INTRODUCTION

WHERE WE COME FROM

Remote preparation
1.  Throughout our Comboni history there have been attempts made to have a Ratio Missionis. It was based on the concern to renew the life of the Institute, to establish common criteria in evangelisation and to respond to the challenges of times.

2.  To respond to this concern, during the past five years we have been going through a process of renewal in the Institute which is offering us the possibility of sharing and deepening important aspects of our life. We wish to return to our original sources and be Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, capable to respond to the challenges of our times.

General Chapter 2003
3. The General Charter 2003 asked for a Ratio Missionis of the Institute (CA ’03, n. 49). The Assembly for Evangelisation in May 2004 underlined the need of a process of renewal, not just of documents. The General Council with the Letter of 6 January 2005 officially launched this process.

First Stage
4. The first stage has emphasised lights and shadows in our missionary life, which have encouraged and provoked us. After the Intercapitular Assembly in Mexico (September 2006), the General Council asked the Commission of the Ratio Missionis to focus on three basic aspects: Spirituality, Identity-Charism and Mission-Evangelisation (Letter of the GC, October 2006).

WHERE WE NOW FIND OURSELVES

5. The community discernment is not only a methodology but also a faith experience. By listening to the Word, Comboni, the Church and one another have brought us to be more attentive to the voice of the Spirit. This has allowed us to go through a journey of renewal and conversion. We want to find together the journey that is most suitable for the Institute and for the Comboni Mission. The commitment to this process is beginning to give positive results in the provinces and communities.

6. After the efforts made in the communities and the provincial and continental reports, the core and enlarged Commissions of the RM have met from 5 to 15 September 2008 at Venegono Superiore to make the final synthesis of this stage of community discernment.

Important themes
7. The discernment has underlined a deep desire for conversion, renewal and radicalism at personal and community level. We have seen the need to return to the origins of our charism in order to qualify our missionary presence today by our fidelity and creativity. We have observed that the emerging common aspects are the following:

At the level of spirituality
8. To turn our gaze at the Pierced Heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd, at Comboni and his Writings and at the Rule of Life as sources of our missionary life; also to give importance to a community life lived in brotherhood and communion (cenacle of apostles), open to a diversity that is seen as a source of richness and an opportunity to grow in the spirit of the Gospel; finally, the need of inculturating and contextualising our charism in the places where we are.

At the level of identity-charism
9.  We observe the need to clarify and define the dimensions specific to our charism (ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad paupers). There is also the common feeling to regain the passionate love for the Mission according to our Comboni charism and to define our ministerial service – as priests and brothers – starting from Comboni and the Rule of Life. Finally, we are asked to take up again and with determination the Comboni distinctive quality of making common cause with the poor.

At the level of Mission- evangelisation
10. We observe the common desire to identify criteria which may help us to define our presence, lifestyle and Comboni missionary methodology. We feel the need to promote the collaboration within and without the Comboni Family. It also emerges the importance of the service of insertion, respect and trust towards the local Church. Finally, we feel the need to evangelise our economy and to adopt a simpler lifestyle.

Proposals and means

11. This second stage has led us to evaluate our personal life, our communities, our provinces and the Institute. The proposals and means that emerge from this discernment are the result of mutual listening, sharing, prayer and life experience from the base. They are proposals which derive from the concrete contexts where we work and which aim at changes both at our personal and community level (being) and at our missionary methodology and structures (doing).

TOWARDS THE GENERAL CHAPTER 2009

12. This report, prepared by the Commission of the Ratio Missionis, will be handed over to the Preparatory Commission for the Chapter, as the General Council has planned. We are convinced that it should have an important place in the General Chapter because, as our Superior General said, “The RM is not only a work in writing, but a work experienced by the confreres: it is their feeling, it is the voice that arrives from the Comboni Mission. This feeling and this voice will be a wealth in the Chapter and also a leading thread in the reprogramming of the Institute, so that we may redesign our presence and re-qualify our being missionaries of the Church of Christ” (Letter of the Superior General to the Secretary General for Evangelisation, 15 August 2008).

