MISSION AND EVANGELIZATION IN CANON LAW

The establishment of present day Catholic law and legal order concerned with the propagation of the Christian faith among non-Christian peoples historically dates from 1622 with the foundation of the Congregation for the propagation of the faith, now called the Congregation for the evangelization of peoples. The twentieth-century movement from the principle of delegation to the principle of reservation underlies current change in the Catholic legal order. The change reflects a movement away from canon 1350, §2 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law (CIC) which accorded the responsibility for missionary activity exclusively with the Apostolic See. The Second Vatican Council marked the turning point for developing particular legislation whereby the Church can consider the realities of individual cultures to implement legal order and activities.

Catholic Church teaching expressed in Lumen Gentium, number 23 and Ad gentes, numbers 2, 35 and 39 of the Second Vatican Council grounded theology and pastoral directives in the 1983 CIC and the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO) which state that the work of evangelization is a fundamental duty of all the people of God, since "the whole Church is by its nature missionary" (CIC c. 781, and CCEO c. 584, §1). Missionary action implants the Church among peoples or groups where it has not yet taken root, especially by sending heralds of the gospel until the young churches have the proper resources and sufficient means to be able to carry out the work of evangelization themselves (CIC c. 786 and CCEO c. 590). The canon expresses the goal of missionary activity. The code devotes title II of Book III on the Teaching Function of the Church as well as specific references in Book II, The People of God, to meet the goal, that is, to set up structures to direct missionary activity and to regulate the missionary actions of individual church people.

Reflective of the hierarchical constitution of the people of God, the code structures the supreme direction and coordination of missionary endeavors for the entire Church to the Roman Pontiff and to the College of Bishops (CIC c. 782, §1). Conferences of bishops are charged, first, to regulate the steps necessary to enter the church (CIC c. 788, §3 and CCEO c. 587, §1, 3) and, secondly, to establish and promote works by which those who come to their territory from mission lands for study or work be received and assisted with adequate pastoral care (CIC c. 792). Individual bishops are to initiate, foster and sustain missionary endeavors in their own dioceses. Specifically, the diocesan bishop fosters missionary vocations and promotes cooperation in individual dioceses by prayer and financial support (CIC c. 782, §2; 385 and CCEO c. 195 and CIC c. 791 and CCEO c. 585, §3). A diocesan bishop in the territory of a mission is to promote, direct, and coordinate missionary endeavors by forming agreements with those engaged in missionary work (CIC c. 790). In a particular church grouping organized as a territorial prelature (CIC c. 370 and CCEO, c. 311, §§1, and 312) or under an apostolic vicar (CIC c. 371), the 1983 code calls for a council of the mission (CIC c. 495, §2 and CCEO c. 264 and CIC c. 502, §4 and CCEO c. 271, §§1–5), at least three missionary presbyters who function as a presbyteral council and whose opinion the vicar or prefect apostolic is to hear in more serious matters, as for example the granting of dimissorial letters required by CIC c. 1018 or CCEO c. 1269 for the ordination of secular clergy within the grouping.

The carrying out of missionary work may be entrusted to natives or non-natives, whether secular clergy, members of either institutes of consecrated life or societies of apostolic actions, and lay members of the Christian faithful (CIC c. 784). Priests going to the missions, for example, are to learn the language of the region, and understand its institutions, social conditions, usages, and customs (CIC c. 257 and CCEO c. 352, §3). Members of institutes of consecrated life are to engage in missionary action in a special way and in a manner proper to their institute under the direction of the diocesan bishop (CICc. 783). The Holy See in consultation with a conference of bishops can establish a personal prelature of priests and deacons to engage in missionary activity in accord with the prelature's statutes and the consent of the diocesan bishop where the activity takes place (CIC c. 294 and 297). Church law calls for catechists, trained lay members of the Christian faithful, duly instructed and outstanding in Christian life, to set forth the teaching of the gospel, to organize liturgies and works of charity under the direction of a missionary (CIC c. 785). Laity also have the duty to work so that the divine message of salvation becomes known, especially in "circumstances in which only through them can people hear the gospel and know Christ" (CIC c. 225, §1 and CCEO c. 401 & 406)

Missionary activity takes place in three stages. In the pre-catechumenate, the activities of missionaries establish by witness of word and their life a dialogue with those who do not believe in Christ so that in a manner adapted to their own temperament and culture, individuals come to understand the gospel and be admitted to receive baptism when they freely request it (CIC c. 787). Only dialogue brings into focus cultural distinctiveness and promotes that any decision to accept the faith is a free determination. The catechumenate begins when one makes known his or her intention to embrace the faith in Christ. Admitted in liturgical ceremonies, a formation program initiates catechumens into the mystery of salvation and introduces them into the life of the faith, the liturgy, the charity of the people of God, and the apostolate under the direction of a nation's conference of bishops (CIC c. 788 and CCEO 587, §1, 3). Finally, neophytes after their reception of baptism are to deepen their understanding of the faith and formed to fulfill the duties assumed at baptism (CIC c. 789).

[a. j. espelage]