Vincentian Journals and Publications

Vincentiana
DePaul University Year 1998

Volume 42.3: May-June 1998

This paper is posted at Via Sapientiae.

http://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/50
 VINCENTIANA
42nd YEAR, N° 3 MAY-JUNE 1998

FEATURE:
VSI.PER-
255.77005 Mission in Latin America
V775

v.42
CONGREGATION OF TIIE MISSION
no.3
GENERAL. CURIA
1998
 VINCENTIANA
Magazine of the Congregation of the Mission
Published every two months by the General Curia
Via dei C 'apasso, 30 - 0016 4 Roma

42th scar, N° 3 May-June 1998

Summary
General Curia

• Letters of the Superior General Robert P. Maloney, C.M.:

- on the meeting in Paris of those responsible for the principal
branches of the Vincentian Family (February 22, 1998) . . . p. 129
- on the Vincentian Family's annual day of prayer (May I, 1998) » 133
- to give information on the upcoming General Assembly
(May 23, 1998). . . 135
- to request the prayers of the Vincentian Family for the upcom-
ing General Assembly (Ascension Thursday 1998) . . . . . » 138
- for the Internet site of the Vincentian Family
(opened on June 6, 1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . » 139
• Statutes of MISEVI. Lay Vincentian Missionaries . . . . . » 141

Feature: M ission in Latin America

• The Challenge of the Sects in Latin America (F. Santpedro Nieto) » 151
• The First Television Station of the Congregation of the Mission
(J.A. l)rh'cki) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . » 162
• A Highway Pastoral in Brazil (Al. Litewka) . . . . . . . » 165
• Mission of Tierradentro - Colombia. "Cue'sh quiwc - our Land"
(J.L. Rodriguez) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . » 169
• Confronting the Challenge of Catholics who Leave the Church.
The Pamphlets of "Mission XXI" (H. Lopez Alfonso). . . . . » 173

Study

• An Upside-Down Sign. The Church of Paradox (R.P.Atuloue.y) . 181

Vincentian Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

GENERAL CURIA

February 22, 1998

To the members of the Congregation of the Mission

throughout the world

My very dear brothers,

May the grace of Our Lord be always with you!

Today I am writing to give you an account of the 4th meeting of

those responsible for some of the principal branches of our Vincen-
tian Family. This time representatives from the Miraculous Medal
Association and from the Religious of St. Vincent de Paul joined us
for the first time . Present at the meeting were : the Mother General of
the Daughters of Charity , Sr. Juana Elizondo , and Sr. Therezinha
Remonatto , the Assistant General ; the President of the International
Association of Charity, Mrs. Patricia Palacios de Nava , together
with Mrs. Mauricette Borloo, Vice-President , and Mrs. Marianne
Chevalier, Secretary General; the President of the Society of St. Vin-
cent de Paul , Mr. Cesar Augusto Nunes Viana , together with
Mr. Amin A. de Tarrazi , Vice-President , Mr. Gerry Martin, Vice-
President , and Mr. Erich Schmitz ; for the Vincentian Marian Youth
Groups, Miss Edurne Urdampilleta from Spain and Miss Isabelle
Saint-Gerand from France; for the Miraculous Medal Association,
Fr. Charles Shelby from St. Louis in the United States; for the Reli-
gious of St. Vincent de Paul, Fr. Yvon Laroche, Superior General,
and Fr. Tito Marega , Vicar General . Fr. Lauro Palu, Assistant Gen-
eral, and I represented the Congregation of the Mission.
The objectives of this meeting were : 1. to exchange information
about the activities of the various groups ; 2. to investigate ways in
which we can help one another in initial and ongoing formation;
3. to find further ways to work together with and for the poor. The
agenda included 15 points. Here I will touch only on some of the
most important ones.

1. We spent much of the first morning sharing information about

the principal events of the past year and also coming to know the
 130 GENFRAI. CURIA

new participants at our meeting. Since we had recently concluded a

meeting of those responsible for some of the major branches of the
Miraculous Medal Association throughout the world, Fr. Shelby
was able to fill us in on the life and activities of the Association.
Fr. Yvon Laroche recounted the history of the Religious o1' St. Vin-
cent de Paul, founded in 1845 by Jean-Leon Le Prevost who was one
of the original companions of Frederick Ozanam. We spoke too of
the recent General Assembly of the Daughters of Charity at which the
members of AIC participated actively. We also discussed the beatifi-
cation of Frederick Ozanam in Paris last August and the World
Youth Day during which 2400 members of our own Vincentian Mar-
ian Youth Groups, from 48 different countries, gathered together for
a week, living in tents at Villebon. We talked of' our new missions
in Siberia and Rwanda, as well as of the Congregation's decision to
seek representation at the United Nations as a non -governmental
organization (NGO) in order to make our voice known on important
social issues like poverty, hunger, education, health care, and human
rights.
Looking to the future, we spoke about preparation and planning for
the upcoming general assemblies of various branches and exchanged
invitations:

The General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission

which will be held July 6-31, 1998 and whose theme is "The
Worldwide Vincentian Family and the Challenges of the Mis-
sion in the Third Millennium."
The AIC Assembly of Delegates which will be held in Quere-
taro, Mexico, November 9-15, 1998 and whose theme is "AIC
1998: Looking to the Third Millennium - a challenge, a
commitment , a hope."
The General Assembly of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
which will take place in Fatima, November 26-29, 1998
and whose theme is "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul after
the year 2000 and after the beatification of Frederick Oza-
nam."
The first official General Assembly of the Vincentian Marian
Youth Groups, foreseen for the year 2000 in Rome, after the
approbation of their International Statutes.

2. We discussed a draft of a document prepared by AIC on the role

of their counsellors (chaplains, advisors). These are often Vincentians
or Daughters of Charity but are also sometimes diocesan priests or
trained lay people. This document will be further discussed at AIC's
General Assembly next November. We will then, with the help of this
document, be able to draft similar job descriptions for the counsel-
lors of other Vincentian lay groups.
GENERAL CURIA 131

3. Each of us presented what we are presently doing for the in-

itial and ongoing formation of our members. Out of this discus-
sion arose a number of suggestions: 1. the preparation of a work
focusing on significant figures in the history of the Vincentian Fam-
ily, with brief monographs about their thought and their original
contribution to the pastoral, missionary activity of the Church; 2. the
organization of a congress on Vincentian spirituality for the year
2000; 3. the writing of a book on lay Vincentian spirituality, which
would use as a starting point many of the writings that already exist
but would focus on how our Vincentian heritage can be embodied in
the lives of lay men and women, from the youth groups to our adult
members.

4. In preparation for our meeting, we had prepared descriptions

of projects in which the various branches are serving the poor
together on all the continents. We examined these at length and
decided to publish a description of seven such projects as exam-
ples that might stimulate other similar initiatives. These projects
are located in Payatas (Philippines), Fianarontsoa (Madagascar),
Mexico (the Federal District), Genoa (Italy), Cologne (Germany),
Madrid (Spain), and Matola (Mozambique). They reach out to the
poorest of the poor and have received financing from various agen-
cies. We hope that other similar projects can be organized cooper-
atively by the branches of our family throughout the world. You
will soon see more information in Vincentiana, The Echoes of the
Company, the AIC bulletin, the bulletin of the St. Vincent de Paul
Society, etc.

5. We treated many other matters at the meeting, including an eval-

uation of the annual day of prayer on September 27. All noted that
there has been very lively, creative participation in such days, includ-
ing not only the members of our various branches but also the poor
themselves. In addition, we evaluated the implementation of the con-
clusions of our previous meetings and fixed January 14-16, 1999 as
the date for our next meeting.

In conclusion , I simply want to say this. Over the last several

years, we have developed a growing consciousness of our Vincen-
tian Family. While striving to foster the distinctive charisms of each
group in the family, we have also been seeking to forge closer mutual
bonds by praying together, cooperating in formation programs, and
collaborating in common apostolic projects. At our meeting, all of us
were conscious that the third millennium challenges us to continue
to create networks and to find further ways of channeling our ener-
gies in a unified way toward the service of the poor. I hope that our
upcoming General Assembly will enable us to concretize further
objectives whereby the members of our family can assist one an-
 132 GENT.RAL CURIA

other in growing as servants of the poor . In this " Year of the Holy
Spirit" I join with you in praying for a deeper share in the fire of
God's love.

Your brother in St . Vincent,

Robert P. Maloney, C.M.

Superior General
GENERAL CURIA 133

May 1, 1998
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

Dear brothers and sisters, members of the Vincentian Family

May the grace and peace of God, Our Father , and the Lord Jesus
Christ be with you!

Over the last several years, around September 27, the members
of our Vincentian Family have celebrated a day of common prayer.
In January of this year when representatives of various branches of
our family met in Paris, we evaluated this event. Enthusiastic com-
ments from participants from all over the world attest that it has
been a very positive experience. With rather unanimous accord, the
various branches of our family have asked that this day of common
prayer be continued.
Over the year ahead , as mentioned in an earlier letter, a number
of our branches will be holding General Assemblies. This makes it all
the more important that we pray together that the Spirit of the Lord
might come upon us, enlightening us and strengthening us to find
ever more practical ways of serving the poor.
We write today in order to provide some details about organizing
this year's annual day of prayer. So that it might be well prepared, we
ask you to take the following steps:

1. The heads of the Vincentians, the Daughters of Charity, AIC, and

the St. Vincent de Paul Society in each city or area should meet
as soon as possible in order to begin to plan the prayer celebra-
tion . After receiving this letter, would you please contact one
another by phone or other suitable means as soon as possible. To
facilitate this matter, we ask the Vincentian superior in each area
to initiate these contacts. If there are no Vincentians in the area,
then we ask the superior of the Daughters of Charity to be the
initiator.
2. Please invite the other branches of the Vincentian Family in your
area to join in this celebration (e.g., the Vincentian Marian
Youth Groups, the members of the Miraculous Medal Associa-
tion, other groups of laity, sisters, brothers, or priests living in
the Vincentian spirit, etc.). It is especially important that the
young feel at home at our celebrations.
3. We encourage you too to provide for the participation of the
poor, who evangelize us by their presence.
4. The prayer could be a common celebration of the Eucharist or
some other communal service, according to the circumstances in
 134 GENERAL CURIA

each area. If a Mass is not possible, one might envision a cele-

bration of the word, with readings, hymns, prayers, sharing of
thoughts, etc. In other contexts, one could envision a "Holy
Hour," with the usual liturgical actions (processions, exposition
of the Blessed Sacrament, readings, etc.).
5. One could also organize, depending on the circumstances, a
moment for ongoing formation and/or for relaxed social contact.
6. The celebration should be organized on or around September 27,
in accord with what date would best promote the participation
of the various members of our family. It is important that the
celebration be truly communal, with the active participation of
members of the various branches. A wise distribution of roles
will guarantee that all groups take part.
7. The readings suggested for the Mass of St. Vincent should be
used, along with, if you judge it helpful, other appropriate selec-
tions from his writings. Much will depend on the kind of cele-
bration that is organized in each area. A prayer of the faithful
should be prepared with intentions contributed by members of
the various branches of the Vincentian Family.

St. Vincent once called prayer a "fountain of youth" by which we

are invigorated (SV IX, 217). In this year dedicated to the Holy Spirit
we encourage you to drink deeply of this fountain so that the Spirit
might refresh us and renew us in our communal set-vice of the poor
and so that the fire of God's love might impel us to find ever more
practical, concrete ways of serving them.

Robert P. Maloney, C.M. Sr. Juana Elizondo, D.C.

Cesar Nunes Viana, SSVP Patricia Palacios de Nava, AIC

GENERAL CURIA 135

May 23, 1998

To all the Confreres of the Congregation of the Mission

My dear Confreres,

May the grace of Our Lord be always with you!

In a month and a half we will already be in General Assembly.

