Across the Ocean, or Across the Street?

The term “missionary work” is often associated with a thing of the past.  Indeed, it is much easier to consider it something from a bygone era when we realize that missionary work has historically not been an a-political endeavor.  Between using the Gospel as an excuse to conquer new lands and using the conquest of new lands as a means of spreading the Gospel, it is nearly impossible to separate the “new lands” from the missions of the past.  But, there are no new lands to conquer.  We know the globe, we know each country’s boundaries, and we know the cultural and social heritage that is sovereign to each.  Because of this, JPII makes a distinction between missionary work ad gentes and missionary work as part of “the new evangelization.”  In both, the objects of the mission have not heard of Christ.  But whereas missionary work ad gentes still retains some introduction of basic human rights to cultures and countries, the “new evangelization” is focused more on introducing Christ to those who do not know Him as isolated individuals.

The world is changing rapidly.  One needs merely to turn on the evening news to see that, “Peoples are on the move; social and religious realities which were once clear and well defined are today increasingly complex. We need only think of certain phenomena such as urbanization, mass migration, the flood of refugees, the de-Christianization of countries with ancient Christian traditions, the increasing influence of the Gospel and its values in overwhelmingly non-Christian countries, and the proliferation of messianic cults and religious sects (RM, para. 32).”  In such a changing world, the need for Christ is still present - as it always has been.  There is still the need for humanitarian work born from solidarity with our brothers and sisters in less developed countries - again, as there always has been.  This missionary need is not going away anytime soon, and is properly called missionary work ad gentes, that is, to the nations.

However, one no longer needs to go across the ocean (if indeed this was ever the only way to evangelize) to introduce Christ to those who do not know Him.  The changing world has not left the already developed worlds unscathed: “even before [Vatican II] it was said that some Christian cities and countries had become ‘mission territories,’ [and in the years since,] the situation has certainly not improved (RM, para. 32).”  Moreover, the changing cultures and constant societal upheavals makes, “it difficult to apply in practice certain ecclesial distinctions and categories to which we have become accustomed (para. 32).”  What is needed is a new way of introducing Christ to those already in our midst, who have never known Him but have grown up beside us.  We must speak their own language, even if their physical language is made up of words common between us.  These people, be they strangers on the street or even our own family members, need an introduction to Christ just as much as the civilizations on another continent.

The Church only has one mission: to bring Christ to Man.  That, “there is a diversity of activities in the Church's one mission is not intrinsic to that mission, but arises from the variety of circumstances in which that mission is carried out (RM, para. 33).”  There is no formulaic way to bring Christ into the human heart; that is something born of the Holy Spirit and the individual will.  However, we are rational creatures; if the truth is presented to us in an irrational way, we would betray our own nature to then as a result open our hearts to something that is against reason.  Therefore, the Church’s one mission requires us to make un-essential distinctions between categories of missionary work, such as between the new evangelization and missionary work ad gentes.