Missiology

I have to take this subject as a tutorial class via the help of Prof. Monera. Fr. Javier is the Professor of this subject. I have to read three articles and submit the re-action as follows;

Reflections on Missiology

Introduction

The concept of mission is rooted in the heart of the Church. Since it is a participation in the Triune God, mission is a task entrusted to the members of the Church. Throughout the history of the Church, there have been different models of mission. These models were usually products of a particular epoch and context. The Church’s mission strategy at a given time is usually adapted to the current situation of the world. It is, therefore, necessary for the missionary to be aware of the “signs of the times” to be relevant.

In this essay, I would like to go over the three missiological articles written by Fr. Edgar G. Javier, S.V.D., namely, “Re-visioning our Mission in Contemporary Times: Orientations and Challenges”, “Mission in a World that is Globalized, Diverse and Plural” and “Crossing Borders toward Interbeing and Interculturality.” These three articles provide some guidelines and insights for the mission work of the Church in Asia. I also intend to present my own re-action to the articles and reflect on its relevance and applicability in the context of my homeland, Thailand.

(1) “Re-visioning our Mission in Contemporary Times: Orientation and Challenges”

Fr. Javier expresses the great need to re-vision our understanding of mission in view of the ever changing times. Citing Bosch, mission is a continual process of sifting, testing, reformulating and discarding. The understanding of mission ought to change with the changing times. It calls for a constant re-framing or re-visioning. Mission is never a static concept. As the term connotes, it is always on the go!

One aspect to be re-visioned is the traditional connotation of mission which exclusively identifies it with “foreign mission.” It gives an impression that a parish priest is no missionary until he leaves his own country to go to the mission lands. Mission is something out there in the jungle or in the bush. Moreover, mission is perceived as one of many activities of the church. We are still far from appropriating to ourselves, especially from the grassroots, mission as constituting the very being of the Church. We have not yet become in praxis a missionary Church.

Hence, if mission is to be relevant today, serious questions have to be addressed, e.g., What is the future of mission? What is mission in postmodern times? What does it mean to do mission in Asia today? Missiologists have identified several issues that have to be addressed, viz., globalization, postmodernity, secularization, growth of Islam, religious pluralism, ecological problems, among others. These are existential issues the missionary Church in Asia confronts. The Church, if she is to make sense in this changing world, has to constantly re-examine herself and give up her “patriarchal urges to dominate and control” (O’Murchu). The Church has to transcend her old ways, her comfort zones, in view of the changing times.

Mission in Postmodern times means to move away from the understanding of mission as salvation of souls and planting the Church, conversion of non-Christians or believers of other faiths to mission inter gentes. The missionary Church in postmodern times must become a proclaiming (apostolic), reconciling (catholic), sanctifying (holy), and unifying (one) Church. Living in a global and pluralistic world, the missionary Church must cross the new boundaries of our times. In the context of Asia, this would entail going over to the poor, dialoguing with the local cultures and interreligious dialogue. Hence, proclaimers of the Good News in Asia must listen to the story of the poor, the story of the Earth, and the story of the world religions. A faithful listening to the gentle voices emanating from the different socio-cultural contexts of Asia is imperative for the Church’s mission. The proclaimers of the Word must welcome religious diversity. Indeed, a genuine witnessing of life will make mission in Asia different.

What is the New Spirituality for Mission that is attuned with the postmodern world? According to Javier, the new spirituality for mission has to concern with the two great movements: the movement of correlation and the movement of difference. The former favors dialogue, negotiation and mutual understanding which responds to the phenomenon of globalization. The latter favors local identity and diversity. It is a movement towards the protection of the local /national specie, environment, local language, and cultural minorities. As such, it responds to the phenomenon of ethnic identity and fundamentalism. We are inevitably living in the midst of these two opposing movements. We are caught in the whirlwind of change. One can either participate in the change, or resist, or simply drift along. We must learn to be flexible and embrace an open-mind in the midst of these changing times. But today, more than ever, we see the shift from independence to interdependence. We cannot live alone. We need others from all sectors to complete the mosaic life of postmodernity.