The Preparatory Commission worked well in developing the themes
that were to be studied in the Domestic and Provincial Assemblies.
Then, the same Commission worked on the replies from the prov-
inces and vice-provinces and prepared the Documenturn Laboris, with
which we will begin the Assembly. This document will serve to direct
the work of the Assembly and might also be chosen as the basis for
the conclusions of our four weeks of meetings and discussions.
One of the weeks of the Assembly will have a special character
because it will take place with the participation of 33 guests from the
Vincentian Family. Since the central theme of the Assembly is the
Vincentian Family in view of the third millennium, we wanted to
speak with the Daughters of Charity, with the laity of the groups
most closely tied to us and with representatives of religious Congre-
gations which take their inspiration from St. Vincent, and not simply
speak about them. Among the guests, we have invited a confrere
from continental China, who has had a rich experience which will
touch us and will be able to help us be courageous in the commit-
ments which we must make for the future. All the guests accepted to
participate in the Assembly.
We will have a round-table presentation by the participants of
different groups of the Family and a series of conferences on the
essential points of our belonging to the Family of St. Vincent. We will
publish all this in Vincentiana, in order to give all the confreres the
opportunity to benefit from these riches.
We have invited Br. Licinio Loureiro Miguelo, from the Vice-
Province of Mozambique, to represent the Brothers of the Congrega-
tion, and I intend to ask the Assembly to give him the right to vote,
like the Visitors and the delegates (cf. Decree 8 of the Assembly of
1980 and the decisions relative to the presence of the Brothers made
in the Assemblies of 1986 and 1992).
In seeing the agreement expressed by the majority of the mem-
bers of the Assembly with regard to the new Directory, I have taken
the initiative in naming the people there indicated. Thus, to direct the
Assembly (cf. art. 19), 1 have chosen, with the General Council, three
Moderators from among the members of the Assembly: Frs. Christian
 136 GENERAL CURIA

Sens (Visitor of Toulouse), Jaime Corera (delegate from Saragossa),

and Joseph Levesque (Visitor of the Eastern Province of the United
States). Moreover, we have chosen some Commissions for the good
unfolding of the Assembly: there will be two "facilitators" (cf. art. 20),
Fr. Seraffn Peralta (Philippines) and Sr. Germaine Price, Daughter
of Charity of the Province of St. Louis in the United States; there
will be a Commission for preparing the presentation and the vote on
the postulates and decrees (cf. art. 38), composed of Frs. Antoine
Douaihy (delegate from the Province of the Orient), Miguel Perez
Flores (Vice-Visitor of Costa Rica), and Wlad_yslaw Bomba (delegate
from Poland); there will be a Commission for the liturgy including
Frs. Robert Stone (translator), and Gilson Cezar Camargo (delegate
from Curitiba); and other commissions for various services during
the Assembly. I have asked three members of the Council or the
Curia (Frs. Lauro Palu, Emeric Amyot d'Inville, and Patrick Griffin)
to take care of the million details necessary for the good running of
the Assembly. This little Commission will assure all the services that
the confreres need during the Assembly, foreseeing and doing things
at the most appropriate time and in the most convenient manner.
For the convenience of the members of the Assembly, the two
houses (Casa Maria Immacolata and the Leonine College) have made
available for us a sufficient number of rooms, with improvement in
the material conditions of the houses (showers, toilets, double glass
in the windows, air-conditioning, etc.). For the hall of the plenary
sessions, they have purchased new chairs, surely more comfortable
than those of preceding Assemblies. In the coming days, we will have
installed additional lines for telephone, fax, the Internet, and e-mail.
We are preparing the liturgies and the materials needed for the cel-
ebrations (missals, lectionaries, chalices, etc.). The Secretariat is
being set up with a new photocopier and some computers for the
young confreres who will help us with the texts that must be written
in English (Fr. Raul Pura), Spanish (Fr. Diego Luis Vasquez) and
French (Thierry Guene, theology student from Paris). We are prepar-
ing the prayers for the beginning and end of our meetings.
In the provinces, some confreres are preparing for special tasks:
a chronicler (Fr. Alvaro Quevedo of Colombia), a "video-reporter"
(Fr. Lourenco Mika of Curitiba), an Internet expert (Fr. John B. Fre-
und, delegate from the Eastern Province of the United States) who
will give us all the information needed for using the Internet most
effectively, sharing with us good experiences of what can be done.
The 14 translators are preparing to help us understand what is
said in the variety of languages of the Congregation. For the first
time, the Acts will no longer be in Latin. They will be translated each
day into the three languages mentioned above. These pages will serve
for the regular dissemination of Assembly news via the Internet.
Starting on June 7, you will be able to find our site on the Internet:
http://wxvw.fanivin.org.
GENERAL CURIA 137

In the coming days, we will send to the members of the Assem-

bly the information on the rooms reserved for them, at the Via Ezio
or at the Leonine College, with other interesting or necessary infor-
mation.
This week I wrote a letter to all the members of the Vincentian
Family with whom we have contact asking for prayers so that God
might bless our efforts and give the Church and the poor good fruit
following this Assembly. Today, I wanted to give you the above infor-
mation on our daily work in preparing the Assembly. The members
of the Assembly will find other information when they arrive. We are
certain of your support and we count on your prayers.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

P. Robert P . Maloney, C.M.

Superior General
 138 GENI?RAL CURIA

Ascension Thursday 1998

To th e members of the worldwide Vincentian Family

My very clear Brothers and Sisters,

May the grace of Our Lord be always with you!

This year, as we approach the Third Millennium, the Church

calls us to focus in a special way on the Holy Spirit. We will soon be
celebrating Pentecost, so I am appealing today to the many members
of our worldwide family to join with me in asking the Spirit to come
upon us Vincentians as we prepare for our General Assembly, which
will meet in Rome from July 6-31.
The theme of this Assembly is, as many of you already know,
"The Worldwide Vincentian Family and the Challenges of the Mis-
sion in the Third Millennium." We want to make this an Assembly in
which we talk not just about our family, but also with representatives
from its various branches. To that end, we have invited a number of'
representatives from our family to join us from July 9-14 to express
their hopes, their needs, and practical suggestions that will help us
toward richer collaboration in the future. As we prepare, we have
already received many suggestions about cooperation in formation
programs, common prayer, apostolic ministries, and various short-
range and long-range projects with and for the poor.
I hope that the Assembly will be a time when the Spirit fills our
hearts and gives us "a sense of the true and a taste for the good." So
the purpose of this letter is very simple: I ask you to pray with us
during these days. I know I can count on that.
There will be a page on Internet giving frequent, even daily, news
bulletins about the Assembly. Its address is: http://www.famvin.oz-g. I
trust that you will find the page very informative and that it will also
be a reminder to continue to accompany us in your prayer.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

Robert P. Maloney, C.M.

Superior General
GENI:RAL CURIA 139

To the members of the Vincentian Family

My very dear Brothers and Sisters,

May the grace of Our Lord be always with you!

Recently Pope John Paul 11 encouraged those using new technol-

ogy to " increase the Church' s presence on the Internet as a means of
proclaiming the Good News in what we call the `Information Age"'
(Message to Information Network of the Church in Latin America,
March 3 -6, 1998).

As we inaugurate this page , I want to urge the many members of

our Vincentian Family to employ this means of communication well.
Today sharing information is extremely important . It raises con-
sciousness , as the bishops of Vatican II envisioned , about "the joys
and hopes , the grief and anguish of our contemporaries, especially of
those who are poor or afflicted in any way" ( Gaudium et Spes, 1). It
is my firm hope that, as we exchange information and creative ideas
within our family, we will be able to channel our energies more effec-
tively in the service of the most needy and also to investigate the
causes of' poverty and formulate short- and long- range solutions for
dealing with it.

During the weeks ahead, this page will begin to publish news
bulletins about the General Assembly of the Congregation of the
Mission , whose theme is "The Worldwide Vincentian Family and
the Challenges of the Mission in the Third Millennium ." I have
asked all our Vincentian provinces to establish an Internet connec-
tion so that they can tap into this information , and an e-mail con-
nection so that they can be in contact with one another and with
our General Curia in Rome. I hope that all the branches of our
family can profit similarly from the information provided on this
page as it grows and on the many other pages offered by Vincen-
tian groups.

On June 20, 1647, St. Vincent cried out very spontaneously at a

meeting of the General Council of the Daughters of Charity: "Oh, my
God, how necessary it is to have great communication with one
another. To share everything. There is nothing more necessary. That
is what binds hearts together" (SV XIII, 641).

' Message on the first page of the Internet site opened on the occasion of
the General Assembly of 1998, 6 June 1998.
140 GENERA!. CURIA

I can only respond to that : Amen! So may it be among us.

Your brother in Saint Vincent,

Robert P. Maloney, C.M.

Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission
and of the Company of the Daughters of Charity
GENERAL CURIA 141

Statutes of MISEVI
Lay Vincentian Missionaries

Text provisionally approved by the Superior General

while it awaits the "nihil obstat" of the Spanish bishops

MISEVI (Lay Vincentian Missionaries) is an association of lay

missionaries "ad genres", mostly Young, single or married,
which sprang front the Vincentian Marian Youth in Spain. The
have already had 8 years of various missionary experiences,
which lasted from between two months in stunner to four and
even seven years, principally in Latin America, in collaboration
with our confreres and the Daughters of Charity.
The members of this association, while continuing to belong to
their original groups, wanted to create stable structural links
between themselves and to clarify their relationships with the
Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, in
order to improve their missionary work with its and to assure
their support during the time of their involvement in the mis-

Photo from the J.M.V. (Vincentian Marian Youth ) magazine,

no. 25, January 1997, p. 21
 142 GENERAL CURIA

sion country as well as on their return to their country of

origin.
Even though MISEVI began in the Marian Vincentian Youth,
its members can come from other branches of the Vincentian
Family. The association has a clearly Vincentian character,
since it has, as its goal, the service and evangelization of the
poor and since it has a special link with the Congregation of
the Mission, the Daughters of Charity and all the Vincentian
Family.
Vincentiana publishes the statutes of MISEVI because they
deal with a new association which is taking its place in the
Vincentian Family. Moreover, these statutes foresee all the
aspects which need to be taken into account today in an asso-
ciation and which might also serve as guidelines/orientation
for other groups which wish to draw up or revise their own
statutes.

0. Basic Principles

0.1. The Association sets out to develop an organized presence of

lay people within the Church's missionary role "ad genies" (to the
peoples), especially in missions attached to the Vincentian Family.
Juridical links are being established between the lay branches; bonds
with the Congregation of the Mission and the Company of the Dau-
ghters of Charity are spiritual, charismatic, and collaborative in
character.
0.2. The principal aim of this Association is the basic moral or spir-
itual support and coordination of the lay missionaries. Obtaining
funds to realize projects is a secondary aim which can be fulfilled
with the NGO (Non Govermental Organization) of the Vincentian
Family, or through other NGO activities, or through other appropri-
ate means.
0.3. The Association will have a missionary Vincentian spirituality
which will take directions from the present social teaching of the
Church, and will be founded upon the specific virtues that St. Vin-
cent entrusted to his missionaries. This will be elaborated in a special
document.
0.4. The Association will embrace the members of Vincentian
groups and movements who have been sent on mission; the members
of 'MISEVi' will continue to belong to their original associations
which would remain committed to their support; the Spirit will go on
indicating the options each one of the lay people ought to assume.
0.5. Contact and collaboration will be sought with the Vincentian
Family, especially at the local level, whether at the point of origin of
the missionary enterprises, or at the locations of missionary service
and within the possibilities of each concrete situation.
GENERAI. CURD'', 143

1. Nature

1.1. The Association of "Lav Vincentian Missionaries" (MISEVI) is

canonically erected as an Association of the Faithful with an auton-
omous, full juridical personality, and consequently it can possess,ad-
minister, and dispose of every class of goods and rights; it can take
on all kinds obligations and take action in defense of its interests
before every class of persons, authorities, and jurisdictions.

2. Ends

2.1. The Association of "Lay Vincentian Missionaries" (MISEVI) is

formed to promote, facilitate, support, and co-ordinate the presence
and missionary work of the laity in foreign ("ad gentes") missions
entrusted to the Vincentian Family or animated by it. It is included
within the Non Governmental Organizations dedicated to human
development (NGO).
2.2. Among the ends of the Association are the following:
2.2.1. To offer human, moral, spiritual, formative, and eco-
nomic backing to missions linked to the Vincentian Family, by
sending lay people to work in the missions and by material
assistance to the different projects.
2.2.2. To be a channel of communion and exchange among
the lay missionaries who take part in the Association.
2.2.3. To promote the spiritual life and communal sharing
among the lay members who are engaged in foreign missions.
2.2.4. To facilitate the involvement and presence of the Vin-
centian laity who work within the co-ordinating structures of
Vincentian associations according to their specific norms.
2.2.5. To support the bonds between the lay missionaries and
the communities of origin which have sent them on mission.
2.2.6. To welcome the missionaries on return from their mis-
sionary labours, and to offer them human, formative, spiritual
and economic support according to what is set down in their
Internal Rule.

3. Geographic scope

3.1. The Association is national in scope although , in agreement

with its aim, it extends to other mission countries.
 1.44 GENFRAL CURIA

4. Headquarters

The headquarters of the Association is located in Madrid, 30 Jose

Abascal Street. The General Assembly can agree to its transfer in ac-
cordance with the agreement of an absolute majority of its members.

5. Membership

5.1. The Association is comprised of lay Vincentians, whether pre-

paring to live, living or having lived, in foreign missions, or who are
linked in some way to the missionary work of the Vincentian Family
in their communities of origin.
5.2. The members of the Association can be:
5.2.1. Members in Formation; youth or adults of different
Vincentian associations:
- whether they are in preparation to undertake missionary
activities in different Vincentian associations and wish to
learn more of the expertise of our Association with a view to
become a part of it;
- or they are in the first years in foreign missions.
5.2.2. Collaborative Members: all persons who desire to col-
laborate with the Association by taking on concrete commit-
ments of service.
5.2.3. Honorary Members: those who 5 years previously had
full membership and now wish to maintain a bond with this
Association within their country of origin.
5.2.4. Members with full right are those laity who renew their
commitment to this Association every three years, without
any limit to their renewals and with a minimum of a previous
2 years missionary work "ad gentes", and a maximum of
5 years following the end of their missionary service.
5.3. Changes in membership:
5.3.1. Those who aspire to be members with hill right should
be accepted in writing by the Co-ordinating Team after com-
peting 2 years of lay ministry on the missions, and having
come to know sufficiently the proper character of this Associ-
ation and with a prior written application.
5.3.2. The members with full right on mission will renew
their commitment to the Association every 3 years in writing.
They can rescind that missionary commitment, when they con-
sider it suitable and following dialogue concerning the reasons
for their decision with some member of the Co-ordinating
Team. In each case, in order to facilitate the organization of
GENERAL CURIA 145

the ongoing missionary responsibilities, notice will be given six

months in advance.
5.3.3. Members will full right lose this status if they pass
more than five successive years without going on foreign mis-
sion work for at least one year's duration. To become honorary
members they must make a request in writing.
5.3.4. The expulsion of members with full right following dia-
logue with the person concerned, requires the agreement of an
absolute majority of the Co-ordinating Team and the confir-
mation of the Superior General of the Congregation of the
Mission and the Daughters of Charity, or of his delegate in the
Association.

