Mission Update
United States
Jubilee: Restoring the Sabbath Way of Life
By Brian Swarts
National Field Organizer at Jubilee
USA.
Introduction
It has been 7 years since the Jubi-
lee 2000 campaign put debt on the
international agenda and com-
pelled rich world leaders to pro-
vide debt relief to more than 20
nations. Yet, even with the pro-
gress we've made on debt cancel-
lation, impoverished countries are
still sending our government and
the IMF and World Bank $100
million in debt service payments
each day. Moreover, poor people
in Liberia, Haiti, Democratic Re-
public of Congo are facing unac-
ceptable delays and conditions on
debt cancellation. 2007 also
marks the halfway point for the
UN Millennium Development
Goals, and the Sabbath Year is a
reminder that these goals cannot
be met without ending the debt
drain on poor countries.
#1
http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/economic/
debt/KAIROSUpdate_Debt_April05.pdf
In accordance with the Sabbath
Year, the Jubilee USA Network
has introduced the Jubilee Act for
Responsible Lending and Ex-
Volume 17, Issue 3
Catholic Mission Association
tended Debt Cancellation (HR
2634) into Congress. This bill
will provide full debt cancella-
tion to all countries that need it
to meet the UN Millennium De-
velopment Goals.
The highlight of the 2007 Sab-
bath Year is the Cancel Debt
Fast advocacy campaign (read
more at www.jubileeusa.org/
canceldebtfast.html). This is a
40-day rolling fast, from Sep-
tember 6-October 15, during
which it is expected that more
than 20,000 supporters of debt
cancellation will fast for a day or
more and on the same day, con-
tact their member of Congress to
urge their support for the Jubilee
Act.
The Jubilee movement is rooted
in the practice of the Sabbath
Way of Life. Therefore under-
standing both the urgency and
the conscience of the movement
and our 2007 Sabbath Year be-
gins with an understanding of the
roots of Sabbath practice and
what they mean for todays
world.
The Sabbath Way of Life
In the biblical story the practice
of Sabbath is meant to reflect
first the creative and the redemp-
tive acts of God. Today, though,
it seems that Sabbath has be-
come more of a theological sym-
bol than a real practice. Nothing
could be more counter to the
original vision of Sabbath.
Gods creative and redemptive
acts are not limited to a single
US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
We Pray
day or confined to religious that following Christ
activities or people. The biblical
teachings on Sabbath have as joyfully,
much to say about everyday life
issues like agriculture, economics
all missionaries
and politics as they do about
religion. Or more accurately,
may know how to
from a Sabbath perspective there overcome the
is no distinction between reli-
gious practice and, for example, difficulties they
economic practice.
meet in
The biblical story shows that
Israel struggled with Sabbath
everyday life.
practice much as we do today. Benedict XVI
There is an amazing story about
an Israelite king (Josiah) where
we read that the religious leaders In This Issue
had actually lost the scrolls of
Jubilee: Restoring the Sab- 1
Torah that contain many of
bath Way of Life
Gods most important instruc-
tions on Sabbath practice. The From the Director 2
Israelites had drifted so far away
From the President 2
from genuine Sabbath practice
that they actually lost Gods
2007 Mission Appeals 5
original instructions on Sabbath.
These scrolls were discovered Dedication - Hecker Center 5
when Josiah ordered a long over-
due cleaning of the temple. Their Focus on Debt at the UN 6
discovery sparked a revival in
Israel. I am convinced that redis-
Intercultural Formation for Center
Mission
covering true Sabbath practice
today would also spark a revival. Essay Contests 7
Teaching Resources Available 7
Nearly 1,000 years later we still
find the Israelites struggling with What USCMA Members are 8
Sabbath practice. According to saying
the prophet Amos, the Israelites Papal Message for Mission 9
were participating in Sabbath Sunday
festivals and offerings but God
told Amos that these practices DVD Review 9
were detestable and meaningless
because although they had all the Conference Brochure 10
trappings of Sabbath, they had Resources & Upcoming Events 12
none of the substance (Amos 5).
Orbis Books 12
contd on p. 3
Mission Update
From the Executive Director
Rev. Michael Montoya, MJ
I hope you have had some time to relax
during the summer months. For us at the
office, these summer months have been
days dedicated to networking, collabora-
tion and meetings with various groups
and agencies. Despite what you hear, the
state of mission in the U.S. is very much
alive through the various groups, indi-
viduals, and you. Keep kindling the pas-
sion for mission in whatever contexts you
are and please do share with us your sto-
ries. Inform us of the various mission
activities and programs that are happen-
ing in your areas so we may, in turn, in-
form others and invite them to participate.
Together, we keep Gods mission alive in
our local contexts!
We are very excited about our upcoming
Annual Mission Conference, Are not
our hearts burning? A Spirituality of Mis-
sion in the 21st Century, which will be
held in Austin, Texas on October 26-28,
2007 at the Wyndham Garden Hotel. If
you have not had the chance to read the
program, please do so and see the quality
of speakers we have lined up. Ron Rol-
heiser and Gerry Arbuckle will be our
keynote speakers together with 15 others
in the Dialogue Sessions and panel. This
Conference promises to be a very impor-
tant and relevant one. Your own expertise
and experience will certainly deepen our
mission perspectives. If you have not yet
registered, there is still time to do so.
In line with the Conference, the Nominat-
ing Committee of the Board and the sub-
committee on Resolutions are now gath-
ering the information collected and final-
izing both the slate and the resolutions
which will be sent to you soon. Thank
you for all the suggestions and for the
insights shared.
Some of you have been helping in many
different ways to make sure that the Con-
ference will be as good as it can be.
Thank you for the generosity and support.
With the number of people involved, we
can say that this Conference is truly our
conference!
The lead article in this Mission Update
Page 2
Fall 2007
reminds us in this Sabbath year that the
challenge of poverty is very much alive, From the President of the Board:
especially in areas where many of our mis- Sr. Mary McGlone, CSJ
sioners work. The Debt Issue has a human
face. It can be seen in the faces of people Dear Friends and Colleagues in Mission,
we encounter day in and day out in the
missions. May this article motivate us to
act more concretely for the poor of this
As we are in the final preparations for
world and use our worldwide networks to our Mission Conference, I want to take
promote solidarity and strengthen our re- one more opportunity to ask your help
solve to end poverty! We are, after all, a in recruiting new membership. Those
people whose preferential option is the of us who have been members of
poor. USCMA for some time are aware of
how rich an experience it is to come
Speaking of our global reach, there is no together. We are also cognizant of
how the face of mission is changing as
question that the world indeed has become
more laity and religious become in-
smaller and globalized. With it is a more
volved in a variety of part-time mis-
pronounced challenge for missioners, par-
sion experiences around our country
ticularly in areas of formation for mission.
and the world. We know how much
Intercultural Formation for Mission
presents to us a real challenge and a con- USCMA has to offer them, but like the
crete opportunity to be effective witnesses Ethiopian reminded Philip, How can
and proclaimers of the Good News. We they know unless they have someone
hope that this Periodic Paper written by to guide them? Please consider en-
Bill Burrows will open up more discus- couraging new membership as an im-
sions and lead way to more creative re- portant contribution to Mission in the
sponses towards the challenge presented. U.S. and to our Association.
Lastly, by the time you receive this Mis-
sion Update, we will be preparing to
Now, while I am discussing contribu-
tions, I want to tell you that in Novem-
launch our 2007 Annual Gift-Giving Cam-
ber we will be making our Fall Appeal.
paign. You will remember that in years
You and/or your congregation will be
past, we used to have two Membership
receiving a request from USCMA to
Appeals. It has been two years since we
help us meet our expenses and thus, to
decided to make just one appeal. This An-
continue the traditional and new pro-
nual Gift-Giving Campaign in Fall is im-
portant for USCMA to continue to effec- grams USCMA offers the Church in
tively fulfill its mandate. We ask that you the U.S.
be generous based on what you are able to
give.
Most of all, we are looking forward to
being together in Austin.
Let us keep the passion for mission alive
Gods Blessing on each of you.
in our hearts!
USCMA Staf f
Rev. Michael Montoya, MJ, Executive Director
Ms. Charlotte Cook, Associate Director
Sr. Anne Louise Von Hoene, MMS, Accountant
Sr. Michael Theresa Brauer, SND de N, Administrative Assistant
Questions/Comments re: Meetings & Conferences meetings@uscatholicmission.org
Questions/Comments re: Mission Update / Current Topics news@uscatholicmission.org
E-Mail: uscma@uscatholicmission.org Web Site: www.uscatholicmission.org
Tel: 202-832-3112 Fax: 202-832-3688
US Catholic Mission Association
Mission Update
contd from page 1
The shortfalls in Sabbath practice continue in the New Testament
story. It is Sabbath practice that is the most common point of con-
tention between Jesus and the religious authorities Israel. In their
eyes Jesus was continually breaking the Sabbath while, like Amos,
Jesus was actually seeking to point out that what they called
Sabbath was a cheap imitation of the real thing.
What was missing from Israels understanding and practice of Sab-
bath? Why was it so challenging to get it right and why does it
continue to challenge us today?
We have tried to make Sabbath conform to our way of life, rather
than to conform our way of life to the Way of Life. We need to
expand our conception of the Way of Life beyond a common term
for a way to spiritual salvation. Like all the creative and redemp-
tive acts of God, the Way of Life encompasses creation itself and all
of human activity.
Sabbath Practice Then and Now
How do we move beyond the intangible and the theoretical to the