Javier’s first article ends with a wish for a new Pentecost in the Asian Church in journey – a Pentecost that promises opportunities, options, and alternatives as we actively involve ourselves in a re-visioned understanding of mission.

(2) “Mission in a World that is Globalized, Diverse and Plural”

In this article, Fr. Javier situates the place of mission in a world that is characterized as globalized, diverse and plural. This “trinitarian” description of the present world calls for a deconstruction of the traditional understanding of mission. As Javier rightly puts it, “there seems to be no reversal to this process ….” Plurality has become a fact of life. It is shaping people’s cultures, identities, values and norms. Literatures today often speak of heterogeneity, diversity, difference, hybridity – all these are influences of pluralism. Just like any other value, pluralism is bipolar. There are good points to it, but it has also brought about conflicts, violence, and insecurities. Thus, Javier states that “it is no longer enough to talk about diversity without recognizing the challenge of diversity.” Indeed, pluralism is both a reality and a challenge.

How do people cope with the question of pluralism? The article cites two approaches to negotiate pluralism in our time: a totalist and a tribalist. Both approaches, in the author’s evaluation, assume that “difference must be absolute” and that both “annihilate identities.” The limitation of both approaches lies in its desire to dissolve differences and eliminate identities. Thus, a third approach to pluralism – a more liberal way – is required in dealing with the reality of difference. This liberal approach recognizes that cultures and identities are diverse. But even this approach is limited because “simple acceptance of diversity does not take seriously the power relations between diverse identities.” The author concludes that there is an urgent task to come up with a fourth approach that will serve as alternative, and even corrective, of the liberal way. Javier says that it is the mission of the Church to point out this fourth approach of dealing with difference in God’s plural world. The big question set before the Church is: How can we be faithful to God’s design of enriching the human family through diversity, plurality of cultures and traditions?

In constructing this fourth approach, Javier looks at the Scriptures for inspiration, while not losing sight of the affirmation of identity and diversity. In the story of the call of Abraham and Sarah in the Book of Genesis, Javier sees how a particular people are called, how their identity is affirmed, and how that identity is inseparable from God’s design and purpose for all families of the Earth. Through the call of Abraham and his descendants all peoples have been blessed. Javier nicely puts it, “the identity of an individual or a people is constituted only in relation to and for the sake of the others. The call of Abraham is a call to witness to the divine purpose that affirms identity and difference for mutual human and ecological flourishing.” Any person can be an act of divine grace and at the same time a gift of others. Being is interbeing. One does not live for himself alone; one is a being in relation with others. Thus, diversity is after all not a curse, but a blessing indeed; not a burden to be eliminated, but a gift. Diversity is something that we should not be afraid of.

Since our world is characterized by heterogeneity and plurality, the Church has to be sensitive to the cries and pains of those who are marginalized and silenced because they are different. The Church should hear the voices and pleas of these people. The Church has to be reconciled with these peoples and cultures. Hence, a reconciled and renewed humanity and creation, according to Javier, is the goal of mission. Mission as reconciliation is one that embraces and learns from the “Other.” This attitude leads the Church to promote inter-contextual and interreligious dialogue. One does not come to interreligious dialogue from vantage point of superiority.

What does it mean for the Church to do mission in a pluralist world? To do mission in a pluralist and diverse world is a critique of cultures that promotes fundamentalism, violence, greed and hatred. Gone were the days when we understood cultures as monocultural where identities are autonomous. We are called to recognize the “other” and reach out to the “other.” Our collective existences have to be “de-centered.” Citing the Pentecost narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, Javier sees in that passage a paradigm for understanding diversity. The Pentecost event brought about a “de-centering” on the apostles as they go out of their comfort zones to reach out even to the ends of the earth. Because of the presence of the Spirit, the exclusivist ways of defining oneself gave to de-centering of identities. There was no longer a central place, no single language, no single nationality, no single authoritative seat of power. The aftermath was the emergence of a new and inclusive humanity. Javier beautifully asserts that “Pentecost relativizes all cultures and religions at one and same time, thereby bringing about a communion of diversity. All peoples –with their different cultures, religions, and histories – are included and yet each one is decentralized.”

