Thân ái chào bạn đã đến thăm trang web của Ủy Ban Giáo Lý Việt Nam tại Hoa Kỳ. Ủy Ban Giáo Lý Việt Nam tại Hoa Kỳ hoạt động với tôn chỉ giúp người Công Giáo Việt Nam tại Hoa Kỳ phát triển đời sống đức tin trong tinh thần Việt Nam, như lời Đức Giáo Hoàng Gioan Phaolô II nhắn nhủ chúng ta trong thông điệp “Giáo Hội tại Á Châu,” là trung thành với giáo lý Tin Mừng, đồng thời duy trì và phát huy nét đẹp của nền văn hóa Việt Nam. Để thực hiện mục đích này
Mời bạn góp ý… Mời bạn góp ý… Mời bạn góp ý…
Con kính Chào Quý Cha (nếu có!) và Quý Sơ – Quý Thầy (nếu có!) 🙂
Xin kính chào Quý Cô Chú Anh Chị điều hành trang web! Xin tri ân lòng quảng đại và công khó mà quý vị đã giành ra để có được trang web này. 🙂
Có một số bài viết rất hay, xin cho phép con được “mang về” post lại và thâu để vào facebook của con, được không ạ? Dù được phép hay không, con cũng xin cảm ơn trước.
Kính,
Thu Nguyen
Xin Ngài cứ tự nhiên. Chúng con làm việc vì Danh Chúa nên càng quảng bá rộng rãi những gì có lợi cho các linh hồn càng tốt.
Phaolô Phạm Xuân Khôi
Trong phúc âm thánh Matthew chapter 26 cau 38 của HDGMHK bằng tiếng Anh Chúa trong vườn Gietsimani nói:” My soul is sorrowful even to death…”Câu này trước năm 1975 các sách tại Nam VN DỊCH LÀ:”LINH HỒN tHẦY BUỒN ĐẾN CHẾT ĐƯỢC..”Trong cuốn Thanh kinh Cưu và Tân ước do TGPSaigon phát hành năm1998 do hồng y Pham Minh MẪN IMPRIMATYRE đã đổi câu trên thành ra như sau:
‘ TÂM HỒN THẦY BUỒN ĐẾN CHẾT ĐƯỢC…”
Xin giải thích sự khác biệt giưã hai chữ : LINH HỒN và TÂM HỒN trong câu trên chủa Chúa theo Thần học.Khi bên VN thay đổi hai chữ này là họ có mục đích nuốn biến Chúa từ người có linh hồn sang người chỉ có tâm hồn mà thôi,nghĩa là Chúa không phải là Thiên Chúa.Xin nghiên cưú và giải thích ngay thẳng với sự hiểu biết có trách nhiệm.Xin cám ơn.
Ông Gioan P.
Câu hỏi này cần phải giải thích chi tiết theo Kitô học. Xin phép cho chúng tôi trả lời bằng một bài viết dài trong tương lai.
Kính chào quý Cha cùng ban Giáo Lý , biên tập…
Con là thành viên đồng hành trong ban giáo lý tân tòng khóa 2013-2014 GX CTTDVN Houston. Môt dự tòng có nêu câu hỏi mà con chỉ hứa khi nào tìm được câu trả lời chính xác sẽ bổ túc sau : Câu hỏi như sau
Đức Mẹ Maria đi theo Thánh Gioan tông đồ từ sau khi Chúa Giêsu chết . Đức mẹ sống tới bao nhiêu tuổi và chết ở đâu ?
Nếu có thể được Xin Cha cho con câu giải đáp phù hợp cho một chị dự tòng trong lớp .
Hiệp nhất trong Chúa Giêsu Kitô .
Kính chào.
Con Phaolo Đào văn Nhàn. Houston. TX.
Thưa Anh,
Chúng ta chỉ biết một điều chắc chắn là Đức Mẹ được Thiên Chúa cất về trời cả hồn lẫn xác và không ai tìm thấy xác Đức Mẹ đâu cả. Đó là Tín Điều mà ĐGH Piô XII công bố trong Tông Hiến Munificentissimus Deus ngày 11/1/1950. Theo truyền thống thì Đức Mẹ ở với Thánh Gioan cho đến cuối đời của Mẹ, nhưng không nói rằng cuối đời ấy là vào năm nào. Còn Thánh Gioan thì cư ngụ ở Giêrusalem rồi sau đó về Êphêxô. Nếu Đức Mẹ “chết” ở Giêrusalem thì phải có mộ của Mẹ ở Giêrusalem và nếu Mẹ “chết” ỡ Êphêxxô thì phải có mồ của Mẹ ở Êphêxô. Nhưng vào thời vua Constantin, Hoàng hậu Helena cho thu góp các “Xương Thánh” và các “di tích thánh” để đem về Constantinople cho bà thì bà được cho biết rằng theo truyền thống thì Mẹ an nghỉ ở Giêrusalem và được cất trong một ngôi mộ. Nhưng ngôi mộ đó cũng trống như Mộ Chúa, nên dân chúng tin rằng Mẹ được đưa về Trời cả hồn lẫn xác. Anh có thể tìm thấy nhiều truyện về việc Mẹ an nghỉ trên mạng Internet và các sách vở, nhưng Hội Thánh không chứng thực những điều viết trong các sách vở hay các bài trên mạng ấy. Từ những truyền thống này, nhiều Đền Thờ và hình ảnh của cả Công Giáo lẫn Chính Thống đã được xây cất và vẽ ra ngay từ thời ban đầu để mừng Mẹ Lên Trời rất lâu trước khi ĐTC Piô XII công bố Tín Điều Đức Mẹ Hồn Xác Lên Trời.
Cám ơn Anh.
Phaolô Phạm Xuân Khôi
Chào các cha, các anh chị
Mình đang tìm tài liệu tiếng Việt để cữ hành nghi thức Scrutinies trong RCIA Process.( vào Chúa Nhật mùa Chay thứ 3, thứ 4 và thứ 5)
http://www.crookston.org/doc_worship_and_liturgy/index_htm_files/rciascrutinies1-3.pdf
Mong các cha và các anh chị giúp cho.