13. The discernment goes on in the work of the Preparatory Commission for the General Chapter, in the continental meetings of the capitular members and in the work of the Pre-Capitular Commission. All the confreres have to actively accompany this time of preparation in a waiting and prayerful attitude till the opening of the Chapter, which will mark the third stage of the process of the RM.

SPIRITUALITY - A
The spirituality of the Comboni Missionary is centred on Christ the Good Shepherd
as the source of his life and Mission

Statements

14. In the process of discernment we have become aware that our spirituality is not experienced or is dimly experienced There is a dichotomy between life and faith, between what is spirituality and what we understand as “religiosity” or religious practices. This deficiency is also felt in our communities. The proof of it lies in the fact that in our proposals at personal level emerge also many aspects which pertain to community life.

15. Almost all the provinces are unanimous in underlining that there is a novelty: they are not Statements or proposals which come from above, but which come from the base. It is we who are telling to ourselves all this.

16. In our analysis emerge the following proposals and means:

Proposals at personal level

17. First of all, we are in need of a change, of personal conversion, not only at the theoretical or intelligence level, but at the level of the heart. We have to go back to experiencing the Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd and of Daniel Comboni.

18. The filial and heartfelt relationship with God is fundamental to our personal life, to recuperate the brotherhood, to learn how to live and work together with one another.

Means to achieve this

19. We are invited to make use of the means we already have: Rule of Life, Community Charter, community meetings, etc., by considering them not as guidelines, but as sources of our spirituality, being conscientious in updating and contextualising them in the situations and places where we live and work.

20. The times for personal prayer, the Divine Office, monthly and yearly retreats as well as the spiritual accompaniment and ongoing formation, are means which help us in our personal growth. At the same time, we need to be faithful to the celebrations of Reconciliation, Eucharist and the times of community prayer. We have, therefore, to seriously elaborate the project of personal and community life.

Proposals at local level

21.We are called to live and practise a missionary and Comboni spirituality, based on the values which characterise it: The Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, the Cross, the listening to the Word and prayer. This spirituality, lived in a community relationship, will make it easier for us to find out what unites us.

Means to achieve this

22. As in the personal area, it is good to recuperate the means we already have (the Rule of Life, Community Charter, community meetings, etc.), updating and contextualising them.

23   The celebrations of the Sacraments, the community practice of the Divine Office and the community meetings, where we practise fraternal correction and encouragement, are privileged moments for sharing our faith and life. At all such times, the superior plays a fundamental role as animator of brotherhood and spiritual life in the community.

24.  Each community has to prepare a Community Charter and foster a healthy environment, where each member feels at home and appreciated.

Proposals at provincial level

25.  In order to deepen our Comboni spirituality, each Province has to foster and encourage the proposals which spring from personal and community level. In this sense, the Provincial Superior plays a very important role as animator of brotherhood and spiritual life in the Province.

Means to achieve this

26.  Ongoing Formation, as well as the spiritual exercises and the formation of confreres who exercise the service of authority, are privileged means to deepen the knowledge and experience of Comboni spirituality.

27.  The Provincial Secretariats should provide ways to help in contextualising our spirituality and charism.

28.  The commission for Ongoing Formation is invited to organise meetings for age groups on themes about spirituality.

Proposals at continental level

29. This Comboni spirituality we wish to deepen, has to become embodied and contextualised in each continent. In order to express our missionary dimension, our presence is to aim at keeping and finding out those commitments that make us nearer to the people.

Means to achieve this

30. It is necessary to review our formative structures, our commitments and our type of presence so that we may bring together spirituality and life, tie ourselves more and more to actual mission and be closer to people.

31. In the same way, it would be good to create teams of reflection and to prepare qualified personnel to animate our deepening and formation meetings at continental level: it would be of help in recovering and contextualising this type of spirituality.

Proposals at Institute level

32. As at the other levels, the Institute will deepen the spirituality and the theology of the Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, underlining some basic aspects, like reconciliation, compassion, brotherhood and the service of the least.

Means to achieve this

33. Ongoing Formation is the best means we have to help us live our Comboni spirituality. In this sense, we have to continue and improve the CYOF and the Renewal Course in Rome.

