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James
H. Kroeger, M.M. His strong voice rang out, full of conviction. The assembled delegates, gathered at the Sto. Niño Pilgrim Center in Cebu City, listened with attention and enthusiasm. Bishop Vicente C. Manuel, SVD, D.D., National Executive Chairman of the Congress, was inaugurating a pivotal event in the life of the Philippine Church. "Today, we are gathered to celebrate the first ever National Mission Congress, as a fitting culminating activity to end the three years of intense preparation for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. This signal event is our first step as a Local Church into the Third Millennium". Bishop Manuel continued, "’Rejoice in the Lord, I say it again, rejoice’, St. Paul exhorted the Philippians. Let joy and rejoicing in the Lord be the pervading atmosphere and integrating mood of this congress". His words proved to be prophetic. The National Mission Congress 2000 became a FILIPINO FIESTA OF FAITH. The five-day congress (September 27 - October 1, 2000), nearly two years in preparation, had begun. Philippine Local Church The Catholic Church in the Philippines is the world’s third largest local church (after Brazil and Mexico). Christianity came to the Islands with Legaspi in 1565. The quatrocentennial of systematic evangelization was celebrated in 1965 in Cebu, the cradle of Christianity in the Islands; the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) was founded as an appropriate mission response. The faith has taken deep roots in this island nation; 83% of Filipinos are members of the Catholic Church. History recounts several mission landmarks: the year 1959 was declared "mission year" by the hierarchy; the successful International Mission Congress was held in Manila in 1979; the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines in 1991 put the local church "in the state of mission". While not discounting the genuine progress of the local church, there is a growing sentiment that the Philippines could make an even greater contribution to the world-wide evangelizing mission of the Church. It was Pope John Paul II during his 1981 pastoral visit that expressed this vision so clearly and succinctly: "I wish to tell you of my special desire: that the Filipinos will become the foremost missionaries of the Church in Asia". Here one discovers the central motivation for the National Mission Congress 2000: that the Philippine Local Church is to be a "local-church-in-mission" — in spirit and in fact. The congress was a thoroughly Filipino event. The majority of the members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) participated in the liturgies, working sessions, lectures, and public activities. Representatives of every diocese, prelature, vicariate, and church-circumscription, as well as religious women, men, laity, and youth, were present in Cebu. Resource persons were Filipinos, many with long-term mission involvement; some foreign missionaries with lengthy Philippine experience played an important, though minor, role. Several Filipinos were missioned to diverse foreign countries on the last day of the congress in a moving "mission-sending" ceremony. "Cebu 2000" is a milestone in the "missionary awakening" of the local church. The congress highlighted the "Philippine vocation-to-mission". It also emphasized that "the hour of the challenge is now". Now is the kairos, the hour of the Lord’s call. And ‘the grace of the hour’ is now" (CBCP Mission Pastoral). Again and again, the congress theme echoed in the hearts and minds of the participants: "Tell the World of His Love". Atmosphere of Celebration The Mission Congress unfolded in the mode of a Filipino Festival. A pervasive mood of joy characterized the entire five-day event. Delegates enjoyed traveling to Cebu with their fellow diocesan participants. Everyone met old friends and even relatives. Catechists, laity, priests, nuns, bishops were reunited with fellow workers in the Lord’s vineyard. It was a privilege to come to Cebu (for many the first time), to pray at the shrine of the Sto. Niño, and to experience the Visayans’ love and devotion for the newly beatified Pedro Calungsod. Guests were welcomed with genuine Filipino hospitality: John Baptist Cardinal Wu of Hong Kong came as the Papal Legate; Archbishop Charles A. Schleck represented the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP) in Rome; Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, participated; Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See Henrietta T. de Villa came from Rome; CBCP President Archbishop Orlando Quevedo joined the congress; Jaime Cardinal L. Sin and former president Corazon C. Aquino graced the occasion. The affable Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu, his assisting bishops, as well as the clergy, religious, and laity opened their hearts and homes to the 2,300 official delegates. Daily working sessions, held at the Cebu Grand Convention Center, began with common sung morning praise, coordinated by congress liturgist Msgr. Cristobal Garcia. Various core themes of contemporary mission were presented through story-telling and reflection (narrative missiology). A theological overview of mission was presented by Luis A. Tagle; the diverse pathways of integral evangelization were elucidated: proclamation (Ruben Gomez, OMI), inculturation (Pio Estepa, SVD), interreligious dialogue (Bob McCahill, MM and James Kroeger, MM), human promotion (Luis Hechanova, CSsR), and mission spirituality (Daniel Huang, SJ). The afternoons of the congress were given over to workshops on twenty individual mission topics. In addition, public lectures were provided each afternoon at four large churches throughout the city; this enabled any interested Catholic in Cebu to join the congress and receive a short mission catechesis — free of charge. A special academic convocation was held at the San Carlos University during which honorary doctorates were conferred on Edward Malone, MM (for his special