VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church does not have “a product to sell, but a life to communicate: God, his divine life, his merciful love, his holiness,” Pope Francis told national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
The mission societies were founded to educate Catholics about the needs of the Church in mission lands, to foster their prayers for the missions and to raise money to support them.
“You are well aware of my concern about the risk of your work being reduced to the merely financial aspect of material assistance, turning the societies – despite their Christian inspiration – into agencies like any others,” the pope told the national directors June 1.
The best way to fight such a temptation, he said, is to begin a process of renewal based on the conversion of each person involved – those who work for the mission societies and those who support them.
The societies include the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Missionary Childhood Association, the Society of St. Peter Apostle and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.
Pope Francis noted that he has called for a special “extraordinary missionary month” to be celebrated in October 2019 with the theme “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World.”
The renewal of the mission societies should coincide with preparations for the observance, he said.
“Things always must be renewed: Renew one’s heart, renew one’s works, renew organizations because otherwise they will end up in a museum,” he said.
The necessary “missionary conversion of the structures of the Church,” including of the mission societies, must be based on “personal holiness and spiritual creativity,” Pope Francis said.
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