“The blossoming of mission in that classic portrayal is the transfer of the Church to the local communities where they are the ones engaging in catechesis, structuring the Church, and they’re the individuals who are becoming priests and bishops,” remarked McCrabb of the United States Catholic Mission Association, an entity that aids U.S.-based domestic and global missionary organizations.

That romantic notion of the missionary seems to have motivated John Chau, a 26-year-old American who lost his life last November while attempting to reach out to an isolated tribe on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean.

Chau, an evangelical Christian and self-proclaimed explorer, had allegedly harbored a long-held desire to introduce the Gospel to the North Sentinelese people, who are not receptive to outsiders and have been known to launch arrows and spears at anyone who approaches their island.

Chau’s passing sparked significant media coverage and discussions among Christian communities regarding his judgment and the method he employed to reach out to a tribe that the Indian government has forbidden access to tourists.

“I’m curious to learn if there have been any Catholic or Protestant missionaries in the region who have been attempting to discover a way to befriend (the North Sentinelese). That’s typically the initial step we take,” stated Father Kevin Hanlon of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.

In certain secular media platforms, the fundamental essence of mission work came under scrutiny, with Chau criticized as the archetypal foreign missionary possessing imperialistic intentions to obliterate local cultures and customs. This perception of the missionary has deep origins linked to the practices of mission work in the 19th century, when the rise of industrialization in the West incited a surge of globalization characterized by colonization.

“That period concluded with the emergence of independent nation-states, and missionaries were subsequently perceived as representatives of Western culture that had ultimately obliterated local cultures,” McCrabb stated.

“There are numerous misconceptions regarding mission work. Certainly, some missionaries have exhibited a colonial mindset, but fundamentally, the true purpose of missionaries is to share the Gospel. You are not dispatched to transform individuals into Western likenesses,” Father Hanlon explained to Our Sunday Visitor.

Previous missionaries, such as St. Francis Xavier, stressed the importance of understanding the local language, culture, and customs. Customs and practices that do not conflict with the Gospel or the moral doctrines of the Church are to be honored.

“You must invest the time to understand what existence is like for these individuals,” McCrabb stated. “They might be unfamiliar with a phone or a television. The entire pattern of their daily life could be based on factors other than a clock.”

Recognizing Christ in others, embodying Christ for others

In a contemporary world characterized by immediate communication, swift transportation, and the merging of markets and cultures, the Church is attempting to understand what mission work entails in that environment, McCrabb noted.

“Nowadays, mission focuses less on location and more on individuals,” McCrabb stated. “What are the needs of the people? We emphasize ‘being with’ rather than ‘doing for.’ As a contemporary missionary, you integrate into the community. You do not arrive to impose anything on anyone. You come to connect with people, to comprehend their aspirations and desires.”

There seems to be a conflict between the requirements of the Great Commission and the growing focus, both within and outside the Church, in today’s world on honoring religious traditions, promoting interfaith discussions, and valuing local customs and cultures.

“I believe we possess a much clearer understanding of culture and its functioning,” McCrabb stated. “Certain cultures are more insular than others. I consider honoring that to be a significant aspect.”

Father Hanlon stated that missionaries frequently act as a link between countries by starting to acquaint individuals with aspects of the contemporary world while enabling them to maintain their cultural heritage.

“And that’s a positive aspect, because eventually, without any consent, Western culture will infiltrate,” Father Hanlon remarked.

Father Chris Saenz, a missionary priest from the Columban Fathers who has just come back to the United States after spending 17 years in Chile, shared with OSV that a missionary has the ability to “bridge the divides among individuals.”

“The most significant memory I have of collaborating with individuals in Chile is that when I departed from those regions, the people essentially expressed a similar sentiment: ‘Father, no matter where you go, share our story, let them understand who we are,’” Father Saenz stated.

From a non-religious or atheistic viewpoint, the concept of foreign mission activities might seem nonsensical, perhaps even laughable. However, for Catholics involved in this endeavor, participating in mission work is perceived as a direct calling from Christ.

“This does contradict conventional wisdom,” stated Spizale from Family Missions Company. “The sole means to grasp this type of longing is to accept that what Jesus declared is factual, that he is indeed who he claimed to be, and that the directive to announce him, the Great Commission, is genuine.”

Regarding the approach to evangelizing in foreign missions, Spizale remarked that evangelization “must always be connected to friendship.”

“We aim to foster friendships and cultivate bonds with others,” Spizale stated. “From there, you embody a Christian testimony with them, being honest about your identity, and allowing that connection to grow.”