34.  The service of those who accompany people in formation, both basic and ongoing, is fundamental. Let us look for and prepare people who are skilled in the fields of formation, spiritual direction, spirituality, psychology and discernment. Retreats, counselling or personalised accompaniment are important means in this regard.

35.  The Institute has to pay special attention to the candidates who aspire to be Comboni Missionaries as well as for the newly professed and newly ordained, insisting in a special way on our Comboni spirituality, motivations and the work we do.

36. The examples of those who have gone before us could be a very good way to get our spirituality back. In this sense, we need to recuperate the memory and practice of those Comboni Missionaries who may be a point of reference for all.

37. The house in Limone is already a centre of Comboni spirituality for the whole Institute: this place should become like a “shrine of the Comboni mission”.

38. Every year the General Direction should prepare for the whole Institute a theme about the Comboni spirituality.

SPIRITUALITY - B
“Cenacle of apostles”: To evangelise as communities

Statements

39. We see that in all provinces there is a tendency to individualistic and competitive lifestyle, which does little to encourage sensitive feelings towards the confreres. This makes our experience of community life a very weak one.

Proposals at personal level

40. To assume a community spirit as in the cenacle of apostles, it is good to go through a process of personal conversion so that we may return to the sources of our spirituality (Word of God, Rule of Life, Writings of Comboni…).

41. Each confrere has to commit himself to know himself, his own history, vocation and culture, and to heal his wounds.

42. In the spiritual field it is essential to deeply experience our understanding of faith, by being faithful to personal and community prayer.

43. Each confrere will also commit himself to the growth of his community through human relationship and life dialogue.

Means to achieve this

44. To elaborate one’s personal life project, which has to include spiritual accompaniment, active sacramental life and spiritual reading: it is the best way to grow in this.

45. To make use of the means available: basic and ongoing formation and the psychological accompaniment.

46. Each confrere will commit himself to open up channels for dialogue and to participate in the life and activities of the community (times of prayer, work, recreation…).

Proposals at local level

47. To live in a community means to have a common project with which all must feel part. Each confrere has to commit himself to be a builder of his community, not a user.

48. In order to build a community, it is important to accept the other as a gift and richness. For this we find indispensable brotherly dialogue, communication and fraternal correction, as well as the role of the superior as community animator and coordinator.

Means to achieve this

49. To create communities we have to know how to share our faith, life and work around the Word of God. We have to value and commit ourselves in taking part in community actions (meals, prayer, recreation…).

50. The community celebration of reconciliation should be a privileged time for communion.

51. We already have at our disposal means we can make use of: The Rule of Life, Provincial Directory and Community Charter. The methodology of the Ratio Missionis, which we have followed thus far, can help us greatly in our community discernment and community work.

52The commission for Ongoing Formation should organise at community, zonal and provincial level workshops of interpersonal communication and solutions of community problems.

53. It is also necessary that our communities become visible, both with regard to number and to the quality of its members.

Proposals at provincial level

54. We must enhance internationality, interculturality and the diversity of people as a gift and wealth of the Institute, so that there may be greater growth as well as an increase in communication and brotherly communion.

Means to achieve this

55. The Provincial or Delegation Superior has to facilitate the confreres’ dialogue, especially during meetings and canonical visits. It is also necessary to provide a good formation for the local superiors. We may look for qualified people for this service so that they may help us to go through this process of growth.

56. An open and sincere dialogue will make the confreres’ sharing easier.

Proposals at continental level

57.  It is important to form Comboni Missionaries capable of having human, brotherly and harmonious relationships, who accept interculturality and inculturation as basic dimensions of our missionary life and service.

58. It is necessary to increase the collaboration among the Provinces in fields like formation, mission promotion, justice and peace, means of communication, etc.

59. The elderly and sick confreres are a richness for the Institute. We have to pay to them the special attention they deserve according to their needs.

Means to achieve this

60. It is necessary to have a continental group for reflection to study and clarify the tension that exists between our being religious and our being missionaries, between community life and apostolate. Let us also have a team at continental level whose main purpose would be the accompaniment and ongoing formation of our communities.

61. It is necessary to have greater communication and consultation between the General Council and the circumscriptions in the process of continental restructuring.