6. Commitments of the Members

6.1. The Members in Formation will endeavour to attain the atti-

tudes and content proper to an integral missionary preparation. Also,
they will be formed in a lifestyle proper to members with full right.
"MISEVI" will help to coordinate formation with the highest possible
quality.
6.2. Collaborative Members will have available to them needed
information on the projects of the Association and will support the
mission's well-being by way of prayer, management of projects,
fundraising, social awareness, help with formation, satisfaction of
quotas, etc.
6.3. Honorary Members will be informed in detail about the Asso-
ciations projects and will cooperate with their own means to bring
them to completion in the best possible manner.
They will try to:
6.3.1. Live a concrete commitment of service/evangelization
of the poor.
6.3.2. Be in communion with the mission by their prayer.
6.3.3. Be concerned about permanent formation and collabo-
rate in the preparation of the formation of members.
6.3.4 Live out the sharing of goods with economic contribu-
tions according to the Internal Rule.
6.4. Members with Full Right will offer their highest interest by col-
laborating in the ends of the Association.
More concetely, they will endeavour:
6.4.1. To give themselves generously to the missionary tasks
defined in their mission commitment and in the communal
pastoral projects.
 146 GENERAL CURIA

6.4.2. To try and deepen their Vincentian spirituality by a life

of prayer, to bring their service into prayer along with a knowl-
edge of Vincentian doctrine and witness, etc.
6.4.3. To offer suggestions and initiatives for the progress of
the Association's identity.
6.4.4. To be ready to join the Co-ordinating Team of the Asso-
ciation.
6.4.5. To offer to the common fund the economic rewards of
their mission according to the Internal Rule and the Common
Project of each community.

7. Organisation

7.1.. The General Assembly is the highest level of the Association's

participation and government. All the Members have the right of
voice and vote:
7.1.1. Ordinarily it will meet every 4 years; its role is to
review the Association's progress, give guidelines on a program
for future activity and look at economic balance and proposals.
7.1.2. An extraordinary gathering will take place by agree-
ment of the Co-ordinating Team, or by request of a third of the
Members with full right.
7.1.3. The General Assembly is validly constituted when it has
been convoked by the Co-ordinating Team and two thirds of
the Members are present. Decisions with be reached by an
absolute majority on the first vote, or by a simple majority on
the second, the exception being those for which the present
Statutes indicate the need for another form of majority.
7.1.4. Those who attend the General Assembly:
- Ex Officio, the Superior General of the Congregation of the
Mission and the Daughters of Charity or his Delegate, and
Members of the Co-ordinating Team.
- By election, a representative of the Members of Full Right,
who work in each diocesan mission area, elected by secret
vote, by mail, or by simple majority of the Members con-
cerned.
- By election of a simple majority, five Members of Full Right
chosen as a slate from and by all the Members of Full Right
or by mail.
- By election, a representation of one of the Honorary Mem-
bers, another of the Collaborative Members, and another of
the Members in Formation, elected among each category of
Members by secret ballot by Mail or by simple majority; the
GENERAL CURIA 147

number of delegates for each representation will be decided

by the Co-ordinating Team so that the total of the represen-
tatives does not exceed 25% of all Members of the Assembly.
7.2. The President of the Association has the duty io animate and
co-ordinate the Association's life as well as to represent it in civil and
ecclesial situations.
7.2.1. The President will be chosen by the General Assembly
in a secret ballot by the members with full right. An absolute
majority is needed in the first two ballots; in case no one
receives it, a third ballot is taken of the two who have obtained
the highest vote, the one receiving the majority of votes is then
elected.
7.2.2. The Assembly's election ought to be confirmed by the
Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission and the
Daughters of Charity.
7.3. The direction of the Association will involve a Co-ordinating
Team in accordance with the Statues, Internal Rule, the Spirituality
Document, and the guidelines of the General Assemblies.
7.3.1. The Co-ordinating Team will apply internally the func-
tions of secretary, treasurer, members-at-large in accordance
with decision made by the President.
7.3.2. This team will be composed of the President, three lay
members with full right, a Daughter of Charity, a Vincentian
Priest, and the representatives of the Vincentian Family lay
Associations who have members in MISEVI. At least three of
them will reside geographically near the secretary.
7.3.3. The members of the Co-ordinating Team will be elected
in the General Assembly by secret ballot. This will be by an
absolute majority in the first 2 ballots, and a simple majority in
the third among the members with full right and the members
of the General Assembly after the introduction of the possible
candidates.
7.3.4. The Daughter of Charity is nominated by the Visita-
trices of the Daughters of Charity from the Canonical Prov-
inces of Spain.
7.3.5. The Vincentian Priest is nominated by the Superior
General of the Congregation of the Mission after prior consul-
tation with the Visitors of the Canonical Provinces of Spain.
7.3.6. The representatives of the Vincentian Associations will
be nominated according to their own directional procedures
and the guidelines of the Co-ordinating Team.
7.3.7. All the members of the Co-ordinating Team are nomi-
nated for 4 years and a maximum renewal of 2 more terms.
The time given to this service will not be so reckoned as to
 148 GENERAL CURIA

forfeit the status of member with full right. The duration of the
nominations of the Daughter of Charity and Vincentian priest
will be flexible, adapted to times set for other functions of co-
ordination liable to unfold in the Vincentian Family of Spain,
and for the maximum length of 12 consecutive years.
7.3.8. The Co-ordinating Team will meet at least 3 times a
year according to the plan established by the President and
with the assurance of the presence of two-thirds of the mem-
bers at the first convocation, and half at the second. Decisions
will be made by a majority of two-thirds at the first ballot, and
by an absolute majority at the second.

8. Finances

8.1. The Association is a non-profit organization; its goods are the

capital of the poor. The usual way of collaboration will be voluntary
and without remuneration except in those special cases approved by
the General Assembly. No members become employees of the Asso-
ciation.
8.2. The Association will help to generate among the different
social groups and institutions with whom they collaborate sufficient
financial backing to enable each one of the missionaries to provide
for basic needs such as room and board, clothing, travel and recre-
ation according to local circumstances of the mission where they are
working.
8.3. Funding for the Association can come from:
- contributions and gifts from well-wishers;
- dues from Association members;
- revenue obtained from any stipends received for the work of
lay missionaries;
- contributions from institutions for services rendered;
- other appropriate means.
8.4. An account will be set up with the primary purpose of reserv-
ing and investing some resources to help defray the insurance costs
and for the return to the country of origin of those members with
more than 3 years duration with full right.
8.5. The Co-ordinating Team has the duty of determining the cri-
teria for and keeping account of all expenditures. The Treasurer will
present an annual report of the accounts for approval of the Co-or-
dinating Team. The Co-ordinating Team has the task of editing and
approving the proposed balance and records of the Association which
will be sent annually for the approbation of the Superior General of
the Congragation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.
GENERAL CURIA 149

9. Relations with the Vincentian Family

9.1. The Association, with the independence of its full juridical per-
sonality and autonomy is linked to the Vincentian charism and its
spirituality; therefore in the context mentioned it recognises the
supreme authority of the Superior General of the Congregation of the
Mission and the Daughters of Charity. It is for him to:
9.1.1. Give guidelines for living the Vincentian charism.
9.1.2. See to integrity of missionary expertise.
9.1.3. Approve the Statues and their possible modifications.
9.1.4. Nominate the Vincentian priest who forms part of the
Co-ordinating Team.
9.1.5. Confirm the President elected by the General Assembly.
9.1.6. Propose possible commitments, mission areas, themes
for study, etc.
9.2. The folow-up and formation in the Vincentian charism of all
Association members requires collaboration with the Daughters of
Charity and the Vincentian associations, or persons and institutions
reflecting Vincentian charism; this spiritual accompaniment will be
animated chiefly by the Vincentian priest and the Daughter of Char-
ity on the Co-ordinating Team.

10. Amalgamation , Reform of Statues , Dissolution

10.1. The amalgamation of the Association with others who pursue

the same ends and the reform or their Statutes ought to be agreed at
the General Assembly and will require a favorable vote of two-thirds
of the members participating, as well as approval by the Superior
General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of
Charity.
10.2. The association will be dissolved by juridical decree, disposi-
tion of the competent canonical authority, or by agreement of two-
thirds of the General Assembly members, accepted in extraordinary
session, and ratified by the Superior General of the Congregation of
the Mission and the Daughters of Charity.
10.3. With the dissolution of the Association, the remaining financial
holdings coming from the liquidation will be handed over to a non-
profit making cause, as designated by the Superior General of the
Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, as pro-
posed the General Assembly among those who follow similar ends to
those of the defunct Association and who have provided for a like
disposal of its goods in case of dissolution.
 E:
FA-TURE

Mission in Latin America

The Challenge of the Sects

in Latin America

by Francisco Sampedro Nieto, C.M.

Provincial of Chile

In Europe and in the United States there is a lot of talk about the
great growth of unbelief and materialism. In Latin America there is a
similar growth of the sects. The way we talk of this phenomenon is
not always adequate or exact. We believe that the problem is that not
enough clarity has been given about what the sects are, and that we
have mixed "sects" and "sectarianism," "sects" and "fundamental-
ism," which some authors call "fundamentalist sects." Let us do some
analysis.,

I. The Problem in Latin America

In the 1960s the problem of the sects had not yet become a great
concern in Latin America. For example, at the Second Conference of
Latin American Bishops (Medellin), which took place in 1968, the
main issues reflected upon were the inequalities that brought about

'About Las sectas en America Latina we have written on other occasions:

Cf. SAMPEDRO, FRANCISCO, Raton Y Fe 226 (1992) 311-32 1. We will not repeat
what was written there, but will add to it. This is part of the project FONDE-
CYT 1971 292-1997, entitled "Nuevos Movimientos Religiosos o sectas y lib-
ertad religiosa; Criterios para una solucion juridica."
 152 FEATURE

poverty and human misery.2 As a result there was establised a strong

option for the poor.; The theme of the sects only came up in the Doc-
ument where it indicated that it was necessary to know about these
sects; they do not have interest in social problems, nor do they make
commitments to remedy them.
In the '70s there existed in the United States a special drive
toward social justice taken on by the Catholic Church. In contrast
with this was the presence and action of the sects and fundamentalist
groups.4
In the Third Conference of Latin America Bishops (Puebla),
which took place in 1979, there was more direct attention paid to the
problem of the sects., They stated that the sects had taken an aggres-
sive attitude with their propaganda and their methods of taking over;
Puebla asked that this phenomenon be studied and that the religious
piety of the people be reinterpreted." Puebla named the sects "Free
Religious Movements"; this terminology is still not adequate, be-
cause it can be confused with the free churches or the missionary
churches., In the document, the following things are spelled out
about the sects: it speaks of their tactics as an invasion; they are
aggressive , proselytizing, propagandizing, threatening, anti-catholic,
syncretic., At the same time, the Document recognizes that part of
the problem is the Catholic Church which "has not reinterpreted the
religion of the Latin America people, thus producing an emptiness
that the sects are ready to fill." It also admits that the Church has not
provided sufficient means to build up the education in the faith of
our people.' The Document also points out the positive aspects in the
sects, like the desire for community and participation, and for a more
vibrant liturgy. All of this demands a response from the Catholic
Church.
Since Puebla, there have been different documents from Episco-
pal Conferences, Commissions, Departments, or persons which have
said the same and singled out some new aspects that have kept aris-

2 Medellin, 14,1.
'Medellin, 17,7.
Cf. SAMPEDRO, FRANCISCO, Sectas y otras doctrinal en la actualidad,
Bogota 1995, 319-320.
`Cf. Documento final (1979). There are 12 sections that pertain to this
theme.
Cf. Puebla, 469.
'It must be said that there is no clarity of terminology in Latin America.
Sometimes protestant groups are included in the sects . Likewise, the growth
rate of the sects appears to be overestimated and unreal.
8 Cf. Puebla, 419, 342, 1108, 1109, 112, 456 and 1102.
Puebla, 469 and 628.
FEATURE 153

ing. Great attention is to be given to the challenges that the sects

present.10 These writings call us to self-criticism.
Moving ahead one more step, the Fourth Conference of Latin
America Bishops (Santo Domingo), which was celebrated in 1992,
returned to the same theme. But there still is not clarity in the ter-
minology used about the sects. The Document speaks of "fundamen-
talist sects," whose presence has grown increasingly since Puebla; 11
then, it presents us with the New Religious Movements (NMR) which
are, for us, the sects properly so-called." So we move to make a brief
critical analysis.

a) About the fundamentalist sects

These groups propose Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is

important to have a personal experience of Jesus. The center of the
message.... We believe that this is the reason Santo Domingo gave
such special attention to these groups called "fundamentalist sects."
They are defined like this: "The fundamentalist sects are religious
groups that insist that only faith in Jesus Christ saves and that the
only foundation of faith is the Sacred Scripture, interpreted in a
personal and fundamentalist way, which is why they exclude the
Church, and insist in the nearness of the end of the world and the
last judgement." 13 The same can be applied to many groups called
"evangelicals."
As far as their characteristic attitudes, we see that they use very
inappropriate methods in their visits to homes; they accomplish their
ends by giving literature that twists the truth, with money and the
latest technology to back them up.14 They ask for strict adherence to
their teachings and are aggressive against the Catholic Church. They
read the Bible literally and out of context and with no connection to
the life of the Church. They manipulate the use of social communi-
cations, tithing, and the emotional side of things."
It is also clear that when these groups move into Latin America,16
they search out the most vulnerable people: migrants, people who
feel abandoned and with great material problems, simple people