prophetic and the practical? I want to provide two responses to this
question: 1) A brief review of the economic and political practices
of Sabbath in scripture, and 2) A description of a powerful, contem-
porary example of Sabbath practice the Jubilee 2000 movement
for the cancellation of debts and an end to economic practices tanta-
mount to debt slavery!
Sabbath Economics in Scripture
Economic principles represent some of the most fundamental as-
pects of Sabbath practice. In addition to letting the land rest every 7
years, debts were also forgiven every 7 years and lands were re-
turned to their original owners every 50 years, as part of Sabbath
practice. The common interpretation of this is one of economic
justice: redistribution of wealth to help the poor. Yet there is a
more profound significance in our modern context.
This redistribution limits not only the monopolization of wealth, but
it also limits economic growth itself! The Sabbath vision of eco-
nomics was that each family would be assured enough to meet its
needs, but it would discourage people from accumulating signifi-
cantly more than they need. This, of course, is heretical in todays
economic system where the mantra is more is better. But lets
consider these modern realities of our global economic system: 1)
We are witnessing a rising cost, both in environmental and human
terms, of limitless pursuit for growth. The value of human life is
frequently traded for profit and non-human life is often given no
value at all. 2) We live in a world where a single person can be
worth $50 billion while over a billion people struggle to live on less
than a $1 per day. 3) Increased wealth does not deliver increased
happiness or well-being. Bill McKibben, in his recent book Deep
Economy, highlights global research reports that economic growth
only brings us real satisfaction up to the point of meeting our basic
needs (about $10,000). Certainly, people deserve a living wage,
adequate health care, and food security, but beyond this we spend
most of our time working to acquire wealth that does not make us
any happier.
US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
The Sabbath vision of economics provides a compelling critique of the
world we live in today, and should lead us to question whether our way
of life is in contradiction to the Way of Life. In the 19th century, philoso-
pher and political economist, John Ruskin, invented a comparison that
may best describe our economic situation today. He contrasted wealth
and illth. He used wealth to describe the outcomes of economic activi-
ties that enhanced life, not just for individuals, but for society and for our
eco-systems. Illth, on the other hand, described the outcomes of eco-
nomic activities that degraded life. I believe that what most of us con-
sider wealth today is really illth.
Sabbath as a Challenge to Unjust Leaders and Practices
In the teachings of Jesus and the prophets we see true Sabbath practice as
a challenge to unjust leaders. Amos rebukes religious leaders because
they were practicing Sabbath on one day of the week, but the rest of
week they showed no concern for the widow, the orphan or the poor.
Similarly, Jesus used the Sabbath to highlight political injustice in soci-
ety. In his first Sabbath sermon he read from Isaiahs proclamation of
jubilee for those who, even today, often have no political voice: the poor,
the imprisoned and the lame. Even through his healings on the Sabbath
he unveiled the hypocrisy of religious leaders. Rather than conform their
societies to the vision of Sabbath, leaders had tamed the Sabbath to prop
up their positions of religious and political power.
Sabbath practice, as the Way of Life, demands the same challenge to
unjust leadership today. The vision of Sabbath, especially in the ecologi-
cal and economic terms described above, should be a standard by which
we judge the actions and priorities of our leaders and our society. And
when leaders fail to meet this standard, like the prophets we must speak
truth to power and act for change.
Jubilee 2000
The Jubilee movement was initiated about 10 years after a group known
as the Debt Crisis Network launched a tour in the UK of African leaders
and activists highlighting the devastating and unjust effects of debt on
the poor in their countries. Due to the overwhelming popularity of this
tour numerous new groups joined the debt network and it was renamed
the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. But it was on May 16, 1998, the first day of
the annual G8 summit of the worlds richest nations, that the Jubilee
2000 coalition got the worlds attention. More than 70,000 debt demon-
strators from across the world formed a human chain around the building
where G8 leaders were sup-
posed to meet. This was the
flowering of one of the most
remarkable social (and faith)
movements in recent history.
A movement that joined mil-
lions of activists from the
global South, working for the
survival of their countries,
together with the leaders of
churches, unions and aid or-
ganizations in Europe the US.
It also, famously, formed an
unlikely partnership between
Bono and Pope John Paul II,
joining together in echoing
Jesus own proclamation of a
year of jubilee for the poor.
www.canceldebtfast.org
contd on page 4
Page 3
Mission Update
contd from page 3
Today, Jubilee USA is a network of local congregations and more
than 80 religious denominations, faith-based networks, development
and community organizations in the US. We currently work in col-
laboration with numerous anti-poverty organizations, such as the ONE
Campaign, Bread for the World, Action Aid International, Oxfam, and
Sojourners. (For more info visit www.jubileeusa.org).
In ancient Israel debt often became a vicious trap: the poor might lose
their land to wealthy creditors. In the end, their only option would be
to sell themselves or their children into slavery.
The indefinite continuation of this process and the permanent enslave-
ment of the poor is what jubilee was meant to address. Today, in the
worlds most impoverished nations we see a similar vicious debt trap.
These countries can no longer afford to repay debts without neglecting
their people's basic needs. For instance, in 2005/06, Kenya's budget
for debt payments was as much as for water, health, agriculture, roads,
transport and finance combined.
One of the most powerful quotes we use to describe the issue of debt
today comes from the former president of Tanzania speaking to the
worlds rich leaders: Must we starve our children to pay our debts?
It is a statement that echoes the Hebrew prophet Amos, who com-
plains, The people of Israel have sinned They sell into slavery
honest people who cannot pay their debts, the poor who cannot repay
even the price of a pair of sandals (2:6-7).
Just as in Amos time, we are living in a world that is seriously out of
balance. Every day, 13 percent of the worlds population goes hungry
and more than 30,000 children die of easily preventable diseases. By
committing to the UN Millennium Development goals to cut extreme
poverty in half by 2015 world leaders acknowledged that things need
to change.
2007: A Modern Sabbath Year from Suffering and Debt
This is why the Jubilee movement is designating 2007 as a Sabbath
Year. In accordance with the Sabbath Year, the Jubilee USA Network
has introduced the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Extended
Debt Cancellation (HR 2634) into Congress. This bill will provide
full debt cancellation to all countries that need it to meet the UN Mil-
lennium Development Goals.
The highlight of the 2007 Sabbath Year, the Cancel Debt Fast, was
initiated by Reverend David Duncombe who has committed to an
open-ended fast beginning on September 6th, while also walking halls
of Congress building support for the Jubilee Act. Rev. Duncombe is a
retired minister
in the United
Church of
Christ. In 1999,
Duncombe un-
dertook a 45-day
ministry of
prayer and fast-
ing with Jubilee
2000, during
which he lob-
bied for support
of The Debt
Relief for Pov-
http://www.afjn.org/events/upcoming/september_6-
erty Reduction
october_15_jubilee_cancel_debt_fast.html
Page 4 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
Act of l999 (HR l095 and S 1690) on Capitol Hill. As a result, in Octo-
ber of 2000, the $45 billion in debt relief these bills called for was
passed in an appropriations bill, canceling the debt of 40 impoverished
countries. This followed Duncombes second, 50-day water only fast.
David writes the following about his fast for this Sabbath Year:
If my upcoming fast goes like my previous two extended fasts
for debt cancellation in Washington, its effectiveness will de-
pend not so much on what I say on my office visits, but on
what is said by the fast itselfthe day-to-day silent witness of
a body growing visibly weaker. In a sense, a fast like this takes
on a life of its own apart from me. There is something of a
sacramental quality to the fast, something that carries its own
grace and power. I am simply a vehicle for a fasting body, the
sight of which seems to touch the souls of others.
As a way to frame the message of the Cancel Debt Fast we have begun
encouraging Jubilee supporters to adopt the phrase, Im hungry for
justice! This is the message that we hope will become undeniably
clear to your members of Congress when thousands of you join us in
sending in your empty plates with those words. As David points out,
this fast is about something bigger than what we do or do not eat. It is
not only about experiencing the hunger that millions of our sisters and
brothers around the world face every day. Its about a deeper kind of
hunger a hunger for change and for a world without poverty. This is
a hunger we can experience ourselves as we fast, but it is also the kind
of hunger we can evoke in our leaders, and our communities, who wit-
ness our fast.
I encourage readers to join the Jubilee movement and to participate in
the Cancel Debt Fast as an incredible opportunity to restore a lost as-
pect of Sabbath practice, and as a critical call to help millions who are
literally starving for debt cancellation around the world. If our practice
of Sabbath is simply spiritual, then we have veered dangerously
far from the true Way of Life. Register online today at
www.canceldebtfast.org, and then send us your empty plates. After
you have taken action, invite others to join you.
U.S. Catholic Mission Association
participates in the
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).
Please remember us as you make your
donations.
We also appreciate you
telling your friends
about our participation.
Thank you!
Mission Update Fall 2007