Proposals at Institute level

62. The General Council should prepare a “Plan of rotation” for the assignment of personnel, assuring quality, stability and continuity in each Province. It is necessary, in the same way, to clarify the criteria which define our Comboni presence and service.

63. I twill be useful to review our structures for government, by decentralising them. We must think of new ways which take into consideration the participation from the base.

64. The service of authority is to be exercised through an attitude of listening, dialogue, encouragement and fraternal correction. The confreres who exercise this service have to have the approach of the Good Shepherd and be good animators of their respective community, avoiding the attitude of “I-know-what-is-best-for-you”.

65. We must establish criteria and look for a solution for confreres who are in special situations.

Means to achieve this

66. Greater dialogue between the General Council and the Provinces.

67. To increment techniques and workshops that help us to live together and to overcome personal and community problems.

68. There must be greater seriousness and requirements in basic formation. To achieve this, we must revise and unify the criteria for the selection of formators.

IDENTITY - A
“Mission, Comboni, Heart of Jesus: facets of the charism which cannot be renounced”

Statements

69. In the first stage of the Ratio Missionis we saw that the assimilation of the facets of the charism is not deep; it is individualistic (subjective) more than communitarian. We have diverse spiritualities and devotions which do not help our living together and our work. On the other hand, we have difficulties in defining who we are in this world so globalized and diverse.

Proposals at personal level

70. It is vital to understand our charism in a more communitarian way and less individualistic.

71. We are called to be men of faith, prayer, mercy and open to the Spirit. Guided by the Rule of Life, we must take up again the basic aspects of our Comboni spirituality and identity: The Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, the Mission, Comboni, the Cross and the passionate love for the poorest and most abandoned and make common cause with them.

Means to achieve this

72. To return to the sources of our Comboni identity: Comboni, his life, his writings, as well as the history of the Institute and of those missionaries who are part of it. To remain in contact with the elderly missionaries who were or are meaningful figures in our history. To be interested in reading our documents and bulletins.

73. To prepare, take up and put into practice the Community Charter and to give an important place to the Word of God in our encounter with Christ.

Proposals at local level

74. The local community will promote an evangelical spirituality, exercise its missionary identity in the place it is situated, by being near and living with the poorest in a prophetic spirit and remaining with them even in difficult situations.

75. The local community will also try to better cooperate with the Comboni Lay Missionaries and the local Church.

Means to achieve this

76. To foster our identity by our Comboni spirituality (The Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, Comboni, the Mission, the Cross and the passionate love for the poorest and most abandoned) and by taking up the preferential option for the poor as an expression of the merciful love of Christ.

77. Community life is the evangelising means par excellence, even in places where it is not possible to explicitly announce the Gospel. We need to have fraternal communities with simple structures.

Proposals at provincial level

78. We need to better dialogue and collaborate with the local Church.

79. We are called to be mediators of God’s presence in our Christian communities by being present, especially at times of crisis, by listening, instilling hope and courage and leading people in finding constructive answers to these challenges.

80. To develop Mission Promotion as an expression of our Comboni identity and charism and as a source of renewal.

Means to achieve this

81. A spiritual reading of the Rule of Life, the Writings of Comboni and biographies of confreres, as well as workshops on Biblical Theology, are the means we have to foster.

82. It is appropriate to thoroughly review our pastoral and missionary methodology for working in collaboration with the local Church. We wish to get more involved in the formation of political leaders, priests and pastoral and development agents in order to increase the growth of a political and social awareness among the people.

Proposals at continental level

83. To foster a spirituality based on our Comboni tradition and rooted in our different continental situations (afro and indigenous people, justice and peace, immigrants, refugees, non-Christians, Islam, mission promotion).

84. We are called to collaborate with the local Church according to our charism by encouraging it to fulfil its Mission “ad gentes”.

85. We need better coordination and information among Provinces and Delegations in order to have a common vision concerning Mission and present our Comboni identity.

Means to achieve this

86. The groups for theological reflection at continental level can help in deepening our Comboni spirituality and charism so that each Province may discover its appropriate places for doing Mission.

87. The assignment of confreres who are originally from other continents may foster internationality in provinces and continents.

