COURSE

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Church Teaching

The so-called mission Ad Gentes, as a missionary charism, pertains to mission as
reaching out to people of other faiths and/ or religious beliefs. On the other hand,
mission Ad Extra refers to an adherence to the call to mission in a foreign country.
Both mission Ad Gentes and mission Ad Extra often go together and are
correlated principles in the fulfillment of the missionary works and apostolate of
the CICM as manifested in their journeys in different countries across continents all
over the world.

Questions for Reflection:

1. What were the major challenges encountered by the CICM missionaries

throughout the years?

2. What are the most remarkable features of the mission experiences of the CICM
in the world?

THE CICM MISSION ACROSS CONTINENTS

A. IN ASIA

1. The CICM MISSION in the "Chinese Province"

Singapore (where CICM already had a ‘sub-procure’ since 1931), Hong Kong
(where CICM would start being active in 1954), and Taiwan (formerly called ‘Formosa’,
the island to which the nationalist Chinese Kuomintang government in exile fled, and
where CICM started its mission in 1955). These non-contiguous territories formed
together the so-called ‘Chinese province’ (Provincia Sinica).

2. Indonesia

The Indonesian mission was prompted by the concern to raise more missionary
vocations in the Netherlands (Many Dutch Catholics considered the foundation and
development of the Catholic Church in Indonesia as their moral and religious duty).

Through the years, in spite of the World War II-prison camps and the guerilla wars
in the following decade, the congregation has founded parishes, schools, dormitories
and polyclinics; an organization offering household-related training to Catholic
housewives, and an agricultural school also belong to the CICM initiatives.

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COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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3. Japan

The General Chapter of 1947 had approved the mission to Japan, and in the
next year, the first contracts with local church authorities were made, first in
Osaka, later also in other places like Okayama.

Since the congregation had plenty of candidate-missionaries after the war, and
since the developments in China provided additional manpower options to other
mission countries, the development was particularly strong in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Catholic schools were well regarded and added to the reputation of the
Catholic Church. In the following decades, social, economic, and cultural
developments increasingly brought the local clergy to the forefront of pastoral care.

4. Mongolia
The mission in Mongolia started on July 10, 1992, when three CICM confreres -
Robert Goessens, Wenceslao Padilla, and Gilbert Sales (SLU President since 2015) -
arrived in that North Asian country, after pope John Paul II, through the Propaganda
Fide, had sent them to establish the Catholic Church community there.
The CICM missionaries of 1992 also had to adjust to the harsh climate, the scarce
and different food; they had to learn something of the different language of the locals,
as they were dealing with non-Christian religious conservatism as well as indifference
among the locals. As Christian missionaries, they also had to deal with the sometimes
“aggressive” missionary methods of their non-Catholic counterparts. The CICM had
acquired ecclesiastic supervision over ‘Urga’ (Outer-Mongolia), when it fell into the
hands of Soviet Russian troops in 1921.

5. Philippines

In 1907, the CICM Missionaries arrived in the Philippines, mandated by the Holy
See to evangelize the northern part of the country. Thus, it was that in 1911, Rev Fr
Séraphin Devesse, CICM, founded a one-room elementary school in Baguio for ten
local boys. From these humble origins, Saint Louis School began.

B. AFRICA

Congo, Cameroon, Senegal and Zambia

In a next step, the presence of CICM in Africa has been explored, to begin with
Congo (1888), later followed by Cameroon, Senegal and Zambia. In general, missionary

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COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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work in Africa occurs against the background of poor public order and services and of
economic difficulties, but also of a vibrant variety of cultures and languages; some
countries, especially Senegal, have a Muslim majority, offering opportunities for inter-
religious dialogue, even as conversions to Christianity are rare.

The CICM-mission in Congo already started in 1888. King Leopold II of Belgium

wanted to turn his country into a prosperous and powerful state that could compete
with other European nations during the high days of colonialism. Therefore, he acquired
a huge territory, many times bigger than his own country, in the heart of the African
continent.

After the king had taken the initiative to put up an ‘African Seminary’ in Louvain
for future priests in the African continent, and this seminary was eventually turned over
to CICM, the time was ripe for the first team to move on, with the blessing of the Sacred
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

The CICM missionaries were able to put up several mission stations; they
particularly took care of the many child slaves who were sold by traders. With support of
the government, they created ‘school colonies’ that provided education and training
for those children.

Today, missions in Congo include parishes and youth ministry. The huge country is
affected by significant cultural and linguistic differences (they have four national
languages, including Lingala, Kikongo). This presents a big challenge for missionaries.

C. AMERICAS / CARIBBEAN

1. CICM Mission in America

Regarding the mission in the United States, it is important to know that before the
efforts described in the Missionhurst website (situated mainly in 1946 and in the following
years), earlier activities in the United States took place beginning 1919. The reasons for
this were mainly financial: (1)CICM had started a few years earlier (1907) the mission in
the Philippines, an American colony at that time; from the beginning, this mission
suffered from a lack of revenues, so CICM had to find financial resources.

In 1944, Father Ernest Dieltiens first contacted the archdiocese of Philadelphia,

where CICM was a familiar name to the archbishop, since he had served as archbishop
of Nueva Segovia (Vigan) in the Philippines during the period 1903-1908, when the
CICM pioneers were arriving there. It was agreed that CICM missionaries would help in

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COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
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the apostolate among African-Americans in various parishes; in 1946, the same was
arranged with the bishop of Columbus (Ohio). In the same year, CICM became owner
of the former ‘Lyonhurst’ property in Arlington, Virginia, renamed ‘Missionhurst’; they also
got a parish in Culpepper, Virginia, in the diocese of Richmond.