Mình xin cám ơn trước
Thạch
TakPhan@yahoo.com
Thua Anh,
Dưới đây là nối kết cho Nghi Thức Dự Tòng (NHập Đạo) bằng Tiếng Việt Nam.
http://xuanha.net/tg-Toitheodaochua/31nghithucnhapdao.html
Khôi
Chào quý anh chị,
Xin quy anh chi giup em dich TEACHING ON MISSION:
Ad Gentes, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Redemptoris Missio and Dialogue and Proclamatio Stephen Bevans,SVD
Em xin het long cam on quy anh chi truoc. Neu duoc thi goi qua mail em nha.
chao quy anh chi, Men chuc quy anh chi luon vui-khoe.
Introduction
This paper will summarize the church’s official teaching in the Roman Magisterium on
the theology and conduct of its evangelizing mission. Rather than summarize each document ,
however, which would be quite tedious and repetitious, I will rather present the several aspects
of each document that present new aspects to the Magisterium’s teaching on mission. The
original request for this paper suggested that I look only at Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN) and
Redemptoris Missio (RM). It seems to me, however, that a more rounded picture of
contemporary church teaching on mission needs to start with Vatican II’s Decree on Missionary
Activity, Ad Gentes and needs also to include the document issued shortly after RM by the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Dialogue,
Dialogue and Proclamation (DP). This last document, issued in 1991, is now eighteen years old.
Since then two other documents have been issued by the Roman Magisterium that are important
for the church’s mission– Dominus Iesus in 2000 and Doctrinal Notes on Some Aspects of
Evangelization in 2007,both issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. These,
however, are more cautionary in tone and do not present any new or constructive teaching as
such. I will refer to them towards the end of the paper, but only briefly.
It might be helpful to read or refer to the major documents I am reflecting on here. They
are all available in Latin, English, Spanish, German and Italian on the Vatican Website
(vatican.va). I will be referring to the English text on that website, with slight modifications to
make the language more inclusive.
Ad Gentes (1965)
Ad Gentes , Vatican II’s Decree on Missionary Activity is a document that almost didn’t
get written. Before the Council began the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith under
the leadership of Cardinal Gregorio Agagianian was given the task to draft a document on the
church’s mission, but the result was more a summary and some revision of Canon Law as it
applied to the missions rather than a theological reflection on the basis and conduct of mission.
This first draft never got to the Council floor. It was a casualty of the virtual revolt of many
bishops at the council against, in the famous words of Bishop Emil de Smedt of Bruges, Belgium,
the “hierarchical, clerical and juridical” tone of the drafts that had been presented at the first
session. A second draft was made, but it too was sidelined because of a ruling that called for
many of the schemata to be reduced to a number of propositions. When the fifteen or so
propositions were presented on the Council floor, however, they were virtually shouted down
by the bishops, who called for a “full schema” that was theologically grounded. Under the
leadership of SVD Superior General Johannes Schütte and with the main authorship of
theologians of the caliber of Yves Congar, Joseph Ratzinger and Karl Rahner, a draft of the
present document was presented at the last session and, after a number of last minute
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revisions, was unanimously approved by the Council Fathers on the last day of the Council.
1
Ad Gentes , if not the “magna charta” of mission as it was described by Fr. Schütte, is
nevertheless a remarkable document. I will focus here on only a few of its many important
teachings, but these few are where the document has contributed most to the Magisterium’s
teaching on mission in the last half century.
The Church Rooted in the Missio Dei
The first aspect of Ad Gentes’ teaching that I would like to highlight is in paragraph 2.
Here the text speaks of the ultimate foundation for the church’s missionary activity: its
participation in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Such participation through Baptism
in the very life of the Trinity, therefore, makes the church “missionary by its very nature.” Here
is this most important text in full: “The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since it
is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin, in
accordance with the decree of God the Father.”
This is a radical statement on several accounts. First, it emphasizes the fact that mission
is not just one thing the church does. It is rather constitutive of its very being. To be a Christian,
in other words, is to be caught up in the very life of God, which is a life of reaching out and
saving presence in the world. The entire church is missionary. Mission is not just something that
specialists–missionaries–do. It is something that all Christians are called to. This theology,
ultimately written by Congar and quite strongly fought over by the drafting commission, moves
mission away from something just directed by the Roman Congregation of the Propagation of
the Faith, and places it squarely in the daily life of the church as such, and so the responsibility
of every local bishop (something the Decree emphasized again and again). In his important
commentary in the Unam Sanctam series Congar points to the Catholic roots of this theological
foundation in the scholastics and the seventeenth century French School of Spirituality. He also
acknowledges the influence of contemporary Protestant thinking on mission as participation in
God’s mission, the Missio Dei .
2
Mission, ultimately, is not something done because of a
command, even the “great commission” of Mt 28:19‐20. Mission is, in its deepest identity, a
privilege and a grace. The Decree is not always consistent on this, but it is the logical conclusion
from the church’s essential missionary identity.
A second rather radical implication of AG 2 follows from the first. This is that mission has
now been defined not as a territorial concept, but as a basic attitude of the church wherever it
is. Crossing boundaries, moving beyond itself is at the center of the church’s identity. While
pastoral care is certainly central as well to the church’s life, it must not eclipse the church’s
reaching out, making a difference in the world around it. Mission, then, is not about going
places, but serving people–down the street or across oceans, in other cultures or one’s own.
While, again, the document is not totally consistent in this regard, and gradually speaks more of
1
For a more detailed account of Ad Gentes’ remarkable history, see Part I, Section I of Stephen Bevans,
SVD and Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Evangelization and Human Freedom: Ad Gentes and Dignitatis Humanae (New York:
Paulist Press, 2009).
2
Yves Congar, “Principes doctrinaux,” in Johannes Schütte, ed., Vatican II: L’activité Missionnaire de
L’Église . Unam Sanctam 67 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1967), 186.
