different we are from past ages.

The Irish Monks

The Irish monks were a remarkable group of men (Mameli 1978). Medieval scholars still argue about whether they should be called missionaries or not (Walker 1970:39-44). After all, their primary motive for leaving home was not to bring the faith to unbelievers or to deepen the faith among those who had been baptized but never catechized; it was to perform the highest act of asceticism an Irish monk could perform in those days — to leave home and to wander for the sake of Christ: pengrinatio pro Christo. Only after a long training in their monastic asceticism could they gather twelve followers and go in search of a new location in Greenland, Canada, Scotland, England or Europe. Their style of life was highly monastic in the Irish sense, with a strong emphasis on physical asceticism (beatings with a whip were administered for such misdemeanors as forgetting to bless one's spoon or coughing in choir), on auricular confession (which the local bishops on the continent opposed for centuries), and on learning (they carried their prized manuscripts with them wherever they went). Their attitude towards their task differed according to the people in the neighborhood. Columba and his followers could awe the Picts in Scotland with their


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spiritual power and mysterious rituals; Cuthebert and his monks on the east coast of England could gently instruct the shepherds in the hills; Columbanus and his monks could brutally attack the pagan shrines of the Franks who were Christian only in name and scold them until they trembled in their presence.

W h e r e v e r they went the Ir i sh m o n k s w e r e not accommodating. Their monasteries retained the Irish traditions, whether that meant wearing a different tonsure or celebrating Easter according to the Irish calendar while the local Church was still observing the Lenten fast, and maintained their understanding of the proper role of the hierarchy (in Ireland a bishop was often subject to an abbot), much to the chagrin of the local hierarchy on the continent. What is striking is how quickly native names appear on the register of monks and emerge as leaders of the monastery, no matter where the Irish monks settled.

The Early Jesuits

The Jesuits of the 15th and 16th century were indeed very different from the Irish monks. Historians do not argue about whether or not they were true missionaries. Each of them, having been led through the Spiritual Exercises, to a commitment to the greater glory of God and to a battle carried out under the banner of Christ the King, was ready and willing to go wherever he might be sent by his superior — to India, Brazil, the Congo or the palace of the King of Portugal. The driving desire was to save souls for the glory of God. The thought of so many souls falling into hell prompted Francis Xavier to write again and again to Ignatius for more missionaries (Reilly 1978:75-84). As regards a specific style of life, the Jesuits were willing to adapt wherever they went, for they were convinced that the style of life must accommodate itself to the work. For this reason, while the Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians always remained Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians in their style of life during this period, the Jesuits could become "bonzes" or "Litterati" in China (Ricci), or sannyasis in India (De Nobili), or city planners and governors in the Guarani Republic, or nomads in North America (Isaac Jogues). In their approach to their task, while they sometimes took violent means to destroy the pagan shrines (as Francis Xavier did in South India), for the most part they attempted to

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understand the culture and religion present, to harmonize them with Christianity, and, if necessary, to reorganize the peoples' social life.

Nineteenth Century Mission Societies

Missionaries of the nineteenth century were also a breed apart, and while some of their activities have been maligned, no one has denied them the name "missionaries." From the very beginning of the century, missionary societies flourished. In the Protestant Churches every principal Church, almost every sect, had its own missionary society with its own ethos; and in the Roman Catholic tradition, especially after the 1830's, several new congregations of priests, sisters and brothers were founded in each decade. Despite the large number of these 19th century missionary societies, I have been more struck by the similarities they have with one another than with their differences (Nemer 1981:87-99, 121-162). Their motivation was very similar — to save souls, either by preaching or by baptising. Most of the societies were very much taken with the military image — talking of the great command, marching orders, the King who leads, replacing soldiers who had fallen in battle, etc. While Francis Xavier spent much time talking about the numbers who were being lost, the societies of the 19th century spoke much more about the miserable life the pagans were living and how Christian charity demanded concern. As regards life-style, I have a hard time forming a distinct image of what, for example, was expected of CMS missionaries. Certainly prayer, the reading of Scriptures and mutual support. Beyond that one senses that it is important to be a good English man or woman — that the virtues of tea, gardening and cricket would see one through the difficult times. In the Roman Catholic tradition a great emphasis was placed on life-style. For example, the second edition of the Constitutions of the Mill Hill Fathers was increased by a third in its size, that third being dedicated to the moral virtues, especially poverty and obedience. It is clear that the adaptation of the lifestyle of the Jesuits is no longer an option for the 19th century missionaries; they are expected to live almost a monastic life with its regular horarium, its religious practices and its religious garb. The attitude with which they approached their task was also different. In their minds it was clear that western civilization was superior to all others; their only debate was whether to "civilize"


