ENCYCLICAL LETTER REDEMPTORIS MISSIO - The Diigo Meta page

• 08 Apr 14
  

  barneyoreilly
  • Religious freedom, which is still at times limited or restricted, remains the premise and guarantee of all the freedoms that ensure the common good of individuals and peoples. It is to be hoped that authentic religious freedom will be granted to all people everywhere. The Church strives for this in all countries, especially in those with a Catholic majority, where she has greater influence. But it is not a question of the religion of the majority or the minority, but of an inalienable right of each and every human person.
  • On her part. the Church addresses people with full respect for their freedom.⁶⁴ Her mission does not restrict freedom but rather promotes it. The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects individuals and cultures, and she honors the sanctuary of conscience. To those who for various reasons oppose missionary activity, the Church repeats: Open the doors to Christ!
• 16 Feb 14
  

  Michael Graffin

  religious education

  • In a word, the kingdom of God is the manifestation and the realization of God's plan of salvation in all its fullness.
  • The kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or a program subject to free interpretation, but it is before all else a person with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God.
  • hence the Church's special connection with the kingdom of God and of Christ, which she has "the mission of announcing and inaugurating among all peoples."²⁵
  • promotion of human values
  • proclaiming Christ and his Gospel, and establishing and building up communities which make present and active within mankind the living image of the kingdom
  • The Church is effectively and concretely at the service of the kingdom
  • he Church, then, serves the kingdom by establishing communities and founding new particular churches
  • The Church serves the kingdom by spreading throughout the world the "gospel values"
  • The Church is the sacrament of salvation for all mankind, and her activity is not limited only to those who accept her message.
  • The Church contributes to mankind's pilgrimage of conversion to God's plan through her witness and through such activities as dialogue, human promotion, commitment to justice and peace, education and the care of the sick, and aid to the poor and to children
  • Missionary activity proper, namely the mission ad gentes, is directed to "peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ," "who are far from Christ," in whom the Church "has not yet taken root"⁵³ and whose culture has not yet been influenced by the Gospel.⁵⁴
  • On the other hand, the boundaries between pastoral care of the faithful, new evangelization and specific missionary activity are not clearly definable
  • The churches in traditionally Christian countries, for example, involved as they are in the challenging task of new evangelization, are coming to understand more clearly that they cannot be missionaries to non-Christians in other countries and continents unless they are seriously concerned about the non-Christians at home.
  • indifferentism, which, sad to say, is found also among Christians. It is based on incorrect theological perspectives and is characterized by a religious relativism which leads to the belief that "one religion is as good as another."
  • Missionary activity has normally been defined in terms of specific territories. The Second Vatican Council acknowledged the territorial dimension of the mission ad gentes,⁵
  • Today the image of mission ad gentes is perhaps changing: efforts should be concentrated on the big cities, where new customs and styles of living arise together with new forms of culture and communication, which then influence the wider population.
  • How do we bring the message of Christ to non-Christian young people who represent the future of entire continents? Clearly, the ordinary means of pastoral work are not sufficient: what are needed are associations, institutions, special centers and groups, and cultural and social initiatives for young people.
  • migration has produced a new phenomenon: non-Christians are becoming very numerous in traditionally Christian countries, creating fresh opportunities for contacts and cultural exchanges, and calling the Church to hospitality, dialogue, assistance and, in a word, fraternity.
  • In particular, the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media
  • it is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the "new culture" created by modern communications.
  • "Missionary activity is nothing other and nothing less than the manifestation or epiphany of God's plan and its fulfillment in the world and in history; in this history God, by means of missions, clearly accomplishes the history of salvation."
  • Missionary activity is nothing other and nothing less than the manifestation or epiphany of God's plan and its fulfillment in the world and in history; in this history God, by means of missions, clearly accomplishes the history of salvation."⁶⁸ What paths does the Church follow in order to achieve this goal?
  • People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers,⁶⁹ in experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories.
  • The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission:
  • The first form of witness is the very life of the missionary, of the Christian family, and of the ecclesial community, which reveal a new way of living.
  • The evangelical witness which the world finds most appealing is that of concern for people, and of charity toward the poor, the weak and those who suffer
  • A commitment to peace, justice, human rights and human promotion is also a witness to the Gospel when it is a sign of concern for persons and is directed toward integral human development.
  • Proclamation is the permanent priority of mission.
  • aith is born of preaching, and every ecclesial community draws its origin and life from the personal response of each believer to that preaching.
  • Conversion and Baptism
  • It is necessary first and foremost to strive to establish Christian communities everywhere, communities which are "a sign of the presence of God in the world"⁸⁰ and which grow until they become churches
  • As she carries out missionary activity among the nations, the Church encounters different cultures and becomes involved in the process of inculturation.
  • inculturation "means the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values through their integration in Christianity and the insertion of Christianity in the various human cultures."
  • Missionaries, who come from other churches and countries, must immerse themselves in the cultural milieu of those to whom they are sent, moving beyond their own cultural limitations.
  • It is not of course a matter of missionaries renouncing their own cultural identity, but of understanding, appreciating, fostering and evangelizing the culture of the environment in which they are working, and therefore of equipping themselves to communicate effectively with it, adopting a manner of living which is a sign of gospel witness and of solidarity with the people.
  • Inter-religious dialogue is a part of the Church's evangelizing mission. Understood as a method and means of mutual knowledge and enrichment,
  • Through dialogue, the Church seeks to uncover the "seeds of the Word,"¹⁰⁴ a "ray of that truth which enlightens all men'';¹⁰⁵ these are found in individuals and in the religious traditions of mankind. Dialogue is based on hope and love, and will bear fruit in the Spirit.
  • Each member of the faithful and all Christian communities are called to practice dialogue, although not always to the same degree or in the same way.
  • A certain way of thinking, uninfluenced by a religious outlook and widespread in some parts of today's world, is based on the idea that increasing wealth and the promotion of economic and technical growth is enough for people to develop on the human level. But a soulless development cannot suffice for human beings, and an excess of affluence is as harmful as excessive poverty. This is a "development model" which the North has constructed and is now spreading to the South, where a sense of religion as well as human values are in danger of being overwhelmed by a wave of consumerism.
  • It is not possible to bear witness to Christ without reflecting his image, which is made alive in us by grace and the power of the Spirit.
  • The missionary is a person of charity.
  • The call to mission derives, of its nature, from the call to holiness.
  • The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission. Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission
  • The renewed impulse to the mission ad gentes demands holy missionaries. It is not enough to update pastoral techniques, organize and coordinate ecclesial resources, or delve more deeply into the biblical and theological foundations of faith. What is needed is the encouragement of a new "ardor for holiness" among missionaries and throughout the Christian community, especially among those who work most closely with missionaries.¹⁷⁶
  • oday, you are the hope of this two-thousand-year-old Church of ours: being young in faith, you must be like the first Christians and radiate enthusiasm and courage, in generous devotion to God and neighbor. In a word, you must set yourselves on the path of holiness. Only thus can you be a sign of God in the world and re-live in your own countries the missionary epic of the early Church. You will also be a leaven of missionary spirit for the older churches.

