A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN A prayer

A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN A prayer / poem by Archbishop Oscar Romero It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

MISSION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1919 - 1991 THE EMERGENCE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY

20 TH CENTURY historical consciousness –truth is historical, truth is approximative, truth is relative, truth is meaning-giving. I am a historical being.

SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT • • • • • 1914 -1918 - WORLD WAR I 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION which led to MARXIST COMMUNISM 1929 -30– ECONOMIC DEPRESSION 1939 -45 – WORLD WAR II – HITLER, MUSSOLINI, PEARL HARBOR, FALL OF SINGAPORE, BATAAN, JEWISH HOLOCAUST HIROSHIMA- NAGASAKI ‘S ATOMIC BOMB, 1946 -69 - MOVEMENT TOWARDS POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE: PHILIPPINES, INDIA, PAKISTAN, GHANA, WESTERN SAMOA, VIETNAM WAR, CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, SEXUAL REVOLUTION, DRUG CULTURE, ASSASINATIONS OF GREAT LEADERS: JFK, RK, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. , MALCOLM X, APARTHEID COLD WAR BETWEEN US AND USSR , FIDEL CASTRO’S CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, MAO ZEDONG CULTURAL REVOLUTION OF CHINA, KOREAN WAR 1970 -90 MIDDLE EAST OIL POWER, ISRAEL-ARAB CONFLICT, NUCLEAR WAR, ASIAN TIGERS, FALL OF USSR, BERLIN WALL, AFRICAN TRIBAL WARS, POVERTY, AIDS, MANDELA AND TUTU GROWING AWARENESS OF JUSTICE , PEACE AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION

RELIGIOUS CONTEXT EMERGENCE OF A NEW MISSIONARY MOVEMENT 1919 – POPE BENEDICT XV MISSION ENCYCLICAL ‘MAXIMUM ILLUD’ ON SPREADING THE CATHOLIC FAITH THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. (First of 5 encyclicals issued over the next 40 years, still has as goal for mission the winning of converts. 1921 – ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY COUNCIL EMERGENCE OF A NEW ‘WORLD CHRISTIANITY’: MISSIONARY MOVEMENT WITHIN CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM 1962 -65 - SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL 1991 - ENCYCLICAL ‘REDEMPTORIS MISSIO’ PROCLAMATION AND DIALOGUE DAVID BOSCH’S TRANSFORMING MISSION

OBSTACLES TO CHRISTIANITY • 1917 - The East Orthodox Church faced the consequences of the Russian Revolution • 1920 - Missionaries lost their lives during the Communist • associated violence in China. • 1933 - The churches in Europe saw the rise of Hitler • 1935 The ancient Ethiopian Church found itself in the grasp of Mussolini • 1939 -45 - World War II • Massive migration • Re-Emergence of Muslim faith and influence • New economic and political centers • Computer and Internet revolutions

THE SHIFTS IN WORLD CHRISTIANITY • From dominance and dependence to 1. opposition to the threat of atheistic communism 2. to being one religion among others in a pluralistic world. Protestantism experienced both tension and rebirth into Evangelical, Conciliar and Pentecostal movement. Catholicism felt the pains and joys of new birth and renewal. Eastern Orthodox Church spread and formed vibrant diaspora communities.

CHRISTIANITY EXPERIENCED A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL AND EMERGED AS A GLOBAL RELIGION. • IN 1893, 80 % OF CHRISTIANS LIVED IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA. IN THE 20 TH CENTURY, 60 & LIVE IN AFRICA, ASIA, LATIN AMERICA, AND THE PACIFIC. • THIS SHIFT IN CHRISTIANITY BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE MISSIONARY MOVEMENT HAS CREATED TWO NEW REALITIES TODAY: A POST-CHRISTIAN WESTAND POST WESTERN CHRISTIANITY. • THE NEW RELIGIOUS FORMS OF CHRISTIANITY THAT ARE GROWING MOST RAPIDLY ARE THE AFRICAN INITIATED CHURCHES AND THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES. AND EVANGELICALISM AND CATHOLICISM ARE MAINTAINING STEADY GROWTH.

INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT • IN PROTESTANT CHURCHES • 3 streams emerged within the Protestant Ecumenical movement: • 1. the continuation Committee became the International Missionary Council (IMC) in 1921. • • 2. The Life and Work movement was the fruit of the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship • 3. The Faith and Order movement merged into the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE 20 TH CENTURY • POPE JOHN XXIII CALLED THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL (1962 -65) WHICH SET INTO MOTION MAJOR CHANGES IN THE CHURCH BOTH AD EXTRA AND AD INTRA. * * THE CHURCH BEGAN TO READ THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE MOVEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUTSIDE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, LEADING IT TO MORE OPEN AND POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARD OTHER CHURCHES, RELIGIONS, NON-WESTERN CULTURES AND SOCIETY IN GENERAL. * INTERNALLY, THE NEW IMAGE OF THE CHURCH OPENED US AVENUES FOR: 1. THE COLLEGIALITY ON ALL LEVELS, WITH LAITY AND CLERGY WORKING TOGETHER AND 2. LOCAL CHURCH FORMING A COMMUNION BASED NOT ON UNIFORMITY BUT ON UNITY IN DIVERSITY.

MODELS OF MISSION IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CERTAINTY : FROM MAXIMUM ILLUD FERMENT : SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL CRISIS : THE DECADE AFTER VAT. II REBIRTH : EVANGELII NUNTIANDI REDEMPTORIS MISSIO TO DIALOGUE AND PROCLAMATION

A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN A prayer / poem by Archbishop Oscar Romero It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.