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3
“younger churches” or “mission churches” implying that “missions” are in “mission countries,”
the seeds had been sown. This tension in the document represents the great tension in the
drafting committee. Yves Congar wrote in his journal about the opposition of the
“missiologists” (experts in mission law) to the “theologians.”
3
Towards Inculturation
Ad Gentes does not use the word “inculturation.” This is a word that only begins to
appear regularly in theological and missiological literature in the 1970s, and is only first used in
a Roman magisterial document in John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Catechesi Tradendi in
1979. Nevertheless, the document contains passages which certainly anticipate the discussion
on inculturation in the next decade. Perhaps the most powerful expression of the need to
appreciate culture and employ it in evangelization appears in paragraph 11:
In order that they may be able to bear more fruitful witness to
Christ, let them be joined to those peoples by esteem and love;
let them acknowledge themselves to be members of the group of
people among whom they live; let them share in cultural and
social life by the various undertakings and enterprises of human
living; let them be familiar with their national and religious
traditions; let them gladly and reverently lay bare the seeds of the
Word which lie hidden among their fellows. At the same time,
however, let them look to the: profound changes which are taking
place among nations, and let them exert themselves to keep
modern persons, intent as they are on the science and technology
of today’s world from becoming a stranger to things divine;
rather, let them awaken in them a yearning for that truth and
charity which God has revealed. Even as Christ Himself searched
the hearts of women and men, and led them to divine light, so
also His disciples, profoundly penetrated by the Spirit of Christ,
should show the people among whom they live, and should
converse with them, that they themselves may learn by sincere
and patient dialogue what treasures a generous God has
distributed among the nations of the earth. But at the same time,
let them try to furbish these treasures, set them free, and bring
them under the dominion of God their Savior.
This is truly a remarkable passage, and one that has hardly been improved upon in
teachings on inculturation in subsequent documents. The “they” at the beginning of the
3
Yves Congar, Mon Journal du Concile (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2002), March 24, 1965 (Volume II, 348).
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passage refers to either people indigenous to a particular place or to missionaries sent to
witness to the gospel. Christians are called to be real participants in the cultural and political life
of the nations in which they live, and are called to be people of “sincere and patient dialogue”
in order to discover the treasures that God has so generously lavished on the world’s cultures.
But, as papal documents had pointed out even before this one, Christians are to integrate such
treasures into Christian expression with a critical sense. Still, the document is completely
positive, calling for cultures to be “furbished” by setting them free to be fully what they are–
which will happen as they come under the rule of Christ and of God.
A similar passage anticipating inculturation appears in paragraph 22. The passage is too
long to quote, but I will try to summarize it here, with ample quotations from the text. Once
again, it is a remarkable teaching, particularly in the light of the disparagement of culture that
so often (but not always) took place in the exercise of Christian mission. As late as 1960, a
response to a paper that tried to propose the development of an “African Theology” was
responded to by a paper by a Belgian missionary entitled “First, A Real Theology” (meaning, of
course, a European theology!).
4
The passage appears in the context of Chapter III of the Decree, entitled “Particular
Churches.” This chapter contains another breakthrough teaching of AG, which is that no matter
how “young” or fragile a church is, it is still a church in the proper sense, and must be treated as
such. Specifically, the passage deals with the importance of developing a philosophy and
especially a theology in each particular church which, though connected with the wider
Christian tradition, nevertheless is a product of a borrowing “from the customs and traditions
of their people, from their wisdom and their learning, from their arts and disciplines, all those
things which can contribute to the glory of their Creator, or enhance the grace of their Savior,
or dispose Christian life the way it should be.” By submitting God’s revelation to a “new
scrutiny,” a new understanding of Christianity can be developed, relevant for that culture or
context. “Thus it will be more clearly seen in what ways faith may seek for understanding, with
due regard for the philosophy and wisdom of these peoples; it will be seen in what ways their
customs, views on life, and social order, can be reconciled with the manner of living taught by
divine revelation.”
If this is done carefully, the passage continues, there will be no danger of “selling out”
the gospel or falling into a “false particularism.” Rather, there will be a new richness added to
the unity of the church throughout the world.
Missionary Qualities
Chapter IV, entitled simply “Missionaries,” is hailed by many commentators as the best
chapter in the entire Decree.
5
The chapter is clear that being a missionary is a vocation, a
particular calling from God to people who have “a suitable natural temperament,” and are “fit
as regards talent and other qualities.” As suitable as these women and men are, however, the
chapter lays out the kind of training and formation that missionaries need. The list of qualities
4
The story is related in Benezet Bujo, Christianity in Its Social Setting (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, —), —.
5
See for example the commentary of William R. Burrows in Timothy E. O’Connell, Vatican II and Its
Documents: An American Reappraisal (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1986) 180‐196.
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5
and skills in which they are to be trained is a long one. They are to be people of perseverance,
generosity and courage–even willing to lay down their lives for the faith if necessary. They
should be adaptable, prayerful, and have a knowledge of the history of the peoples to whom
they are sent as well as an understanding of current issues in those particular situations. Every
effort should be made to learn the local language or languages. They should be trained both in
theology and missiology. Significantly, the training they receive should be given in the lands
where they will work, and such training is recommended not only for foreign missionaries, but
for indigenous members of particular countries and cultures who will work there as well. Simply
because one is a native of a particular context, in other words, does not insure that one already
has the skills to work effectively in that context.
All of this, of course, is very ideal. It may even paint an overly romantic picture of the
missionary life. It does, however, provide a standard to which missionary congregations and
agencies should try to measure up. Certainly in the past there have been horror stories of
women and men who have been placed in cross‐cultural situations with no training
whatsoever, not even in language. Such situations were certainly more common in the days
before the Council, and it is particularly to these that the Decree addresses. From my own
experience and knowledge, much more can always be done, especially in the area of language
study and ministerial supervision in the first months and years of a person’s ministry.
Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975)
As we will see in the paper that follows this one–on the history of the church’s mission–
Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi was written at a time when the very idea of
mission was being seriously questioned. AG and Vatican II in general had opened up fresh
perspectives on mission (in fact, I think it can be appreciated more today than in the troubled
times in which it was written). But some of these fresh perspectives also raised profound
questions. If, as the document on the church had taught, women and men could be saved
outside the church and without any explicit faith in Christ (see Lumen Gentium (LG) 16), and if
every church does mission in the context in which it exists, why should missionaries be sent
abroad to convert people to Christ? If cultures are already good and holy, why should
missionaries disturb them with western ideas and western religious forms? It was in this
context that Paul VI convoked the 1974 Synod of Bishops with the theme “Evangelization in the
Modern World.” It was from the deliberations of the Synod and Paul VI’s careful listening to the
bishops of the Two Thirds World that Paul developed his ideas for his apostolic exhortation.
6
Interestingly, perhaps as a reflection of the rather strong aversion for the word
“mission” that had emerged in the churches and in theology ad (ironically!) missi ology, the
pope uses the word “evangelization.” However, the meaning of the terms is the same, and I
believe that they can be used interchangeably. As we will see below, the pope does widen the
idea of mission to include aspects other than simply witnessing to the faith in word and deed,
6
For a fuller explanation of the background of the apostolic exhortation, see Stephen Bevans, “Witnessing
to the Gospel in Modern Australia,” The Australian E‐Journal of Theology , 6 (2006).
________________________________________
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but he still understands such witness to be at the heart of the evangelizing process.
The Church’s Mission Continues the Mission of Jesus
The first significant teaching of EN comes in the very first chapter. Like AG, the apostolic
exhortation will emphasize the essential missionary nature of the church. Unlike the Council
document, however, he does not begin with the grand doctrine of the Trinity. Instead, the pope
begins with Jesus’ mission of preaching and witnessing to the Reign of God. “As an evangelizer,
Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by
comparison, everything else becomes ‘the rest,’ which is ‘given in addition.’ Only the kingdom
therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative” (EN 8). Jesus both taught about
God’s Reign in parables and words of wisdom, and demonstrated its reality by his works of
healing and exorcism (EN 11‐12), and those who accepted his message as good news formed “a
community which is in its turn evangelizing” (EN 13). This is why “evangelizing is in fact the
grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize
. . .”
This section of EN is very rich and very dense–it is certainly my own favorite chapter in
the document. Almost everything is worth quoting. Rather than that, however, let me highlight
three things Paul VI insists on in talking about the fact that the church “is linked to
evangelization in her very being (EN 15).
First, the pope insists that the church needs to be evangelized itself before it takes on
the task of evangelization. It must constantly listen to the Word of God; it must constantly be
on the road of conversion (Ibid.). This does not mean that the church must wait before it “gets
its act together” before it moves out on mission. If this were the case it would never go! But it
does mean, to use the great phrase of South African missiologist David J. Bosch, that its work of
evangelization needs always to be carried out in a kind of “bold humility”
7
–bold in preaching
the gospel, but humble in its realization that it too needs the repentance to which the gospel
calls humanity.
Second, Paul VI insists on the strong link between Jesus’ witness to the Reign of God and
the church. There is real continuity between Jesus’ mission and the mission of the church, “the
normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit” (Ibid.) of Jesus’ work. In a time when
the watchword was often “Jesus yes, the church no,” the pope insists on the fact that
evangelization is an ecclesial task through and through. Evangelization is “not accomplished
without her, and still less against her” (EN 16).
Third, the fact that the church is so essentially missionary means that everyone in the
church is called to participate in the church’s mission: “the work of each individual member is
important for the whole” (EN 15). Like AG, EN does not want to reduce missionary work to only
certain people in the church–members of missionary congregations or the hierarchy. This is a
call especially to lay involvement in mission.
Evangelization a Multi‐faceted Reality
7
David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis
Books, 1991), 489.
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7
One of the most important teachings of the apostolic exhortation is the expansion of the
church’s understanding of mission to include a variety of activities other than direct
proclamation of the gospel, working for conversion and planting the church. AG certainly hints
at this richness in the meaning of mission, but EN moves a step farther. There had been a
tendency in the past to reduce evangelization to direct proclamation of Christ to those who do
not yet know him. However, says the pope, “any partial and fragmentary definition which
attempts to render the reality of evangelization in all its richness, complexity and dynamism
does so only at the risk of impoverishing it and even of distorting it. It is impossible to grasp the
concept of evangelization unless one tries to keep in view all its essential elements.”
The pope then goes on to emphasize that while preaching Christ is important–indeed,
there is no evangelization at all if this does not happen (EN 22)–there are several other
“essential elements.” First, there is the witness of a vibrant Christian community, without which
the church can have no credibility. In a famous line, the pope quotes a speech he had recently
delivered: today people listen “more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if [they do]
listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses (see EN 41). Second, the pope stresses the
importance of the evangelization of cultures, “not in a purely decorative way, as it were, by
applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots” (EN 20).
Evangelization and Liberation
Evangelization includes a commitment to full human development and especially to
social justice. Only four years before, the Synod of Bishops spoke about working for justice as a
“constitutive dimension of the preaching of the gospel,” and Paul VI includes this in his
expanded vision of evangelization (see EN 29). But the pope–although somewhat cautiously–
carries this further, in the light of contemporary discussions of justice, particularly in Latin
America. In paragraph 29, the word “liberation” (in the sense of the “theology of liberation” is
used for the first time in a Roman magisterial document: “evangelization involves an explicit
message, adapted to the different situations constantly being realized, about the rights and
duties of every human being, about family life without which personal growth and
development is hardly possible, about life in society, about international life, peace, justice and
development‐ a message especially energetic today about liberation” (Ibid.).
EN’s teaching on liberation and evangelization is quite balanced, and there are two
things in which it insists. First, evangelization is not to be reduced to political or economic well
being. The spiritual dimension of the gospel is actually the source of humanity’s deepest
liberation. Second, violence is never to be sanctioned, because it knows that knows that
“violence always provokes violence and irresistibly engenders new forms of oppression and
enslavement which are often harder to bear than those from which they claimed to bring
freedom” (EN 37).
