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Pope John's Latest Encyclical
Stresses Need For More Native
Priests, Lay Participation In
Public Life Of Mission Areas
By Msgr. James I. Tucek
(Radio, N.C.W.C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY — The need
for recruiting and training na
tive priests and lay mission
aries, and preparing Catholics
in mission areas to play an ac
tive part in public life was urg
ed by His Holiness Pope John
XXIII in his first encyclical on
the missions.
These and many other coun
sels for bringing missionary ef
forts in line with present-day
demands were given in the en
cyclical letter “Princeps Pasto-
rum” (The Prince of Shep
herds), with which Pope John
marked the 40th anniversary of
another encyclical on the mis
sions, Pope Benedict XV’s
“Maximum Illud.”
The setting and force of the
new encyclical’s directives are
found in the fact that “many
mission territories are undergo
ing a phase of social, political
and economic evolution which
has important counsequences
for their future.”
The document, dated Novem
ber 28, is addressed to the bish
ops and faithful and the entire
Catholic world to commemorate
“Maximum Illud,” which gave
new impetus to the modern his
tory of the missions, with a par
ticular insistence on the need
for the recruiting and formation
of native clergy. Pope John con
tinues the theme of Benedict
XV’s encyclical, insisting that
still greater responsibility be
entrusted to native bishops and
priests.
He adds furthermore, for the
first time in an encyclical, an
appeal “to all those lay Cath
olics, wherever they might be,
to come forward in the profes
sions and in public life to con
sider seriously the possibility of
helping their brothers.”
The encyclical is divided into
four parts. The first two are
dedicated to local hierarchies
and clergy and the last two to
the laity in mission territories.
The encyclical, the fourth of
Pope John’s pontificate, opens
with the Pope’s personal recol
lection of the years (1921 to
1925) when he worked in the
national office of Italy’s Society
for the Propagation of the
Faith. He recalls his contacts
with Benedict XV and with
Pius XI, and' how the latter, be
fore the conclave that elected
him Pope, remarked to the then
y_o. u n g Msgr. Angelo Roncalli
that the two tasks which should
concern any f ut u r e pope
should be the spread of the
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Gospel throughout the world
and the establishment of a spi
rit of peace.
Pope John takes account of.
the encyclicals of Pius XI and
Pius XII on the subject of the
missions and adds, as though
to explain his own, that “en
ough can certainly never be
done to bring about fulfilment
of the wish of the Divine Re
deemer that all the lambs may
be part of one single flock un
der guidance of one single
shepherd.”
He goes on to say that now,
whenever he gives attention to
the Church in mission lands, he
sees “regions full of the har
vest, regions in which the la
bor of the workers in the vine
yard of God is particularly ar
duous, and regions where the
violence of persecution and the
hostility of regimes to the name
of God and of Christ strive to
suffocate the seed of the work
of God.”
From every quarter, the Pope
says, he hears the cry of people
saying “help us.”
The Pope quickly reviews the
progress in mission lands since
publication of “Maximum Il
lud,” quoting statistics to dem
onstrate his point. His review
covers mission work under the
supervision of the Sacred Con
gregation for the Propagation of
the Faith, and excludes that
under the Sacred Congregation
for the Oriental Church. The
latter body, besides supervising
the Catholic Eastern Rite bodies
throughout the world, has ex
clusive territorial jurisdiction in
the Near East.
The Pope states:
“A rapid glance simply at the
statistics for the territories en
trusted to the Sacred Congre
gation for the Propagation of
the Faith, not including those
at present subjected to perse
cution, reveals that the first
bishop of Asian origin was con
secrated in 1923, and that first
apostolic vicars of African ori
gin were named in 1939. By
1959 there could be counted 68
bishops of Asian origin and 25
of African origin. The native
clergy has increased from 1,919
members in 1918 to 5,553 in
1957 in Asia, from 90 members
to 1,811 in the same period of
time in Africa.”
Here he recalls the observa
tion of Pope Pius XII that while
ecclesiastical life once flowed
from its ancient European
sources, today “many regions in
other continents have long since
surpassed the missionary phase
of their ecclesiastical organiza
tion and are governed by their
own hierarchy and give spirit
ual and material goods to the
whole Church, whereas before
they only received them.”