2007 Mission Appeals

USCMA is grateful to the five diocesan Society for the Propagation of the Faith offices that invited us to participate in
the 2007 Mission Coop Plan. We thank each of them and the thirteen parishes that welcomed us. The generosity of the
parishioners to whom we spoke was gratifying. We are also grateful to those of you who spoke at these parishes on our
behalf.
Diocese Parish Speaker

Austin St. Mary, Bremond Jess Owens, CSB

St. Mary, Mexia Roy Qiogue, CICM
St. Joseph, Marlin Michael Montoya, MJ
Beaumont Holy Trinity, Baytown Jack Whitley, CSB
Cincinnati Assumption, Mt. Healthy Ibercio Rojas, mccj
St. Mary, Franklin Peter Ciuciulla, mccj
St. Vincent de Paul, Cincinnati Kitty Wilson, SCN
Los Angeles Blessed Sacrament, LA Mary McGlone, CSJ
Immaculate Conception, LA Melchor Villero, MJ
Our Lady of Lourdes, LA Michael Montoya, MJ
Philadelphia Our Lady of Angels, Philadelphia Charlotte Cook
Pius X, Broomall Anthony Anomah, CSSp
St. Donato, Philadelphia Charlotte Cook

Dedication of the Hecker Center for Ministry

With fellow bishops, Hecker Center tenants, Paulist College, USCMA which had had offices there for many
priests, and guests looking on, Archbishop Donald Wuerl years, relocated to Trinity University.
of Washington, DC dedicated the Hecker Center for
Ministry September 11, 2007. The Archbishop paid trib- The Hecker
ute to the long history of the Paulist Fathers in the Center for Min-
Washington area and their re-commitment to this area as istry is named
demonstrated in the Hecker Center. after Isaac
Hecker, founder
Following the blessing of the Hecker Center, Archbishop of the Mission-
Wuerl visited the offices of the tenants where he offered ary Society of
a Blessing for each particular ministry. In addition to St. Paul, the
USCMA, other tenants include the Canon Law Society Apostle com-
of America, Carmelite Institute, Christian Brothers monly known as
Conference, Fair Trade Federation and the Paulist Press the Paulists.
Newman Bookstore. They will cele-
brate their 150th
US Catholic Mission Association moved into the Hecker anniversary in
Center in February of this year following major renova- 2008.
tions that lasted 18 months. In 2005 when the Paulists
began the renovation of two wings of St. Pauls

Register on line for the 2007 Annual Conference!!

www.uscatholicmission.org
US Catholic Mission Association Page 5
Mission Update
Focus on Debt at the UN
Millennium Development Goals
-Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
-Achieve Universal Primary Education
-Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
-Reduce Child Mortality
-Improve Maternal Health
-Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, and other diseases
-Ensure Environmental Sustainability
-Develop a Global Partnership for Development
This year, 2007, is significant for the world because
we have come to the mid-point of our commitment to
implement the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). During the millennium year, 2000, the
world leaders of the United Nations committed them-
selves to a set of eight goals to alleviate global pov-
erty. The goals are measurable and countries are held
accountable and are required to report their progress
every five years.
The process of identifying the MDGs provided the
world with a clear focus and attainable goals to end
poverty. Through the leadership of Jeffrey Sachs and
other experts who had the economic skills and the
collective leadership and momentum of the United
Nations, we, as a human community, have taken on
the awesome task of ending global poverty in our
lifetime.
Debt cancellation is essential in achieving the MDGs.
There has been a great deal of emphasis on the Offi-
cial Development Assistance (ODA) in which the de-
veloped countries have been asked to provide 0.7% of
their GPA to the developing countries in the form of
aid. While we realize that this is not the complete
solution, it is a beginning point for the rich countries
to pay attention to the needs of the poor nations.
CONGRATULATIONS
Father Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, was beatified in Le Mans, France
September 15, 2007. We congratulate the Holy Cross Fathers, Brothers and Sisters on this special event.
Page 6 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
Finding a lasting solution to the debt problem is nec-
essary and complex. It seems necessary to develop a
process that is non-biased and transparent that is dif-
ferent from the current system of arbitration. The
poorest and most vulnerable countries need to be
freed from the bondage of indebtedness which is a
cause of poverty and economic underdevelopment for
millions of people.
In March, 2002, the Nations States of the United Na-
tions further engaged in dialogue regarding financing
for the development throughout the world. Their goal
was to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic
growth and promote sustainable development in order
to advance to a full inclusive and equitable global
economic system. This initiative was named the
Monterrey Consensus. As part of the follow-up of
this meeting an office entitled Financing for Develop-
ment (FfD) was established at the UN.
Debt relief is one of the major issues of the agenda of
FfD and the NGOs are vocal at every opportunity in
speaking on behalf of the needs of the people who
live in countries who are indebted. Currently prepa-
ration for the meeting in Doha, Qatar in 2008, NGOs
continue their efforts to alleviate debt by identifying
issues that drive countries deeper into poverty such
as: irresponsible lending, the lack of creditor account-
ability and identifying cycles of debt.
It takes a world view and a compassionate under-
standing of the debt cycle that will provide countries
that are caught in this downturn to move out toward a
more positive financial security for their people.
Lucianne Siers, OP
Director of Partnership for Global Justice
Lucianne Siers, OP, represents USCMA at the UN
 Periodic Paper #3

INTERCULTURAL FORMATION FOR MISSION

MISSION TO AND AMONG THE NATIONS

by William Burrows

William R. Burrows, managing editor of Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, holds an STL from the Gregorian University
(1972) and a PhD from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where his dissertation was entitled The Roman
Catholic Magisterium on Other Religious Ways: Analysis and Critique from a Postmodern Perspective (1987). He is the
author of New Ministries: The Global Context (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006) and is currently at work on a book for
Orbis Theology in Global Perspective Series, tentatively entitled, Church, Mission, Culture in a Globalizing World.

Much of what follows revolves around what it means
to be in mission among as opposed to to the worlds peo-
ples. Above all, I presume that formation for mission in a
globalizing world aims at intercultural competence, for never
in history has the multicultural nature of the world made it so
necessary for ministers of the gospel to function in intercul-
tural settings. Intercultural ministry is or should be an impor-
tant part of normal pastoral ministry.
A number of matters I had been pondering on the fu-
ture of mission in our new ecumenical climate came together in
a Eureka moment in June 2001, when I was invited to respond
to a speech by Father Michael Amaladoss, SJ, at a meeting of
the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) in Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin.1 I observed that, without denying the va-
lidity of missio ad gentes (mission to the nations that is,
to followers of other religious traditions), Michael put the ac-
cent on a particularly Asian dimension of mission in our day.