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first and then convert, or by converting to civilize. Nationalism also developed as a strong movement in Europe at the end of the 19th century and the missionaries could not leave this sentiment behind; they valued colonial government not only for what it would do for their home country but also for what they were convinced it would do for their Christians. These missionaries truly were numerous, courageous, heroic, dedicated and different.

Charles de Foucald

The final example I wish to give is Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), who although he died in 1916 did not have any followers until 1933 when they were organized by Rene Voillaume (Lorit 1966). Charles was very different from other missionaries. This "bon vivant" soldier who underwent a conversion in 1866 retired to a Trappist Monastery. His motive for going to Southern Algeria and eventually settling among the Touaregs was not a missionary desire to convert, but because he wanted to live as a priest in the place of greatest need. When he considered how few priests were working in the interior of Algeria, he saw that as the greatest need. His life-style was unique. He wanted to be poor, and so he joined a Trappist Abbey that had a foundation in Syria. It was while he was keeping a wake vigil in the home of a Christian Arab that he realized he had not attained his ideal of poverty. Going to Palestine, he found that he wanted to identify himself with the hidden Christ of Nazareth — the poor man who worked for his living and was noticed by no one. He continued to strive for this ideal in Algeria. His attitude towards his mission task was one of witness and patient waiting. He knew of the peoples' respect for a holy man, and so he prayed and fasted. Hospitality to everyone passing through was important to them and to him. He knew he could not preach the Word to the Tourage then, but he learned their language, wrote dictionaries and grammars, translated Scriptures and catechisms, and hoped some day some one could preach the Word.

In the Church's long history, there has been indeed a variety of missionary spiritualities. Although there were many common features, I have tried for the sake of brevity to point out only some of the contrasting elements.

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Samanta Affecting a Mission Spirituality The Bible

I think it would be safe to say that every missionary spirituality down through the ages has found its inspiration and nourishment in the Bible. It was to the Bible that missionaries looked for motivation; it was on the holy figures of the Old and New Testament, and above all on Christ, that they modelled their life-style; it was in the pages of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, that they found the basis for their approach to mission.

For our own contemporary period I think we owe a debt of gratitude to Johannes Blauw, who in his book, The Missionary Nature of the Church: A Survey of Biblical Theology of Mission, has summarized for us the findings of Scripture scholars on the topic of mission. He makes it clear that in the Old Testament there is no basis for missionary activity as we have understood it in recent times, i.e. going out to make the revelation of God known. But a universal concern on the part of God is certainly present. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are of remarkable theological quality and establish the basis for the relationship of God and all peoples — God is truly concerned about all. Even the choice of Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3 is done for the sake of the nations: "All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you." The nations are sometimes chosen, according to the Psalmist, to be instruments of God's punishment; but ultimately, as recorded so marvelously in Psalm 67, they are to be witnesses of God's work among His people and are to come to worship Him in Jerusalem.

Even those texts of the Old Testament which in the past have been used as a basis for missionary activity have now been interpreted rather in a universal sense. Blauw points out that those two marvelous Servant Songs from Isaiah really point to a concern for the nations rather than to a commission to go out to proselytize (Is 42:1-7; 49:1-6). The nations will see, will hear, will come; Israel does not have to go out to them but merely be faithful to Yah weh. Even the marvelous story told in the book of Jonah is rather an attack on Jewish particularism than an encouragement of proselytization.

When we come to the New Testament we find both continuity and a difference. The scholars point out that Jesus in his own mission wished to confine Himself to Israel (Mt. 15, 24), and,


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before His resurrection, wanted to limit the mission of the apostles to Israel as well (Mt. 10, 5-6). While our Lord did not seem to have a personal aversion to the Gentiles (Jn. 4; Lk. 9, 51ff; Lk. 10, 25-38; and Lk 17, 16), yet he did at times make disparaging remarks about them (Mt. 6, 7; Mt. 6, 31-32). Also some of his statements would indicate that the Church, like Israel, has but a centripetal mission (Mt. 8, 11; Jn. 10, 16).