One could say much more about this “magna carta” of mission documents, but these
three points will suffice. EN’s program is continued and expanded in the document that
commemorates AG’s twenty‐fifth anniversary and its own fifteenth: John Paul II’s massive 1990
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Page 8
encyclical Redemptoris Missio .
Redemptoris Missio (1990)
Although it was not officially published until January, 1991, Pope John Paul’s encyclical
Redemptoris Missio is dated December 7, 1990, on the eve of the twenty‐fifth anniversary of
AG and the fifteenth anniversary of EN. The encyclical returns to the use of “mission,” although
he use “evangelization” interchangeably with it, and speaks of it in a very broad and
multifaceted way. Redemptoris Missio is the closest the Roman Magisterium has ever gotten to
articulating a comprehensive and systematic reflection on mission, and while it may not be
quite as inspiring as EN it represents a major step forward in the church’s official teaching on
what has come to be called its “evangelizing mission.” A summary of the entire document
would far exceed our purposes here, and so we will focus on three important aspects of RM’s
teaching: its Christocentric focus, its expansion of the understanding of mission, and its
inclusion of interreligious dialogue as constitutive of the church’s mission.
Christocentric Focus
At a press conference given soon after the publication of the encyclical, Josef Cardinal
Tomko, then the Prefect of the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples, explained that
one of the chief reasons for the pope’s writing RM was to correct a Christology being developed
by some theologians that tended to obscure Christian belief that Jesus was indeed the unique
and universal savior of humanity.
8
Although he didn’t mention names, it is pretty clear that he
had in mind a number of Indian and other Asian theologians, and probably also the U. S.
American theologian Paul Knitter.
While the pope holds fast to the church’s traditional teaching, clearly articulated at
Vatican II, that people have the possibility to be saved outside of explicit faith in Christ (see RM
10), his position also reflects the Council’s teaching that, nevertheless, all grace comes through
Christ, and Christ alone. “No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except
through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s one, universal mediation, far from
being an obstacle on the journey toward God, is the way established by God himself, a fact of
which Christ is fully aware. Although participated forms of mediation of different kinds and
degrees are not excluded, they acquire meaning and value only from Christ’s own mediation,
and they cannot be understood as parallel or complementary to his” (RM 5).
The pope’s insistence on the centrality of Christ runs through every section of RM, and is
definitely the major theological theme of the encyclical. The first chapter deals with this
teaching directly, emphasizing the fact that explicit faith in Christ is what gives women and men
the fullness of life. All people have a right to the truth and life that the gospel offers, although
the gospel is always addressed to human beings in their freedom, never imposed upon them
(RM 7‐8). Chapter II reflects on the centrality of the Reign of God in Jesus ministry, and says
clearly that the church is not an end in itself–perhaps the clearest statement of this fact in a
8
Josef Cardinal Tomko, “Proclaiming Christ the World’s Only Savior,” L’Osservatore Romano (April 15,
1991): 4.
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Page 9
9
magisterial document up to this time (see RM 18), but that does not mean that the Reign of
God is separate from Jesus or the church. In fact, the pope insists, the Reign of God is not a
concept, a doctrine or a program; it is a person , the person of Jesus of Nazareth (Ibid.). Chapter
III is on the Holy Spirit, and again, while the Spirit is understood as the “principal agent of
evangelization” (see the title of the chapter), the pope insists that the Spirit is the Spirit of
Jesus, and not some vague, general form of God’s presence (see RM 29). Each of these three
chapters oppose any generalizing or watering down of the specificity of Christ: mission is about
proclaiming the person and work of Christ, not helping people recognize God’s mysterious
presence as Logos, or in “Kingdom values,” or in the pervasive presence of the Spirit.
“’ Why mission?’” the pope asks. “Because to us, as to St. Paul, ‘this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Eph 3:8). . . .” (RM 11).
Expanding the Idea of Mission
There are two ways in which John Paul expands the notion of mission in the encyclical.
The first way is to distinguish three “situations” of the church’s missionary activity. The second
is to speak of mission as a “single but complex reality,” composed of several elements.
The first “situation” of the church’s missionary activity is mission ad gentes , or the direct
witnessing and proclamation of Christ in situations where he is not known, or where the church
is not strong enough to proclaim the gospel in a fully inculturated way (RM 33). This is mission,
the pope says, in the proper sense of the word. However, the pope also speaks about pastoral
work among the established churches and what he had been calling the “new evangelization” in
churches “where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no
longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and
his Gospel” (Ibid.). These latter are churches where the gospel has been established for a long
time–like the churches of Europe or North and South America–or even churches who have only
recently received the gospel–churches, for example, in urban areas of Africa or Asia.
Even though mission ad gentes does retain its validity as mission in the proper sense,
the pope expands the notion to include particular areas like the rapidly growing urban areas of
the world, particularly those in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He also points to the world’s
youth, which in many countries make up half the population, and to large numbers of the
world’s migrants and the conditions of poverty which often makes migration necessary (RM
37). Referring to Paul’s speech on Athens’s Areopagus, where Paul dared to present the gospel
in terms that Greeks would understand, the pope also speaks about the world’s new Areopagi
which call for a creative way of presenting the gospel. He singles out areas like the world of
communications, the need to develop the rights of women and children, the culture of science,
the situations that need liberation from any and all oppression, ecological responsibility, and
the need for peacemaking (Ibid.). This is clearly an expansion of mission ad gentes far beyond
how even the pope defined it earlier in the encyclical.
The encyclical expands the idea of mission even further, or perhaps to align it with the
expanded areas mentioned in paragraph 37. Although John Paul does not quite a good
summary of a wider sense of mission that appears in a 1984 document entitled “Dialogue and
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Page 10
Mission” (the document speaks of five aspects or elements of mission),
9
he does acknowledge
that mission is indeed a multifaceted reality. In Chapter V, the pope writes about mission as
witness, as explicit proclamation of the name of Christ and of the gospel, as the task of forming
new communities, as inculturation, interreligious dialogue, working for development, and as
works of charity.