In the Catholic tradition of proclaiming and living Although he did not use the term in his address, my response

the gospel, religious communities add to the richness of the characterized the evolution as a move toward missio inter

church and put a vital, international, world-church face on gentes (mission among the nations). By this I mean that

both internal and ad extra (outside the community of believ- mission outside the circle of believers has become mission

ers) work. My second presumption, accordingly, is that be among followers of other religious traditions who are ones

it in traditional or new lay communitiesformation is a com- neighbors, friends, and fellow countrymen.2 This reflects the

munity responsibility and involves ongoing community par- reality that mission is shifting from activities of foreigners and

ticipation in each missioners lifelong formation.
In particular, we reflect on what these insights may
mean for the members of congregations of men and women
(1) whose raison d'tre has been defined as missio ad gentes;
(2) whose life ways and structures were formed in an era
when that mission went in a North-South direction in which
cross-cultural missionaries to an activity carried on among
ones neighbors. And when foreigners engage in cross- and
inter-cultural mission sensitized by discussions of white
privilege in mission they will be invited by local churches to
assist local ministers of the gospel.
What I want to bring into relief is this: our view of

the North was viewed as the actor and the South as a recipi- missio ad gentes changes when one thinks of oneself doing it as

ent; and also (3) with knowledge both that new forms of lay missio inter gentes. To unpack what I mean by that I invite

ecclesial communities are evolving and that they are seeking you to reflect with me on insights from three Asian missiolo-

to appropriate relevant elements of a great Catholic mission- gists whose work may help us not just to grapple with but to

ary tradition. appropriate a vision of mission and strategies for embodying

that vision.

