1st Rogationist Mission Summit ‘09

summit January 12th, 2009

Monday morning’s activities included an intervention by the Philippine delegation major superior, Fr. Bruno, Rampazzo. He shared that the missionary impetus is inherent in the Christian. In the same manner that Jesus is motivated by love and does not limit himself to a certain place or a certain group of people, and even offered himself totally, so should the Christian. Fr. Bruno added that the mission is universal and that there are new forms of mission as there is a crisis due to the weakening of faith. He said that through the mission, the Church is renewed and faith is strengthened.

The open forum saw the opening of hearts as missionaries spoke with Rogationist formandis and shared their experiences. To the question of age in doing mission work, Fr. Aveni opined that generosity has no age and that language does not matter for it is a matter of witnessing with one’s life.

One novice suggested that formation should focus on the preparation for the poor in the Philippines. Fr. Bruno shared that we are preparing for missions here in the Philippines though there are many expressions of helping the poor in the country. Fr. Herbie said that for them in Poland, they are opening minds to respond to the needs of people including  those in the Philippines. Fr. Guarino said that the mission of the church is to bring the gospel to others, in which the poor are part. He added that as Rogationists, we bring the gospel as working with the poor is not exclusively our work. To Fr. Antonio who works in Albania, he said that the poverty they have there is that of vocation.

When asked what triggers them to go for a mission, Fr. Francesco shared that being missionary is a vocation within a mission and that the vocation for the mission should be in response to God’s call. Fr. Carucci said that in his experience, the vocation is missionary by principle and it is the Lord who gives us the strength to live our mission. To Fr. Guarino, on the other hand, mission is just a transfer from one house to another, for we are at home in any Rogationist house, in one’s country or abroad.

Fr. Christian shared that what sustains him in mission is the thought that each of the confreres in many other parts of the world are suffering for a labor of love. Fr. Taguibao said that everybody is capable of going to the mission. What is usually missing is the enthusiasm. For him, what inspires him is his consecration as a Rogationist. Fr. Alfonso, for his part, said that you cannot separate mission from vocation and Fr. Dante added that the missionary vocation is part of God’s call. So we need generosity to answer that call and the purpose is love. Fr. Antonio shared that if we go out of obedience and sacrifice, it is then we become happy.

Fr. Guido talked that in Italy, the seminarians are called “small apostles” and in the early years of formation, they openly speak of the missions and let the students watch missionary films. There were also great feasts when missionaries come back. They even modify the schedule of the community in order to listen to the missionaries. He suggested that the formation to mission be a part of our formation.

Fr. Cesare shared that once you start serving the realities of the Congregation, there is no distinction. He said that as someone working in formation, there is no contradiction between his work and working for the poor.

Father General shared that the religious has a catholic dimension depending on the organization of the Congregation, thus the possibility to go out of one’s country. He added that when Father Founder left Messina, he brought to another place what he had been doing in Messina, to propagate prayer for vocations and to help the poor. He said that we should always consider the universality of the Church.

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