Study Days on “The Salesian Mission and the Initial Proclamation of Christ”

in Oceania in the context of traditional Religions and cultures, and cultures in the process of Secularisation.

Port Moresby ( Papua New Guinea), August 21 – 25, 2011

Introduction of Sr. Alaide Deretti

Councilor for the FMA Missions ad/inter gentes

Dearest brothers and sisters,

Let us look back to Jesus.

“ When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,

‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’...

And you, who do you say that I am?’" (Mt 16:13-20).

Two questions that reveal Jesus’ interest, desire and curiosity to know, from the disciples themselves, what people say about him and what his disciples think about him. Two related questions made one after the other, starting from a concrete context: Caesarea of Philippi.

Two questions that resound, albeit in different forms, during these Study Days. People’s interest in Jesus and our personal experience of Him - these are two aspects that dispose us to assume the attitude of listening, of intelligent analysis and of deep respect in order to discover:

1. What is happening in the religious and cultural realities of the peoples of Oceania ( Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, American Samoa and the rest of the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia;); and what they “say” about Jesus of Nazareth.

The God of Jesus and his Kingdom can play a significant role in the evolution of the peoples of Oceania, with more than 700 languages ​​and traditional religions, with the processes of secularization, urbanization, consumerism, the growing cultural influence of Asian immigrants the high incidence and age of technology, information and communication? Is the quest for meaning, truth, and eternal life in the following of Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate face of God’s Wisdom, a matter of concern for men and women, for the young and the poor? If it is, then under what conditions?

2. “And you, who do you say that I am?” What do we say about Jesus, about our personal experience with Him? What is the face that we give, as spiritual persons and communities, to the service of education rendered to the poorest young people?

How do we go about, always in his Name, discovering and offering the gift of faith in Him? What approach and language do we use?

In these days we can give a face, to highlight the situation of living of our peoples, socio / economic / cultural and religious contemporary Oceania.

It 'starting from' Ecclesia in Oceania, from the path inculturated the Churches all over this sea, we want to study and propose the first proclamation of Jesus. The approach, would be:

* in the perspective of the Incarnation: The heart of the proclamation is the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the human face of the Wisdom of God, the most surprising sign of his love for all (cf. Eph 3:18-19). Jesus proclaimed and witnessed to the truth that God is constantly in relationship with humanity and with the cosmos. He made visible his Mission, which he has carried out from all eternity in various ways (Missio Dei).

* as local Church which is constantly reborn when it allows itself to be impelled by the Spirit towards “others.” A Church formed by small missionary Christian communities, its own way of being Church, communities that tend toward communion, a people on a journey, open to dialogue and the service of the poor and the young people, becoming poor themselves (Cf LG, AG¹; RM 1, 4,7,22,23,32; EO n.10) ²

* In, through and with the world: These Churches reborn from Vatican II are growing in the awareness that they cannot carry out the Mission of God on their own. By tradition³ and by faith we know that God, through His Spirit, continues his saving and liberating presence today in the world in ways that are surprising and unknown, “grace works invisibly in the heart of men and women of good will” (Cfr. GS n.22, RM 6,10,28; 56).

From here we can draw two formative implications:

1. Increase the positive attitude of trust and hope in human existence, in the experience of individuals and communities, in the concrete situation of “other” young people, of those “far” from us (of different faiths, ethnic groups, cultures, sensitivity, with less possibilities in life), in the evolution of history, science, post-modern ethos, and so on.

2. This reality needs new persons, with a more personal, adult faith that allows them to discern and confront themselves critically with others, with evangelical relevance, in order to perceive the signs of God’s action and to build the Kingdom, together with those who are different from us.

In these days, the center, the priority of our sharing is the first proclamation of Jesus. This priority will be considered in relationship to, and in interdependence with, other aspects of the mission. The proclamation cannot disregard the commitment to create enculturated Christian communities, the action, in Jesus’ name, for justice, peace, interculture, the rights of peoples, the practice of interreligious dialogue and of reconciliation among persons and peoples. The mission of the Church today is pluridimensional because it is interwoven with different elements that are both similar and interdependent.

Furthermore, we know that witnessing and the proclamation of Jesus are inseparable. The first means of evangelization, Paul VI writes, is the witnessing of an authentically Christian life (cf. EN 41). Proclamation, as we read in the document Dialogue and Proclamation, is the foundation, center and vertex of Evangelization.

Here, too, we look to Jesus: his mission was characterized by words and works, which mutually explained each other. His parables and teachings were prophetic pronouncements that often went against the trends of wisdom and religious practice that were commonly accepted. His healing miracles and exorcisms were parables in action, and his practice of including those who were at the fringes of society among his followers and welcoming them at table bear powerful witness to the validity of his teachiing (cf. DP, 56-57).

The act of proclaiming, like that of witnessing, seriously takes into account the geo-socio-political-cultural context. The history of the mission shows the need to narrate and communicate faith in Jesus with new ways of understanding and new emphases asked for by the times and by the geographical and cultural area. When Arius put Jesus’ divinity into question, the proclamation of the Gospel had to emphasize that He was truly God incarnate. In the turmoil of the Reformation, it was necessary to concentrate on a concept of salvation that did not depend on human works but on God’s grace. During the times of colonization and exploitation, the Gospel had to include a clear stand on the dignity of every human being and every people. In the epoch of globalization, the Gospel has to recognize the anthropological value of cultures and religions, and of local contexts, and to decisively take the side of victims, of justice, of the poor, as Jesus had done.

Here I quote the proverb comes from life in the forests in Australia, which has been reported in the Synod:

"If you stay closely united, you are like a tree standing in the middle of a bush-fire sweeping through the timber: the leaves are scorched, the tough bark is scarred and burned, but inside the tree the sap still flows, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree you have survived the flames, and you have still the power to be born. The time for rebirth is now" EO n.28

The mission of proclaiming and bearing witness to Jesus must be dialogical at all costs, because, in the final analysis, it is none other than a sharing in the dialogical nature of the One and Triune God, in his Mission for man and woman. God became a human person, and he was born in Asia!

It must also be prophetic, because, basically, there can be no real dialogue when the truth, Jesus of Nazareth, is not expressed, proposed and articulated clearly and without any compromise.

Proclaiming and bearing witness to Jesus, the Kingdom of the Father, in a prophetic dialogue that is daring and humble, and placed at the service of humanity, the Church in Asia today will be significant and faithful, even if it is a minority. It will truly be “salt and light.”

At the same time, we are convinced that to carry out in a new way the testimony and proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth in the educational practice or in the occasions of daily life, in our prophetic interaction with the life situations of young people and adults, is to contribute to translate the Preventive System in Asia, making it always rich in proposals and relevant in a globalized world that tends to always be more diverse and complex.

We stand before a mystery of grace, a gift, a responsibility. We shall work by continuing the Christian tradition; thus the urgency of knowing the journey of understanding once more the mission of the universal Church and that of the diocesan churches⁴, the experiences of individuals, families and/or institutions, the development of our action in the Salesian educational mission, in the wake of the SDB/FMA reflections on the paradigm of the missions⁵, seeking to listen to “what the Spirit is telling the Churches” (Ap 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

In commemoration of Don Bosco’s missionary dream at Barcellona 125 years ago, in April 1886, may Mary point out to us new paths, the “living pages” of the story of Jesus to write among the young people of Asia.

Thank you.