Reviewing the Seminar and looking
forward towards mission
A
day of conversation with Fr Mark McDonald MSC
Reviewing the Seminar
We spent the last day of the Tilburg Seminar with Fr. Mark
Mc Donald MSC, the Superior General of the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. He began by leading us through a reflective
overview of the previous three weeks, inviting us to begin by naming the key
insights that had struck us during the seminar. These “key-issues” can be read
in a separate document by clicking here.
After having shared extensively on these insights and
learnings we began to explore some other relevant questions and issues for our
project.
- The
challenge of our project is to be with people. This means inserting
ourselves in the life of a neighbourhood. Inculturation begins with
incarnation. Our spirituality is an incarnational spirituality; therefore,
in the same way that Jesus is truly “with” the people he encounters, so we
also have to be with the people among who we will live. In practice, this
means “being available”. We don’t have to preach about love, but we do have to love the people. They will soon
determine whether or not our love is genuine.
- What
we do practically will depend very much upon the needs we encounter. It is
important for us to realise that we do not have to do things for people (and thereby cultivate
dependency), but rather work with
the people, empowering them.
- When
we live in a neighbourhood it is important to know what is going on there;
to come to know the different social organisations, agencies and local
churches that we can link into for referral purposes. However, while we
want to know, relate to and work in partnership with the local churches
and organisations, we shouldn’t allow them to use or manipulate our
relationships with people.
- We
will also discover that some different ethnic groups may be rivals to one
another. They might try to use us for their own purposes and agendas. It
will be important to keep our eyes open and not get trapped by such
attempts. We will be able to do so much more, and do it better, by being
discerning and astute in the alliances we forge – keeping ourselves as
neutral as possible.
- Bearing
in mind that everyone has to work for a living, it is important that also
we look for some work. It might not be easy to find a qualified job,
despite the years of training and formation we have received. Low-skilled,
key jobs may be a good means of connecting to the people of the
neighbourhood, such as street sweeping, bar work or shop work. It may well
be that we have specific skills that can be of use in the neighbourhood
such as language teaching or computer skills. We can also do some supply
work in the local parishes.
- We
discussed the movement of “worker priests”, who often work in factories or
as labourers. In this way they connect easily with the people. This is not
an easy ministry and where MSCs were involved as worker priests in France
in the 1960’s and 1970’s two key things were learned; the need for good
extended community contact and support (from the wider MSC
Province) and the need to
sustain a life of prayer and spirituality.
- Mission
is a key concept for us, and one we have reflected on extensively during
this seminar. It shouldn’t be confused, however, with ministry. We share
one charism and one mission as MSCs, but our ministries are different. Our
aim is not to convert people, but to help people know that they are loved
and so have an experience of God’s love for them. What we do is not as
important as how we do it.
- In
choosing a neighbourhood we will give serious consideration to the
presence of a local Muslim community. As Europe is
becoming more and more multi-cultural, particularly with the growth of
Islam, so we want to be present in this ‘New’ European world.
- We
are well aware that it may seem strange for “three white men” to suddenly
be living together in the neighbourhood and we somehow have to deal with
the various connotations people will attach to this. We will need to be particularly aware of
racism, both from the people we will encounter, as well as that inevitable
tinge of racism within ourselves. We may well be tempted to think that our
way of working is superior to that of other people.
- Another
question which came up was that of “community life”. We want to be present
as a community, not only as individuals. Therefore, we have to find the
balance between an “open house” and our own privacy. Do we invite people
in for certain periods during the day? For having a cup of tea or a meal?
For sharing times of prayer with us? These would all would seem to be a
good ways of connecting with the neighbourhood, but will need some careful
discernment and balancing, both for the good of the mission and for our own
community life.
- Fr.
Lucio de Stefano MSC (who is promoting
the cause for beatification of Bishop Henry Verjus MSC)
wrote about the young Fr Verjus’s arrival on Thursday Island
in the Pacific while he awaited his passage to his final destination: the
mission in Papua New Guinea.
Mark shared with us this extract from the papers prepared for Bishop
Verjus’s “cause” and it gave a fascinating example of the 25 year old’s
approach to those unexpected months of delay and how he immediately
initiated a ministry of presence among the Filipino and Aboriginal peoples
on Thursday Island. [To read or
listen to more about this click on the following links: full
text of Fr. de Stafano; audio
clip of Fr Mark McDonald's reading of an extract from the text and his
comments.]
It was good to review the work of the last three weeks and
take time to discuss these questions together at the end of the seminar.
Affirming our gifts for Mission
In the afternoon we adopted a more reflective mood and took
some time to consider the gifts that each of us brings to community life and
our new project. We started with the text of St Paul
to the Ephesians in 4:1-16.
- Therefore
I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have
received.
- Be
humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love.
- Make
every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace.
- Let
there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same
Spirit to all.
- One
Lord, one faith, one baptism.
- One
God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in
all.
- But
to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s
gift.
- Therefore
it is said: When he ascended to the heights, he brought captives and gave
his gifts to people.
- He
ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lower
parts of the world?
- He
himself who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens to fill all
things.
- As
for his gifts, to some he gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even
evangelists, or pastors and teachers.
- So
he prepared those who belong to him for the ministry, in order to build up
the Body of Christ,
- until
we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus
we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the
fullness of Christ.
- Then
no longer shall we be like children tossed about by any wave or wind of
doctrine, and deceived by the cunning of people who drag them along into
error.
- Rather,
speaking the truth in love, we shall grow in every way towards him who is
the head, Christ.
- From
him comes the growth of the whole body to which a network of joints gives
order and cohesion, taking into account and making use of the function of
each one. So the body builds itself in love.
Here Paul stresses the importance of unity and oneness in
Christ and the gifts that every member receives to build community. Although
the text itself speaks to the elders (leaders) of the community, it says that
each member has received different gifts. This diversity of gifts is to be used
to build up the community, and so all members are gifts to one another. The
elders have the task to empower others in using their gifts in building
community.
Paul uses a Greek term in verse 16 which conjures up a
beautiful image from the building trade of his time, whereby masons rubbed
stone together so that, when placed next to one another in the construction of
a wall or arch without mortar, each would fit the other perfectly.
Since we all have some “rough edges” which we are incapable
of making smooth by ourselves, we need each other, in the daily contact and
life of community, to make those rough edges more “smooth” and so bring about a
better “fit”. In this way we build
ourselves and each another up in love.
We shared and reflected on the gifts and talents which each
of us have: what others say about us and our gifts; where they see our
qualities. We recognised that these
gifts do not make us better persons than anybody else, but that they are gifts for others. A few examples:
- the
gift of peacemaker
- the
gift of listening
- the
gift of welcoming and making people feel at home
- the
gift of “knowing” how other people are, what is in their heart
- the
gift of laughter, sense of humour
- the
gift of compassion
It was affirming to be experienced by the other members as a
gift to the community and to the mission we want to undertake.