In sum, one gets the distinct impression that mission is understood in the encyclical in a
way that embraces the entire life of the church. It confirms AG’s contention that the church is
indeed “missionary by its very nature,” or EN’s statement that evangelization is the church’s
“deepest identity.”
Interreligious Dialogue
We have already mentioned that interreligious dialogue is included in the encyclical as
part of its expanded understanding of mission. It will be important, however, to single this
aspect out, both because it is something that is relatively new in the church’s teaching on
mission because in later years the idea of interreligious dialogue might seemed to be called into
question.
EN does not really deal with the question of interreligious dialogue. It does speak of the
respect that Christians have for other religions, but it does not seem to understand dialogue as
part of the evangelization process itself (see EN 53). Nine years later, in 1984, the Pontifical
Council for Dialogue did issue an important statement entitled “Mission and Dialogue” in which
dialogue was seen as integral to the church’s evangelization efforts. This is the first time,
however, that the activity of interreligious dialogue appears as part of mission in a papal
encyclical. “Inter‐religious dialogue,” the pope writes, “is part of the church’s evangelizing
mission” (RM 55).
The pope insists that dialogue with other faiths is perfectly consistent with the church’s
obligation to proclaim Christ as universal savior to all peoples. While the aim of dialogue is to
discover in other religions that ray of truth that enlightens all peoples (see NA 2), each dialogue
partner needs to be a person of full conviction in her or his faith. Even though Christians are
called to dialogue, they must always keep in mind the uniqueness of Christ and that “the
Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the
means of salvation” (Ibid.).
Nevertheless, the pope says, dialogue is not some kind of tactic for eventual conversion
(RM 56). It is born out of respect for the other religions, and is done out of a sincere desire to
get to know and to learn from other religious ways. Even when dialogue is difficult–say, in some
Muslim areas–Christians should be open to it, despite its difficulties and despite its risks (RM
57). Dialogue, finally, is not something just for experts or official religious leaders. The pope
notes that dialogue is the task of every Christian, and he especially encourages the laity to
engage in it (Ibid.).
9
Secretariat for Non‐Christian Religions, The Attitude of the Church Towards the Followers of Other
Religions: Reflections and Orientations on Dialogue and Mission (DM), AAS 75 (1984, 816‐828; see also Bulletin
Secretariatus pro non Christianis 56 (1984/2), No. 13. The five elements are presence and witness; commitment to
social development and human liberation; liturgical life, prayer and contemplation; interreligious dialogue; and
proclamation and catechesis.
________________________________________
Page 11
11
Like EN, one could say much more about this virtual summa of mission and missiology.
However, given the constraints of this paper, the three areas highlighted certainly provide an
adequate overview of what the encyclical teaches.
Dialogue and Proclamation
Reference has already been made to the Secretariat for Non‐Christians’ 1984 document
on dialogue and mission. A few months after the publication of RM, a follow up document to
the one issued in 1984 was published by the Pontifical Council for Dialogue (the name of the
Secretariat since 1988) and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The document’s
title, Dialogue and Proclamation (DP), points to the issue which it addresses: the relationship
between direct proclamation of the gospel and the imperative, as an integral part of the
church’s mission, of interreligious dialogue. As Pope John Paul II indicated in RM, there is a
mutual relationship between the two aspects of mission, but that relationship had been in
danger of being reduced to one or the other in the years immediately preceding RM’s
publication. Mission, he insisted over and over again in his encyclical, cannot be reduced to
dialogue, as if all religions are of equal value. But he also subtly argued that dialogue is not
something we can dispense with when we preach the riches of Christ. DP tries to address the
vital connection between the two in greater detail.
The document is developed in three parts. There is a first section reflection on dialogue,
then a second on proclamation, and finally a third on the relationship between them. The point
is made, however, that, if dialogue is treated first, this does not mean that it has priority over
proclamation in the document. It is treated first only because the document was first initiated
by the Pontifical Council for Dialogue (DP 3). The two, rather, need to be dynamically related to
one another, and always exist in tension. The root of this is in God’s life and saving activity
itself: God offers and works for salvation in the world, and yet God works in dialogue, never
forcing, but always persuading (see DP 38).
DP presents a rather extensive theology of religions in the first part of the document. It
also lays out nicely the various forms that interreligious dialogue can take: the dialogue of life
where people simply live together and appreciate each other on a human level; the dialogue of
action where members of different religions unite around some particular cause for the
betterment of humanity; the dialogue of theological exchange where, especially, experts and
church leaders share perspectives and study one another’s traditions; and the dialogue of
religious experience in which members share the richness of one another’s spiritual traditions
and personal spirituality and perhaps–as in Assisi in 1986 and 2002–pray in one another’s
presence (see DP 42). Another interesting reflection about dialogue is the naming of a number
of factors that impede dialogue, among which are insufficient grounding in one’s own faith, a
wrong understanding of notions like conversion, and the political climate in which one lives (see
DP 52). Nevertheless, as the document says, “despite the difficulties, the Church’s commitment
to dialogue remains firm and irreversible” (DP 54).
Focusing on the act of proclamation, DP emphasizes the fact that any proclamation of
the gospel is not done in a void. Rather, the Holy Spirit has gone before the one who proclaims.
________________________________________
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In fact, people “ may have already been touched by the Spirit and in some way associated
unknowingly to the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ (cf. GS 22)” (DP 68). Because of this,
Christians need to learn how to present the gospel in ways that truly communicate it, illumine
people’s experience, and challenge them to respond. They should model themselves on Jesus
(see DP 69). Any announcement of the gospel should be confident, and yet respectful and
humble, dialogical and inculturated (DP 70). In the same way that it presented obstacles to
dialogue, the documents cites certain obstacles to a worthy gospel proclamation. There may be
a gap between what one says and what one truly believes and lives out in one’s life; Christians
may lack respect for the religious traditions among which they proclaim the gospel; or there
might exist “external difficulties,” such as strong historical prejudices of a particular people
against Christianity (see DP 73‐74).