° Cf. Bocii, JUAN, Para conocer las sectas, Navarra 1994, 208 ss.
Santo Domingo, 140.
z Cl. SAMPEDRO, FRANCISCO, "Religiones, sectas y evangelizacion desde
Santo Domingo," en Medellin 87 (1996) 135.
" Santo Domingo, 140.
" Santo Domingo, 139-140.
Santo Domingo, 38.
Santo Domingo, 26.
 154 FEATURE

without any formation in the faith.', This is a challenge for the Cath-
olic Church, which ought to be more an evangelizing Church and
thus filling up the emptiness of so many.

b) About the New Religious Movements (NMR)

Santo Domingo gave this name to the groups that we call "sects
properly so called." It defines them as "eclectic religious forms which
satisfy their identity and human longings." 18 The current types of this
phenomena are:

Para - christians or Semi -christians : Jehovah Witnesses and Mor-

mons. They are characterized by their proselytism, millenarianism,
and their organized businesses. We also call them pseudo-christians.
Here we also include Christian Scientists, the children of God, Moon
and the International Way (Branches)."
Esoterics : Spiritualists, Rosacrucians, Gnostics, Theosophy, etc.
They are characterized by seeking out special illuminations, religious
cultism, and secret knowledge.
Philosophies and Oriental Cults : Hare Krishna, Divine Light, Anan-
da Marga, and others. They meddle in mysticism and experience.
Of Asiatic origin : Here are clustered all the groups derived from
Buddhism (Sikh, etc.), from Hinduism (Yoga, etc.), and Islam (Fe
Baha'i).
Social Religious : this is where we place the Moon sect, the New
Acropolis, and electronical churches. They consider themselves the
experts in objective ideology, politics, and use conversion, healing,
and modern means of communication.
Divine Cures : These are centers that are dedicated to spiritual and
physical healings.

This classification is disputed,'° but it allows us to make refer-

ence to the sects that now exist in this continent of hope.

"Santo Domingo. 141.

"Santo Domingo, 147.
"Cf. SAMPEDRO, FRANCISCO, Evangelicos v Sectas, Santiago 1992, 25.

20 Which is why we made another classification: cf. above, 25-27. We also

allude therein to possible causes of these groups. Cf. Santo Domingo, 147-149.
FEATURE 155

H. The Growth

Much has been said about the high growth rate of sects in Amer-
ica. I believe that the high percentages reported are not real and are
due to what was said earlier here, that evangelical groups are united
with fundamentalist sects and sects properly so-called (NMR):

In the first place, Jeffrey Klaiber affirms:

"More and more, the expansion of the fundamentalist groups
and the non-christian sects in Latin America is arousing great inter-
est among the social scientists. This phenomenon makes one think
that Latin America is experiencing a cultural revolution perhaps
more important, inclusive, and enduring that any political revolution.
According to the most recent calculations, approximately 40 million
Latin-Americans are protestants. That is to say, about 10% of the
population. In Brazil, about 20% of the population is protestant. In
Chile, between 20% and 25%. In Guatemala, it is estimated at 30%.
In Nicaragua, about 20%. On the other hand, protestantism has not
had as much growth in other countries, like Colombia, Venezuela, or
Uruguay. It is important to point out that the groups that grow the
most are not from among those called "historical churches" (Luther-
an, Anglican, Methodist, or Presbyterian), but "fundamentalists," also
known in the United States as "evangelicals." In Chile, for example,
about 80% of protestants belong to the pentecostals (the Pentecostal
Methodist Church). According to David Stoll, author of a recent book
on this theme, if this actual rate of growth is maintained, in the year
2020, 57% of the population of Brazil will be protestant; in Puerto
Rico, 75%, and in Guatemala, 127%.""

Hermenegildo Zanuso says:

"There is an irresistible growth of 11% annually of the churches
and sects that are moving into Latin America. From the beginning
of the 20th century the non-catholics in Latin America numbered
50,000, and now they number 40 million; at this rate of growth, in 14
years they will be some 140 million. Every day, more or less 8,000
Catholic Latin Americans become protestant." 22
At the same time the growth described here does not always bear
out as projected. Regarding Chile, it is reported that there was a
growth in the protestant population from 20% to 25%. Nonetheless,

21 KLAIBER JEFFREY, "Cambios religiosos en America Latina y entre los

hispanos de Estados Unidos," in Revista Teologica Limense 3 (1992) 334.
22 ZANUSO HERMENEGILDO, Iglesias v sectas en America Latina, Mexico
1989, 5.
 156 FEATURE

the 1992 National Census put the percentage of protestants at 0.8%,

and of evangelists at 12.4%, totaling 13%. However, the decrease of
Catholics since the 1970 Census has been only 3.9%. The differ-
ence in those figures is considerable. And you have to admit that a
census, even with its limitations, is the most complete global statistic
we have.
Nonetheless, we must recognize the problem of the sects and
NMR and the decrease in the number of Catholics. We are of the
opinion that the decrease comes from three factors: 1) the certain
growth of pentecostals and other evangelicals, especially fundamen-
talists;" 2) the sects and NMR; 3) the atheism and unbelief that has
reached from 5.8% in some countries to 11% in others.24
It also must be said that the sects or NMR, although smallest by
percentage, are especially dangerous. It is very important that we
scrutinize them and make serious pastoral and juridical remarks
about them.

III. Pastoral Challenges

The Document of Santo Domingo presents challenges and im-

portant pastoral guidance regarding the fundamentalist sects as well
as the NMR.Z` Without diminishing their value, we propose these pas-
toral responses.

1. Response concerning the search for the Absolute. Being

human, a religious being looks for an encounter with the transcen-
dent, the divine, the mysterious. Our evangelization and pastoral
work offers the true way of meeting with God. He is the absolute who
searches us out. He is the "totally Other" who fulfills the life of every
person.
God responds to the ultimate questions that modern man con-
tinues to ask. Jesus can fill the desire for the experience of which
post-modern man looks. Still, everyone needs illumination and ori-
entation in following the better way.

2. Formation of persons . Always, but very especially in these

times, we need a serious and profound formation. Only with it can

'; In countries like, Chile Pentecostals would be estimated to make up

75% or 80% of the evangelicals. Cf. SAMPEDRO. FRANCISCO, Sectas en America
Latina..., 317.
24 Cf. Evangelicos y sectas, 40.
`Cf. Santo Domingo, 141-147 and 150-153. "Sobre las sectas fimdamen-
talistas" cf. Navarra (1994). This is a good contribution.
FEATURE 157

we resist the great variety of religious thought, ideologies, or sects of

all types in the modern world. We think that formation should take
place at three levels:

a) General and systematic formation . After Vatican II many

beautiful things were written. But perhaps what was missing was a
systematized formation that presents all the fundamentals of the
Catholic faith. In this formation everyone should touch upon revela-
tion and faith, Christ, the Church, the sacraments, and the future of
the human race. If our Catholic education were more solid, perhaps
some of our catechists and many of our faithful would not abandon
the Church. What happened to then? What went wrong? Certainly
we cannot be Catholics like our elders, but we must be prepared to
defend our faith and our hope.
b) Biblical formation. The Bible is a major attraction. Many
say that they went to other groups because there they were taught to
read the Bible. Surely they use the Bible a lot, and just as surely it
can be abused. Sometimes it is a means of attracting people and win-
ning them over. Catholics must know more about the Bible, be able
to use it, and be able to find readings in it. There have already been
some steps taken to form bible studies, bible circles and workshops,
etc. But there is so much more to be done.
c) Specific formation in knowing how to refute them. The
biblical texts and thoughts used by some evangelists and sects are
not numerous. When one knows this and is prepared to answer
them, they have very little success. Their doctrine is simple. It would
be excellent to prepare Catholics to understand the poor use some
religious groups make of their doctrinal points. It would be very
useful to prepare our Catholics to ask questions about things that
do not make sense in what they are saying. Thus, if they say that
Christ is not God, one can show them some bible passages that
refer to his divinity. One cannot dialogue with the sects, but one
can ask questions. When we ask such questions, they will not know
how to respond because they are only prepared to sell their own
goods.,,,

3. More " personal " apostolic work, and accompaniment. The

sects have no other type of apostolate but that of "one on one." A
young person proposes a thought to another, a friend to a friend. In
this way there is a great chance for success. In our Church such a
personal approach is just beginning. We generally minister in large
groups. We have to develop more means of home visits and personal
contact.

26 Cf. SAMPEDRO, F RANCIsCO, Las Iglesias cristianas, Bogota (1996) 99-115.

 158 FEATURE

Such personal attention and accompaniment is desired by so

many people. The longings deep within the mystery of the human
person are usually only seen by God, the director of our spirit. For
this reason, the sects encourage people to speak with their gurus and
spiritual leaders. These undertakings employ special guides.

4. More participation of the laity . All that has preceded these

remarks demands a greater force of lay ministers in the Church. And
of course "we are all the Church." Only with collaboration with the
laity can the more personal approach be realized, especially in pre-
paring them to be spiritual guides, and in cooperating in the pastoral
ministry to the sick; we cannot forget that the sick find themselves in
a very existential and religious situation. This is how many sects
work. We found that the evangelists had sent up to 10,000 mission-
aries throughout Latin America. In Chile, 1200 Mormon missionaries
walk the street nine hours a day, from Monday to Sunday, with a
three hour break each day to study and rest. In this way they dedi-
cate 10,800 hours a day to preach and convert.'' In comparison, how
much missionary work do our lay people do?
Perhaps it is for this reason that the 1986 Informe of the Holy
See about the sects and the new religious movements spoke of
reviewing the parochial structures we now have. We believe, for sure,
that there must be a change of attitude, a structure for changing the
economic contributions and an evangelizing commitment made.

5. Missionary revitalization . There are religious groups who have

occupied places we have not tended to and have taken over old mis-
sions that the Church has abandoned. Surely the traditional mission
work had its defects, but we cannot forget that it can and should be
renewed. Moreover, we cannot forget that the Church is essentially
"missionary" and every single member ought to do his part in spread-
ing the message of Christ.
It is now time to revitalize the missionary spirit and action in the
life of our faithful. By baptism, all lay people are to be missionaries.
Some evangelicals and sects have missionaries. There are some par-
ishes and congregations that have developed a missionary attitude
and returned to that work, but there is still a lot to do.

6 Youth ministry. It is said that most of those who join the sects
are young people who are finishing high school or are in their first
years at the university. Youths who are without work, middle-aged
women who do not yet know what to do with their lives and their

Z' Cf. MUIICA E., "Aumentan acciones para atraer fieles de distintos cre-
dos," en El Mercurio, Santiago , November 20, 1993, A-27.
FEATURE 159

time, and older people who find themselves lonely, also seek refuge in
sects; some sects get close to the elderly because they are interested
in their inheritances.
Our youth today, that many times do not come from solid fam-
ilies, have been let down by society and the education system. At
other times they find little opportunity for work and are left unat-
tended and misunderstood by adults. Along come the sects offering
the young person affection, a group to belong to, treating the youth
as "someone." They offer a new vision of humanity, of the world, and
of history. This speaks to the young person.
In our ministry we should dedicate more energy to working with
young adults. This is not always easy, but the person of Jesus Christ
attracts them. On both parish and college levels, we need specially
trained persons dedicated to helping young people become more
involved in the participation and work of the Church.

7. Experience of God . We live in the days of "feelings" and the

search for experience. We have spoken with people who have entered
the sects in search of the occult, finding the experience they needed.
In the sects one finds exercises, techniques, cults, and every class of
strange activities.
We believe that we in the Church have failed to bring our faithful
to experiences of prayer. We are rich in methods of prayer, but we
fail to teach them. Christian meditation is the best, because it brings
us into communication with the true God and helps us know the
truth. Nevertheless, this means of prayer does not reach the majority
of Catholics. There is much to do in this area.
On the other hand, our liturgy, Without loosing its dignity or fall-
ing into vulgarity, has to he made more attractive, participative and
alive. Many say that they do not understand it or they find it boring.
In the experience of God, the word of God, the Holy Spirit, methods
and personnel and communal practices of prayer are important. The
faithful ought to know that they are loved by a personal God and
they should have a personal experience of Christ.

8. Base Communities ( Comunidades eclesiales de base ). Human

beings aspire to community and need it. One pays more attention to
an individual in a small group. Relationships can develop. This is
what many people seek in the sects and in small groups of evan-
gelicals. We believe that our CEBs can respond to these needs. In
these groups the person is treated as "someone," who can take a
more active role, is recognized, reads and reflects with others upon
God's Word.
The parish itself should be a "community of communities." This
would come closer to what many Catholics are seeking in other
groups. In this way, better interrelationships would develop, the shar-
 160 FEATURE

ing of experiences and testimonies, which means a great deal to

many people.

9. Mass media . We live in the time of mass media and we need to

put it to the service of the New Evangelization. The media has
such a dominant place in the culture, that it must have a prominent
place in the present and future living and sharing of the Christian
faith.
The evangelicals and other sects constantly utilize the mass
media. In our Church, there is much left to be done in this area. We
also have to take into account "cultural identity" and the problem of
inculturation. We have to be able to talk to people of this age, who
demand simple language with adequate responses.

