PIME Missionaries
  • Home
  • What Makes Us Different
    • PIME 75 Years in the US
    • The Missionary Vocation
    • PIME Martyrs
    • PIME Saints & Causes
  • Get Involved
    • Sponsorships at A Distance
    • Mission Development Projects
    • Events
    • Mission Store
    • Prayer Intentions
  • Our Impact
    • Our Missions
    • Mission World Online
    • PIME Asia News
  • |
  • DONATE
  • Home
  • What Makes Us Different
    • PIME 75 Years in the US
    • The Missionary Vocation
    • PIME Martyrs
    • PIME Saints & Causes
  • Get Involved
    • Sponsorships at A Distance
    • Mission Development Projects
    • Events
    • Mission Store
    • Prayer Intentions
  • Our Impact
    • Our Missions
    • Mission World Online
    • PIME Asia News
  • |
  • DONATE
February 8, 2018  |  By PIMEMissionariesUSA In Brother Fabio Mussi, cameroon, Caritas, Charity, Discernment, Human Rights, PIME, PIME Brother, PIME Missionary, Religious Brother, Vocations

A Vocation to Rediscover

A Vocation to Rediscover

Bro. Fabio tests out a man’s brand new wheelchair that he helped him secure in Cameroon.

This year, the PIME Institute wants to reflect on the vocation of the Missionary Brothers. A choice that is possible and very relevant in the Church and Missions of today.

“What is a religious missionary brother?” Precisely in this year, when PIME seeks to reflect and revive this type of missionary vocation and commitment, perhaps some people might be reasonably asking this question.

I think they are legitimate and reasonable questions, because we rarely talk about this vocation, and about those who live it out. Indeed, for decades the “missionary” par excellence was a priest who was going to the Missions to preach the Gospel to those who had yet to hear about it.

Bro. Fabio Mussi, PIME, utilizes his professional administration skills to coordinate Caritas charitable activities in the isolated Far North region of Cameroon.

Back then; a religious missionary brother would have usually been the one who helped in “practical” works (like building churches, running social, and charitable works). Often his work was well appreciated, as in the case of Brother Felice Tantardini, who lived for 93 years, 70 of which were in Burma (now Myanmar), building churches, missions, orphanages, lepers colonies, and doing his job as blacksmith with great skill. He was a person certainly exceptional for his life of service, but is this type of life experience still repeatable nowadays? The answer is YES, bearing in mind two important elements: on the one hand, the path of reflection made by the Church with the Second Vatican Council, and on the other, the rapid changes that humanity has made since.

Over the last 50 years the Church has deepened new aspects of commitment to its religious brothers: the vocation and the role of brothers has received renewed value. The most obvious change is that the lay Catholic is no longer considered a mere recipient of evangelization, but becomes an active evangelizer. In various Church documents it is pointed out that the mission of the lay Catholic is to integrate himself into the earthly reality, to transform it and to direct it towards God. It is actually stated that there are situations in which the Gospel cannot reach people except through the laity. Then the question “what is a religious missionary brother” can be answered that he is one who tries to fulfill this mandate as his priority, in a setting in which the Gospel is not yet fully known; he preaches the Gospel in a setting different from the one in which he was born and raised.

Bro. Fabio uses his knowledge when applicable, however he also facilitates professional volunteers from abroad when necessary.

Practically speaking, these are the same values that Brother Felice lived out, a century ago in Burma. However, nowadays there must be awareness that such service to the Gospel has its own value; a value that is inherent to the Baptism that each believer has received. Generally speaking a missionary priest announces the Gospel mainly through God’s Word and the Sacraments, while the missionary brother does so with his work and the witness of his life. This theoretical distinction is often overcome in the different real-life situations in which one is called to live. In any case, collaboration of a missionary brother with missionary priests is not to be read as subordination, but rather as integration. This is of great value because it expresses the true sense of being a family of missionaries and of genuine collaboration between the two. Unfortunately, in recent years, the number of missionary brothers has declined rapidly. My wish is that the various celebrations in memory of Brother Felice and the initiatives to deepen the identity of a religious missionary brother may make it possible for young people and adults to develop an interest and a willingness to follow this path of missionary service.

Previous StoryHealthcare in the Far North of Cameroon
Next StoryWitness and Journalist

Archives

  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • April 2016
  • December 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013

Categories

Tags

Banglades Bangladesh Bishop Vijay Rayarala Brazil Coronavirus COVID-19 COVID-19 Relief Dhaka Education Fr. Ace Valdez Fr. Gian Paolo Gualzetti Fr. Simone Caelli Hill Tribes India Mission in India Mission Work New Missionaries PIME PIME in India PIME Missionary PIME Priests Social Justice Sponsorships Sponsorships at a Distance Thailand The Mission The Philippines Witness You Make a Difference

About

Sed molestie augue sit amet leo consequat posuere. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Proin vel ante a orci tempus eleifend ut et magna.

 

WHO WE ARE

  • What Makes Us Different

WHAT WE DO

  • Our Impact
  • Get Involved
  • DONATE

ABOUT US

The PIME Missionaries are Catholic priests and brothers who care for and develop communities in 19 countries around the world.

FIND US ELSEWHERE

Copyright ©2018 ThemeFuse. All Rights Reserved