Proposals at Institute level

88. To grow in our identity and passionate love for the Mission, which characterise us as the Comboni Missionary Family. To choose the difficult Mission with the poorest and most abandoned, using simple means, has to be the authentic criterion for the charismatic options of the Institute.

89. To unify the criteria of basic formation by underlining especially the values and dimensions that are specific to the Comboni identity.

90. To revive again the role and ministerial service of priests and brothers in the same Mission and to encourage internationality and inter-continentality at all levels.

Means to achieve this

91. To create approaches which foster in a practical way our identity and sense of belonging: To prepare aids and to study specific themes of our spirituality; to write the history of the Institute and encourage its circulation and awareness, as well as the history of meaningful confreres who have left us valuable memories. To celebrate the Comboni feasts and other missionary celebrations in the year.

92. We are interested in deepening the theology of the Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, expressing it in a modern and present day language, in particular its aspect of mercy and reconciliation, in order to build fraternal communion.

IDENTITY - B
“We are religious missionaries ad gentes - ad extra - ad vitam - ad pauperes”

Statements

93. We see that there is a crisis at general level in society and in the Church which affects even us. We do not have clear elements which define our identity and sense of belonging. For us it’s easier to describe what we are doing rather than who we are.

Proposals at personal level

94. It is opportune that we continue to deepen our reflection on the terms “ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad pauperes” and recuperate our two basic terms of reference: Christ the Good Shepherd and Comboni.

95. We are willing to set off, not only geographically speaking, but also culturally speaking; to be sent and go where no one wishes to go; to make common cause with the poorest and most abandoned and to live and share what we are with the people and the local Churches we are sent to.

96. We intend to be open to the changes in our reflection on he Mission and to be missionaries for the Kingdom and not only to promote the Comboni Missionaries.

Means to achieve this

97. In order to recuperate our own identity, it is vital to be fed from the sources of our Comboni spirituality: the Pierced Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, the Mission, Comboni, the Cross and the passionate love for the poorest and most abandoned.

98. We want to open up to the new ways of missionary presence in order to improve our brotherhood and diversity in the ministerial service of our Institute.

99. To make ourselves available to return and to enter into rotation.

Proposals at local level

100. Our communities are called to follow Christ’s example, to be typified by a simple lifestyle, prayer, sharing and the keeping of the Rule of Life so that we may be communities which give a veritable witness.

101. We prefer to opt for frontier groups and situations, willing to a greater insertion and nearness to people.

Means to achieve this

102. It is necessary to review our structures and our way of living.

103. We want to define our presence in the local Churches, to collaborate with them and hand over the missions that are already self-sufficient, so that we may open new ones in places of greater insertion.

Proposals at provincial level

104. To review the commitments in every community in order to choose the fields of action in line with the essential dimensions of our identity (ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad paupers). To opt for groups which find themselves in frontier situations (afro, indigenous people, justice and peace, immigrants, refugees, Islam, non-Christians).

105. To prepare young people who may be leaders at political and social levels by committing themselves in a practical way to improve society. To present the “radicalness” of a missionary vocation in mission and vocation promotion and basic formation.

Means to achieve this

106. A Comboni Missionary is to feel at home anywhere and to be willing to go out of his country to make the experience of how it feels to be a foreigner, making an effort to learn the local language and culture.

107. To examine the candidates’ motivations, taking as basic indication the essential aspects of our Comboni vocation (ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad paupers).

108. To make use of our magazines, in particular for mission and vocation promotion, justice and peace and for spreading the values of the Kingdom.

Proposals at continental level

109. To revise the ad gentes and ad extra and re-qualify our presence in every continent, trying to respond to the challenges that are truly missionaries: immigration and justice and peace in Europe; afro, indigenous and outcast people in America; non-Christians in Asia; Islam, justice and peace, nomads, immigrants, refugees and urban ministries in Africa.

110. To maintain and update the charismatic and preferential option for Africa.

111. To make sure that basic formation is intercontinental.

Means to achieve this

112. To increase the collaboration among the Provinces in order to encourage the exchange of personnel. To foster also collaboration with other missionary Institutes.