In 1947, the expansion moved to the South: they got parishes to take care of in
Dallas, and San Antonio (Texas), with respectively high numbers of black and Mexican-
Americans among their populations. Other projects were situated in Oklahoma and
Louisiana (apostolate among French-speaking Catholics).

In 1966, CICM also got a parish in Los Angeles, California; they would remain in
that state until the early 80’s. Still in the sixties, CICM was charged with the operation of
a high school in the archdiocese of Philadelphia.

2. CICM Mission in the Caribbean

CICM came to Haiti first in 1949, to operate a cane sugar plant that would go
bankrupt soon. Developments in China caused a significant flow-over of missionaries to
other territories. That’s how Haiti received 17 missionaries in1953, and another 5 in the
following year. During the 1960’s CICM brothers came to help in construction and repair
works.

The eastern part of the island Hispaniola is called the ‘Dominican Republic’. After
occupations by France, Haiti, and Spain, it became independent in 1863, with Santo
Domingo as capital city. The CICM started a mission in the Dominican republic in order
to provide a territory for US-born young CICM priests to acquire missionary experience
ad extra not too far from home. The mission was, therefore, placed under the
supervision of the CICM United States province.

When the arrival of new missionaries from Europe and the U.S. began to
decrease, especially in the 1980’s, young CICM priests from the Philippines, and later
also from Congo and Haiti provided reinforcement, to meet the demands of
multifaceted pastoral work. CICM missionaries are at work both in the slums of Santo
Domingo and in the campos of the South-West, mainly inhabited by Haitian plantation
workers. The pastoral methods used in Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) are widely
promoted.

In 1954, the CICM also started a mission in Guatemala, a Central American

country situated between Mexico (to the North, where CICM is also present) and El
Salvador and Honduras (to the South). The CICM in Mexico faces a country where 90%
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COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
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of the population is Catholic but very few are actually practicing. Suffering from
poverty, poor education, and drug-related gang violence, many workers are looking
for employment in the United States or border region, leaving women alone with the
kids.

In Guatemala, malnutrition remains a serious problem until today, besides drug

and human trafficking. A significant part of the population consists of Maya Indians,
both in the mountainous North and in the coastal South, where large banana
plantations are located. CICM missionaries were initially assigned in the latter but would
later also move to the North.

Aside from doing classical parish work and administering sacraments, the CICM
gets involved in the set-up of a pastoral-catechetical center, which soon became
famous because of its catechetical publications and pastoral methodology. At the
same time, the missionaries were working hard to implement the many
recommendations from the second Vatican council, like in liturgy, where the language
of the people had to be introduced.

Another Latin American bishops’ conference (that of Puebla in, held in 1979) will
set the tone for further pastoral developments. Some CICM missionaries move into the
Amazon territory, where impoverished adventurous people try to start a new life, as they
are looking for land, wood, and gold, which brings them into conflict with local Indian
tribes. 1979 is also the year when Brazil became a separate province of CICM, and an
own formation program was started.

D. EUROPE

The CICM statutes, drafted by a team led by Father Theophile Verbist, were
approved by Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels (Belgium). The
site called ‘Scheut’ or ‘Scheutveld’, where the chapel of Our-Lady-of-Grace and the
CICM mother house (the later Seminarium pro Sinis) were located, was situated in the
vicinity of Belgium’s capital city.

Both in China and the Philippines, the CICM were known as the ‘Belgian Fathers’.
This is in spite of the fact that Father Verbist had already at an early stage opened the
group for non-Belgian - especially Dutch – members, so as to enlarge his field of
recruitment of candidates for the new mission.

Today, CICM is active in limited projects, as in youth apostolate and in a number

of parishes, as the once ‘sending’ Belgian Church has become a ‘receiving’ Church,
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COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
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School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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due to a lack of vocations for the priesthood and the religious life. Secularized living
and thinking – resulting from scientific and technological progress, material wealth,
social welfare policies, and a critical-liberal press.

The attitude of a lot of people towards the Catholic Church has also been
adversely affected by scandals and abuses involving priests or religious, while some
nurture resentment about the powerful social and political role the Church has played
in the past.

In spite of the challenges this brings, CICM is still actively present in the Belgian
environment, as a number of people are still feeling some form of religious need. Even
among young people, a good number admit in private that they are praying, while
some new religious movements have proved to attract members who hunger for
allowing the transcendent into their lives.

The presence of several retirement houses for missionaries who are enjoying a
deserved rest in their homeland from their former work ad extra in the Lord’s vineyard,
also needs to be mentioned when referring to CICM in Belgium and the Netherlands.

* CICM Missionary Message

Mission in the context of the contemporary world, more than ever, is

obviously a complex and difficult task. But in spite of it all, the work of God's grace
can always find a way. Primarily, for the CICM missionaries, one way is to heed
their pledge to engage in inter-religious dialogue.

The CICM Constitutions declare: “We sincerely love and respect the people to
whom we are sent. We adopt a listening attitude and try to gain knowledge and
understanding of their socio-economic, political, cultural and religious realities. Aware
that the Spirit has been at work everywhere, we discern the evangelical values present
in these realities.”

(Watch the attached video clips provided in your flash drive entitled A CICM Missionary
in Cameroon & CICM MISSION IN MONGOLIA for a better sense of the CICM missionary
story.)

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