In 1990 the late Pope John Paul II issued a new encyclical entitled 'Redemptoris Missio' subtitled 'On the permanent validity of the Church's mission mandate.' The reason for the encyclical was to counter confusion which had developed in the Church about the essential missionary role of the Church. Was mission over? The question was of serious concern for missionary societies like our own because the reason for our existence was and is to be missionary.
New insights had dealt body blows as to how we understood mission then. For example, we were encouraged to dialogue with other religions. In some people's minds this innovative approach implied that we were not to try to convert members of other religions but to make them 'better' Muslims or 'super' Buddhists. Proselytising suddenly became politically incorrect.
The other new perspective that shook people was that God was already present in other religions and people could be saved through them. The obvious implication was: why worry? Stay home and leave the people of the world alone because they don't need missionaries. Until these new insights had been integrated, the impetus for missionary activity was lessened.
Responses were forthcoming: it is true that salvation is possible through other religions but the fact is that we believe that Jesus is God and Man and therefore relationship with Him and fullness of redemption in Him is worth proclaiming.
Another insight is that God is present not only in other religions but also in peoples' cultures, therefore we ought to 'take off our shoes' (a sign of respect) as we approach another culture with our missionary presence. It was a sign of a new attitude and approach towards missionary work and the beginning of the end of models of mission that were paternalistic and civilising, the end of comments like the following: "We must convert the savages to Christianity!"
One of our aims for all Columban publications has always been to publish stories about people in cultures other than our own and to put a human face onto them even as missionary attitudes changed through the years.
The atrocities committed by the Japanese Military Police (in the story, 'Fr Francis' dilemma' as published in the July issue of The Far East magazine) have to be balanced by the heartbreaking article, 'Born to be Loved' (by Fr Seamus Cullen) about parents in Japan whose Catholic faith is a bulwark against despair. Contrasting parental familial love with the brutality of the Japanese military police who executed Fr Francis Douglas, is to compare normal human responses with inhuman effects of war on soldiers. Who is typically Japanese, the parents or police?
We must not lose sight of the basic humanity of all people in all cultures. Missionary perspectives have changed along with our understanding of other cultures and peoples. But one constant still remains: we demonise people who are unacceptable to us for whatever reasons. Asylum seekers are in this predicament. Notice that we do not see photographs of their ordinary human faces up close expressing emotions? They are usually out of range in detention camps. In denying them their humanity we start to lose our own.
Fr Gary Walker
director@columban.org.au
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LISTEN TO: 'Born to be loved' by Fr Seamus Cullen |