England, representing Lay Mission Helpers, an organization that offers education and assistance for lay Catholics undertaking three years of service in mission dioceses globally, informed OSV that it is crucial for missionaries to remember that God “already exists where we are heading.”

“We are sharing our experience of God and Jesus, testifying to that, and in return being observed by the individuals we collaborate with and assist,” England stated.

Father Saenz stated that one of the initial obstacles a missionary faces is grasping the subtleties of the native language and preventing miscommunications.

“When you immerse yourself in a culture, there are historical contexts and customs that you are unaware of. Individuals don’t immediately inform you about them,” Father Saenz shared with OSV. “It’s akin to stepping into a cinema halfway through a movie, and you lack the complete narrative that others possess.”

Successful missionaries, Father Saenz emphasized, recognize that evangelization is a reciprocal process. They live harmoniously alongside local communities, mindful that God was present before their arrival and will still be there when they return home.

“You strive to embody, in the best manner possible, the principles of Jesus Christ, particularly as articulated in the beatitudes,” Father Saenz remarked. “Those are global values. You connect with individuals at that juncture. You interact with one another with dignity. If they recognize you as someone who is present to assist, not to impose, not to substitute, not to dominate, eventually they will realize that, and they will embrace it.”

Message for World Mission Day

Each October, the Church celebrates World Mission Month, centered around World Mission Day, which is the penultimate Sunday of the month. This year’s theme is “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World.” In his message for World Mission Day 2019, the Pope Francis “asked that the whole Church revive her missionary awareness and commitment,” calling on all the faithful to answer the call of missionary discipleship in their own lives: “This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God’s love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant. Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God’s love. Even if parents can betray their love by lies, hatred and infidelity, God never takes back his gift of life. From eternity he has destined each of his children to share in his divine and eternal life (cf. Eph 1:3-6).”

Appeal to serve beyond boundaries

Catholic mission efforts represent a complex vocation that in the United States includes a vast and varied community of missionaries comprising priests, religious members, and lay individuals of diverse ages, engaging in a multitude of pastoral and humanitarian initiatives. They receive backing from parish communities, dioceses, and organizations that offer prayers, contribute finances and resources, and promote awareness regarding the missions.

“There are numerous individuals with missionary experience around,” McCrabb stated.

During his duties as a missionary, Father Hanlon instructed a Scripture course at a women’s institution in Japan and resided in an underprivileged neighborhood of Mexico City, where he contributed to strengthening the Catholic community in a pastoral capacity.

“We attempted to exist as straightforwardly as the locals did,” Father Hanlon remarked. “There was a public drainage system near our home. We dealt with muddy pathways during rainy days, but there was also a stronger feeling of community in a less affluent area, where the homes are more compact, the doors are welcoming, and everyone is familiar with one another.”

Spizale mentioned that Family Missions Company employs over 350 lay missionaries across 12 nations. Their responsibilities vary based on the country of assignment. In Mexico, the missionaries support parish priests by delivering Communion to the homebound, aiding during Mass, and conducting Bible study sessions.

“Wherever we travel, we converse with the bishop in that region and request authorization to enter,” Spizale stated. “We inform the local ordinary that our intent is to share the Gospel and assist the needy, and if there’s a means to achieve that within their diocese, let’s discover how to collaborate on that task.”

The lay missionaries dispatched by Lay Mission-Helpers include educators, technicians, managers, and clerical personnel who support the established diocesan frameworks in nations like Ecuador, Ghana, Uganda, and Papua New Guinea. These missionaries consist of young single individuals, married couples with kids, and retirees.

“The invitation to mission arrives for individuals at various stages of their lives,” England stated. “They certainly must be filled with faith, possess a desire to serve outside of our own boundaries, and be adaptable as well as receptive to experiences that differ from their familiar surroundings.”

Lay Mission-Helpers had representatives in Cameroon until escalating political unrest led the organization to withdraw its missionaries from that nation approximately a year ago.

“We regard the safety of our lay missioners with utmost seriousness, particularly when children are concerned,” remarked England, who served as a missionary in Sierra Leone for four years until civil conflict introduced danger close to her location.

“As the danger intensified, we considered that the missioners might find themselves in unfortunate situations more frequently, and those instances were on the rise,” England stated. “We needed to evacuate our personnel.”

In recent times, Catholic missionaries operating in areas affected by war and political instability have faced threats of violence, harassment, assaults, abductions, and even fatalities.

