When the Philippine Catholic Church launched the Year of Ad Gentes for the celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, the book entitled Go, Teach and Make Disciples[1] by James H. Kroeger was also made available as the sourcebook for mission education and animation in 2021 and subsequent years. As a Xaverian Missionary with the charism of mission ad gentes, I felt the need to share its content with our audience after reading the book.
This book opens with an excellent preface from Bishop Socrates C. Mesiona, who expresses his gratitude to the author and states that the book's primary objective is to fan the flame of our zeal for mission. This book contains a wide range of biblical, theological, catechetical, and pastoral insights for all evangelization agents in the local Church. To facilitate a wide missionary renewal of the entire Church on all levels, the author divided the content into 12 modules.
The First Module on Celebrating 500 Years of Christianity presents the beautiful Christian faith journey that makes the Philippines the world’s 3rd largest Catholic local Church after Brazil and Mexico. It shows how this gift of Christian faith is visible via the education and social services, development of the local clergy, Filipino Missionaries' emergence, implementation of the Vatican II.
The second Module on Mission in Recent Church Documents deals with pastoral and theological reflection on mission and evangelization from the Vatican II perspectives. The author presents briefly the content of 'Vatican II era's four Church documents that emerge as milestones for appreciating a contemporary evangelization: Ad Gentes, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Redemptoris Missio, and Evangelii Gaudium.
The third module on the integral View of Evangelization explores the holistic view of the evangelizing mission of the Church today that includes five principal elements, which are: the Christian presence and witness of life; Commitment to social development and human liberation; interreligious dialogue; explicit Gospel proclamation and catechesis; and liturgical life, prayer and contemplation (Cf. DM13 and DP 2).
The fourth and fifth modules underline, alternatively, Jesus's mission from the New Testament perspectives and the apostle Paul's missionary dynamism. While 4th module on Jesus and his Mission portrays Jesus as the message and model of mission in five following themes: Jesus' mission commands, the mission as discipleship, the Kingdom of God, God as Merciful Father, and the centrality of love in Christian life; the 5th module on Paul’s Dynamic Mission Principles deals with guidelines for missionary involvement. The decalogue of St Paul mission is composed of: a depth awareness of vocation, a radical commitment to Christ, a voluntary acceptance of suffering, insightful mission methods for modern Areopagus, an urgency of gospel proclamation, deep love for the Church, close collaboration with co-workers, commitment to social transformation, effective and exemplary life-style, and total reliance on God's providence.
The sixth and seventh modules acknowledge the Saints and martyrs as the model of living faith. Module six presents the life of St Francis Xavier, Thérèse of Lisieux, Damien of Molaki, Mather Teresa of Calcutta, and Maximilian Kolbe; whereas module seven highlights the life and death of San Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod as the model of missionary witness of faith.
Module eight on Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue stresses how dialogue is an essential dimension to Mission today. It focuses on the dialogue with other Christians and other living faiths through a series of ten guidelines called ' Dialogue decalogue.'
Module nine on Inculturation and Popular Religiosity trace the link between culture and people's piety. Although the challenges to integrating faith and life remain urgent, popular religiosity contributes to preserving and promoting the local Church's faith-life.
Module ten on Eucharist and Merciful Deeds presents them as the pillars of the authentic mission. While Eucharist is seen as the source and goal of the mission, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy become our mission because 'Mercy is God's identity card.'(p.99)
Module eleven on Filipinos and Missionary Evangelization provides a wide range of Filipinos' mission experiences (priests, religious, laity) around the world. Besides the inspiring experiences of 'mission-in-action', the author explores the charism of the 'Philippine-born' mission societies: Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) and Lorenzo Ruiz Mission Society (LRMS) as the tangible initiatives of inculturated local Churches committed to evangelization.
Finally, module twelve, dedicated to Mary and Model of Evangelization, includes some theological, biblical, and pastoral insights on Mary's role in relation with Christ and the Church's mission and Catholic devotion. Then, the module highlights seven key moments of her missionary dedication: Annunciation to Mary and her YES to God's plan, Her visitation to Elizabeth as a mission of service, Mary's Spirit-inspired Magnificat, Her role in Jesus's birth and childhood, Mary's mediation at Cana, Mary at the foot of the cross as a significant moment of her fiat, and Mary with the Church at prayer and Pentecost.
Overall, You will appreciate the richness of this book after reading it personally and I hope this summary provides the panoramic view of its content designed to be a resource for missionary education and animation to enrich the wide variety of people.
[1] James H. Kroeger, Go, Teach, Make Disciples: Sourcebook for Mission Education and Animation, (Manila: Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Mission, 2020)