113. To organise a continental meeting to reflect and study such values (ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad paupers) for the purpose of clarification, deepening and acting.

Proposals at Institute level

114. To return to Comboni’s “primigenia inspiratio”. We have to go back to our origins and make a serious discernment on the options and commitments, to see which do not correspond to our charism.

115. We should present some basic guidelines on missionary values (ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam, ad paupers) so that these may be equally understood by all Comboni Missionaries. It is necessary to define the meaning of “people who are not sufficiently evangelised” (RL 13).

116. To review the present system of rotation in function of the “ad vitam”, so that it may be respectful of Mission service. To appreciate the value of going out. The newly ordained and the brothers with perpetual vows are to be sent to missionary situations of “ad extra” and “ad gentes”.

Means to achieve this

117. We have to take advantage of the means at our disposal at the level of ongoing formation, like the CYOF and the Renewal Course.

118. To dialogue and cooperate with the local Church, following the criteria established by the document “Mutuae relations”.

MISSION/EVANGELISATION - A
“We announce and give witness to Christ and his Mission
with generosity and courage”

Statements

119. We saw in the first stage of the Ratio Missionis that we are in the line of doing more than of being. We live a Mission based on projects which, in order to function, require a lot of personnel and of money and where finances have a great weight. We also see that we work in a personal rather than communitarian way.

Proposals at personal level

120. It is important to keep a balance between action and contemplation. In order to give witness to Christ and his Mission, we have to deepen the strong experience of God and holiness for Mission, to uphold Christ the Good Shepherd as the centre of our life. To live by starting off from our personal encounter with Him.

121. We need a simpler lifestyle and to pay greater attention to how we use money and material goods. We are called to give witness to the evangelic life in our encounter with people: to make common cause and walk with them in a fraternal and friendly way, knowing how to listen and learning from our collaborators.

122. To improve the quality and level of our commitments for the Mission, working as a community with zeal, total commitment, faithfulness and reliability.

Means to achieve this

123. We have to live and announce the Gospel by simple means, getting down at the level of the recipients of the message.

124. To foster ongoing formation at all levels in order to be qualified for the different ministries we are called to carry out. This formation can help us to read the local situation as history of salvation and to discern our commitments.

Proposals at local level

125. To promote initiatives which encourage the participation of the community and of the laypeople with whom we are called to work and collaborate. To be part of the local Church, by dialoguing and collaborating with its pastoral agents.

126. To adopt the Common Fund for its evangelical and Comboni motivations. To revise our lifestyle and the use we make of material goods. Our houses should have a simple structure and be open to people, like centres of spirituality, in order to attract them.

127. The elderly and sick confreres are evangelisers by their witness, prayer and suffering. For this we must pay special attention to them, sharing with them the experience of Christ and of the Mission.

Means to achieve this

128. To prepare and practice the Community Charter, as a means of fidelity in sharing, evaluating and programming in the community our missionary service.

129. To discern in our local and provincial communities which are the most meaningful projects of evangelisation, always keeping in mind the recipients.

Proposals at provincial level

130. The Provinces and Delegations have to have a clear Six-year Plan, in accordance to the decisions and directives of the General Chapter, to respond to the needs of the Mission and of the local Church.

131. Our priority is always the proclamation of the Word. Our service, nevertheless, consists also in promoting the integral formation of the person.

132. The Provinces and Delegations shall look for confreres who show human qualities and enthusiasm to specific and skilled services so that they may offer a qualified service to the local Church.

133. We are aware that we must get to the roots of situations of poverty.

134. To aim at internationality in all our Provinces.

Means to achieve this

135. The Six-Year Plan will be regularly evaluated in its implementation. The Provincial Council and Secretariats have to assist the Province in its discernment so that it may see, judge and take options according to our charism.

136. To revise the Provincial Directory and the Community Chart by using the methodology that was followed in the process of the Ratio Missionis.

137. To continue the implementation of the Common Found.

138. To strengthen the Secretariat and to prepare the Evangelisation Chart.

Proposals at continental level

139. To evaluate our commitments according to the Continent where we are, accepting those which correspond to our charism and leaving out those which do not correspond. To coordinate the work we are doing with the immigrants and refugees (Europe); to prepare confreres who are competent in Islamologia (French speaking Africa).

