INITIAL PROCLAMATION IN SOCIETIES IN THE PROCESS OF SECULARIZATION.

A INTRODUCTION

I will first reflect on the process of secularization, treating this rather large topic only insofar as is needed for the purposes of this paper. Secondly, I will make some observations about societies under-going this process. Next I will draw attention to developments in the theological understanding of secu-larization. As with secularization, this is a topic in its own right, and I will only address it in so far as it is relevant to our immediate concerns. Fourthly, I will briefly reflect on Initial Proclamation and, finally I will connect Initial Proclamation to societies undergoing secularization.

B THE PROCESS OF SECULARIZATION

First we can clarify what secularization is. Here I am drawing on the thought of John Sommerville.i Secu-larization can be understood as a process of differentiation in society: In this process “the various as-pects of society: economic, political, legal, and moral, become increasingly specialized and distinct from one another.” A further way of describing secularization, going beyond the idea of ‘differentiation’, re-lates it to activities in society. It is then described as the “the transfer of activities from religious to secu-lar institutions”. This transfer can be clearly seen in the area of social services when there is “a shift in provision of social services from churches to the government.” I have had minimal experience living on mission stations in Melanesia but from that experience and from listening to the stories of those who have, it is easy to see the process of secularization, as described above, occurring on these stations. In-itially, the priest, brothers and the sisters, often with dedicated lay missionaries, ran the school, the hospital, the local store and provided banking and postal services. The mission station was the sole pro-vider of services outside the traditional culture. Gradually many of these services have been taken over by business people and the government, and the whole process has been accelerated by the arrival of national independence.

The following information pertaining to Papua New Guinea concerning the delivery of health and educa-tion services by the government and by the churches is drawn from data concerning the early years of the last decade, but it provides, I would think, a relatively accurate overview of services provided by the churches. The churches combined provide 50% of the educational facilities (grades 1-12), supply 45% of the teachers, and educate 45% of the students enrolled in schools across the country. Further, the churches contribute almost 50% of all the health facilities available for the people, and the more remote is the area, the more likely it is that one of the churches is the provider. Together the churches provides 24% of all health staff for the country.ii

The place of religion in societies in the process of secularization is complex. With the advance of secularization there is the challenge for the individual to integrate religion with the recognized secular aspects of life. Being a police officer, a teacher, a carpenter, a politician, a solicitor and so on, are secular professions dealing with secular realities. There arises, then, discussions of relating faith to daily life. Alongside this challenge the process of secularization involves the individual relating to people who have other religious beliefs besides their own, relating either to fellow Christians of other denominations or to Hin-dus, Buddhists or Muslims, agnostics or atheists.

One final comment on religion in societies in transition: I think it is safe to say, that the person living in a traditional society in transition is living in various degrees in two religious worlds: living under the influ-ence of traditional religion and under the influence of Christianity. 2

C SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SOCIETIES UNDERGOING THE PROCESS OF SECULARIZATION

Some points that can be made about societies undergoing secularization:

First the greatest proportion of the population will be young. In a mature, secular society such as Japan the average age of the population will be much higher. Indeed, these societies are ageing societies. Pa-pua New Guinea is a young country. The median age for PNG, namely “the age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups” is 21.8 years. The countries with the lowest median ages are Uganda and the Gaza Strip, with 15 years and the country with the highest median age is Japan with 44. 8 years.iii

Second, there is a movement of the population from remote places to urban centers, the latter being perceived as having more to offer than the village with its traditional way of life. Associated with this migration are all the problems generally connected with it elsewhere in the world: for instance, unemployment, the coming into existence of settlements and crime.

Third, the move towards equality of men and women in modern secular society that is not associated with their place in traditional society, has opened up new possibilities for girls and women in education and work. This will increasingly have an impact on society: rates of population growth will slow as girls will marry later and have a smaller number of children and educated mothers will pass on to their child-ren these same values.

Fourth, in these societies the state and its institutions tend to be weak. Traditional society has been partly superseded but the new secular institutions struggle to establish an identity and function at anywhere near the level of the equivalent institutions in mature, secular societies with their long traditions of secular institutions. Thus in emerging secular societies traditional ways and secular ways of running society co-exist. I have been told, for instance, that one ought not venture into some settlements in Port Moresby without first contacting local leaders and arranging for a safe passage.

Fifth, in these societies there emerges an educated elite who are the leaders in the secular arena of society. These are the politicians, senior public servants, lawyers, tertiary educators, doctors and so on. In these societies there also emerges an entrepreneurial class. This highlights the changing economic val-ues of such societies. The issue of ‘land mobilization’ is a product of these changing economic values.

Sixth, in countries undergoing secularization there is arguably an influential presence of international agencies such as the UN. These introduce sophisticated secular thought and values into the present and future running of the nation-in-transition.

Seventh, mass media, especially radio and TV, shape emerging secular societies, taking over in varying degrees from parents, religious educators and pastors the role of education in values.