10. Information . The problem of the sects demands that we inform

people about them: what they are, their doctrine, their tactics, and
the dangers. In this way we have a preventive ministry that will keep
many from falling into these groups. Usually we are working from a
curative mode, that is, after they have joined the sects; then every-
thing is more difficult. We must remember that a sect is easy to enter
but very hard to leave.
To reorient those who have come back to us in an adeguate man-
ner, we ourselves must be informed. Only then can we give a per-
sonal and adequate pastoral orientation. It is very important to know
the sects, their mode of operation and the dangers involved; since it
is impossible to know all of them one should at least have a good
bibliography to be informed when necessary. Being informed we can
inform and help others.

11. Family ministry. The family is both subject and object of evan-
gelization. An evangelized family that lives as a Christian family, in a
real faith relationship as spouses, parents and children, is much less
likely to fall into the hands of the sects. Sects try to divide and
destroy families. Many times it is one of the spouses or one of the
children that leaves the faith. We need to have an adequate cate-
chesis beginning with early childhood, which teaches faith and
prayer. The whole family ought to be united in prayer, reflect toge-
ther on God's word and participate together in the Church.
The unformed family with problems is a ripe field for the sects to
work on. The Christian family that is well formed is protected against
the sects. The evangelizing family helps other brothers and sisters
against the sects.
The sects or New Religious Movements also present legal chal-
lenges which surface in the United States; in Latin America there is
little problem in this area. The sects are dangerous and affect not
only the family, education, the person, but also the governments as
well. They work their way into the economical and political situation.
FEATURE 161

We cannot go on any longer here, but we want to conclude by

affirming that our continent ought to be very conscious of this great
challenge facing the Church from without and from within, where
there are many reasons why the sects are growing. Only in becoming
conscious will we be the continent of hope.
 162 FF ATUlE.

The First Television Station

of the Congregation of the Mission

byJoseAlberto Orlovski, C.M.

Province of 'Curitiba

in 1994, the Congregation of the Mission launched a television

station in the city of Araucaria, in the state of Parana, Brazil. The
station is owned by the St. Vincent De Paul Foundation which is
active in education and mediums of social communication. The
Foundation is managed by members of the Congregation of the Mis-
sion and lay people from the local community.
On the practical plan, the St. Vincent de Paul Foundation is an
extension of the province which is authorized by the country's gov-
ernmental organisms to work at evangelization through the means of
social communication.
FEATURE 163

General Situation

The Foundation owns RADIO IGUA4;U AM 830 which was

founded in 1958 and TV ARAUCARIA UHF Channel 23 which was
founded in 1994. Both are located in Araucaria, a city with 90,000
inhabitants. Araucaria is only 25 kilometers outside of Curitiba
which is the capital of the state of Parana and has 1,800,000 inhab-
itants.
The radio station reaches a distance of 120 kilometers and oper-
ates 24 hours a day. Several hours are dedicated each day exclusively
toward evangelism.
The television station operates from seven in the morning until
midnight and reaches a distance of 25 kilometers.

Projects

In 1998 the television station adopted digital technology for its

cameras and video equipment which has improved picture quality.
The S-VHS system was used prior to the digital technology.
The construction of a 95-meter tower near Curitiba is expected
to be complete by December 1998. The tower will allow us to reach
the entire metropolitan region, which has a population of 2,500,000
people.

General Programming

General television programming is transmitted via satellite. The

station provides educational and Christian programming to its view-
ers. On Sundays from eight to nine in the morning, mass is trans-
mitted from the Aparecida (Brazil's patron saint) Basilica.

Local Programming

From Monday through Saturday from eight to ten p.m., pro-

grams featuring local parishes, commentaries, interviews, religion,
and the bible are transmitted. The Telediario Regional is also trans-
mitted. It focuses on local news, social issues, politics, economics,
religion, and community services. Furthermore, current events are
always interpreted from a Christian perspective.
Sundays from eleven to twelve noon, "Club TV" is broadcast con-
taining the most important news of the week, biblical commentaries,
liturgical commentaries, interviews, programs produced by religious
entities, and masses from parishes within the region.
 164 FEATURE

Values and Advantages

Before the Church obtained its own mediums of communication,

it was costly and difficult to find time slots for evangelical program-
ming despite all of the television and radio stations in Brazil. Each
day these stations place more and more hurdles for the Church to
overcome.
So much so that it is worth the sacrifice and investment for the
Church to own its own mediums of communication. The content of
evangelical programming is important so that the programs can be
used in parish catechisms and pastorals. These are the objectives of
TV ARAUCARIA, which will amplify its magnitude so that it will
reach the entire metropolitan region of Curitiba. The programs and
video recordings made at the station through the use of its digital
equipment and increased magnitude from the new tower can be used
to reach schools and communities in other Brazilian cities.
It is gratifying to see the reach of the Vincentian Fathers of the
Southern Province, who are assuming this evangelical work through
Radio Iguacu and TV Araucaria, grow. Their work is facilitated by
the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, which pervades our acts and the
lives of our communities.

(JAMES WARD, C. M., translator)

FEATURE 165

A Highway Pastoral in Brazil

by Marian Litewka, C.M.

Province of Curitiba

A Concrete Act
It happened on the Sunday afternoon of April 27, 1997. 1 de-
scended from north to south on the Autovia Transbrasilena (Brazil-
ian Highway System). The temperature exceeded thirty degrees cen-
tigrade. I was coming from Jaraqua and passed by Goiania, the
capital of the state of Goias; from there I went to Goiatuba. This 300-
kilometer journey was part of a fifty-day pastoral trip.
The trip began on April 6, 1997, as I departed from Carreteaba.
My return was scheduled for May 25, 1997. Between April 6th and
27th, 1 had traveled about 3500 kilometers across the states of:
Parana, Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais, Distrito Federal, and now I was

Frs. Mario Litewka, Miguel Staron and Jose Carlos Chacarowski

in front of the three truck-chapels of the Highway Pastoral in Brazil
 166 FEATURE

going to finish my pastoral work in the state of Goias. Only 100

kilometers remained until I reached my destination in Goiatba on
April 27th.
Suddenly at an altitude of 1340 kilometers along the highway,
one of the tires blew out. I was scared when I heard the blast. I strug-
gled to regain control of the vehicle, which landed in the middle of
heavy undergrowth. I turned off the motor and got out of the car to
assess the damage. Then I got the wheel-jack out of the car. With the
wheel-jack in hand, 1 struggled to raise the car. I tried for twenty
minutes but to no avail. I was tired and frustrated. My face, arms,
and clothes were covered with sweat and dirt.
Several cars and trucks passed near me on the highway. I tried to
signal for help but no one stopped. Since I was so dirty, they prob-
ably thought that I was a bandit. Even people who knew me probably
would not have recognized me. I was not offended because I knew
that people do not stop on the highway for fear of being robbed.
However I was worried because it late and nightfall would soon set.
I got back under the car, yet another frustration. Desperately, I got
out from under the car and went to see if anyone would stop to help
me. After fifteen minutes, someone finally stopped. I went to intro-
duce myself but the truck driver said he recognized me from the
truckers' magazines. I then explained my situation to him and asked
if he had a better wheel jack. He did. We were able to get the car
raised. Then I proceeded to take off the blown out a tire.
While we were working, he said: "The only fear I have is that
some nut will run off the side of the road and hit us."
Thanks to God, that did not happen. After he helped me change
the tire, I tried to pay him for his assistance but he would not accept
it. In parting he said, "Hey Father, I admire your work based on what
I have read in the magazines. I like your work. I am not Catholic.
I am a believer and member of the Pentecostal Church." Thinking
hack on his words, the parable of the Good Samaritan always comes
to mind.

Comparisons
The act, which I have just presented, illustrates at least in part,
the reality of the traffic and transportation in Brazil, bears many sim-
ilarities to our pastoral work.
Brazil is a country with more than 8,000,000 square kilometers.
It has a myriad of roads and highways, that cross the country in all
directions. Ninety percent of all transportation occurs by truck on the
highway. The truckers, there are over one million registered truckers,
travel day and night without stopping, tired, hot, despite inhumane
hours, pay, dangerous roads, with the threat of being robbed, sepa-
FEATURE 167

rated from their families for weeks and sometimes even months at a
time. About 50,000 people die each year on the road.
It is in this framework that we insert our Highway Pastoral. We
accompany the truckers on their travels throughout the highways of
Brazil. We bring the solace of the Word of God, the opportunity for
prayer, the sacraments, the presence of the Church, and our friend-
ship. However the main focus of our work at the end of the day is the
Highway Mass. Mass is usually celebrated at the service stations,
although it is sometimes celebrated at restaurants or garages. That is
why along with the truckers, we also attend to the needs of the peo-
ple at these establishments.

Something of History
The Pastoral on the Highway is a religious service of the Roman
Catholic Apostolic Church for the Highway Community (truckers,
bus drivers, cab drivers, their passengers, also the personnel at ser-
vice stations, automotive repair shops, restaurants, etc...).
The Highway Pastoral was initiated in 1976 in the state of
Parana, under the authority of D. Geraldo M. Pellanda, Archbishop
of Ponta Grossa. Since the start, Fr. Marian Litewka C.M. assumed
the work.
Until 1981, the Highway Pastoral was limited to the state of
Parana. In October 1981, the pastoral was extended to Santa Catar-
ina and Rio Grande, two states in the south. In 1982, we began serv-
ing the states of Mato Grosso, Goias, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais,
Espirito Santo, and Bahia.
Since 1985 sisters from the religious mission of Our Lady of Sor-
rows have assisted us in our Highway Pastoral.
In 1988, Fr. Jose Carlos Chacorowski C.M. joined the Pastoral
Highway. He developed the Highway Pastorals in the states of Sao
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, and Bahia.
Fr. Jose Carlos also initiated religious services along the highways of
Northeastern states and the states of Tocantins, Maranhao, and Para.
In 1993, Fr. Miguel Staron C.M. joined the mission and he rein-
forced our work in the states of Mato Grosso del Sur and in Mato
Grosso. He also developed the Highway Pastoral in the state of
Rondonia.
In 1996, Fr. Germano Nalepa replaced Fr. Jose Carlos who was
given another assignment within the Church and our Congregation.
We travel on all the highways in the Brazilian States except for
those in the states of Amapa, Roraima, Amazonas, and Acre.
Along the way, we visit about 7000 service stations and other
road side establishments each year. We work 220-250 days on the
 168 FEATURE

highways each year. Masses are celebrated at over 1400 service sta-
tions across the country.

Our Lady of the Highway

We selected the Virgin Mary, with the title of Our Lady of the
Highway, as the patron of our pastoral work.
The original portrait for Our Lady of the Highway is in the "del
Gesu" Church in Rome, Italy. It was painted by an unknown artist
around 800 years ago.
Since 1976 we have distributed, after every mass, images of Our
Lady of the Highway on posters and flyers. We have placed more
than 300,000 copies of the image in the hands of the people.

Is the Highway Pastoral Viable in Other Countries?

There is no doubt. For our part, we would like to see the High-
way Pastoral in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. In Brazil,
we help many truck drivers from neighboring countries; we also
know that thousands of Brazilian truck drivers travel on the high-
ways of neighboring countries. It is important that the truck drivers
in all Latin America, at least those in South America, feel the friendly
and comforting presence of the Church in their lives, work, and on
their journeys.
I believe that the Highway Pastoral is viable in other countries if
it is tailored to the individual characteristics of each country. For me,
it was an inspiration, excellently organized, although different from
our "Pastoral of the Road" in Spain.
Who knows if our twenty-two years of experience can be utilized
in other pastoral situations. For example, when I visit Paris, France
and travel on the metro, watching the multitudes of dehumanized
people I think: what an excellent missionary assignment it would be
to have a priest treat travelers as friends, brothers, distributing flyers
with Evangelical messages, giving his undivided attention to whoever
needs it. But that would require an enormous amount of humility,
patience, and hope.

(JAMES WARD, C.M., translator)

FEATURE 169

Mission of Tierradentro - Colombia

"Cue'sh quiwe - our Land"

byJorge Louis Rodriquez, C.M.