But if there was continuity between the Old Testament and Jesus' preaching, there is also something new. He talks of a Kingdom that has begun, a Kingdom that will take time to grow (parables of the seed and mustard seed), a Kingdom tfiat will embrace all peoples (parable of the prodigal son, etc.). It is a Kingdom that is already established, but not yet fully present.

The great turning point, of course, comes with the Resurrection. Each of the Gospels ends with a commissioning, a sending forth. No longer must they wait and attract, but they must go forth in a centrifugal mission. They were only to wait for the Spirit from on high. But as we know from a careful reading of the Acts, they were not quick to understand the Lord's commission. A persecution was required to disperse them from Jerusalem. And how reluctant they were to receive Gentiles! Peter had to receive special visions before receiving Cornelius into the community and realizing "how true it is that God shows no partiality. Rather a person of any nation who fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35). The pain and division this caused in the Jewish-Christian community is evident not only from the Acts, but also from the letters of Paul. But the Spirit gradually led the apostles and Peter and Paul to the Gentiles and even to Rome. No wonder then that the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul have been so significant to missionaries as they develop their missionary spirituality.

Recently at a meeting of the United States Catholic Mission Association, Mortimer Arias did a Bible study with the group on the passage in Luke's gospel (Lk. 4,16-22) where Jesus reads the text from Isaiah in his synagogue at Nazareth, beginning with: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, etc." and concludes: "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." Arias suggested that our Lord was proclaiming a year of Jubilee, which would explain the violent reaction of the crowd. If this were indeed the case, it certainly would have profound implications for one's mission spirituality.

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Theological Understandings

In the Roman Catholic tradition, missionary spirituality has been and is being shaped not only by the Bible and the findings of biblical scholars, but also by the theological understandings that were or are current in the Church. For example, the understanding of mission with which the missionary approached his task was very dependent on the current understanding of creation and God's plan for the world, redemption and the uniqueness of the role of Christ, conversion and the role of the Church, the kingdom and the relationship of ecclesiastical and political authority, etc. I am not able even to list what I think are the significant shifts in various aspects of Roman Catholic Theology (esp. in Christology, Ecclesiology, and Creation and Eschatology) which have deeply affected our contemporary understanding of mission; for one thing I am not a systematic theologian, and for another there would not be enough time. But let me illustrate what I mean by significant shifts which profoundly affect our spirituality by looking at the development of just one concept — the purpose of mission — as it appeared in Roman Catholic writings before the Second Vatican Council, on the eve of the Council, and as it was expressed at the Council itself.

Roman Catholic missiology had its beginnings with Joseph Schmidlin in Muenster in 1911. He was a church historian rather than a theologian, and so in developing his theology of mission he simply studied what was already present in the manuals and concluded that the purpose of mission was simply to announce the Good News of God's revelation to those who had not yet heard it (Hoffman 1962). This seemed clear and reasonable enough, but as the decades went by it began to be challenged by others, and especially by Pierre Charles at Louvain. If Schmidlin was right, missionaries did not belong in such countries as Sweden and Denmark which were under the Propaganda at that time. But, more importantly, Schmidlin's theory said nothing about planting the Church and establishing local leadership. A fierce battle went on in the journals between these two schools of thought, as can only happen in Europe, from the mid-1920s till the mid-1950s. Papal documents tended to favor the ideas of Charles, spoke more and more frequently about planting the Church and promoted the candidacy of indigenous bishops.


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When I began my studies in Missiology in 1960, this debate, still taking up many pages in missiology journals, was being affected by other authors and other developments. Thomas Ohm, who succeeded Schmidlin in the chair of Missiology at Muenster, saw the limitations in the concept of Schmidlin and emphasized that the purpose of the mission was to disciple the nations, implying that preaching alone was not the primary purpose, but that the formation of the Christian Community was. Jean Danielou, the patristic scholar, influenced by his studies on the Jewish-Greek conflict in the early Church, reminded the missiologists that they could not talk about planting the Church everywhere without seriously considering the question of culture and being open to the idea of the "incarnation" of the Church in other cultures (Chaney 1966). And some of you may remember the impact of Karl Rahner's thesis about "anonymous Christians" not only on the debate about the purpose of mission, but also on many missionaries who felt that their purpose for doing mission work had been undermined.