Paragraph 77 sums up well the close connection between two activities that the third
section of the document seeks to explain. For our purposes it is enough to cite the paragraph as
a whole:
Interreligious dialogue and proclamation, though not on the same
level, are both authentic elements of the Church’s evangelizing
mission. Both are legitimate and necessary. They are intimately
related, but not interchangeable: true interreligious dialogue on
the part of the Christian supposes the desire to make Jesus Christ
better known, recognized and loved; proclaiming Jesus Christ is to
be carried out in the Gospel spirit of dialogue. The two activities
remain distinct but, as experience shows, one and the same local
Church, one and the same person, can be diversely engaged in
both.
Conclusion: From DP to the Present
This paper has presented a survey of the main teachings on mission that the church has
presented in official Roman documents in the last half century. What has been the main
missiological concern of the Roman Magisterium in the two decades since the publication of DP
has been the question of interreligious dialogue in relation to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as
universal savior. On two occasions, in 2000 with the declaration Dominus Iesus and in 2007 with
a document entitled “Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization,” the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith emphasized the centrality of Jesus in terms that, at least for some,
seemed to neglect the equal centrality of the doctrines of grace outside Christian boundaries
and the practice of interreligious dialogue (although, to be fair, these were acknowledged in
both documents). Sanctions leveled against prominent theologians like Jacques Dupuis (a
principal author of DP) and Roger Haight, and investigations of equally prominent theologians
Peter Phan and Michael Amaladoss have only underlined the fact that Rome is nervous about
the correct interpretation of its own teachings.
Theologians and missiologists have suggested that the Christological issue underlying
the publication of these documents and the initiation of these investigations is the most crucial
theological issue of our day. Others point to issues of inculturation as the most significant
________________________________________
Page 13
13
theological discussion in contemporary theology, one that is the foundation for these other
Christological questions. Still others argue that much more urgent are issues of justice,
peacemaking and the care of creation. Whatever one may think, one cannot but be struck by
the fact that these are all missiological issues, and that church teaching has dealt–at least in
some sense–with every one of them in the last five decades. And whatever one may think, one
cannot deny that mission is at the center of theological thought and Christian life today.
Cho con hỏi 1 câu: Thiên Chúa biết hết mọi sự, Ngài biết trước cả việc các thần xấu không tuân phục và phản bội Ngài, nhưng Ngài để cho họ tự do lựa chọn. Con lại được biết Thiên Chúa nhân lành vô cùng tha hết mọi tội lỗi cho mọi tạo vật nếu họ biết ăn năn hối cải và xin ơn tha thứ từ Lòng Thương Xót Chúa. Câu hỏi đặt ra là: Ngài biết trước họ sẽ như thế sao Ngài không chận trước hoặc như là vá lỗi cho họ vì với lòng nhân từ và quyền năng của Ngài thì nào có khó gì, vì Ngài biết với lòng tự cao của họ thì họ sẽ không phục vụ loài người theo thánh ý Ngài. Xin cho con được hiểu rõ thêm về điểm này. Con cám ơn và GOD LUCK.
TRước hết xin lỗi anh vì cho lên mạng trễ. Phần gi1p ý nawy bị SPAM nhiều quá nên hôm nay mới đọc đến câu hỏi của anh. Cám ơn anh Hà. Xin để các độc giả khác góp ý một thời gian rồi sẽ xin các Cha trả lời cho anh.
Kính Anh.
Khôi
Kính gửi Quý Cô-Chú phụ trách giaoly.org,
Con xem trong link này http://giaoly.org/glcgvn/Ph%E1%BA%A7n%20II%20doan%20II%20chuong%202%20muc%204.htm ở điều 1459 và con thấy phần chú thích là (x. CIC, khoản 914), tuy nhiên khi con xem lại trong bản văn Latin thì chỗ này phải là (x CÐ Tren-te : DS 1712)
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_lt/p2s2c2a4_lt.htm#V. Multiplices poenitentiae formae in vita christiana (chú thích 57)
Mong Quý Cô-Chú kiểm tra giúp con. Con xin cảm ơn nhiều và chúc Quý Cô-Chú nhiều sức khoẻ.
Cám ơn Bạn.
Chúng tôi chỉ đăng nguyên văn bản dịch của TGP Sàigon. Bản này đã lỗi thời và chúng tôi đang chờ để dăng bản dịch mới của Ủy Ban Giáo Lý Đức Tin.
Khôi.
Xin Ủy ban Giáo Lý Việt Nam tại Hoa Kỳ vui lòng gởi bài cho tôi qua địa chỉ email trên
Cám ơn các bạn.
Xin lỗi Cji5 Tuyết,
Tất cả các email chúng tôi gửi về yahoo.com.vn đều bị chặn và không đến người nhận. Xin dùng
gmail.com hay yahoo.com nhưng không có.vn thùi may ra mới nhận được.
KHôi
Kính gởi anh Phaolô Khôi
Tôi đọc những bài Ðồng Hành với Chúa Giêsu trên Đường Thập Giá của linh muc Nouwen do anh dịch, và có 1 tưởng trong đầu là sẽ chuyển những bài này thành MP3 audio files để load vào computer, Ipad, Iphone & smart phone. Việc này răt tiện lơi vì hiện nay hâu như ai cũng co những thứ high tech toys này và họ có thể nghe những bài suy niệm này bất cứ lúc nào thí dụ như trong lúc lái xe di làm, đi bộ, v.v… Do đó tôi xin phép anh cho tôi làm việc này. Tôi dự định sẽ hoàn tất những MP3 files vào mùa chay năm 2014 và sẽ gởi cho anh 1 vài files để anh nghe thử và góp ý. Rất mong nhận được hồi báo của anh.