Province of Colombia

Talking about Tierradentro means talking about one of the most

beloved and significant missions of the Vincentian Missionaries in
Colombia. Entering this territory for this first time generates the sen-
sation of entering the deepest part of the earth. This is how it derives
its name. The majestic mountains, which emerge side by side along
the Paez River, are like giants guarding a treasure filled with culture,
history, and legend.
It is a region where materialistic poverty is contrasted by human
richness, where the past is marked by a people's suffering and efforts
 170 FEATURE

to achieve a prosperous future. A region where the influence of' the

modern world brought by the colonists was blended together with
the autonomous cultures of the various ethnicitics (the indigenous
people, the slaves, and those who came from other parts of the coun-
try in search of fortune) that inhabited the region.
Its inhabitants have suffered from a forgotten history, abandon-
ment, violence, and destruction. The colonization of the "white man"
destroyed everything in its path. Later nature exhibited its force
against the people in 1994 by an earthquake and a subsequent ava-
lanche of mud and rock from the Paez River. An inhabitant described
the event in this manner, "For us the avalanche was not a natural
phenomenon in which water and debris descended on an inclined
topography. No, for its the avalanche was an intelligent being, maybe a
serpent with a crest as its head or maybe a dragon who at its whim
unleashed some of its destructive force, in all cases an animal."
Tnspite of the pain left behind by the avalanche, the Tierradentro
community is reborn with the hope of recovering what was lost. The
grave cultural and environmental consequences have made the recon-
struction difficult. Most of the indigenous population was relocated
to other areas outside the region.
For 77 years, the presence of the Vincentian Missionaries in the
region has responded to this complex reality through embracing and
learning about the life, culture, and problems of the inhabitants. This
effort is centered on the following five aspects: working with the laity,
the vocational pastoral, education and culture, the indigenous pasto-
ral, and the social and means of communication pastoral.
The lay ministers are a force within the Church. Tierradentro is
no exception. The great distances between one community and
another make frequent visits difficult especially on Sundays for the
mass celebrations. This is why each community together with the
parish names a representative called the "Animator of the Word" who
is in charge of the Word of God in the absence of mass. The Anima-
tors of the Word and the Catechists are also responsible for spiritu-
ally animating the community. Both the Catechists and the Anima-
tors of the Word receive periodic instructions from the Center of
Catechists. The Center of Catechists is composed of a Vincentian
Missionary, the Daughters of Charity, and some lay ministers. The
goals of the Center are to assist Catechists in their understanding of
the Bible, liturgy, and Christian development, to assess parishes,
and to help the lay people with their responsibilities within the com-
munity.
The Center of Catechists is divided into 12 parishes: Calderas,
Togoima, Vitonco, Caloto, Belalcazar, Ricaurte, Pedregal, San Luis,
lnza, Turmina, ltaibe, and Rio Chiquito.
For many, a local church such as the one in Tierradentro is the
final stop on the road to the priesthood. Two seminaries that respond
FEATURE 171

to diverse realities are the John Gabriel Major Seminary and the Paez
Indigenous Seminary.
The Paez Indigenous Seminary , in addition to vocational respon-
sibilities, teaches indigenous young men to become leaders within
their communities . This is reinforced by working with families and
the community . The seminary teaches principles of the Christian
faith , cultural values, and the preservation of the indigenous lan-
guage . It is staffed by Vincentian Missionaries and professors.
There are 11 students studying philosophy and religion in the
Tierradentro region . Although the numbers may be nothing more
thanstatistics , they signify hope that the Church is growing day by
day within the region.
The region has six priests, two of them from the indigenous pop-
ulation.
Most indigenous communities tend to disappear with the influ-
ence of " white culture ," especially with the loss of the native lan-
guage , customs, and traditions . This is why a bilingual radio station,
Radio Eucha , was established eleven years ago to preserve the native
culture. "Eucha " is the traditional greeting of the indigenous people.
During its years of service, the radio station has given the poor a
place to voice their feelings, concerns, and complaints . Radio Eucha
is for the people, of the poor, and by the poor . The poor usually have
something to communicate but often lack the resources to do so.
The station 's focus is on analyzing and examining current events
within the community and the world . It offers daily programming
that is interactive, evangelical , informational, recreational , and edu-
cational . The station promotes cultural events, community projects,
and the activities of various local organizations . It stays abreast of
what is going on in the region.
Social aspects within the community are addressed through the
DIT Desarrollo Integral de Tierradentro (The Integral Development of
Tierradentro ). It seeks to provide guidance on health problems, daily
life, society, and promotes women 's rights. These issues were magni-
fied with the tragedy of 1994 . As a result, the Department of Social
Pastoral was created to better deal with these issues. Through the
efforts of a Vincentian priest , three sisters, three lay ministers, and
various families, emergency housing was constructed . Furthermore,
several houses that were partially destroyed were reconstructed. They
have also helped families within the community establish agricultural
and industrial businesses. DIT has also helped women in the com-
munity setup and run businesses that feature crafts by local artists.
Additionally, the group emphasizes the role of lay people in promot-
ing human rights and economic solidarity.
DIT has also played an important educational role within the
community.
 172 FEATU RE

The Daughters of Charity assist in the education effort by in-

structing professors at the National Teachers College . An essential
part of pastoral work is to recognize the need to reflect, investigate,
and to integrate and permeate further into the community each day.
This is necessary in order to understand the needs of the people we
intend to evangelize.
All of these evangelical efforts seek to increase the Word of God
in the community not just as a sign of hope, but as a force that
guides the progress of a community that has always kept God in the
lives of its people.

(JAMES WARD, C.M., translator)

FEATURE 173

Confronting the Challenge

of Catholics who Leave the Church
The Pamphlets of "Mission XXI"

by Honorio Lopez Alfonso, C.M.

Province of Saragossa

In the 1970's, the non-catholic confessions had 10 million follow-

ers in Latin America. By the year 2000 they will be 140 million. The
desertions among Hispanic immigrants in the United States continue
along the same statistical line. More than 90 percent of these people
belong to the popular classes, poor people in the majority. As a goal,
the Amanecer Program (started by several denominations) hopes to
capture 50 percent of the population of Guatemala by next year. For
other countries the goals are less optimistic, but no less ambitious. In
Chiapas, Mexico, the Catholic population went from 91.21 percent in
1970 to 67.62 percent in 1990 and the decrease has continued in
these last few years.
In the 1980's, the missionary agencies of the churches and New
Religious Groups (NRG's) from the United States and Canada invest-
ed a billion dollars each year in support of different non-catholic
denominations. Today that figure has doubled. In Mexico, the Jeho-
vah's Witnesses alone have more than a million publicists. The mag-
azines, books, pamphlets, cassettes, videos, etc. of this group alone
outnumber by far those of the Catholic Church in the country, even
if we include parish bulletins. In the Federal District of Mexico there
are 390 bookstores dealing with esoteric subjects. How many exist in
Madrid and Saragossa? (In the wealthy countries, astrologists are
three times more numerous than chemists and physicists.) Here, and
this is only one more example, the denomination called the Mexican
Church o/f Christ - they only have ten thousand members - is pre-
paring a whole team of communicators for the day when religious
programming will be possible on the national television networks. In
the days of the Reformation, the nascent Protestants won the battle
especially by means of books, pamphlets, catechisms, fliers and other
things made possible by the still new and marvelous printing press.
Today, the New Religious Groups (NRG's) and the sects are also win-
ning, not in small part, through the huge possibilities of the media.
 174 FEATURE

Nevertheless, I do not believe that the cause or the blame for the
desertions by simple Catholics is the sects or NRG's. It hurts me to
say it, but I am sure that the fault is our own, the Church, and it
seems to me that Providence is challenging us through these new
groups brimming with life and fundamentalism, evangelism, Meth-
odism, pentecostalism and conservatism (shake contents well before
using!). They have good intentions - or, at least, they do their work.
In a confusing world, which is increasingly unjust and culturally
fragmented, they offer security, participation, strong and warm
human relations, hope of getting ahead, a morality with clear guide-
lines, alive liturgies and - the Bible! (Also indoctrination, manipu-
lation, strong marketing, submission, exploitation and other ingredi-
ents that the critics and reality highlight.)
Last summer I participated, as a Catholic layperson, in a Mass in
a church in Madrid de las Asturias. In a beautiful, but half-empty,
church, an educated and thoughtful celebrant, delivered a prepared
homily, but we, the laity, were an audience. As I left, I was sure that
the murnniies of Guanajuato would not have participated any less
than we did, except for our moving to receive communion. It is an
example that can be found in most of our countries and which,
although it does not happen in the parishes of our province, may not
be the exception. The cold, doctrinal reasoning, clericalism, cate-
chesis as a formality, the minimal participation of the laity, the lim-
ited presence of women in different ministries, cheap morality, the
routine, the unbelievable religious ignorance, the scarce inculturation
- especially among the poor -, the ridiculous wars between semi-
conservatives and semi-progressives, the near-sighted contentment
and pride because we have a few active groups which consume eighty
percent of our energies, the minimal use of the media... none of this
is the fault of the sects or NRG's. We could also add, without trying
to complete the list, the practical unconsciousness of Catholics,
whether they are members of the hierarchy or tie salesmen, when
faced with the significance of the new religious offerings to the
majority.
Moreover, the large ecclesiastical structures seem, at times, like
old panting dogs incapable of climbing a hill. And the small struc-
tures are like little enclosures with the narrow but friendly horizons
of home. The NRG's and sects bear none of the blame for this. If they
are unhealthy (because of manipulations, doctrinal distortions and
anti-ecumenical proselytism) that does not make us well (because
our spirit and zeal have been anesthetized).
And "our inheritance is the poor" and the evangelization of the
poor. From 1620 until today, the Huguenot de Montmirail - faced
with the spectacle of the ignorant and abandoned poor - asks Mon-
sieur Vincent, "And you want to convince me that this is under the
direction of the Holy Spirit?"
FEATU RF; 175

On the other hand, the patient reader might be asking himself,

"And what does this long (hut partial ) development have to do with
the pamphlets of Mission XXI?"

"What solution can we give, Monsieur Vincent?"

(XI, 669)
Our reality inevitably affects us if we are not deaf to its voice. The
confrere who works in the prisons will see this world as the criticism
of social systems and he will see it with real faces. The confrere who
teaches will perceive, from that perspective, the deterioration of
many families, the loss of values in society and the difficult marriage
between placing tuitions within the means of the poor and sustaining
the quality of the means of education and teaching. (There are also
many positive things in each case which always outweigh the nega-
tive.)
My lot fell in another part of reality: the media (La Milagrosa-
Yelda) and the needs of young people (cursillos and retreats) first;
then, in Mexico, the formation of our students (philosophers and
theologians). Next, I was allowed to work completely in the world of
the poor, for whom I had come, in two well populated parishes in the
neighborhoods of Netzahualcoyolt, and from there - and later from
the provincial house - I published the magazine Mission XXI.
Finally, I had the blessing of working among the Hispanic immi-
grants in Los Angeles for ten years. I also had the opportunity to give
missions and mini-missions in Mexico and northern California. Nei-
ther in my times at Yelda nor in the seminary in Mexico did I have
my eyes open to the painful reality of the religious ignorance of the
masses or the attacks by the sects. I knew something on a theoretical
level, but very little, and none of this was incarnated in concrete
faces. Subsequently - except when giving retreats or formation
weeks to the sisters and priests - 1 experienced this problem every-
where: the poor are not evangelized, the poor are abandoned to their
fate (which the system imposes on them).
There are attempts at renewal - small communities, family and
youth movements, biblical circles or their equivalent, alive parishes,
renewed catechesis, basic ecclesial communities, missions, institu-
tions for helping and human promotion, pastoral wisdom from the
bishops, theological discussions for the erudite - but the majority
are abandoned. And the structure of ministries in the Church has
something to do with this. The retreat from the creative world of cul-
ture and from the means of communication which vulgarizes culture
has something to do with this. But no less responsible is the general
insensitivity and lack of consciousness towards the means of com-
munication, the lack of preparation among pastoral agents and the
 176 FEATURE

lack of will where the decisions are made for creating experts in com-
munication and media which can reach the masses.
Yet, how can we reach the masses today if not through the
media? Does anyone know a miraculous formula that can do it?
What can we few followers of St. Vincent do? In the time of our-
founder, Paris was a city and the other populated areas were smaller.
The laborers were comparatively numerous and the means of com-
munication in their infancy. Moreover, illiteracy was the norm.
Today we can laugh at the tele-evangelists and take a certain delight
in their scandals and manipulations, but this does not resolve our
problems. We can write off as fanatics the publicists of the Jehovah's
Witnesses, but this does nothing to help the masses. We can belittle,
from our posture of superiority, the soap-operas and talk shows, but
they, some of them, are getting to the masses whom we call (rhetor-
ically?) our inheritance.
Or do we lack confidence in the power of the Good News
through the media? (When I become aware of someone in the prov-
ince putting Vincentian texts and news on the Internet, it fills me
with joy and gratitude.) If it can be expressed through Platonism and
Aristotelianism or even through the newer Marxism, why cannot the
Good News be expressed through the culture of the media? In the
Bible - and not only there - the Holy Spirit also works by means of
writing. John Paul II speaks in RM about the new areopogi for evan-
gelization. The first one that he points out (not so new, certainly) is
that of communications and he laments the fact that the media have
been left to the initiative of individuals or small groups and enter
into pastoral planning only at a secondary level. How do they enter
into the planning of the C.M.?