140. To work out together a Comboni Missionary Methodology which emphasises the motto “To save Africa with Africa”. To allow the poor to play their role in evangelisation, by getting laypeople involved in missionary processes and keeping in mind the pastoral guidelines of the local Church, so that we may arrive at a Continental Plan for a contextualised evangelisation.

Means to achieve this

141. To strengthen the collaboration at personnel level among the Provinces and Delegations through common projects. To organise meetings of confreres who work in the same field to have some common criteria for evangelisation.

Proposals at Institute level

142. To affirm again that evangelisation is our reason to exist and to perceive the Institute as the place where we experience God.

143. To start from our Comboni values for renewing our life and be more effective in a globalized world.

144. To continue evaluating and revising our commitments and government structures for the purpose of investing more personnel in evangelisation and less in bureaucracy. To re-qualify our commitments by keeping the poor as the point of reference. The Institute has to maintain the value of internationality and increase it where it is not sufficiently present, including the Curia.

145. To reflect and establish an equilibrium between the proclamation of the Word and human promotion. We are called to face new challenges, like the resolution of conflicts, the interreligious dialogue, ecumenism, healing and reconciliation.

146. To stress the ministerial service and collaboration among priests, brothers and laypeople. To continue with the collaboration of all the members of the Comboni Family, in a special way with the Comboni Lay Missionaries, accepting them as a new vocation and charism within the Comboni Family.

147. To evangelise our economy, our way of making use of money. To leave out projects which do not imply local participation or are “personal projects”, not programmed by the community.

Means to achieve this

148. To prepare a Comboni Missionary Methodology in all fields.

149. It is useful to have formation schemes which present a preferential option for the poor and form our candidates to start from the Mission and for the Mission.

MISSION/EVANGELISATION - B
“The Mission which characterises us is that which allows people to play their role
in the various fields (To save Africa with Africa)”

Statements

150. We see that our mission style looks more for one’s own protagonism rather than that of the people, as we do not walk at their pace. In this way, our charism becomes poorer. Besides, the social and ecclesial context of the places where we are has changed, and this has brought about a change in our relation with the situations and with the people.

Proposals at personal level

151. To faithfully live the non-negotiable values of our missionary life: faith, gratuity, constancy, trust and spirit of sacrifice. To return to a holier and committed life so that we may give witness and be an example to people.

152. To allow ourselves to be evangelised and have more trust in people. To become convinced that the solution to problems lies in them, because God’s Kingdom is present in the people.

153. To be aware that we are missionaries everywhere and that we are there for a limited time. To accept, appreciate and carry on projects handed over by other confreres.

Means to achieve this

154. To be willing to take the time we need to learn the official language of the country and the local language and to get to know the culture where we work.

155. To form and to make the laypeople aware in every field so that they may appreciate their values, discover their capabilities and become protagonists of their own evangelisation (To save Africa with Africa), and to evaluate their activities.

Proposals at local level

156. Our being Comboni Missionaries has to encourage us to evangelise as a community according to the style of the cenacle of apostles and to work in teams as a Comboni Family (Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Sisters, Secular Missionaries and Lay Missionaries).

157. We intend to walk at the pace of the people; give them responsibility in the measure that is possible in order to foster corresponsibility and the ministerial service.

158. To support and encourage self-sufficiency in the local Church with regard to economy, personnel and the missionary sending, so that it does not have to rely on external assistance. To review our way of making use of economic means, to create pastoral and human promotion structures in harmony with the real needs of the people.

159. In every community there should be someone willing to be part of the structures of the local Church with our missionary charism, without taking the place of the local clergy.

Means to achieve this

160. To search for paths of communion and commitment with the local Church and civil society to be organised for the building of the Kingdom. Collaboration, respect and mutual cooperation with the laypeople and the local Church are important means for our work.

161. To prepare and follow the community charter as a tool for evaluation.

162. The community must see in the Common Fund a means to share and contribute in a responsible way to one’s needs and those of the Mission.