contribution to the FABC) and on Charles Schleck, CSC (for his service to mission at the CEP in Rome). Pope Paul VI always emphasized the need for "joyful evangelizers". The congress included many opportunities to sing and celebrate. Each morning charismatic music welcomed participants to the congress hall. All delegates received flowers and leis on the first morning and reverenced the image of the Sto. Niño as they proceeded to the conference hall. Mission videos were played during breaks; they featured today’s missionaries from various lands, Pope John Paul II as a missionary pope, and the MTV video "Humayo’t Ihayag". One evening Msgr. Rodolfo Villanueva provided a drama-song presentation of scenes from the martyrdom of Pedro Calungsod. On the fourth day of the congress a missionary-pilgrimage was organized to the Holy Door at the Cathedral, to the Basilica of Sto. Niño, and to the Cross of Magellan. This was then followed by an outdoor "barrio fiesta" at the residence of Cardinal Vidal. Without doubt, the congress clearly took on a celebratory dimension! Inspiring Faith The National Mission Congress 2000 was Filipino in character; it had a Fiesta atmosphere; however, its core rested on deep Faith. Pope John Paul II has written that "Mission is an issue of faith" (RM 11). "Cebu 2000" was no exception — faith permeated the event from beginning to end. The Congress — even in its inception — was envisioned to be an expression of faith. The Philippine Bishops wrote to the Catholic faithful to prepare for the Cebu mission congress. In their pastoral letter on the Church’s Mission in the New Millennium (July 5, 2000) the bishops noted: "It is clear that the challenge of proclaiming Christ in Asia is a summons addressed first of all to us [Filipinos], to share the gift of faith that we ourselves received". Asian mission statistics are also a faith challenge to the local church in the Philippines. There are 3.5 billion people in Asia; Catholics are only 2.9% of this vast population. Asia holds 85% of the world’s non-Christians. There are about 100+ million Catholics in Asia, while other great world religions have vast Asian populations: Islam (700 million), Hinduism (650 million), Buddhism (300 million). The most startling statistic for Filipinos is to realize that over 50% of all Asian Catholics are in the Philippines alone; this statistic in itself is a mission challenge. In his homily Cardinal Sin urged the congress delegates to take up the ad gentes mission challenge "to the nearly four billions of Asians" who "have not yet come to know your Son, who have not yet had the inexpressible joy of loving him, and knowing they are loved by him". The final homily of the Papal Legate Cardinal Wu recalled the words of Filipino Bishop Arguilles: "Filipinos everywhere! Learn you Faith, Live your Faith, Share your Faith". Cardinal Wu also emphasized that " to die for the faith is a gift to some, to live the faith is a call to all". The Cardinal, celebrating the final Congress Eucharist on October 1 — Feast of Saint Therese — said that faith-filled, mission-minded Christians must "think globally, act locally, and live contemplatively". Mrs. Corazon Aquino spoke about her husband’s prison experiences and how they contributed to his spiritual transformation. She described the role of suffering and prayer in personal spiritual growth. Ninoy Aquino, standing trial before a military tribunal, confided to his wife: "I have prayed, I have put in all of my efforts, the rest I leave to God". Mrs. Aquino’s personal faith testimony was warmly received by all delegates. The final congress message addressed to Filipino Catholics speaks of "a divine calling discerned in faith within our history as a people"; it sees that in "the plan of God’s providence [there is] a vocation of our people to faith". The message expresses gratitude and commitment in terms of the gift of faith: "In this Congress, we have thanked God for this most precious gift: the gift to receive Jesus and to experience Him, the gift to belong to Jesus, to bear Jesus in our persons, to bring Jesus to all the world, this world that God loves so greatly and so unconditionally". Faith found many expressions throughout the congress. Daily prayers and Eucharistic liturgies expressed the faith of the delegates. One entire evening was devoted to a prayer vigil for the Church in the Philippines and Mission in Asia. The vigil was organized by the youth of the Cebu Archdiocese; three young persons from Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas gave personal testimony to their own faith-life and mission ministry. For many delegates, the highpoint of the Congress was the mission-sending ceremony integrated into the closing Eucharist. With joyful admiration, fervent prayer, and with songs, flowers and applause, the new missioners were sent forth by the assembled delegates. Each missionary received the mission cross: "Receive this sign of Christ’s love and of our faith. Preach Christ crucified, who is the power and wisdom of God." In faith the delegates prayed: "Lord, look kindly on your servants we send forth as messengers of salvation and peace, marked with the sign of the cross. Guide their steps…. Make their words the echo of Christ’s voice…. Fill the hearts of your missionaries with the Holy Spirit…". The Philippine Church did not only sponsor and hold a mission congress. It joyfully celebrated a congress. "Cebu 2000" was more than a traditional congress; it was a FILIPINO FIESTA OF FAITH.
James H. Kroeger, M.M., is a Maryknoll Missionary and has served in Asia (Philippines and Bangladesh) since 1970. At the request of the Philippine Bishops, he edited the book Tell the World… which contains mission modules prepared for mission animation and catechesis. Father Kroeger teaches systematic and mission theology in Manila at the Loyola School of Theology and the Mother of Life Catechetical Center. Ref.: Text from the Author. (National Mission Congress 2000).
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