Today we must begin to celebrate the plurality of cultural and religious identities. We must begin to recognize the diverse experiences and stories of encountering Christ in diverse contexts. This is what Javier calls the polysymbolic and polycentric nature of the new world. The dominance of one system, one truth and one mind-set is disastrous in a world that is pluralistic. This de-centered attitude in reference to the other will “create space in us to receive the other.” A de-centered approach is truly catholic (which means “universal”). A catholic personality is one that is enriched by otherness. Javier affirms that the starting point in doing mission today is a theology of the Spirit. Nicely put, “The Spirit is the giver of the inmost, divinizing gift of grace to all human beings and the whole of creation … the Spirit creates authentic experience of God’s saving presence throughout the world wherever people live their lives and stories, and most explicitly in their religious traditions.” Put in another way, the Spirit is the spirit of unity, not uniformity.

Javier’s article identifies the so-called “borders” as another aspect of the mission of the Church in a pluralistic world. These borders are said to be constructed by one group, community, or race over against others in order to negotiate plurality. Borders are also erected and maintained to preserve one’s identity. Again, the author appeals to the Acts of the Apostles to drive his point. Peter, after the Pentecost event, was given the strength to cross border (of race, ethnicity and religion) and discover that God is for all. Salvation is now offered to non-Jews. No cultural or religious borders are resistant. Like Peter, one has to learn to practice his faith “face-to-face” with others. To exist is to inter-exist.

Hence, the challenge of mission in today’s world necessitates crossing over to and a returning from the border. This is admittedly not an easy task; it is even risky and threatening. But it is only in crossing over that the Church could build a “highway” or “bridge” over which people of diverse cultures, religions, and races can cross borders for integration and enrichment of their particular and different identities. Mission in today’s world involves a certain connectedness – a bridge to the other religions. This challenge demands the Church to examine herself closely and renounce of its theologies anything that continues to exclude or maintain boundaries with others.

An authentic way of dealing with difference and negotiating plurality is to ensure time and space for the silenced “other” to be fully heard on his / her own terms. Monologue is transformed into dialogue and trialogue. Dialogue does not mean eliminating differences; rather it is safeguarding differences while building up common sharing. Mission, as demonstrated by Jesus, calls for a genuine “incarnate presence” before the other, and within the cultures and religious heritage of diverse peoples around us. Mission as dialogical is genuine listening and responding to stories of God’s love as told by others.

(3) “Crossing Borders toward Interbeing and Interculturality”

Globalization and Postmodernity have compelled contemporary missionaries to cross over borders/boundaries. Crossing borders, however, does not refer only to crossing of geographical boundaries. The expression ‘crossing borders’ has undergone change in meaning, says Javier. Today, for contemporary mission crossing over includes “peoples, groups, and socio-cultural contexts.”

One obvious example of crossing over is the phenomenon of migration. Countries are overwhelmed by the increasing influx of migrants, especially from developing countries. These migrants bring with them their own religious beliefs. Their presence has caused some irritation or uncomfortability to the host countries. But such is the reality of living in a global village characterized by the presence of diverse socio-cultural contexts, which includes the world of communication and mass media, justice and peace, scientific research, international organizations and religious revival. According to Javier, these are the new borders that missionaries have to cross. The crossing over of these borders is inescapable. Why? Because of two influential and widespread phenomena: globalization and postmodernity. These two are intertwined to each other. Let us briefly elucidate these two phenomena.