Eighth, we can note that the process of secularization itself is changing: There are the advances in technology: computers, email, mobile phones, i-phones and the world wide web. Just as the industrial revolution of the 19th century had a tremendous impact on economics and politics, so Internet Technology is profoundly changing secular society and societies that are becoming secular. 3

D. THEOLOGY AND SECULARIZATION

Providentially theologians in the last century have reflected on the process of secularization. Fruit of that theology can be found in the document of Vatican 11. In particular, The Church in the Modern World, no. 39 profoundly relates the secular to the kingdom of God. Human history is not understood as a means to the end, the Kingdom. On this means-end approach once the end is attained the means to it are no longer valued. Human history in GS is significant beyond that of being a means since it makes a contribution to the Kingdom:

. . .

For after we have obeyed the Lord, and in His Spirit nurtured on earth the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed all the good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them again, but freed of stain, burnished and transfigured, when Christ hands over to the Father: "a kingdom eternal and universal, a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace. (Italics added.)

The fruits of human work somehow are to be part of the New Heaven and New Earth. The secular makes its contribution to the everlasting kingdom. It is not like a rocket that is left behind when it has done its job of launching a satellite into orbit.

In conjunction with the re-evaluation of the secular there has emerged a theology of the laity. As the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church says “They [the laity] are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life, that, as it were, consti-tute their very existence. “ (LG, 31) It is their “special duty to imbue and perfect the order of temporal affairs [secular life and work] with the spirit of the Gospel” (CIC, 225.)

E. REFLECTING ON INITIAL PROCLAMATION

We can now turn to Initial Proclamation. I am relying on The Prague Blog of 2010 for my understanding of it.iv The content of Initial Proclamation is a “the short, joyful and engaging account of the death of Jesus on the cross, his resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Its aim is twofold: initially it is that of “arousing an interest in Jesus” and its ultimate aim is to invite “those who have already made a first commitment to Jesus to *live+ a life of full discipleship.” First, there is interest in Jesus. This can lead to faith and baptism, the beginning of the Christian’s personal relationship with God. Finally, the attitude of the one making the proclamation is intrinsic to the proclamation itself. The witness to Jesus Christ is, ideally, a person who lives their faith with conviction – loves God wholeheartedly - and respects those to whom they witness.

One important characteristic of societies undergoing the process of secularization, as we have already drawn attention to, is the transfer of services, initially delivered by the Church, to the government. This inevitably means a diminution of the Church’s presence in society on an institutional level. More often than not, Christians will be employed by the government or secular NGOs and, in these circumstances, will not have the institutional witness supporting them. Initial proclamation in these circumstances either comes from the individual Christian or it does not come at all. Thus the importance of the awareness of how Christian proclamation is present through the individual Christian who is committed to Jesus and is respectful and open to their work colleagues.

Awareness of Initial Proclamation is also vitally important when one is working within a Christian institution. Without it the institution becomes indistinguishable from a government institution or any NGO. For 4

i John Sommerville, "Secular Society Religious Population: Our Tacit Rules for Using the Term Seculariza-tion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 37 (2):249–53. (1998) as quoted in “Secularization” Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization

ii Michael A. Rynkiewick, Land and Churches in Melanesia: Cases and Procedures, Point no. 27, 2004, 29, 32)

iii The World Fact Book, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2177.html

iv The Blog is a report of a conference that was held in early November 2010 at Prague, Czech Republic. Its theme was “The Salesian Mission in a Frontier Situation and the Initial Proclamation of Christ in Eu-rope Today.” http://cgi.www.salesians.org.uk/cgibin/www.salesians.org.uk/newsitem.pl?item=item195

instance, a Christian school, without committed Christians is, in reality, a non-government or private institution.

F. INITIAL PROCLAMATION IN SOCIETIES UNDERGOING SECULARIZATION

Most of my activities are focused on Catholic Theological Institute where I am both an administrator and a lecturer. I occasionally am involved with work outside CTI. That work relates mainly to committed Catholics or committed members of other Christian churches. I suspect when it comes to Initial Proclamation, I am, indeed, on the edge. But I am to be challenged by it and conscious of it as an ongoing aspect of the life of all Christians, mine included.

If I might venture to make some suggestions concerning where societies undergoing secularization especially provide opportunities for Initial Proclamation I would refer back to what I have said in an earlier part of this paper. There I drew attention to some characteristics of societies undergoing secularization. It is these areas that might especially call for Initial Proclamation:

 where the young gather;

 among those who have drifted to urban centers;

 in the mist of girls and women finding their place in the emerging society;

 supporting those endeavoring to function in newly emerging secular roles;

 offered to the elite in the secular world,

 in the environment of the media and internet technology.

In conclusion can we not say that Christians who find themselves living in a society undergoing secularization can be confident that they, like their Christian forebears, are called to be, in the words of the Gospel of St Matthew, light and salt? Reflection on Initial Proclamation in societies in the process of se-cularization is at the service of this calling.

Fr David Willis OP

August 2011