By Fr. Alfred Maravilla SDB
Former General Councillor for Missions

History is fundamental to a society because it provides a collective memory, shaping cultural identity and fostering a sense of belonging to a group such as our congregation.

A historical conference such as this one builds and codifies the stories of individual missionaries, making them an integral part of our shared congregational memory. Importantly, this conference helps us to understand not only our missionary triumphs and failures as a congregation, but more importantly, to show the congregation the way forward, promoting growth, learning from past mistakes, potentially avoiding repeating them, and developing alternatives for the future.

During this conference, we heard testimonies from Salesian missionaries and the different situations they experienced, from Maximum Illud (1919) to Ad Gentes (1965). But today we find ourselves in a different context from the missionary projects that spread the Congregation to America (1875), Asia (1906), and Africa (1980). New perspectives and questions have brought new missiological and ecclesiological reflections.

Certainly, today, there are still people or sociocultural contexts where Christ is not known. In many countries, especially in urban centres, in the same neighbourhood, there are those who do not know Christ. So, missions are found wherever there is a need to proclaim the Gospel. Today, 'missions' cannot be understood only in terms of geography, of movement to 'mission lands' as it once was, but also in sociological and cultural terms, and even in presence on the digital continent.

And the word 'gentes' cannot be compressed as referring only to those in distant countries who have never heard the Gospel proclamation or to followers of other religions. Today, the term 'gentes' refers to all those who do not know Jesus Christ, those who, after knowing him, have abandoned him, or those who live their faith as something merely cultural, wherever they are.

It is noteworthy that the Vatican II's Decree 'Ad gentes' itself stresses that missionary action must also extend to "those Churches which, although they have existed since ancient times, are, so to speak, in a regressive stage or in a state of weakness." (AG 19).

Consequently, already the GC20 declared that "Equally it is missionary action to proclaim the Gospel and the consequent re-establishment of the Church in de-Christianised areas" (GC20, n. 465).

St. John Paul II wrote in 1990: "there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case, what is needed is a "new evangelisation" or a "re-evangelisation" (Redentoris Missio, 33).

So too did Pope Francis underline: "We cannot forget that evangelisation is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of them are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition" (Evangelii Gaudium, 14).

The final document of the recent 29th General Chapter recognises that "in some contexts, which are highly secularised or marked by mistrust of the ecclesial institution, there is a certain fatigue in the proclamation of the faith and there is a risk of giving up on transmitting the light of the Gospel in a joyful and propositive way" (GC29, 59). Therefore, it is urgent for every "pastoral educative community to promote gradual and systematic itineraries of faith education and care boldly for the first proclamation of the Gospel" (GC29, 60, a).

So today, Salesian mission ad gentes takes place in geographically distant places as well as in urban centres, in the forest as well as in city settings, and even on the digital continent, through digital platforms and artificial intelligence.

Today, Salesian missionaries come from and are sent to the five continents. This multidirectional missionary movement is already happening in the Salesian Congregation. But this missionary paradigm shift still demands from many Salesians a journey of conversion of mind and heart to embrace it!

During GC29, this renewed vision of 'missions' and 'mission ad gentes' was taken on as a shared heritage and, through an extensive process of discernment and discussion, resulted in the approval of the amendment of Article 30 of the Salesian Constitutions, to be submitted to the Holy See for approval.

The proposed new version of Article 30 reads: "People not yet evangelised have always been the focus of Don Bosco's apostolic zeal and concern. They continue to inspire and sustain our missionary fervour: we see missionary work as an essential characteristic of our Congregation. Through missionary action, we carry out a patient work of evangelisation, the establishment of the Church within a human group, and the revitalisation of faith even in countries with an ancient Christian tradition..."

Be careful, because a misunderstanding of this renewed concept of 'missions' and 'mission ad gentes' could lead to a flattening of the missionary spirit and enthusiasm in the congregation. A congregation without an ardent missionary spirit will soon become a congregation that is centred on itself and its own needs, that does not push to the frontiers and send missionaries, that gets sick! And it soon forgets that it has not only a glorious history to remember and study, but above all a great history to build with renewed enthusiasm.

I hope that this conference will help all Salesians never to forget that we are all called to live the missionary spirit of Don Bosco as the heart of pastoral charity, which is manifested in the 'Oratorian heart,' in the fervour, momentum, and capacity for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. It is the passion for evangelisation, especially of the young, and the readiness to be sent wherever there is need, summarised in the 'Da mihi animas' typical of every Salesian because it is rooted in the Salesian charism itself.

That all Salesians must live the missionary spirit of our founder does not exclude the fact that there are some Salesians who feel called with total readiness to be sent for life (ad vitam) outside their own cultural environment or homeland anywhere in the world (ad exteros) to collaborate with zeal and boldness in the new frontiers of our mission of evangelisation or where the Church is not yet fully established and in the contexts of ancient Christian faith (ad gentes).

From this conference hall, I conclude with an appeal to the entire Salesian world: It is the Salesian missions ad gentes that reinvigorate and revitalise the Congregation, giving rise to new vocations. Let us not lose the missionary audacity of Don Bosco! Let us rediscover the courage to dare and hope to reach the new frontiers of missions ad gentes!

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