Globalization, on one hand, has made the world become smaller through technological and communication advancements. Because globalization has compressed time and space, what used to be boundaries and distinctions are now gone. The world has become, so to say, flat. While some “local cultures” react to the contemporary global culture, globalization has forced peoples to share their fate, time and space. We have truly become a ‘global village.’ Our global city is shaped by the constant flow of money, good, information, and peoples.

Postmodernity, on the other hand, is characterized by “a deep skepticism about our ability to know objective truth, rejection of universal and unchanging essences and fixed meanings in human artifacts and language, incredulity in metanarratives, preference for local and particular stories and celebration of diversity and multiplicity.” This postmodernity, explains Javier, has given birth to religious pluralism which argues for the diversity of religions as a normative stance. Religious pluralism allows no particular religion to dominate and make claims to universality and absolute validity.

Thus, if the missionary is to make sense today, he must recognize these phenomena. He has to cross over new border of peoples, groups, and contexts. Javier identifies these as the new addressees of evangelization. Undeniably, the phenomena of globalization and postmodernity have made evangelization work even more complicated.

Crossing borders necessarily lead to, what Javier calls, interbeing and interculturality. Interbeing calls for human beings to live together, share their identity, loyalties to their new space, sentiments and goals. Building a community of interbeings is very urgent. Peoples should become part of one big human family. As the Dalai Lama says, “All beings in the universe share a family relationship.” Religions, like Christianity, Buddhism and Islam, are likewise called to commit themselves to building a more beautiful and humane society.

Interculturality or mutual cultural fecundation is the recognition of the values that can be learned and appropriated from other cultures. Believing that God is present in different human cultures, the experience of interculturality must preserve what is good and humanizing in each of the cultures in the world. We have so much to learn from each other’s cultures. Interculturality, however, is realized only in the context of mutually empowering relations.

Concluding this article, Javier calls for new ways of thinking that are responsive to a plurality of ways of being, thinking, and belonging. Mission in itself is crossing boundaries and frontiers that have their particularities.

Reflection

Reading the three insightful articles of Fr. Javier has triggered in me new realizations. First, it is with great regret that I could not attend the actual Missiology class to be given by Fr. Javier in Macau in October as I have to be back to Thailand by then.

Second, the articles led me to a re-discovery of the meaning of contemporary mission. Mission is not just one of the good works or activities of the Church, but it is the nature, character of the Church. The post-conciliar theology has indeed placed mission at the very center of the Church’s self-understanding. The Church receives the mission, as her very nature, from Jesus Christ who is the “first” missionary to the world sent by the Father. Mission, therefore, is the very raison d’être of the Church. The goal of mission is the Kingdom/Reign of God (Βασιλεια του Θεου) which is God’s plan of salvation. The Church, then, is the universal sacrament of salvation at the service of the Reign of God.

Third, the three articles are an invitation for me to re-examine the understanding of traditional mission in my homeland, Thailand. In the past, the concern for missionary work (esp. among the foreign missionaries) in Thailand had been the salvation of souls and planting the Church. The goal was to have more reported baptisms, confirmations, marriages, etc. The concern was more on numbers, as though success of mission is measured by mere statistics. Unfortunately, all these years there have been very few conversions in spite of the nice churches built, quality schools established, charitable clinics opened. The Catholic population is barely 0.9% of the population. What does this show? There is an urgent need for a re-visioned understanding of mission.

Fourth, there is so much confusion between missionary work and pastoral work. Many priests are merely concerned with performing the sacraments and sacramentals without the missionary work in mind. They have become so isolated, exclusive, parochial in their mentality. Reaching out (or as Fr. Javier calls it, “crossing borders”) to the bigger Buddhist population has not been a part of their evangelizing effort. So much has still be initiated in the area of interreligious dialogue. True, most of the students that come to our Catholic schools are Buddhists, but no concerted and creative efforts have been initiated for interreligious / inter-contextual dialogues. We seem to be merely contended with the money that enters the school coffers because of the entry of non-Catholic students making the Catholic Church in Thailand, though small, financially well-off. This I feel is a great missed opportunity toward Interbeing and Interculturality.