US Catholic Mission Association Page 1

Periodic Paper #3
Jonathan Y. Tan
Professor Jonathan Tan of Xavier University, Cincin-
nati, Ohio, a lawyer and Catholic theologian, has fleshed out
the meaning of missio inter gentes in two impressive articles.3
For Tan, the distinction between missio ad and inter gentes is
not between an outmoded and bad model, on the one hand, or
modern and good model, on the other hand. Rather, what this
Malay of Chinese ethnic extraction, who was first trained as a
lawyer in Singapore and who later obtained a PhD in theology
at Catholic University of America under Peter Phan, is driving
at is something quite different. Although he is sensitive to the
accusation that Christianity is a Western religion and that
Christian mission was a colonial imposition, for him that is not
the whole story.
It is important to stress Tans experience. Reflecting
on the situation in Malaysia, he sees a land in which many
tribal people follow traditional religions, while Indian migrants
follow their traditions, ethnic Chinese follow various strands of
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, and Christians from
every ethnic group (members of numerous denominations) live
side by side with a Muslim majority that is influenced by re-
vival movements imported from Western Asia. An assertive
evangelistic posture is simply impossible and counterproduc-
tive, says Tan.
To a large extent, this situation is duplicated through-
out Asia. Asian Christians, except for Filipinos, live as minori-
ties in the midst of immense cultural and religious diversity.
As we consider what missio inter gentes means practically and
operationally, it is important, above all, to realize that the eth-
nicity and national identities are, ironically, becoming more
important even as globalization proceeds apace.
The question is, I believe, What sort of message
needs to be shaped to make it more readily understandable in
Asia? Hwa Yung, the Methodist bishop of Malaysia, has
Page 2 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
written a book that puts the question succinctly when he asks
whether Asian Christian theology and identity more nearly
resemble a mango or a banana.4 The mango, he notes, is an
indisputably Asian fruit, green before it matures. Depending
on the variety of mango and growing conditions, the fruit
beneath the skin is yellow through and through. The ba-
nanas origins are uncertain, but when it ripens, the green
changes to yellow, while the fruit is always white. Survey-
ing Asian theology and attempts at Asian theologizing, Hwa
Yung sees them vitiated by tendencies to borrow from West-
ern thought. Although they are yellow on the surface, have
they really sunk deep roots into Asian religious traditions? Is
Christian theology in Asia, in other words, more like a
mango or a banana? Hwa Yung concludes his book with the
observation that Asian Christian identity is not yet clear, but
he is clear also in saying, What we need are more theologi-
cal mangos and not bananas (Hwa Yung, p. 241).
Jonathan Tan is trying to produce mangos in a bril-
liant article demonstrating that the symbol and reality of the
Crucified Christ are vitally important for Asia and translat-
able into Asian thought forms.5 I am not qualified to judge
the adequacy of detailed exegetical work of Tan on Confu-
cian and Taoist texts. What becomes indisputably clear is
that the resources of Asian philosophy for articulating the
deepest insights and paradoxes of Christs revelation of God
should not be doubted. Moreover, Tans work shows that the
death and resurrection of Jesus and the salvation prefigured
and accomplished in them can be expressed in Confucian
categories and that Asian soteriology need not be expressed
solely in terms of socio-political liberation. Rather than bi-
furcating soteriology into transcendent (other-worldly) and
immanent (socio-political) dimensions, Tan shows that the
Crucified Sage embodies the total Way of discerning and
manifesting what the Sage has learned from God for all hu-
manity. Jesus, the crucified and risen sage, according to Tan,
in the climax of his life in his death and resurrection, pro-
claims and makes manifest the Way of the Lord of heaven .
Periodic Paper #3
. . the Reign of God to all peoples.6
In regard to intercultural formation for mission,
Tans work shows the importance of offering candidates who
are capable of advanced studies the opportunity to enter
deeply both into the religious and philosophical texts of Asia
and those of the Christian tradition. The missionary group or
congregation that lacks a critical mass of members who can
help their fellow members understand and appreciate the
depths of other peoples original religion is a group whose
insertion into other cultural contexts runs the risk of superfi-
ciality. This, of course, is especially challenging for short-
term missioners who want to do something practical but risk
transporting their native cultures into environments where
their application does not fit.
Amos Yong
Amos Yong of Regent University, Virginia Beach,
Virginia describes himself as a Chinese-Malaysian-born,
American-educated, systematic-and-constructive-
theologian. In an address to the American Society of Missi-
ology in June 2006, Yong addressed one of the key problems
facing Christianity in an era when recognition of religious
plurality and tolerance are seen to be essential.7 How, he
asks, does one reconcile todays openness and tolerance with
standard interpretations of the Luke-Acts narratives in which
one reads words like there is no other name under heaven
given among mortals by which we must be saved (Acts 4:
12)? Yong examines how Pentecostals should respond to the
missionary call of the Spirit, but his exegesis has lessons for
the broader Christian world. It is also an example of the
depths of both Evangelical and Pentecostal theology, a depth
many Catholics have never encountered.
Yong sees need for recovering forgotten universal
horizons of Luke-Acts wherein the Holy Spirit is portrayed
as poured out on all flesh (Acts 2: 17). He notes that this
US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
does not mean that entire religious traditions are to be uncriti-
cally accepted or that every aspect of any particular religion is
divinely sanctioned.8 He does maintain, however that one
finds in the Lukan parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-
37) and elsewhere an image of Jesus ready to enjoy the hospi-
tality of non-Jews and a Holy Spirit who in Luke-Acts is active
in the world, the Holy Spirit whose behavior is manifested in
the story of Cornelius (Acts 10) as forcing Peter to recognize
Gods saving presence outside Jewish communities.
The religious other, in essence, is not a mere object
of efforts to convert or enlist in social betterment crusades, but
a person who can be the guest and friend of the Christian and
who can extend friendship and hospitality to the Christian. In
other words, in the full gospel sense of the word, those outside
the family of faith are neighbors. One of the legacies of the
traditional way of reading Luke-Acts is to see the other solely
as someone to be converted. Yong has moved, although he
does not use the term, to a mission inter gentes, toward an idea
of Christian mission exercised as one would among ones
neighbors
In terms of a formation of Christians for mission to-
day, at least this much needs to be said. All need face-to-face
experiences with persons of other faiths in relations marked by
friendship and neighborliness. Both our formation and work
communities need to be places where non-Christians feel wel-
come as friends and neighbors. As a recent SEDOS9 confer-
ence theme put the matter, formation needs to be intercultural
formation for missio ad gentes. A solid part of that formation
must involve living in situations where interreligious inter-
change takes place.
Moonjang Lee
My third Asian theologian, Moonjang Lee, is a Ko-
rean teaching at Gordon Conwell Seminary near Boston. He
Page 3
Periodic Paper #3
has degrees from institutions in Korea, the United States, and
Britain. He has taught in Germany, Scotland, Korea, Singa-
pore, and the US. I first met Moonjang at a seminar on studies
of world Christianity arranged by Andrew Walls at Princeton
Theological Seminary. The central insight of his paper that day
On the Asianization of Theology and Theological Educa-
tion is the focus of this section. I believe it ties together
what each of the previous two theologians has said and focuses
it on our topic, educating missionaries in our age.
Lees paper has gone through several revisions and
will soon be published. I have his permission to share his ideas
with you, but I will not quote him directly. Lee sets the context
of his thinking as one in which Christianity is a Post-Western
religion. Yet Asian students, he notes, come to seminaries to
seek wisdom only to find that the themes being discussed are
not the questions they have. A great gap yawns between the
desire to know Christian truth and the way academic institu-
tions function often as if there were no overarching Truth
meant to become the novices living way and very lifeblood.
As Lee presented his ideas that afternoon, it began to
dawn on me that even in Western Catholic tradition, we once
practiced what he was terming an Asian religious way of
learning in monasteries where psalms were chanted, daily
chapters unfolded the scriptures in the light of the feast of the
season, and formal study was also lectio divina. For Lee, the
goal of theological studies is something Bernard of Clairvaux
would have recognized and applauded, a threefold way of:
1. embodying truth
2. attaining spiritual awakening, and
3. self-transformation
I believe that it is everyone, not just the Asian student
formed in Northeast Asia under the influence of Taoist, Confu-
cianists, and Buddhist thought, who seeks: (a) to learn the Tao
(Way) of Jesus revealed within the heart; (b) to be enlightened
as to the true nature of the self, the human community, nature
Page 4 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
and their true end; and finally (c) to be introduced to a path of
self-transformation that will enable one to live ever more au-
thentically as a Christian human being. Do our formation
centers initiate students into the total Way of Jesus? Or are
these programs, despite so many attempts at overseas training
programs and the like, a form of testing ground that candi-
dates must pass in order to be admitted to membership?
At risk of seeming unaware of the constraints that
scarce time and financial resources place on the formation of
lay and short-term missioners, it seems important to acknowl-
edge that Lees challenges for this sort of formation need to be
discussed in relation to all candidates, not just those seeking to
enter religious life. Being a missioner is less a question of
what one does in mission than of how one embodies the Spirit
and person of Jesus. Christian life, to borrow from Lees ter-
minology, is inseparable from the Tao, the total Way, of the
Christ.
FORMATION FOR MISSION AD ET INTER GENTES IN OUR DAY
Mission As Art and the Need for Poisis
The first practical observation I want to make is that
work in mission is an art calling for poisis (Greek for the art
of fashioning something beautiful from everyday realities,
whence poetry) much more than it is the unfolding of prin-
ciples. The same is true for creating the kind of communities
that carry on the actual work of mission, and equally so for the
initial formation of men and women for mission. Most of all,
the judgment that underlies everything that follows is this:
every missionary communitys ongoing life must be a contin-
ual circle of observing, judging, and acting in concrete con-
texts in the attempt to fashion something beautiful out of the
social realities in which the missionary community lives. The
art of intercultural formation is primarily poisis introduc-
ing the fledgling and maintaining the veteran in the art of in-
serting themselves creatively, intelligently and vitally into the
context in which they live and work.
Periodic Paper #3
At a second level, the actual missionary work of the
disciple is much more an act of poisis than an application of
principles. Christian life brings into existence a Christic dy-
namic out of the material of our lives in the way the artist,
the poet, or the craftsperson brings a work of art into reality.
The fundamental Christian ethic is to make good things hap-
pen that would not happen if the disciple of Christ were not
there. What we are about in intercultural formation for mis-
sion, then, is finding a way in which to help the person who
presents himself or herself experience the kind of study, dis-
cipline, and social interaction with veteran missioners that
nurtures a person who creatively reflects the missional
charism of the community and who chooses to commit ones
entire being to that task. Ongoing formation refines that dy-
namic and equips the missioner to meet new demands and
situations.
Particularizing the Global Missionary Context
Moving further, the art of forming missioners for
intercultural ministries is not simply the art of forming men
and women for routine pastoral ministries, but helping candi-
dates who are led by the Holy Spirit to join a concrete group
of disciples and become competent in intercultural settings.
One might fairly object, Thats good theory, but what about
concrete practice. In recent months, I have spent a good
deal of time working on the English translation of a biogra-
phy of Pierre Claverie, O.P., the martyred bishop of Oran, by
Jean-Jacques Prenns. Claveries life has revealed practi-
cally quintessential missionary orientations for the twenty-
first century. 10 A brief reference to Claveries life may make
my suggestion more practical. It also highlights issues that
need to be faced in forming candidates for short-term mis-
sion. For Claveries life is that of a missioner who goes with
the intention of spending his entire life outside his own cul-
ture. How does one make the necessary transformations for
short-term missioners?
US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
Born a pied-noir in Algiers,11 Claverie had lived his
early life in the colonial bubble as if Arab-Muslim Algeria did
not exist. The Dominican novitiate was a transformative event
for Claverie, but his intercultural breakthrough came when he
did his compulsory military service in Algeria after having
become a Dominican. Later assigned by his superiors to work
in Algeria, he plunged into studies of Arabic and the Quran.
As the years went by, he went deeper and deeper into the para-
dox of the revelation of God in the Crucified One, and realized
that the role of his tiny Catholic flock in Oran was not to wit-
ness to the glories of Catholicism but to incarnate and bear
witness to Jesus as a tiny minority in a Muslim sea.
As the situation in Algeria worsens, you see Claverie
becoming ever more deeply a friar preacher helping a flock that
numbered more and more martyrs understand this dimension of
Christian life and their mission in that context. A man with
many Muslim friends, he saw the rise of Islamism as a defor-
mation of Quranic teaching that he understood more deeply
than the zealots. In his writing, speaking, and pastoral leader-
ship, he was a man inserted totally into the Algerian reality, all
the while realizing profoundly that he was an Algerian only, as
the French subtitle catches it in words difficult to translate into
English, par alliance in a form of covenant relationship with
Algerian culture and people. In the end, having led his flock
and much of Algeria in absorbing the shock of two religious
sisters who were killed in September 1995, the abduction of the
seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine in late March 1996, and the
discovery of their severed heads on 31 May 1996, he and his
young Muslim driver were killed on 1 August 1996. Three
days earlier he had written:
The death of these monks who were our brothers and
friends for so long wounded us once more, but
strengthened our ties with the thousands of Algerians
who are sick of violence and eager for peace. Their
silent message has resounded in the hearts of millions
throughout the world. We are remaining here out of
fidelity to the cry of love and reconciliation that the
Page 5
Periodic Paper #3
prior of the community left in the spiritual testament
in which he clearly foresaw his own death. I the region in the vernacular of the region be it in Arabic,
[Claverie] am taking precautions, and I have the
protection of the security forces, but it is God who
remains the master of the hour of death, and only he
can give meaning to our life and to our death. Eve-
rything else is just a smokescreen.12
One sees in the life and death of Claverie the forma-
tion of a missioner in its essential dimension. First, having
gotten to know Dominicans in his childhood, when his adult
conversion took place, he felt an attraction to their way of life.
The possibility of a call to cross-cultural mission was intrinsic
to his religious life. He realized that he needed to master con-
temporary Arabic, the Quran, and modern Algerian writing
and literature if he was to live a life fully inserted in the reality
of the Maghreb. The Dominicans gave him the opportunity to
do so. He took up that opportunity in a way that led to him
not just getting by but deeply impressing native Arabic-
speakers.
Second, Claverie was formed by insertion into the
life of the church in Algeria, but equally so by his deep empa-
thy for the life of Islamic Algeria in all its vicissitudes. He
had a gift for friendship and he made friends. His formation
was never finished. He engaged in serious study, prolonged
study, study that lasted throughout a lifetime. But it was not
mere academic study. Rather, it was reflection on his inter-
cultural missionary reality. The community he lived in even
after becoming a bishop made that possible. It was the warp
and woof of everyday life.
Missionary communities, whether religious or lay,
that become so overwhelmed by practical pastoral-missionary
work are not places where prayer, continued study takes place.
If I may use the Latin word, otium (time to devote oneself to
things other than work) is in too short supply. Conversation,
study, reading including conversations about secular
Page 6 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
matters and reading in the literature, culture, and politics of
Urdu, Mandarin or Twi are an essential dimension for
growth in missionary life. It is hard to imagine how a mis-
sioner moving in and out of a country in a two or three-year
cycle of short-term mission can master such languages. Can
he or she be anything but a type of United Nations, NGO, or
foreign office civil servant whose primary reference remains
the goals of the sending organization and not a local people?
Two Principles and Some Practical Questions
My first principle is that to serve as effective inter-
cultural missionary agents and leaven today, missionary com-
munities need to be willing to live in faithful but real tension
with the mainstream church. I am not counseling rebellion.
I am counseling a willingness for the sake of embodying
the gospel to live the charisms of their founders, even if
they do not fit easily on the diagram of a national or diocesan
pastoral plan.
The truest missioner is formed not primarily by in-
struction in classrooms by learned professors or even in the
hands of formation directors. Rather a man or woman is at-
tracted to a community of disciples. As heart speaks to heart,
she meets the Lord in the breaking of bread liturgically, in
community and individual prayer, in fellowship with experi-
enced disciples, and in solitude. To the extent the members of
that community live and breathe in the Spirit of Christ, their
lifes work and actions lead the new member deeper into the
encounter with Jesus. The second principle, accordingly, is
that recruitment and formation are two sides of one coin
and formation is a lifetime task about which we need to be
serious.
This is nothing new. The best missioners have always be-
come that way in something like the process we see concre-
tized in the lives of Bishop Pierre Claverie and Mother Teresa
of Calcutta. Required are persons young and old who want to
be vital parts of community and who can provide either the
Periodic Paper #3 Fall 2007

energy of youth or the leaven of experience and insight to be The Chinese Face of Jesus Christ, vol 3b (Sankt Augustin,
Germany: Monumenta Serica and China-Zentrum 2007):
part of new groups or of a second founding of an older one.13
1481-1513.