The Media and the Masses who are scarcely evangelized

or are not evangelized at all
If I have given a resume of personal or biographical data - min-
imal and ridiculous in themselves - it was to explain the dreams and
ambitions of Folletos Mission XX1. The ups and downs of my life put
me in contact with these two realities: the poor masses and the means
of communication (in their poor version). The magazine Mission XXI
was a modest attempt to connect the language and the concerns of
these masses with evangelization by this medium. But, the problem
was its small circulation. So I planted - with the competent author-
ity - the possibility of creating popular pamphlets with a larger cir-
culation (this was at the end of 1982), but the suggestion was not
considered. In 1984, with the collusion of the owner of a print shop
- who waited for payment until I had distributed the copies - I put
out, anyway, forty thousand copies of a twenty page pamphlet, which
FEATURE 177

were distributed in a few months. (Of course from this simple pam-
phlet, which was an expansion of an article from the magazine, other
editions were made: in Mexico , el Servicio a la Iglesia AC; in Puerto
Rico, the tireless Fr. Sadaba put out 150.000 copies; and in Hondu-
ras, Fr. Jose Luis Echarte published it. I cannot remember the num-
ber of copies.)
Still, I am part of a community and if it does not assume as its
own these tasks, freeing someone for the job, how could the work
continue? I was not interested in pursuing something which might be
more a personal whim than a mission. With the first pamphlet I - as
positivist as Comte and the fanatics of the Vienna Circle - wanted to
verify whether things were as I thought, or subjective dreams. The
verification did not turn out badly and confirmed overwhelmingly the
hypothesis, but it convinced only me. With these and other circum-
stances, during the ten years I had been in Mexico, 1 returned to
Spain at the end of 1984.
After several months of a renewal course, Fr. Rafael Sainz and
his council accepted me into the province of Saragossa and I was
sent to Los Angeles. I had a small treasure of knowledge regarding
the popular Mexican world and connecting with those dear people
from Talpa was easy for me. I worked there - with the exception of
a few months in San Francisco - from 1985 until 1995. But, once
again , due to the reality of the attacks by the sects and the ease with
which not a few simple Catholics are confused because of the reasons
mentioned before, there arose in me the impulse to try something.
In fact, many works of catechesis, formation courses in the faith,
week-long workshops, house by house missions, etc. arose from the
same concern. But, as always, the people whom one touches are, in
any case, a minority, even in a populous parish like Talpa. I contin-
ued with this concern like a person who has a promise to fulfill. In
January 1995 I returned once again to Mexico for retreats with the
sisters. One evening, three or four young Mexican priests invited me
to dinner at a restaurant near Coyoacan. Among them were Fr. Ben-
jamin Romo, then the Visitor, and Fr. Manuel Gonzalez (presently
the Visitor). Amidst the food and spicy sauces, we spoke of the prob-
lems of the country, pastoral problems, the religious ignorance, the
sects and the abandoned masses. There was born the decision to
present to Fr. Carlos Esparza, Visitor of Saragossa, the possibility of
attempting a collection of popular pamphlets in Mexico, with my
coming to these surroundings to begin the project.
 178 FEATURE

Finding the means, producing the pamphlets

and creating networks
I came to Mexico at the end of 1995 to the house at Leon, Gua-
najuato. I came with three clear commitments with regard to the
pamphlets:

1. finding economic support,

2. writing and publishing the pamphlets, and
3. creating a network of distribution so that the pamphlets
could be placed with the people in whom we were interested.

With publications the same thing can happen as with direct pas-
toral work: contacting very few people and thinking that everything is
going well because a few fans sing our praises.

What perspectives are opened by the pamphlets?

The printed pamphlets constitute the first part of the job. With
time, when we are doing about the tenth one, we will begin a line of
cassettes and, later, videos. These are the plans. Moreover, possibly
this year, I will begin another small collection of the pamphlets with
only half the number of pages. The reception has been very positive
in the places where they have arrived. The sects do the preparatory
work for us: they upset the people, move them, leave them with ques-
tions which they do not know how to answer. And so the people are
more open and committed to obtaining the pamphlets. (In Leon, the
first Sunday that we put the first two numbers on sale, they bought
518 copies and that is in a small community which is not even a par-
ish.) There is some hope that the other provinces of America will
publish and distribute the pamphlets in their respective countries, as
Fr. Sadaba already does in Puerto Rico.
I should also say that the pamphlets are not about the sects or
against them. They are for simple Catholics and about the great
themes of our faith, about its social dimension, and about the points
on which the sects sew confusion in the masses of the poor. This is
the objective: evangelization, not controversy, even if I do use some
controversy for literary purposes. Some parishes are already using
the pamphlets as materials for groups and for missions. I know of a
nursing school which uses them for formation in the faith, and I
know other stories, but the goal here is not to continue telling edi-
fying anecdotes.
That is the way things stand for the moment. From January 19th
until the 24th, we had an official visitation in Los Angeles. I partici-
pated in it, but also took advantage to visit some pastors about the
FEATURE 179

pamphlets and I had an interview with someone who works in the

newspaper, La Opinion, and who presented me with the possibility -
with good terms - of announcing the pamphlets in the paper. More-
over, I have ready for the printer a flier in color to make the pam-
phlets known (Spanish for Mexico; Spanish and English for the
United States). But, do youu know how much it costs for an envelope,
flier, two or three copies of the pamphlets, sending them to a thou-
sand or two thousand places and paying the postage? These and
other similar decisions cannot be made if the continuity is at risk.
Finally, for those who have put up with this up to here, I give
you my gratitude. I also thank the authorities who have made possi-
ble this enterprise and those who continue supporting it. In Mexico,
the confreres help me a lot, especially the provincials previously men-
tioned. I am also grateful to those who work in the parishes and with
parish groups and the Vincentian lay groups.
Ozanam, who struggled through the press of his time, said to his
friend Cournicr in February 1835: "The humanity of our time seems
to me like the traveler mentioned in the gospel. It also, while it fol-
lows the route which Christ has pointed out, has been assaulted by
thieves, robbers of thoughts, by evil men who have taken the best of
its possessions: the treasure of faith and love; they have left it naked
and unconscious, weeping and bewildered along the road...." Today,
the same thing happens to the abandoned masses, but by more subtle
and effective means. Religious ignorance, the sects and their offer-
ings, the lack of pastoral attention, the esoteric programs, the econ-
omy of sharks dressed as neo-liberals, the scorn and ridicule of their
faith by the greater part of the media are different forms of this
assault on the poor masses. In the Retiro Madrileno [a great plaza in
Madrid], there is a host of tables with amulets for all kinds of super-
stitions, and radio programs offer the same. What can we do to bring
the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth to these masses? The pamphlets
do not resolve the problem; they are only a simple attempt to support
other attempts.

(JOHN P. PRAGER, C.M., translator)

STUDY
An Upside-Down Sign
- The Church of Paradox -

by Robert P. Maloney, C.M.

Superior General

As Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, the British fifers at

Yorktown sensed the dawn of a new era. They struck up a popular song
of tribute to the revolutionary spirit that reigned in this foreign land:

If buttercups buzzd after the bee,

If boats were on land, churches on sea,
If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse,
If summer were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be upside down.

The new world announced by the gospels abounded with such

paradoxes. Jesus, his apostles, and the early Christians loved to use
them in teaching. In the Kingdom of God the last are first and the
first last. Those who save their life lose it; those who lose their life
save it. The humbled are exalted; the exalted humbled. Those who
mourn will rejoice; those who laugh will cry.
The evangelists, especially Luke, see the world upside down, so
to speak. The coming of Jesus ushers in a new era: the reign of God
is at hand. In it the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, the gentle
are conquerors, sinners become saints, the dead rise - all paradoxes.
Clearly, Jesus' use of paradoxes startled his listeners, shook their
presuppositions, and drew them to examine their lives in light of his
puzzling statements. As he challenged the way they viewed God, the
world, material goods, and life itself, paradoxes were one of his
favorite instruments for sounding the call to repentance.'

'Cf. JOHN MEIER, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, New York 1994, vol. 2,
p. 146.
 182 STUDY

The challenge for the Church, sign and servant of the Kingdom,
is to live these paradoxes. The Church is a vivid sign and an effective
servant to the extent that the energies of the Kingdom work within
her. As she preaches God's word, she herself is subject to it. Conse-
quently the paradoxes of the New Testament must find a prominent
place in her life.
Of course, the Church is not merely the hierarchy, but all its
members. We are the Church, God's people. Let me suggest some
ways in which these paradoxes express themselves in the Church's -
in our - life.

1. When the Church saves her life, she loses it; when she loses it, she
saves it.

The Church must not be too concerned about the Church. She is
for the Kingdom. Her ultimate concern lies there. She is a servant of
the Lord and a servant of the world in view of the Kingdom. Rather
starkly, the Lord promises her a full share in his sufferings and
death. His paradoxical saving must always ring in her ears: "One who
loses his or her life will save it."Z
In that perilous context, the Church can be utterly confident that
the Lord takes care of his own. Luke's gospel, the most paradoxical of
them all, brims over with sayings about God's providence. God loves
his chosen ones in the dramatically varied experiences of human
existence: light and darkness, grace and sin, plan and disruption,
peace and turmoil, health and sickness, life and death. The risen
Lord walks with them, listens to them, speaks with them. He accom-
panies them in their suffering and dying and raises them up in the
power of the Spirit. In times of crisis his Spirit teaches the members
of the Christian community what to say and how to act.
The Church, therefore, must not be overly preoccupied about
herself and her own future; otherwise she will be too timid in times
of crisis, too silent when confronted with evident evils.
Some, over the many years of the Church's history, have been
strikingly unafraid to lose their life, since they were utterly confident
that they would thereby save it. There have been countless martyrs,
known and unknown. Sometimes they stood together in great num-
bers, strengthening one another by their faith, like the martyrs of
Nagasaki, of Uganda, of China, or of the French and Spanish Revo-
lutions. At other times they stood almost alone. Franz Jagerstatter, an
Austrian peasant, refused to fight in Hitler's army when many other
much better educated members of the Church cooperated, or re-

' Mk 8:35; Mt 10:39; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25.

STUDY 183

mained silent, as Nazism crushed human rights and committed

incredible atrocities. In Reformation England, Thomas More and
John Fisher went to their deaths largely abandoned by fellow politi-
cians or fellow bishops, most of whom found reasons to accommo-
date themselves to the king's desires.

2. The poor are rich . The weak are strong.

Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul , the founders of the

Daughters of Charity , used to say this to the young women who came
to their community:

Everyone loves to see the king and queen. People stand on lines
in the streets for hours to catch a glimpse of them. They come
home excited to tell their families, "1 saw the king and the
queen today ! They passed right by me in their carriage ." But in
the Kingdom of God the poor are the royalty. You have the
privilege of seeing them every day, of listening to their needs, of
serving them . What a wonderful gift God has given us if only
we can see tivith the eyes of faith!

We may be tempted to think that it is just the saints who talk

that way! But actually , the saints only highlight what the New Tes-
tament clearly states to all of us: the real royalty in the Kingdom of
God are the poor. Those who are really powerful are those bereft of
power. The poor Christ ushers in the Kingdom of God. The crucified
Lord, in his weakness , stands at the center of history.
This paradox has two striking implications . First , the Church, if
she is to be truly Church, must be the "Church of the poor," as
John XXIII said at the opening of Vatican II. Today, with great insis-
tence , the Church asserts her preferential option for the poor. She
reminds us again and again that the proclamation of her social doc-
trine is an essential element in the new evangelization.' One must
surely ask , however, whether this teaching has dug deep roots in the
life of the Church globally, or whether , at least in many parts of the
world, it remains an eloquently stated , but still theoretical assertion.
A second implication of this paradox is that the Church herself
must be content to be "powerless ." St. Paul points out that many will
regard this as "foolishness ." But the crucified Lord , the foolishness
of God , is present today, as always, in the "crucified peoples." The
Church will find her greatest vitality when she is at ease among them,
at the grassroots , where they suffer . The measure of the Church's

Centesinnis Annus, 5.
I Cor 1:22.
 184 STUDY

strength is not her political influence, nor her prestige in any given
era, it is her ability to live in solidarity with the powerless. Her pre-
eminent weapons will not be her influence in the corridors of power;
her strength will be the word of God, as it proclaims the truth, and
the witness of sacrificial love, as it proclaims the abiding presence of
the crucified Lord.
There is a perennial temptation to which the Church can easily
succumb: to love to be with the wealthy and powerful rather than with
the poor and weak. In some ways this is understandable. Wouldn't we
all like an invitation to dine at the White House! Yet the real Church
heroes are those who dine with the needy, who ladle out soup in a
hostel for the homeless, or who search to find the causes of poverty
and ways of eradicating it.
A few years ago, during the Synod on Consecrated Life, I thanked
Cardinal Bernardin for a moving homily that he had given on prayer
one evening at a tiny church in Rome. He told me that he had really
learned to pray, and to feel God's strength, during the terribly trying
months in which he had faced false accusations. It seems to me that it
was then, and in the months of his dying, that he was most powerful
as a Christian witness.

3. Those in charge are the servants.

Few assertions are clearer in the New Testament. Jesus repeats

this lesson over and over to his apostles: "The leaders of the gentiles
lord it over them but it is not to be that way among you. The one
who is first of all must be the least of all and the servant of all, for I
am in your midst as one who serves.", In washing the feet of his
disciples, Jesus demonstrates this conviction as a parable in action.
As one who exercises authority in the Church, I know how easily
one can forget this lesson. One gets used to commanding. Of course,
it is necessary to make decisions; at times, in fact, one must be quite
decisive, for better or for worse. But leaders in the Church, even as
they make decisions, are ultimately servants.
They are, first of all, servants of God's word in its many forms.
As servants of the word, they must be good listeners. The scriptures
form the foundation upon which all their decisions are to he built.
The words of the community too have a high place on the list of cri-
teria for discernment. In the Church, the leader is never separate
from the community, nor the community from the leader. Together
they form one body, "hearers of the word," as Karl Rahner so often

' Cf. Mt 20:25-28; Mk 10:42 -45; Lk 22:25-27.

' Jn 13:1-20.
STUDY 185

put it. The servant leader does not dictate to the community; rather,
as one who emerges from it, the leader utters the community's deep-
est beliefs and concretizes her practical judgments.
Listening always involves risk for a leader. It may force me to
change my mind, or even to change my life! Occasionally, out of fear
or even out of a conviction that we "possess" the truth, church lead-
ers (and others as well) do not listen. "They have ears, but do not
hear. 7 Sometimes too the structures of authority - the bureaucra-
cies, the curiae - become hard-of-hearing, impervious to outside
influence; rather than serving others, "they lord it over them," as
Jesus stated. But the best of leaders are good listeners. They meditate
on the words of the gospels, the cries of the poor, the calls of the
Church - all voices through which God speaks. They are genuine
servants.
Two of the best servants whom I have ever known were former
provincial superiors. One, whom I lived with, would do anything in
the house: washing floors, making beds, cleaning toilets. Another had
the true "simplicity of a little child," knowing how to listen endlessly,
discern, and offer wise advice. I am convinced that both had grown
in servanthood during their years of leadership.