Fifth, The Thai Church must be ready and willing to send out missionaries to sister Churches around the world. “A local Church that is unwilling to share and trying to keep all that it has, has lost its spirit of universality and Catholicity.”[1] Thus, Thai Mission Society (TMS) was established in 1986. Presently, there are twelve priests and some religious sisters who are members of TMS. Some of them are sent to the mission in Laos and Cambodia, while the others are working with the hill tribes in the North of Thailand. Thai Catholics from the grassroots must be made aware of the great contribution of the TMS and make them feel that is their truly theirs.

Sixth, serious theological formation of seminarians in Thailand should incorporate the mission dimension. Missiological subjects/courses that are relevant and attuned to the signs of the times must be incorporated in the curricula keeping in mind that “our theological disciplines must be viewed as intrinsically missionary.” The idea that the Church is missionary by character ought to be emphasized in word and deed. Another example on how we could incorporate the value of globalization and pluralism is the exposure of our major seminarians to the English language. To live in a global village we cannot just be contented with knowing and speaking Thai. The world is much bigger than Thailand. To simply know Thai makes us parochial and isolated from the universal church. To know Thai alone would hinder us to cross over to the many migrant workers in Thailand who could not speak Thai.

Seventh, there is still so much to be done in terms of dialogue with the poor and the marginalized in Thailand. The many young people from rural areas who go to the cities to work in factories need the Church’s care and attention. They need sense of direction and meaning in their lives. To reach out to them without strings attached is a very noble task. Another dimension of that dialogue is a dialogue of cultures. There is a need in the Church of Thailand, to borrow the words of Pope Paul VI[2], for “deeper investigation of the cultural traditions of different populations …in order to pinpoint those elements that are not in contradiction with the Christian religion or that can contribute to the enrichments of theological reflections.” Dialogue entails authentic listening with an attitude of openness in understanding the religious connection of others. Only through faithful listening to the other voices can the Church of Thailand outgrow its prejudices against, intolerance to, and misunderstanding of the others. We Christians cannot approach dialogue from the vantage point of superiority. This attitude is not proper for dialogue. Christian in dialoguing must be willing to recognize possible truths in others religious beliefs. Genuine dialogue makes in realize that no religions institutions, finite as it is, can lead an exclusive and definite claim to the incomprehensible mystery of God. We dialogue out of love. Dialogue is never on intellectual level alone. Dialogue should be a dialogue of life where all believers of different religions live and work together.

Eighth, Dialogue is at the core of the missionary activity of the Church, especially in the context of Thailand. Ignorance of Thai ways, culture and ancient traditions on the part of the foreign missionaries have led for the Catholic Church to be seen as a symbol of distrust, disloyalty and subtle superiority. Thus, even today, the Catholic Church in Thailand is still regarded as a foreign institution. It has not yet successfully crossed the borders. The challenge to create a new vision of making dialogue which is not imposing our own idea to others but rather sharing by giving and receiving from each other remains to be seen.

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[1] Kurt Piskaty, “Intercultural Experiences of Filipino Missionary- A Few Reflections”, in DIWA Vol. XIV, Nos. 1-2 (1989): 33-37, esp. 35.

[2] Paul VI, Address to the Symposium of the Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar, September 26, 1971

Bibliography

Bevans, Stephen and Roger Schroeder. Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2004.

Carrier, Hervé. Evangelizing the Culture of Modernity. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1993.

Karotemprel, Sebastian, ed. Following Christ in Mission: Foundational Course in Missiology. Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1996.

Thomas, Norman E., ed. Classic Texts in Mission and World Christianity. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1995.

Yusuf, Imtiyaz, ed. The Role of Religious and Philosophical Traditions in Promoting World Peace: An Asian Perspective. Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2007.

Yusuf, Imtiyaz and Canan Atilgan, eds. Religion, Politics and Globalization Implications for Thailand and Asia. Bangkok: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2009.