World Mission Ministries

Some folks came from this office at the Archdiocese to talk at our last parish mission group meeting about what mission means. Our leader said this was because he thought maybe it was time we heard from someone else.

It's less a problem of who's talking than what's being said. As you might expect, any discussion like this includes a lot of handouts. One this time was Bono's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. Nothing against Bono, but the Catechism sections 849-856 on Mission, 1943-1948 summarizing Social Justice, and (2450-2463) summarizing the Seventh Commandment, are shorter, more pertinent, and probably about as likely to be read.

Another handout of quotations included a [modified]one from Martin Luther King, Jr.,

The world in which we live is geographically one. ... The challenge we face today is to make it one in [sister]brotherhood. ... Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood, and yet ... we have not had the ethical commitment to make it a [sister]brotherhood.

You recall that an Archdiocesan Parish Consultant wrote the Catholic Herald to remind us of some of Dr. King's words. Maybe next January there will be a coordinated Archdiocesan commemoration of what King [should have] said.

Also among the handouts was a chart of based on Spiritual Growth & the Option for the Poor by Albert Nolan, O.P.. It showed as Stages Toward Solidarity With The Poor:
Experience > Emotion > Response > Hazzard
We'd been provided with other copies of this chart over the years. Since the typo "Hazzard" has never been corrected, I wonder if, in all the years and all the places it's been handed out, anyone ever actually looked at it.