Trong Thầy
Nguyễn Xuân Văn
Cám ơn anh, xin anh cứ tự nhiên. Nếu anh làm MP3 được bài nào mà tôi là tác giả hay dịch giả, xin anh cứ làm. Từ nay anh không cần phải xin phép nữa. Miễn là gửi cho tôi để chia sẻ với mọi người trên website.
Kính Anh.
Khôi
Kính Anh Khôi,
Anh em chúng tôi đẫ hoàn thành được 1 số audio MP3 files rồi. Tôi muốn gởi cho anh 1 file để nghe thử, nhưng khong biết gởi bằng cách nào đây??? Xin anh cho ý kiến.
Mong tin
Văn
Cám ơn Anh.
Xin goi anh cai MP3 dau tien – Loi moi dau cua cuon sach. Xin vao linh de nghe hoac download.
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kinh trinh ban To Chuc
qua thong bao ve viec tiep don ACE Giao Ly Vien tai Phi Truong.
toi xin de nghi ban to Chuc cho ban tiep tan don tai moi phi truong.
ban tiep tan se dieu phoi va goi anh chi em trong ban van chuyen
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Cám ơn.
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Sau kỳ dự ĐHGL XI về, con để ý thấy những bàn tròn trong phòng ăn thật tiện nghi và hữu ích: mỗi người nhích một chút xíu là có thể đủ chỗ cho thêm một hay hai ghế ngồi khi cần; và chỉ cần quay trái, quay phải một tị là có thể nhìn thấy được mọi người ngồi cùng bàn, chuyện trò nhờ thế cũng gần gũi và thân mật hơn
Có thể nào Cha cho thay thế các bàn dài hình chữ nhật trong phòng hội thảo bằng các bàn tròn giống như trong phòng ăn, để mọi người trong nhóm dễ dàng nghe & theo dõi trưởng nhóm, và chuyện bàn thảo tiện lợi và hữu hiệu hơn không thưa Cha? Nhất là khi mọi người ngồi quanh tâm điểm của bàn tròn, ai cũng ngang hàng như nhau.
kính thư
nguyệt
Chúng tôi xin ghi nhận và sẽ bàn thảo trong buổi họp của Ban Tổ Chức.
Phaolô Phạm Xuân Khôi
Em rat can mot so tai lieu giao ly bang tieng Anh, Dac biet ve lich su giao hoi. Xin vui long chi giup em nhung website, neu co tai lieu xin gui giup em.
Chan thanh cam on,
Xin chị Anna coi ở trang truthfulcatholic.net
KINH CHUC QUY CHA , QUY SO , QUY THAY SAU VA TOAN THE ANH CHI EM PHUC VU CHO CHUA MOT MUA LE TA ON HANH PHUC , VUI VE VA DUOC TRAN DAY ON PHUC CHUA BAN .
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Sẽ có thông báo và đơn trong tháng 11.
Toi muon nhan nhung tai lieu giao ly bang Anh ngu de gui cho cac con toi o Viet Nam.
Cam on nhieu !!!
Xin lỗi vì thiếu nhân sự nên phần tiếng Anh bị tạm ngưng. Chúng tôi đang tìm cách để tiếp tục phần tiếng Anh. Chúng tôi sẽ để anh chị vào danh sách email thường xuyên trong đó thỉnh thoảng có tiếng Anh.
Khôi
Kinh thua Uy ban Giao ly,
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Texas-USA
Thưa Anh,
Chúng tôi không có CD và cũng không biết là ở đâu bán CD này. Đề nghị anh tải xuống computer rồi chuyển sang CD.
Khôi
Kinh thua quy vi,
Trong trang web rai rac co dang nhung bai giao ly cua Duc Thanh Cha, theo thien y cua toi, chung ta co the tong hop lai thanh mot muc de nguoi doc co the su dung nhu mot nguon tu lieu lien tuc, va cung de lam giau cho kho tai lieu ve giao ly cua chung ta, vi do la nhung bai giao ly rat dac sac.
Cam on quy vi.
Hai Ly
Cám ơn Anh Nguyễn Hải Lý,
Chúng tôi đang sửa sonn sắp xếp lại các tiết mục của các bài trong mùa hè này.
Chào “giaoly.org”,
Hiện đang theo dõi loạt bài “Tài liệu Chúa Nhật Giáo lý” và thấy loạt bài này khá hay.
Trong bài 1 : “O Sacrum Convivium”, có lời cầu nguyện Thánh Thể của thánh Thomas Aquino bằng tiếng Latin. Ở Việt Nam đã có bản dịch kinh này từ lâu, xin ghi lại trong mục góp ý này để các bạn tham khảo thêm như sau :
Ôi yến tiệc Mình và Máu thánh
Chúa Kitô thành lương thực nuôi ta.
Tiệc nhắc nhớ Người đã chịu khổ hình
và đổ đầy ân sủng xuống cõi lòng nhân thế
Tiệc bảo đảm cho ta một ngày mai huy hoàng rực rỡ.
Xin cảm ơn.
Xin quy vi chi giup cho cach nao tien va do ton kem nhat de dat mua khoang 150 cuon Giao Ly Cong Giao va 150 cuon Ban Toat Yieu Giao Ly Cong Giao va gui ve San Jose, CA, USA.
Xin cam on nhieu.
Bạn có thể gửi mua tại nhà sách Fatima:
http://www.fatimacompany.com/index.php
Kính thưa cha và ban tổ chức Đại Hội Giáo lý,
Con cần biết địa chỉ của nơi tổ chức DHGL để có thể làm bản đồ đi cho dễ dàng.
Xin chân thành cám ơn.
Con
HT
Thưa anh,
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Đồng thời cũng tin cho anh biết là ở đó không bị lụt.
Chào quý anh chị,
Xin cảm ơn tất cả những tấm lòng của quý anh chị đã đóng góp cho trang web http://www.giaoly.org để việc học hỏi Lời Chúa và giáo huấn của giáo hội dễ dàng va chính xác, và việc sống đạo luôn triển nở
TH