In addition to these three influential thinkers, there was a movement in France after World War II which also affected Roman Catholic thinking on the purpose of mission. A sociological study had been done by Godin and Daniel in 1944 which concluded that France was a pagan country. Cardinal Suhard of Paris and a number of his priests responded by establishing the "Mission de France," — an institute of priests dedicated to evangelizing France. They talked about primary evangelization, about poverty, about the need to abandon outdated institutions and about the need for priest-workers (Le Guillou 1966). They claimed that they were as true missionaries as any who served in Africa or Asia. The traditional missiological journals and schools of thought refused to accept their statements as valid; they felt that the French priests were only clouding the issue. Yet this movement had a profound effect on the Second Vatican Council.

At the Council the bishops were called on to address among other things the question of the purpose of the missions. On the one hand, they made certain compromises rather than choose between one school and the other. They embraced the French insight that the Church's mission is one and the same everywhere and that there are times when a particular country

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might need a second evangelization. They also changed the debate about the purpose of mission from an either/or to a both/and situation — the purpose of mission was both to preach the gospel and to form Christian community. On the other hand, the bishops embraced some of the new thinking at the time and incorporated it into the document. It was a bishop from the eastern Church who reminded the Fathers of the Council of the teaching of Justin about the "logos spermatikos" — the Word that is already present before the gospel is preached. The Bishops agreed that one purpose of missions would be to "lay bare the Seeds of the Word of God." Faced with the question of whether missions should continue in those places where the gospel could not be preached, the Bishops said "yes" because there was a real value to the witness of Christian charity; therefore the Church must be concerned about people's development in every way, even when the gospel could not be preached.

The purpose of mission had indeed been broadened. The thought of Danielou was also given very serious consideration. The Bishops saw that the Churches would indeed have to take on their own cultural and national traits throughout the world and that uniformity in every way was no longer possible or even desirable. The Bishops of Africa and Asia were so convinced of this that they insisted that a special chapter on particular churches be introduced into the decree Ad Gentes even though most of the material in that chapter is repetitious of the material at the end of the previous chapter. But a new understanding of the purpose of missions was expressed not only in the decree Ad Gentes; it is also implied in Nostra Aetaie which talks about the respect needed for other religious traditions and calls for dialogue, as well as in Gaudium et Spes which suggests a whole new attitude towards the world.

As I have told you the story of the development of this concept in Roman Catholic writings, I have not pointed out the impact that this would have on the character of missionary spirituality in the various decades of the 20th century. I think, however, that everyone can see how one's definition of what one is doing would have a profound affect on one's spirituality.

Contemporary Developments in the World

The third element with which one must dialogue in


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developing one's mission spirituality is the contemporary developments in the world and the Church's understanding of and response to them. In Roman Catholic writings since Vatican Two, there seem to be three major issues which appear again and again: development/liberation, religious pluralism and basic Christian communities.

Vatican II's openness to the idea that missionaries must be concerned about the development of peoples and nations, even when the gospel cannot be preached, opened the doors to renew an old debate: Which is primary, evangel izat ion or development? A new impetus in favor of development was given to this discussion by the appearance of Paul VI's encylical Populorumprogressio in 1967. For development or liberation were no longer seen as "corporal works of mercy" which were object lessons of the Church's charity. Development and liberation were tasks which went beyond mission compounds and parish territories. Often systemic change was needed, and this demanded specialized skills (Power 1971:139-50). At the SEDOS (Servizio documentazione e studi) meeting in 1969, the participants concluded: Development "is a living and eloquent witness of the Lordship of Christ over the world. This witnessing should be acknowledged as a work of evangelization in the true sense, as an act which is explicitly religious" (Power 1971:213). However, they then go on to say that this evangelization also "requires in turn the proclamation of the genuine word of salvation."