* * *
I end without a dramatic conclusion. The problems
we face as a church are not easy ones to solve. Prayer, reflec-
tion, discussion, study, reading, debate, and dialogue alone
can align us with Gods Spirit as we attempt to discern Gods
preferred future for ourselves as individuals and as members
of our communities.
6
Ibid., p. 36 (note that I am citing a typescript of Tans arti-
cle; I did not have access to the published version, biblio-
graphic data for which is given in the previous note.
7
Amos Yong, The Spirit of Hospitality: Pentecostal Perspec-
tives toward a Performative Theology of Interreligious En-
counter, Missiology 35 (No. 1, 2007): 55-73. See his forth-
coming Hospitality and the Religious Other: Pentecost, Chris-
tian Practices, and the Neighbor (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2008).
8
Yong, Hospitality, p. 59.

9
SEDOS residential seminar, Ariccia, Italy, 24-28 April 2007;
see SEDOS Bulletin, 39 (May/June 2007).

1
Michael Amaladoss, SJ, Pluralism of Religions and the
Proclamation of Jesus Christ in the Context of Asia, Pro-
ceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 56
(2001) 1-14.
2
William R. Burrows, A Response to Michael Amaladoss,
CTSA Proceedings (2001), 15-20.
10
Jean-Jacques Prenns, A Life Poured Out: Pierre Claverie
of Algeria, trans. Phyllis Jestice and Matthew Sherry
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, forthcoming, October 2007);
original French edition, Pierre Claverie: un Algrien par alli-
ance (Paris: Les ditions du Cerf, 2000); Italian edition,
Vescovo tra i Musulmani: Pierre Claverie martire in Algeria
(Rome: Citt Nuova, 2004).

3
Jonathan Y Tan, From Missio ad Gentes to Missio inter
Gentes: Shaping a New Paradigm for Ding Christian Mission
in Asia, Vidyajyoti 68 (2004) 670-88; and 69 (2006) 27-41.
11
A pied-noir (literally, black-foot) is a person of European
descent, usually a Frenchman born and/or living in Algeria
during the colonial era.

12
4
Hwa Yung, Mangoes or Bananas: The Quest for an Au- Prenns, Life Poured Out, p. 227.
thentic Asian Christian Theology (Oxford: Oxford Regnum
1997). 13
This insight is central to the work of Gerald Arbuckle, Out
of Chaos: Refounding Religious Congregations (Mahwah, NJ,
5
Jonathan Tan, Jesus the Crucified and Risen Sage: Toward 1988).
a Confucian Christology, in Roman Malek, ed., Vol. 3b of