To this the Pope adds his
own appeal:
“We wish to address our pat
ernal exhortation to the epis
copate and clergy of the new
(mission) churches to pray and
act in a very special way so
that their priesthood may be
come fruitful, and that they as
sume the task of speaking very
often in catechetical instruc
tions and in their preaching of
the dignity, beauty, necessity
and lofty merit of the priestly
state in order that they might
persuade all those whom God
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may wish to call to such a great
honor to answer without delay
and with generous spirit the di
vine vocation. May they also
have the souls entrusted to
them pray, while the entire
Church, according to the exhor
tation of the Divine Redeemer,
does not cease to raise prayers
to heaven for these same in
tentions.”
The Pope then turned his at
tention to the training of the
local clergy which “having ori
gin, disposition, mentality and
aspirations in common with its
co-nationals, is marvelously
suited to instilling the Faith in
their hearts, because better
than anyone else it knows the
ways of persuasion.”
The Pope began by saying
that any priest’s first duty is
his own sanctification. Then he
added that, with this beginning,
native priests must “enter into
holy competition with the cler
gy of the more ancient dioceses
which have given priests to the
world who have . . . deserved
to be proposed as models for
clergy of the whole world . . .”
The Pope said that the per
sonal sanctity of a native cler
gy would effectively “teach the
faithful that the perfection of
Christian life is a goal to which
all sons of God can and must
aspire with every effort and
perseverance, whatever be their
origin, their environment, their
culture and their civilization.”
He added that holy native
priests would also lead their
own “students of the sanctuary”
in the ways of holiness.
While the encyclical placed
emphasis on the native hierar
chy and clergy in the mission
territories, the Pope hastened to
add that many still need the
help of the missionaries coming
from other lands. He noted that
they should not be looked upon
as foreigners by the people
“since every Catholic priest
finds himself in the discharge
of his duty as though in his own
country.”
In the training of native
priests the Pope made four rec
ommendations: It should take
into account the , environments
of the differing regions. It
should foster initiative of ac
tivity so that native priests
might quickly arrive at assum
ing their own duties without
dependence on outside help
Local values and traditions
should be adapted to the prac
tice of the Faith. Native priests
should be trained sufficiently
well to penetrate the cultured
classes.
Pope John repeated the coun
sel of Pope Pius XII to semi
nary authorities in which he
said that students should not be
formed “in an environment too
much apart from the world” be
cause “when they enter society
they will find serious difficul
ties in their relations with low
er classes and with cultured
classes.”
He issued instructions that
“the programs of the local sem
inaries in mission lands will not
fail to provide study courses in
the various branches of missio-
logy and instruction in the dif
ferent skills and techniques es
pecially useful for the future
ministry of the clergy of those
regions.”
Again quoting Pius XII, Pope
John said “the Catholic Church
neither scorns nor completely
rejects pagan thought but ra
ther, after having purified it of
every dross of error, completes
and perfects it with Christian
wisdom.”
He added that for his own
part “wherever authentic val
ues of art and thought are apt
to enrich the human family the
Church is ready to favor these
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products of the spirit. As is
known, the Church does not
identify herself with any cul
ture, not even with the western
culture to which her history is
so closely linked.”
In order that well educated
priests may be able to pene
trate the cultured classes, the
Pope instructed bishops to pro
vide immediately, according to ,
their judgment, “centers of cul
ture in which the foreign mis
sionaries and native priests may
be able to put to advantage
their intellectual preparation to
the benefit of the society in
which they live by choice or by
birth.”
Along with the culture cen
ters the Pope also called for the
clergy and the faithful “to mul
tiply and propagate the Cath
olic press in all its forms” and
also to interest themselves in
the “modern techniques of dif
fusion and culture, since the
importance of a formed and en
lightened public opinion is well
known.”
While counseling that the
Church in mission lands should
be generous in its social and
charitable undertakings, the
Pope cautioned that care should
be taken not to burden the mis
sionary apostolate with a com
plex of institutions of a pure
ly material nature.
Pope John said that “one
should limit oneself to those
indispensable services of easy
maintenance and of easy use,
the operation of which might be
placed as soon as possible in the
hands of local personnel, and
matters should be arranged in
such a way that the missionary
personnel itself be allowed to
dedicate its best energies to
the ministry of teaching sancti
fication and salvation.”
The Pope called for the fos
tering of a universal outlook
and repeated Pope Benedict
XV’s condemnation of the mis
sionary who “thinks more of his
native land than of heaven and
excessively concerns himself
with spreading its power and
extending its glory.”
The Pontiff said that “this
same danger could repeat itself
today under other forms, be
cause of the fact that in many
mission territories the aspira
tion of the people to self-gov
ernment and to independence
is becoming general, and the
conquests of civil liberty can
unfortunately be accompanied
by excesses that are by no
means in harmony with the au
thentic and profound spiritual
interests of humanity.”
