Becoming a Missionary Church

by Thomas L. Garlitz

When I first arrived in the Joliet Diocese nearly fourteen years ago, I stated to a gathering of pastors that my goal was to see every parish with one long-term missionary serving in the field. That would mean 120 long-term missionaries representing this Joliet Church around the globe. To this date, only several of our parishes have had members serving terms of a year or longer on the mission field.

The good news, however, is the success of our short-term missions. Through the Partnership In Mission, the Joliet Diocese has sent 1000 missioners to serve on two week missions in various locations around the world over the past dozen years. This is truly a marvelous work and a wonder. This experience has been transformative not only for those individuals who have participated, but for the parishes who have supported them with prayers, encouragement, and often finances.

But what of the vision of one long-term missionary for each parish? Has experience proven this to be a pipe dream, and not a vision? My wife comes from the Mennonite Church, a faith tradition that is missionary to the very core. In visiting various Mennonite congregations in years past, it always seemed to me that every congregation had someone serving someplace in mission. A picture of their missionary might be posted in the back of the church, or prayer reminders would be printed in the bulletin, or a special collection was being taken to support their work. Recently I did a study just to see if the facts would bear out my impressions. One Mennonite mission board, facilitating the work of several small conferences, the Mennonite equivalent of Catholic dioceses, comprised of about 27,000 members, reported 239 full-time missionaries. That represents one missionary for every 112 members. If we were to take this formula to the Joliet Diocese, which numbers 660,000, we would be supporting an astounding 5893 full-time missionaries! That’s right, Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Ninety Three Missionaries! My meager120 no longer seems worthy even to be called a vision.

Somewhere between the actual number of three missionaries, my goal of 120, or the application of the Mennonite formula of 5893, is God’s vision of mission for the Joliet Diocese. In future articles, I will explore some of the challenges to discovering this vision.

• How can people be sent, if they are not first called?
• How do we properly form those who are called?
• How do we finance a missionary movement?
• How do we do Catholic mission in an increasingly individualistic and congregational church?

The first and primary challenge we must face, however, which I will address in this article, is the need for a scripturally based theology of mission.

The Mission of Christ

Our theology of mission must be challenged by Scripture and the wisdom of the Church’s tradition rooted in the experience of missionary saints such as Francis, Xavier, Daniel Comboni, Blessed Damien, and Mother Teresa. Recent years have seen a drift toward an understanding of mission that is secular in nature, a human program encouraging social, economic and political development as the sum total of mission, and either equating this progress with the Reign of God, or dismissing the need for the missionary’s involvement in a transcendent message altogether. The proper respect for other Religions and the acknowledgement of the presence of God everywhere and in all has eclipsed the belief in the uniqueness of Christ and the need for Redemption. It is true that the Reign of God cannot be confined to the Church, but neither can it be separated from it.

The work of the Partnership In Mission certainly attends to temporal needs, but not to acknowledge the spiritual needs of those we serve is to do them a great disservice. It is to not recognize the complete nature of our humanity - body, soul and spirit. Do we not sense our own need for a Savior? Do we not testify to the awakening and deepening of our faith during our time in short-term mission? Then how can we not desire that others find the fullness of Salvation that is theirs in Christ as well? All people, whatever their culture, whatever their religion or lack thereof, have this spiritual hunger. Mission is a work of the Spirit. It can not be reduced to a human endeavor only. When we lose the centrality of Christ in our message and work, when we diminish the need for redemption and salvation, we lose our sense of urgency; we lose the eternal necessity of the call to missionary activity. When Christ is not at the center of our work the fire of mission grows cold. If we are to become a Missionary Church we must first embrace the centrality of Christ. Missionaries can not be ashamed of the Cross.

( See “On the Permanent Validity of the Church’s Missionary Mandate - Redemptoris Missio” chapters 1-2-3)