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Mission Update
ESSAY CONTESTS
Maryknoll Student Essay Contest: Put Away Your
Sword
Theme: In the Gospel of John (18:1-11), we read that when the
soldiers came to arrest Jesus unjustly, Peter drew his sword to
defend him. But Jesus told Peter, Put away your sword. To-
day there are many instances where people are resorting to vio-
lence to solve problems.
Assignment: Describe a situation in the world today or in your
own life in which Jesus would say, Put away your sword.
Explain what you would do to follow Jesus command to pro-
mote peace instead of violence. (Length: 500-750 words
English language only.)
Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by Friday, Nov. 30,
2007.
Instructions and a cover sheet are available at Maryknolls es-
say contest
Web page: www.maryknoll.org/essay
Teaching Resources Available
Two resources have come to our attention that are excellent fol-
low-up for resolutions passed by membership at the 2006 Annual
Conference.
"This is Your Home" Global Climate Change Presentation
The Justice, Peace and Sustainability Office for the IHM Sisters of
Monroe, Mich., created "This is Your Home," a three-part slide
show funded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
This presentation and accompanying study guide materials can be
downloaded from the following website: http://ihmsisters.org/
www/Justice_Peace_and_Sustainability/climatechange.asp.
"This is Your Home" Three-Part Presentation
(Note: The three parts of the presentation are large and may take
as long as 30 minutes to load. Please be patient. Requires Micro-
soft Power Point software to view.)
"This is Your Home" Study Guide for Reflection Leading to
Action to Stop Global Climate Change (in PDF format)
This 39-page companion study guide facilitates reflection on the
issue of global climate change, personal action to reduce green-
house gas emissions, and political action that will impact local and
national policy agendas. This version includes all learning mod-
ules and accompanying prayers.
Other resources on the topic of global climate change can be found
on the IHM website: http://ihmsisters.org/www/
Justice_Peace_and_Sustainability/Ecological_Integrity/
Request for Information
US Catholic Mission Association is interested in compiling a list of programs that provide cross-cultural training,
information, language, etc for missionaries, priests and religious coming to work in the United States.
If you have used a program for your own personnel we would appreciate learning about it. Send the information to
Charlotte Cook at ccook@uscatholicmission.org .
Page 7 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
Catholic Extension Announces Short Story Contest for
High School Students
EXTENSION Magazine is repeating its short story contest this
year to encourage high school students to think and write about
their Catholic Faith and to acquaint them with the work of mis-
sionaries in our own country.
Students are encouraged to visit the Catholic Extension web-
site, www.catholicextension.org, to get contest guidelines and
inspiration for their stories. The theme of this year's competi-
tion is "Faith in Action in the American Missions," and stu-
dents are asked to turn one of the inspiring stories of missionar-
ies, mission programs, seminarians or mission churches sup-
ported by Catholic Extension into a fictional story of no more
than 2,000 words. Deadline is January 15, 2008.
globalclimate.asp.
The purpose of these materials is: to educate youth about global
climate change and the risks associated with it; to help them apply
principles of catholic social Teaching to the problem; and to facili-
tate action within their personal, corporate and political spheres of
influence.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)
invites your parish to join 1000 congregations across the country
in showing Rory Kennedys HBO documentary Ghosts of Abu
Ghraib during the week of October 21-28, 2007. This 80-minute
film, recently nominated for four Emmy awards, features the fa-
miliar and very disturbing photos of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib
prison, but it digs beneath the headlines to investigate the psycho-
logical and political context in which torture occurred and to ask
critical questions about impact and accountability. To each of the
1,000 congregations participating in this Spotlight on Torture pro-
ject, NRCAT provides a free copy of the DVD, along with a
packet of supporting materials, including a detailed Facilitators
Guide and handouts with background information and suggested
action steps.
For more information and to sign up to receive a free copy of the
DVD and materials for your congregation, visit the visit the
NRCAT website: www.tortureisamoralissue.org.
Mission Update
WHAT USCMA MEMBERS ARE SAYING
This is the last in a series which started during our 25th Anniversary Celebration. We realize that there are a lot more than we can publish in 4
editions. Thank you for your continued support. Let us now share with others why we think USCMA is important for us and invite them to join us
and be members! USCMA is us! We are USCMA!
USCMA is a group to make all of us aware of our call to participate in the
mission of God. It broadens our vision of humanity and its journey to God.
Mary Zosso, MMS
Seeing that there is an interaction and dialogue between/among missionary
congregations, official church, lay missioners and missionary volunteer or-
ganizations, [USCMA] is extremely important to foresee trends in the world,
the Church, and Mission. In order to be effective in mission in the US and
abroad this kind of dialogue and interaction is necessary in an increasingly
complex and globalized world. Best wishes for the future.
Sr. Dolores M. Mitch, MM
USCMA provides excellent networking opportunities for a variety of mission-
sending and receiving organizations/ congregations.
Sr. Caroljean Willie, SC
Its two years that I am a member of USCMA and I find it as a missioner, a
very important point, center, resource for connections, reflections, analysis of
all that pertains to mission today in our society, Church and global world. As a
foreign missioner USCMA gives me an opportunity to become a member of
the US mission community and to know and network with the family here at
home.
Sr. Giovanna Sguazza, CMS
USCMA is really an invigorating experience of missioners in conversation.
Mission stories are important. [It] is the venue for solid information on mission
concepts and trends, and a venue to strengthen networking and partnership.
The US Church is blessed with dynamic personalities who have a sense of
being people and context-oriented.
Manuel N. Gacad, MJ
In the US Church [USCMA] is the forum for dialogue on mission and keeping
alive the reality that the Church is missionary by its very nature.
Sr. Madeline Thrse Wilhit
USCMA is an advocate for me. They help me to look at the larger mission
story in our Catholic Faith.
Cathy Converse
In the whole mission dialogue in the Church, USCMA is important because it
keeps those who wish to know about Mission aware and informed.
Rosemary Hayes, SHCJ
I am grateful for this conference which is providing me with a renewed sense
of connectedness with the Church and with mission ministry
Bro. Dennis Lee
I feel that USCMA is extremely important to the whole mission dialogue in the
US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
US Catholic Church. They continually remind us of the need and importance
of educating people on missions. USCMA also provides a venue for people to
share their experiences with others who have gone on missions. USCMA
helps people realize that they have not ended their mission experience once
they return. Mission work continues back in the US through education.
Alisa Macksey
One aspect of USCMA mission today is to effectively foster formation of all
who do mission work, by facilitating the dialogue among all participants.
Andy Thompson
[USCMA] is a place that can provide the space for defining what mission is for
the US Catholic Church. It is important to us in that it provides that space
for dialogue in the first place. But it is not only the internal dialogue, but also
dialogue with other individuals, denominations and religions in the US and
overseas.
Fred Goddard
USCMA is the organization that should keep the US Church aware of its mis-
sion and its missioners. It should be in front of the Bishops making sure the
support for those either long-term or short that give of their time and tal-
ents for the sake of the kingdom is available.
USCMA should and is an organization that shares the thinking and words of
wisdom on mission through your newsletter and papers.
Ruth Emke, SSND
It is a structured vehicle for like-minded people to dialogue about some (more
or less) mutual concerns. If we are lucky, something clicks. At the least, my
oar gets into the waters.
Rev. Girard Kohler, CSSp
USCMA is important more than ever to help Catholic Americans to do mission
right for the salvation of all peoples both in and outside the US.
Rev. John Barth, MM
USCMA is a bridge of connection between individuals and groups within our
Catholic faith community calling, supporting, and reminding us to reach out in
mission. It is also a link to mission-minded people and groups of other de-
nominations and faiths.
Rosanne Fischer
It is a source of companionship and information about the global world.. It is
a place for re-fueling and re-thinking for the future.
Theresa Kvale
USCMA is a resource that I use to find partners and info for twinning work
with our province work.
Russ Testa
Page 8
Mission Update
PAPAL MESSAGE FOR WORLD MISSION SUNDAY
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the occasion of the World Mission Day, I would like to invite
the entire People of God -- Pastors, priests, men and women reli-
gious and lay people -- to reflect together on the urgent need and
importance of the Church's missionary action, also in our time.
Indeed, the words with which the Crucified and Risen Jesus en-
trusted the missionary mandate to the Apostles before ascending to
Heaven do not cease to ring out as a universal call: "Go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to ob-
serve all that I have commanded you". And he added, "Lo, I am
with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)
In the demanding work of evangelization we are sustained and ac-
companied by the certainty that the Lord of the harvest is with us
and continues to guide his people. Christ is the inexhaustible source
of the Church's mission. This year is the 50th anniversary of the
Encyclical of the Servant of God Pius XII, Fidei Donum, which
promoted and encouraged cooperation between the Churches for the
mission ad gentes.
"All the Churches for all the world" is the theme chosen for World
Mission Day. It invites the local Churches of every continent to a
shared awareness of the urgent need to relaunch missionary action
in the face of the many serious challenges of our time.
The conditions in which humanity lives have of course changed and
in recent decades, especially since the Second Vatican Council, a
great effort has been made to spread the Gospel.
However, much still remains to be done. He continues to call the
DVD Review
Xavier: Missionary and Saint
"This is the story of a missionary who died alone on a desolate
island within sight of the land of his life's dream, unaware that
he had forever changed the face and the race of Christianity."
During the Age of Exploration, the world began to shrink as
more and more Europeans journeyed far from home where they
met the peoples of Africa and the Americas, India and the East.
While the history of exploration and globalization tells of mur-
derous mistakes and tragic ignorance, one man's encounter with
the diverse world looms large as one of compassion, invitation,
and grace.
Narrated by Academy Award-winner Liam Neeson and filmed
on location in the footsteps of the Jesuit missionary, Xavier:
Missionary & Saint, features stunning scenery from Rome,
Spain, Paris, India, China, and Japan as well as interviews with
world-renowned scholars in the fields of history and theology.
Page 9 US Catholic Mission Association
Fall 2007
Churches of so-called "ancient tradition," which in the past pro-
vided the missions with a consistent number of priests, men and
women religious and lay people as well as material means, giving
life to an effective cooperation between Christian communities.
This cooperation has yielded abundant apostolic fruit both for the
young Churches in mission lands as well as in the ecclesial situa-
tions from which the missionaries came. In the face of the secular-
ized culture, which seems to be penetrating ever more deeply into
Western societies, along with the crisis of the family, the dwin-
dling number of vocations and the progressive ageing of the
clergy, these Churches risk withdrawing into themselves to view
the future with ever less hope and weakening their missionary
effort.
Yet, this is the very time for opening oneself with trust to the
Providence of God, who never abandons his People and who, with
the power of the Holy Spirit, guides them toward the fulfillment of
his eternal design of salvation.
The Good Shepherd also invites the recently evangelized Churches
to dedicate themselves generously to the missio ad gentes. Despite
the many difficulties and obstacles they encounter in their devel-
opment, these communities are constantly growing. Fortunately,
some of them have a large number of priests and consecrated per-
sons, many of whom are sent to carry out their pastoral ministry
and apostolic service elsewhere, even in lands evangelized long
ago.
Thus, we are witnessing a providential "exchange of gifts" which
redounds to the benefit of the entire Mystical Body of Christ.
I hope that missionary cooperation
contd on page 11
Through scholarship and image, Xavier commemorates the
500th anniversary of the birth of the most successful mission-
ary since St. Paul.
This video is one of the better history and mission education
things available today. Bill Burrows, Orbis Press
One of the producers, Andrew Ross of Edinburgh University is
one of the talking heads in it and the author of the Orbis book
The Vision Betrayed on the Jesuits in Japan and China in the
early years.
Length: 80 Minutes
Price: 24.95
Catalog #: 20335
UPC #: 6-4603203359-5
ISBN #: 1-56839-235-4
Release Year: 2006
Producer: Fourth Week Films
Copyright 1995-2007 Janson Media. All rights reserved.
Mission Update Fall 2007

Are not our hearts burning? invites us to look at our own mission
journeys in the midst of the challenges of the 21st century. It asks us
to identify that which enkindles the fire of passion for Gods mis-
sion a holy longing a yearning of the heart.

Are not our hearts burning? calls us to take off our shoes as we
enter this sacred space and time to encounter the fire that burns
but never consumes alive in the stories of mission that we hold
deeply in our hearts. Like Moses in the encounter, and the disci-
ples of Emmaus, we hope to renew and deepen our passion for
Gods mission as we engage in a highly fluid and polarized world.