Addressing himself to the
faithful instead of the mission
aries on the same problem, he
warned that “no local Church
will be able to express its vital
unity with the universal Church
if its clergy and its people al
low themselves to be influenc
ed by an individualistic spirit,
by sentiments of ill will toward
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other peoples, by a misunder
stood nationalism that would
destroy the reality of that uni
versal charity which edifies the
Church of God and which alone
is truly ‘Catholic’.”
Speaking of the important
part in the life of the Church
played by laymen, the Pope
said that the Church must be
active “with its whole organic
structure, and not therefore
only with the hierarchy and its
various orders, but also with
the laity.”
He cautioned against the er
ror which reckons the spread of
Christianity in numbers of con
versions and baptisms, and said
it should be figured according
to the change that newly ac
quired Christianity brings about
in a man’s practical life.” He
went on:
“A Christian instruction and
education that is satisfied with
the teaching and learning of
catechetical formulas and pre
cepts of Christian morals by a
summary casuistry, without in
cluding practical conduct, would
run the risk of procuring for
the Church of God a flock that
might be merely passive.”
The Pope said that it is a
fundamental and primary duty
of every Christian to give tes
timony of the truth which he
believes and of the grace which
has transfored him. He said this
same testimony should be con
firmed and amplified by the
whole Christian community. He
recommended that this be ex
pressed in active participation
in the liturgy of the Church,
which is “a marvelous means of
educating them to that charity
which is the distinctive sign of
the Christian, a charity that is
alien to every social, linguistic
and racial discrimination.”
While calling for generosity
from the whole Church in sup
port of the missions, the Pope
also said it is important for the
faithful in mission lands to be
educated to the practice of sup
plying their own material
needs. He said:
The material needs of the
faithful also include those of
the ecclesiastical organism. It
is therefore, well that the na
tive faithful should become ac
customed to supporting spon
taneously within the limits of
their capabilities of their
churches, their institutions and
the clergy who have given
themselves entirely to them. It
does not matter if this contribu
tion cannot be considerable.
The important thing is that it
is the concrete testimony of a
living Christian conscience.”
Here the Pope inserted a
word of praise for missionary
catechists, calling them “the
right arm of the workers of the
Lord.”
On the question of Catholic
Action, the Pope returned to his
first encyclical, “Ad Petri Ca-
thedram (Near the Chair of
Peter), and recalled the many
reasons why it is necessary to
recruit laymen in the peaceful
army of Catholic Action.
In applying Catholic Action
to the missions, the Pope said,
“one cannot insist enough . . .
on the need to adapt conven
iently this form of the aposto
late to local conditions and
needs. It is not enough to trans
fer to a country what has been
done elsewhere, but ... it is
necessary to act in such a way
that organizations are not over
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burdened to the point where
precious energy is robbed or
dissipated with fragmentary
movements and excessive spe
cialization.”
Starting from the thesis that
Catholic Action is an organiza
tion of laymen, “with proper
and responsible executive func
tions,” the Pontiff stressed that
Catholic Action leaders should
be specially trained in special
schools. He said that their fun
damental training would begin
in Catholic schools where they
are formed as solid Christians.
But, he added, special training
for Catholic Action cannot eas
ily be adapted to scholastic
courses.
Therefore, he said, “it will
most often be necessary to en
trust (training of Catholic Action
leaders) to a program outside
the school which brings to
gether the most promising
youth to instruct and form them
for the apostolate. Ordinaries,
therefore, will seek to study the
best means to give life to a
school of the apostolate, whose
educational methods are obvi
ously different from true and •
proper scholastic methods.
The Pope said to the faithful
in mission lands:
“The ‘good fight’ for the Faith
is fought not only within the
secret of one’s conscience or in
the intimacy of the home, but
also in public life in all its
forms . . . Many mission terri
tories, moreover, are undergo
ing a phase of social, economic
and political evolution which
has important consequences for
their future.
“Problems which in some na
tions are either already resolv
ed, or find the elements of so
lution in traditions, confront
other nations with an urgency
that is not quite free of dangers
in that hurried and changing
solutions might be applied with
deplorable levity of doctrine
which does not take into ac
count, or simply contradicts, the
religious interests of individuals
and of peoples. Catholics for
their own private good and the
public welfare of the Church
cannot ignore such problems,
nor can they wait until they
(Continued on Page 5)
THE BULLETIN, December 12, 1959—PAGE 3
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