When the bishops met in Synod in Rome in 1974, they took up this issue. Paul VI listened to them carefully, and when he published Evangelii Nuntiandi the following year, while reaffirming the need to proclaim the Word, he also recognized the complexity of the task of evangelization and of the need to be concerned about liberation and human development. When SEDOS organized another meeting in 1981, its participants went a step further in their thinking. They concluded that the goal of proclamation can be both extending the visible communion of the Church and recognizing and furthering the values of the Kingdom within a culture. They concluded: "This second model is achieving more prominence today and may be directing us to what will become the priority in much future missionary proclamation" (Motte 1982:635). Obviously the attitude we take towards proclamation, development and liberation will

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profoundly affect the spirituality we develop for ourselves. A second contemporary characteristic of our world which is

often discussed in Roman Catholic missiological writings is religious pluralism. Again Vatican II allowed Roman Catholic theologians to talk about the great religious traditions of the world in a new way. While the Church might be the normal means of salvation, the Bishops did not want to "limit God's saving presence or exhaust God's saving power" (Power 1971:107). What were the implications of these statements? Those meeting at SEDOS in 1969 concluded that "the non-Christian religions do contain authentic values and thus constitute a true preparation for the Gospel." But they also say: "We must not rule out the possibility that in these religions there may be found, in their beliefs and in their rites, supernatural elements — from whatever source they may derive" (Power 1971:211). The bishops meeting in the Synod in 1974 talked about the other faiths with a great deal of respect, but they preferred to emphasize the need to proclaim the gospel to people of other faiths rather than to analyze the relationship of other faiths to Christianity. However, those meeting in SEDOS in 1981 start with the position that divine elements are present in the other faiths and speak about the necessity and nature of dialogue: If proclamation is concerned chiefly with presenting Christ, dialogue seeks also to find him already present in a given situation. Dialogue involves the humble discernment of the Word of God in other persons, in the institutionalized forms of other faiths, in various ideologies and in secular realities (Motte 1982:636).

Our attitudes towards other faiths and towards dialogue will have a profound influence also on shaping our spirituality.

The final characteristic of the modern world which I will call to your attention is the emergence of basic Christian communities. This is a phenomenon which seemed to happen rather than a strategy that was devised. It is interesting to contrast the attitudes of the Bishops on this topic at their Synods of 1974 and again in 1977. When the Bishops met in 1974, their experiences of the basic Christian communities were, for the most part, of those which had developed in Latin America. And so at that time they were more concerned with pointing out the dangers inherent in such a movement (isolationism, exclusivism, etc.). However in 1977, by which time the Bishops of Asia and Africa


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also had experiences of this movement, their statements were much more positive and even enthusiastic. They saw such a community not only as an ideal locus for inculturation, but also as a school for ministries and a source of evangelization (Zago 1980). If missionaries take this movement seriously, it also will shape the spirituality that nourishes them.

These are but three contemporary issues that have dominated Roman Catholic writings. I am certain that other traditions have focused on other events or trends. I have not tried to be exhaustive, but rather illustrative. I have suggested that not only the Bible and our theological understandings, but also contemporary events, must shape our spirituality.

References Cited Alexander, Jon

1980 "What Do Recent Writers Mean by Spirituality?" Spirituality Today 32,247-56

Chaney, Charles 1966 "An Introduction to the Missionary Thought of Jean Danielou" Occasional

Bulletin May, 1966 Fox, Matthew

1978 "Spirituality for Protestants" Christian Century 95, 731-36

Hoffman, Ronan 1962 "The Development of Mission Theology in the Twentieth Century" Theological

Studies 419-41 Le Guillou, Marie-Joseph

1966 "Missiology as an Ecclesiological Theme" Concilium Vol. 13, 81-130

Lorit, S. C. 1966 Charles de Foucauld: The Silent Witness New York: New City Press

Mameli, W. 1978 Light From the West: The Irish Mission and the Emergence of Modern Europe New

York: Seabury Press Motte, Mary and Joseph Lang (eds)

1982 Mission in Dialogue New York: Orbis

Nemer, Lawrence

1981 Anglican and Roman Catholic Attitudes on Missions Steyl: Steyler Verlag

Power, John 1971 Mission Theology Today New York: Orbis

Reilly, Michael Collins 1978 Spirituality for Mission New York: Orbis

Su db rack, Joseph 1970 "Spirituality" Sacramentum Mundi VI by K. Rahner (ed) et alii New York:

Herder & Herder, 147-57 Walker, G. S. M.

1970 "St. Columban: Monk or Missionary?" in G. J. Cuming (ed) The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith Cambridge: University Press, 39-44

Zago, M. 1980 "Community and Evangelization" Omnis Terra 184-200

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spirituality and the missionary vocation - martagon and the missionary vocation lawrence nemer •...

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