Keynote Speakers:
GERALD ARBUCKLE, SM
RON ROLHEISER, OMI

Panel Speakers:

ADRIENNE CURRY
SHALINI DSOUZA, SCN
KATIE EBERHARD
JUDY DONOVAN, CSJ

Dialogue Sessions:

MISSION IN CIVIL SOCIETY

JUDY DONOVAN, CSJ & CHRISTINE STEPHENS, CDP

YOUNG CATHOLICS IN MISSION

MEGEEN WHITE-TESTA & KATIE EBERHARD

REGISTRATION FEE: (Includes meeting materials, refresh- FAMILIES IN MISSION

ments, and meals) SAM & CECILIA ESPINOZA-STANTON
USCMA member $295 ($310 after September 31)
PARISHES AND DIOCESES IN MISSION
non USCMA member $310 ($335 after September 31)
JUDY GOMILA, MSC & REV. JAMES JEANFREAU
non USCMA member plus
one year USCMA membership $350 ($375 after September 31) VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION
PLEASE CONTACT HOTEL DIRECTLY for Hotel ac- JIM LINDSAY & LUIS SERNA
commodation
MISSION AND RELIGIOUS LIFE
1-512 -448-2444 or 1-800-996-3426 TOM JOHNSON, FSC & SHALINI DSOUZA, SCN
Or online at www.wyndhamaustin.com

Mention USCMA Conference to get special rates!!! IMMIGRANTS IN MISSION

CECILE MOTUS & LINH HOANG, OFM

For more information call us at 202-832-3112

THE LONG AND SHORT OF
Or email us at meetings@uscatholicmission.org
MISSIONARY CHARISM
Visit our website at www.uscatholicmission.org GERALD ARBUCKLE

US Catholic Mission Association Page 10

Mission Update Fall 2007

contd from page 9

will be intensified and that the most will be made of the potential
and charisms of each one. I also hope that World Mission Day will
contribute to making all the Christian communities and every bap-
tized person ever more aware that Christ's call to spread his King-
dom to the very ends of the earth is universal.
Fifty years after the historical appeal for cooperation between the
Churches at the service of the mission of my Predecessor, Pius
XII, with his Encyclical Fidei Donum, I would like to reaffirm that
the Gospel proclamation continues to be timely and urgent.
We could say that for the individual members of the faithful it is
no longer merely a matter of collaborating in evangelizing work
but of feeling that they themselves are protagonists and co-
responsible.
The missionary mandate entrusted by Christ to the Apostles in-
volves us all. May World Mission Day therefore be a favourable
opportunity to acquire a deeper awareness and to work out to-
gether appropriate spiritual and formative itineraries which en-
courage inter-Church cooperation and the training of new mis-
sionaries to spread the Gospel in our time.

In the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, Pope John Paul II, recog-

nized that "the Church's mission is wider than the "communion
among the Churches; it ought to be directed not only to aiding re-
evangelization but also and primarily to missionary activity as
such." (n. 64)
However, let it not be forgotten that the first and priority contri-
bution that we are called to offer to the missionary action of the
Church is prayer. "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are
few", the Lord said; "pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to
send out labourers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2)

I am addressing the Pastors of all the Churches chosen by the

Lord to guide his one flock so that they may share in the pressing
concern to proclaim and spread the Gospel.
It was precisely this concern that 50 years ago impelled the Pope
Pius XII to bring missionary cooperation more up to date with the
times. With particular concern for the future of evangelization he
asked the "long established" Churches to send priests to support
the recently founded Churches.
Thus, he gave life to a new "subject of mission" which took the
name of Fidei Donum precisely from the first words of the Encyc-
lical.
Throngs of priests, after leaving their native communities, have
devoted their apostolic energy to the service of communities which
have sometimes only recently come into being in poor and devel-
oping areas. Among these priests are many martyrs who have
combined with the witness of their words and apostolic dedication
the sacrifice of their lives.
Nor can we forget the many men and women religious and lay
volunteers who spared no effort to spread the Gospel to the very
ends of the earth. May World Mission Day be an opportunity to
remember in prayer these brothers and sisters of ours in the faith
and all who continue to work in the vast field of the mission.
I appeal in particular to children and young people, who are al-
ways ready and generous in their missionary outreach. I address
the sick and the suffering, recalling the value of their mysterious
and indispensable collaboration in the work of salvation. I ask
consecrated people, especially those in cloistered monasteries, to
intensify their prayers for the missions.
Thanks to the commitment of every believer, the spiritual net-
work of prayer and support for evangelization is being extended
throughout the Church. May the Virgin Mary who accompanied
with motherly solicitude the development of the newborn
Church, also guide our footsteps in our time and obtain for us a
new Pentecost of love. May she especially make us all aware of
being missionaries, that is, those who have been sent out by the
Lord to be his witnesses at every moment of our life.
I assure my daily remembrance in prayer to the fidei donum
priests, to the men and women religious and lay volunteers work-
ing on the frontiers of evangelization as well as to all who in their
various capacities are dedicated to Gospel proclamation, as with
affection I impart my Apostolic Blessing to all.
From the Vatican, 27 May 2007, the Solemnity of Pentecost.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Copyright 2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

RECEIVE MISSION UPDATE ELECTRONICALLY

As you know, one of the Resolutions passed at the Annual Meeting in October 2006 focused on global climate change.
One of the ways that USCMA can do its part in protecting the environment is to cut back on the amount of paper that we use.
This includes our newsletter Mission Update.
We would like to cut back on the number of hard copies of the Mission Update that we print and mail.
While helping the environment it will also shift some of our cost back into mission.
We would send an email informing people when the next issue of Mission Update is available and include a link to the newsletter online.
If you are interested in receiving your Mission Update electronically please let us know.
Contact Sr. Michael Theresa Brauer at adminassist@uscatholicmission.org

Page 11 US Catholic Mission Association

Mission Update Fall 2007

Resources and Up-Coming Events

Trade Week of Action Website: www.uscatholicmission.org Email: chinabur@shu.edu
For information, resources for worship and ideas for Website: www.usccb.net
action see:
Workshop for Returned Missioners
www.tradeweek.org/typo3/en/worship.html Orientation Days to the United Nations
November 1-4, 2007 in Philadelphia
From Mission to Mission February 6-8, 2008
Global Economics Workshop
Telephone: 720-494-7211 May 14-16, 2008
October 17-19, 2007
Email: missiontomission@qwest.org June 30-July 2 (for teachers only)
Partners for Global Justice
Website: www.missiontomission.org Partners for Global Justice
New York City, near United Nations
New York City, near United Nations
Telephone: 212-682-6481
ASMEastern Fellowship Meeting Telephone: 212-682-6481
Email: Lsiers6720@aol.com
Nov. 2-3, 2007 Email: Lsiers6720@aol.com
Website: www.partnershipforglobaljustice.org
Maryknoll, NY Website: www.partnershipforglobaljustice.org
US Catholic Mission Asso. Annual Conference 2007 Majority World Initiatives in Christian Mission
E-mail Dwight Baker, president, at 23rd National Catholic China Conference
October 26-28, 2007
baker@osmc.org or Rodney Pettersen , secretary October 3-5, 2008
Wyndham Garden and Woodward Conference Center at petersen@bostontheological.org.
U.S. Catholic China Bureau
Austin, Texas
Our Lady of the Snows Center
Are not our hearts burning? Spirituality of Mission in 12th Religious Study Tour to China
the 21st Century Belleville, IL
Spring 2008 (Reservation deadline February
Telephone: 512-448-2444 (hotel) 2008) Telephone: 973-763-1131
USCMA: 202-832-3112 U.S. Catholic China Bureau Email: chinabur@shu.edu
Email: meetings@uscatholicmission.org Telephone: 973-763-1131

ORBIS BOOKS RECEIVED AT USCMA

Maryknoll Sings, Seasons of Grace, Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers, produced by Squires Productions, Inc., 2007
Fool For Christ, The Story of Dorothy Day, Sarah Melici, DVD from Our of the Blue Films, 2007
Carlo Carretto, Essential Writings, Selected with an Introduction by Robert Ellsberg, 2007
Christianity and Science, Toward a Theology of Nature, John F. Haught, 2007
Creation, Grace, and Redemption, Neil Ormerod, 2007
Fire Under My Feet, a Memoir of Gods power in Panama, Lee Mahon with Nancy Davis, 2007
Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice, Daniel J. Groody, 2007
GOD in Unexpected Places, Reflections on Faith and Life, from Maryknoll Magazine, Joseph R. Veneroso, 2007
Grace and Humanness, Theological Reflections because of Culture, Orlando O. Espin, 2007
In Water and In Blood, A Spirituality of Solidarity and Hope, Robert J. Schreiter, 2006
Just One Year, A Global Treasury of Prayer and Worship, Edited by Timothy Radcliffe, 2007
Martyr of the Amazon, The Life of Sister Dorothy Stang, Roseanne Murphy, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Ohio Province, 2007
Spreading Fires, The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism, Allan Anderson, 2007
Solidarity Will Transform the World, Stories of Hope from catholic Relief Services, Jeffry Odell Korgen, 2007
Struggles for Power in Early Christianity, Elsa Tamez, 2007
The Mission Driven Parish, Patrick J. Brennan, 2007
The Moral Measure of the Economy, Chuck Collins & Mary Wright, 2007
The Road to Emmaus, Pilgrimage as a Way of Life, Jim Forest, 2007
The Selfless Way of Christ, Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life, Henri Nouwen, 2007
The Transformation of Desire, How desire became corruptedand how we can reclaim it, Diarmuid OMurchu, 2007

US Catholic Mission Association Page 12

Mission Update Fall 2007

The harvest
is rich
but the
labourers
are few,
so ask the
Lord of the
harvest
to send
labourers
to do his
harvesting.

Luke 10:2

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