4. Even sinning provides an opening to the good (or, to paraphrase

Paul's letter to the Romans: " where sin abounds, grace abounds all
the more).

Felix culpa (0 happy fault) is one of the Church's loveliest tunes.

It is a hymn to God's mercy. We chant it with joy every year at the
Easter Vigil. Who is not moved by the story of the penitent woman in
Luke's gospel who washes Jesus' feet with her tears and dries them
with her hair? Who can fail to be struck by John's touching accounts
of Jesus' conversations with the Samaritan woman and with the
woman taken in adultery?
Actually, the gospels make it clear that some are unmoved; in all
these stories there are observers standing nearby, shaking their
heads. Unfortunately, the dangers of "pharisaism" and "perfection-
ism" have always plagued the Church. Every era has its inquisitors
and its pelagians. There are always some who are too eager to expel
sinners from the Church, who are not patient enough to let the weeds
and the wheat grow together until the harvest. But the "holy Church"
is also the "Church of sinners." Paradoxically, the two groups help
one another. In fact, they are not really two groups; each of us lives

' Mk 4:12; Mt 13:14 ; Lk 9:10.

'Rom 5:20.
 186 STUDY

more or less as members of both. As John's first letter puts it,' we

deceive ourselves if we say that we are without sin. We are harshest
with others when we fail to recognize our own sinfulness; we are
gentlest when we know that we too have often fallen.
The startling belief of the Church is this: we become truly holy
only when we recognize that we are sinners. We can praise God even
for the workings of sin in our lives if it leads us to cone to him with
humble, exuberant confidence. Those who have been forgiven much,
love much. The Kingdom is a home filled with God's mercy: "This my
child was lost but has been found. He was dead but has come back to
life again. "'() The author of Hebrews sings out: "Let us confidently
approach the throne of grace to receive mercy." "
Some of the Church's most illustrious members emerged from
shadowy pasts: Peter, Paul, Augustine, to name just a few. We are in
good company if recognition of our sinfulness becomes one of our
strengths.

5. Giving is better than receiving.

Like all paradoxes, this not a universal principle that can be

applied to every case. At times it is better for us to receive than to
give, especially if we are among those who hate to be on the receiving
end of things!
But the Pauline saying, sometimes judged to be an actual saying
of Jesus, has been a constant challenge for the Church: "It is much
more blessed to give than to receive." Riches are always a great lure.
On the one hand, material things are surely good (God created
them!); on the other hand, paradoxically, they easily draw us away
from greater goods, particularly from practical love and concern for
those who are less fortunate.
One of the paradoxical sayings that was hardest for his disciples
to understand was "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of
a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God." Riches tend
to isolate us. They surround us with a world where our pleasures,
even our whims, are easily satisfied, where we become cut off from
the pain and needs of the poor, where lavish entertainment is readily
at hand, where praise is abundant and honest criticism is often lack-
ing. I remember visiting the home of a rich man who asked me quite
sincerely, "Are things really as bad in this country (his own!) as peo-
ple say? Are there really that many people without work?" I saw that,

9 1 Jn 1:8.
Lk 15:24.
Heb 4:16.
STUDY 187

at heart, he was a very genuine man, but I also saw, with sadness,
that wealth had built a wall around him and that he rarely exited
from his enclosure.
On the other hand, I know a number of rich people who have
passed through the eye of the needle. In fact, I will always recall the
day when I was taking part in a board of trustees meeting and some-
one stated: "We need a van to transport people and supplies to the
soup kitchen." The chairman asked: "How much will it cost?" The
person answered: "$ 20,000." A board member looked up and inter-
jected very simply: "I'll take care of that. Let's move on to the next
point." After the meeting I went up to him and said: "That was very
generous. Thank you." He responded: "I was just reading that saying
about the eye of the needle and I told myself: you'd better do some-
thing good with all that money you have!"
Money must flow outward in the Church on all levels - from the
laity, the hierarchy, the clergy, religious communities. It should be a
means for expressing our love rather than for insulating ourselves
from others. Pauline sayings abound in this regard: "Those who sow
bountifully will also reap bountifully," "God
12 loves a cheerful giver." 13

A final word about this upside-down sign , which is the Church.

Paul's awareness of the presence of the Kingdom has a wonderful
sense of urgency: "I tell you, the time is running out. From now on,
let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not
weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its
present form is passing away." "
Theologians have attempted to describe the paradoxical nature
of the Kingdom by saying that it is here "already," but "not yet" fully.
Its energies are at work among us now by the power of the Risen
Lord, but we await its fullness when all things are finally restored in
Christ.
This already-not-yet tension places the Church in a paradoxical
position even in regard to time. She adheres to the past, with its rich
tradition, but is not shackled to it; rather, she develops it, constantly
mediating between the word of God and contemporary circum-
stances. She attends to the present, but she is not coerced by its
demands; rather, she is continually discerning what is of God and

2 Cor 9:6.
2 Cor 9:7.
" 1 Cor 7:29-31.
 188 STUDY

truly promotes the human person, in contrast with what is of sin and
ultimately corrupts humankind. She looks forward to the future, but
not with anxiety; rather, she awaits the Lord's coming with confi-
dence knowing that "eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it
entered into the human heart what things God has prepared for
those who love him."],
A letter written at the end of the first century summed up the
attitude of Christians in this way: "There is something extraordinary
about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they
were passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor
under all of the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their home-
land but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign
country.... They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the
desires of the flesh. They pass their days upon earth, but they are
citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that
transcends the law. Christians love all, but all persecute them. Con-
demned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but
raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many. They arc
totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suf-
fered dishonor, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindi-
cated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to
insult. For the good they do, they receive the punishment of male-
factors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of
life." )n Very paradoxical.

1Cor2:9.
Letter to Diognetus, 5-6.
VINCENTIAN
BIBLIOGRAPHY

ROBERT P. MALONEY, C.M.

Des saisons dans la vie spirituelle

Reflexions sur la spiritualite vincentienne
dans le monde d'aujourdhtui

Published by the Congregation of the Mission, Rome, Italy, 1998

(192 pages)

This is the French translation of Fr. Maloney's third book which

appeared under the title, Seasons in Spirituality. Reflection on Vincen-
tian Spirituality inToday's World (published by New City Press, New
York, 1997). You will find a review of the book in Vincentiana 1997/6,
p. 503. The French edition is available through the Visitors and Vis-
itatrixes of the French language provinces (and, also, at the Procure,
Maison-Mere, 95 rue de Sevres, 75006 Paris, France).

M. IRENE FUGAZY, S.C.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Published by Signe, Strasbourg, France, 1997 (56 pages)

This beautiful, large size, well-illustrated book on glossy paper

presents the life of Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first saint born in the
United States. Wife, mother, convert to Catholicism, then foundress
of the Sisters of Charity, she gave herself in works of charity, espe-
cially through teaching, to the service of the poor in her country dur-
ing the first half of the 19th century. The book also presents the
members of the community she founded, who have become the Fed-
eration of Sisters of Charity, in their life and apostolates today. (The
text is in English.)
 1 90 VINCENTIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

YVES KRUMENACKER

L'ecole franFaise de spiritualite

Des mystiques , des fondateurs, des courants et leurs interpretes

Published by Cerf Editions, Paris, France, 1998 (660 pages)

This book is the fruit of seven years of work in a Research Sem-

inary at the Catholic Institute of Lyon by representatives of the com-
munities of the French School of Spirituality.
It is a "summa," covering the various trends which issued more or
less directly from Berulle from the origins to our day. In spite of its
enormous volume, it does not try to get into a technical discussion on
each theme, but simply to "make the point," by opening some leads.
After a first chapter which recalls the origin of the expression "French
School of Spirituality," which came about recently and outside of this
"school," its ambition is first of all to reproduce the thought of the
founders as exactly as possible: Berulle, the Carmelites under his influ-
ence and the first Oratorians, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac,
Jean-Jacques Olier, and Jean Eudes. Not forgotten are the Jansenist
trends which took their inspiration from certain views, but deviated
from them (chapters lI to V). These spiritualities have in common a
deep sense of the greatness of God and of adoration, as well as our
condition of creatures, a contemplation of the relationship among the
Three Divine Persons, and the central place accorded to the Incarna-
tion, to the divine humanity of Jesus, continued through the Eucharist
and the Church, especially among the poor in whom, as Vincent de
Paul adds, Jesus is really present. Thus, all insist on apostolic com-
mitment, in connection with the bishops and founded on baptismal
spirituality and the dignity of the Christian, of every baptized person.
The work continues by discussing the various interpretations and
popularizations throughout 300 years which left certain aspects of
the original spirit forgotten or deformed, while continuing to live the
essential in the original institutes and in many new institutes of the
same spirit. Chapters VII to IX clarify well these transformations and
rebirths with Henri Marie Bourdon, Charles Demia, Jean- Baptiste de
la Salle, Grignon de Montfort, etc., up to the Mission of France in the
20th century.
Chapter VI treats basic questions common to the whole on
anthropology, contemplative theology and the apostolic commitment
intimately tied to contemplation.
Is it necessary to add that a Vincentian will find herein enlight-
enment not only on St. Vincent and St. Louise, which will revive
what we already know, but on their epoch and the network of rela-
tionships which helped to develop their thought and action; these
strengthen us today where we also are steeped in networks of spiri-
tuality and action (Bernard Koch, C.M.).
VINCENTIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY 191

ALoislo D. GOCH, C.M.

0 Meu Heroi Vicente de Paulo

Published by Grafica Vicentina Ltda, Curitiba, Brazil, 1998
(320 pages)

This book, divided into 80 chapters, is a life of St. Vincent writ-

ten in the style of a novel, in simple lively language. It is intended
for young people who reject dry works. Through historical personal-
ities and authentic facts, presented in their chronological context in
an effort to be faithful to history, the author presents a portrait of
St. Vincent, his character, personality, organizational sense, faith,
and supernatural vision of the poor and the abandoned.

LUIGI CHIEROTTI, C.M.

La S. Vincenzo giovanile in Italia e la sua storia

Published by Cooperazione Vincenziana, Genoa, Italy, 1998
(80 pages)

This small work describes the life and commitment of the young
of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Italy, whose first conference was
founded in Genoa in 1846. Though not a history due to a lack of
sufficient archives, the author depicts these young people for us, in
particular from the recollections that he got from them themselves.
So, he speaks about the "Ozanam Camps," the "Christmases toge-
ther," and other charitable activities or educational projects of these
young people as well as their development in Italy.

COLLECTION

Liturgia de las Horas

Familia Vicentina

Published by Tipografias Editoriales, Mexico, 1998 (568 pages)

This book of the Liturgy of the Hours was conceived as an

instrument of ecclesial and Vincentian prayer. Its purpose is, on the
one hand, to help those who are becoming initiated little by little to
the prayer of the Church and, on the other hand, to give the Vincen-
tian Family an instrument for prayer in common. It contains the
offices of Lauds and Vespers, spread out over four weeks, as well as
 1 92 VINCENTIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compline for one week. While respecting the usual structure of the
offices, some elements have been introduced which help us to deepen
the value of our vocation and the Vincentian charism. Thus, each
psalm is preceded by an introduction, a brief explanation on the con-
tents and the message that it offers us. The hymns chosen have the
themes of vocation, mission, service, charity, evangelization of the
poor, and Mary. The short readings, taken from scripture, invite us to
reflect on justice, charity, evangelization, and the virtues specific to
the Vincentian charism. Finally, there is a collection of hymns for the
various liturgical seasons and another for the Vincentian Family, as
well as the entire proper of the Vincentian Family.

GEORGES -ALBERT BOISSINOT, S.V.

La vie spirituelle selon Vincent de Paul

et Jean-Leon Le Prevost
A la reneontre de Dieu

Published by Editions Fides, Montreal, Canada, 1997 (208 pages)

This work makes a connection between the spirituality of St.

Vincent de Paul and that of Jean-Leon Le Prevost, founder of the
Religious of St. Vincent de Paul, who took his inspiration directly
from his patron saint. Their teachings coincide considerably.
After a brief account of the journeys of Vincent de Paul and Le
Prevost, there is a study of nine fundamental themes of their com-
mon spirituality. The originality of Fr. Le Prevost will be made evi-
dent especially in the subject of certain themes which are particular
to him, such as: the Christian family, the role of Christian lay people
in a society becoming secularized, certain aspects of Marian piety,
etc. Moreover, the author adds considerations for interpreting their
thought in relation to our world and our present issues.
 VINCENTIANA
Editor:
Emeric Amvot d'Inville, C.M.
Editorial Board:
J. Ignacio Fernandez de Mendoza, C.M.
Rolando Delagoza, C.M.

Autorizzazione del tribunale di Roma del 5 dicernbre 1974, n. 15706

Responsabile : Giuseppe Guerra , C.M.

PRINTER:
TIPOLITOGRIFIA Uco DETTI
VIA GIROIAMO SAVOSAROLA, 1
00195 Ro.\r \ - ITALIA

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