In 1980, four Catholic missionaries from the U.S. — three Maryknoll sisters and one lay woman — were sexually assaulted and slain by individuals associated with the El Salvador National Guard. In 1981, Father Stanley Francis Rother, a priest affiliated with the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, was murdered while ministering in Guatemala. He was beatified in September 2017, and his path toward canonization is ongoing.

Sister Dorothy Stang, a member of the Notre Dame de Namur congregation, was invited by Church authorities in Brazil to assist the indigenous communities in the nation. In 2005, she was murdered for her efforts advocating for the property and land rights of rural laborers and farmers.

In November of last year, three Claretian missionaries were kidnapped in Cameroon and imprisoned for a number of days before their release. Their traumatic ordeal highlighted the risks and unstable situations that missionaries in certain areas often contend with while striving to strengthen the Church.

While recognizing the dangers associated with being a missionary, England highlighted that violence may occur anywhere.

“Nowhere on earth is entirely secure,” she stated.

‘The mission features a church’

According to McCrabb, God’s purpose to restore society can be traced back to the Old Testament, well before the Incarnation took place.

“In a certain way, mission actually comes before Jesus,” McCrabb stated, adding that “it’s less about the Church possessing a mission, and more about the mission possessing a church.”

As outlined by Pope St. John Paul II in his encyclical from 1990, Redemptoris Missio, (“Regarding the enduring nature of the Church’s mission mandate”), missionary activity represents a unified yet intricate reality that includes interfaith dialogue, genuine Christian testimony, enculturation, justice, reconciliation, and the recognition of the dignity of every individual.

“Missionary obligation, as articulated by John Paul II, represents the most significant and sacred responsibility of the Church,” remarked Spizale, who highlighted that Pope Francis has encouraged the Church to embrace a missionary ethos by extending its reach to the margins of society and connecting with the forsaken, the neglected, and the marginalized.

“I believe you can convincingly argue, drawing on the Gospels, Church literature, and the statements of the popes, that mission is the core role of the Church and it remains as significant as ever,” Spizale remarked. “We employ various methods now compared to the past. The contemporary world introduces numerous fresh obstacles, yet this fundamental role is indispensable.”

Brian Fraga is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor.

Mission work in difficult locations

It’s easy to second-guess John Chau, the 26-year-old American Protestant and self-styled explorer and missionary who was killed last November while trying to contact a remote tribe on North Sentinel Island. Chau may have been imprudent, even reckless, in convincing a few local fishermen to take him to the island, where tribe members have been known to shoot arrows and hurl spears at outsiders who venture too close to its shores. Also, Chau broke the law when he set foot on that island, which the Indian government has placed off-limits because of the tribe’s hostility to the outside world as well as the possibility that they may lack the immunity needed to fight modern diseases. “We would be certainly more scrupulous in disregarding that law because it would be to disregard the well-being of the people there,” said Matthew Spizale of Family Missions Company. Regardless of what one thinks about Chau’s approach, his story highlights a tension between the demands of the Great Commission and the different variables in the modern world that need to be taken into account. How does a missionary evangelize regions that are hostile to them or the Gospel, or deal with a government that has made certain areas off limits or allowed them to enter the country for humanitarian work on the condition that they do not preach about Jesus? There are no easy answers. Missionaries on the ground have to navigate the particular social, political, legal and cultural factors in a given location. “Difficult situations have to be analyzed in their own context and with great care,” Spizale said. “Even in a college campus in the U.S., you might go to a fraternity and they’ll say they don’t want you there. You take a step back and reevaluate what to do. It could be praying to God to give you a way to reach those people. “The only universal guideline here is to pray, to ask the Holy Spirit, who is the primary agent of evangelization, to open the door for you,” Spizale added. Father Chris Saenz, a Columban Fathers missionary priest who spent 17 years in Chile, said he could relate to Chau’s youthful idealism. “Now as more of a seasoned veteran, I look back and I will say to myself, ‘Well, there’s another way of doing it,’” Father Saenz said. “And you have to consider your impact on people. Like, if my presence, even if I want to help and do a good thing, is going to decimate them, then maybe I have to rethink this.” Father Kevin Hanlon from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers said missionaries usually first try to befriend local communities, either through direct contact or more indirect backchannel communications. “For example, in Africa, there might be a town that’s animist or non-Christian and they don’t want missionaries there,” Father Hanlon said. “You might say hello to them, maintain the contact, and eventually something will come up that will allow for a positive interaction between a church member and a person in that town. An invitation gets sent out, and then you go.”