Proposals at provincial level

163. The Provinces have to make a serious discernment to resolve the gap that exists between commitments and personnel availability, leaving out those commitments which already have self-sufficient structures and local personnel to carry them on.

164. To work, plan, organise and be at the service of the local Church at all levels, by contributing with our particular Comboni charism.

165. To promote cooperation by setting up a network of contacts and presenting the different situations to various organisations, international bodies and networks or pressure groups.

Means to achieve this

166. To organise study and reflection meetings on the methodology of work with the laypeople.

167. To produce and distribute documents and essays on issues of Justice and Peace in order to help people to understand and promote reconciliation.

Proposals at continental level

168. To establish together pastoral priorities in our continents which encourage the people’s protagonism, the collaboration between Comboni Missionaries and laypeople and the economic self-sufficiency of the Christian communities. To respect pluralism, the different culture and the principle of subsidiarity and to aim at decentralisation. Even though the proposals may be valid for all, they have to be made concrete for each continent according to their particular modalities.

169. Europe: To make use of the small Christian communities’ method and to make it possible for the people to feel missionaries in their environment. Better collaboration among the Provinces at the level of information, centres of mission and vocation promotion and magazines.

170. America: To promote an inculturation which does not concern itself simply with the learning of the language and customs, but which enables us to participate in people’s life. To include in our pastoral work the issues of JPIC.

171. Asia: To promote the laypeople’s formation, the evangelisation of non-Christians and interreligious dialogue.

172. Africa: To encourage the birth of a lay organisation that feels attracted by our Comboni charism. In the context of the Second African Synod, which underlines the issues of Justice and Peace and Reconciliation, each Province has to make a further effort in committing itself to collaborate with the local Church.

Means to achieve this

173. To encourage and keep up the exchange and the collaboration within each continent, in the effort of promoting the missionary commitment of the local Church.

174. To organise assemblies for evangelisation and for the other secretariats at continental and sub-continental level.

Proposals at Institute level

175. At Institute level we have been repeating the same things for many years without bringing about great changes. The Institute has to promote at various levels suitable methods to study common themes, their assimilation, their finalisation and the implementation of the decisions taken.

176. To rely on the local Church and laypeople for the implementation of the projects: These have to be simple, to be carried on by them and to guarantee their continuity. To invest efforts, personnel and money in the formation of local pastoral agents, especially women.

177. It is necessary to organize new ways of mission promotion which may help the local Churches in every continent so that they may always have a missionary outlook.

178. To continue the Institute’s journey with the Comboni Lay Missionaries, arriving, if possible, to establish common guidelines for their formation journey and missionary methodology.

179. To collaborate with all the members of the Comboni Family, laypeople and civil society in promoting and sustaining the creation of a NGO of Comboni inspiration.

180. To promote economic self-sufficiency in all the Comboni provinces.

Means to achieve this

181. The General Secretary for Evangelisation, the team of the Ratio Missionis and the person responsible for Justice and Peace have to review and rewrite our missionary methodology.

182. To use and administer funds destined for projects in a transparent way.

183. To collaborate with other religious and civil organisations working in Justice and Peace.

THE PROCESS OF THE RATIO MISSIONIS CARRIES ON

The Ratio Missionis’ process does not end with the second stage of community discernment, but continues through this time of active waiting, which will last till the starting of the General Chapter 2009.

This time foresees four periods: Advent, Lent, Easter and the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Following the liturgical calendar of the Church, for each of these periods we shall present an icon and a theme to help us during our monthly retreat. The periods are:

Advent 2008
Theme: Waiting attitude
Icon: The night-watchman who waits for the dawn

Lent 2009
Theme: Conversion
Icon: Saint Paul

Easter-Pentecost 2009
Theme: Communion – Brotherhood
Icon: The Cenacle of Apostles

Feast of the Sacred Heart 2009
Theme: Contemplation of the Pierced Heart
Icon: The Pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd

We invite everyone to deeply live this time of active waiting by following the liturgical journey of the Church. To help us in this journey, suitable prayer-aids will be prepared.

We hope that we all, at personal, local and provincial level, may continue to deepen the results of the synthesis of the discernment stage that you should all have received.

Venegono, 14 September 2008