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• 09 Feb 14
  

  rajivxavier
  • atechists are specialists, direct witnesses and irreplaceable evangelizers who, as I have often stated and experienced during my missionary journeys, represent the basic strength of Christian communities, especially in the young churches. The new Code of Canon Law acknowledges the tasks, qualities and qualifications of catechists.¹⁵⁶
• 08 Feb 14
  

  animann
  • 1. The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion. As the second millennium after Christ's coming draws to an end, an overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service.
  • 1. The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion. As the second millennium after Christ's coming draws to an end, an overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service.
  • This is why the Church's mission derives not only from the Lord's mandate but also from the profound demands of God's life within us. Those who are incorporated in the Catholic Church ought to sense their privilege and for that very reason their greater obligation of bearing witness to the faith and to the Christian life as a service to their brothers and sisters and as a fitting response to God. They should be ever mindful that "they owe their distinguished status not to their own merits but to Christ's special grace; and if they fail to respond to this grace in thought, word and deed, not only will they not be saved, they will be judged more severely."²⁰
  • Jesus himself is the "Good News," as he declares at the very beginning of his mission in the synagogue at Nazareth, when he applies to himself the words of Isaiah about the Anointed One sent by the Spirit of the Lord (cf. Lk 4;14-21). Since the "Good News" is Christ, there is an identity between the message and the messenger, between saying, doing and being. His power, the secret of the effectiveness of his actions, lies in his total identification with the message he announces; he proclaims the "Good News" not just by what he says or does, but by what he is.

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• 03 Dec 11
  

  mpgilroy
• 20 Oct 11
  

  A Chris
  • Redemptoris missio
    On the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate
• 23 Sep 08
  

  Michael Cook

  The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications, which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a "global village." The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of infor

  newareopagus kenthurst.201109

• 

  Michael Cook

  The first Areopagus of the modern age is the world of communications, which is unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a "global village." The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of infor

• 18 Mar 03
  

  robert taranto

  imported Val Papal_Documents Encyclicals

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