Jesus said to his apostles
before his glorious Ascension, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).
The Church follows Jesus’ command to spread the Gospel throughout the world.
The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since she carries out the
mission which has begun in Christ, and is carried forward in the mission of the
Holy Spirit in accordance with the work committed to her in this world by the
Father for the salvation of mankind (Lumen Gentium 48).
Prior to Vatican II, the
Vatican generally adopted the stance that the Catholic religion should be
regarded as the one and only true religion on earth, even to the extent of
excluding all other forms of worship in the countries where Catholicism was the
state religion. For example, one of the “errors” pointed by Pope Pius IX in his
Syllabus of Errors is that “every man is free to embrace and profess that
religion (not Catholicism) which, guided by the light of reason, he shall
consider true” (Syllabus of Errors 15). If this “error” is taken literally, a
man was not allowed to profess another religion than Catholicism as a true
religion, i.e., there was no religious freedom not only in the Church, but in
the Catholic States!
Vatican II has
significantly changed this stance. The Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio was issued on 21
November 1964 in a bid to restore the unity of all Christians. It stipulates
that men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized in those separated Churches
and Communities are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this
communion is imperfect (UR 3). The Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae was issued on 7
December 1965 to declare that the human person has a right to religious
freedom, which has its foundation in the very dignity of the individual. A man
is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and
purpose of life. The exercise of religion, of its very nature, consists before
all else in those internal, voluntary and free acts whereby man sets the course
of his life directly toward God (DH 3). Indeed, different expressions of the
Christian faith can coexist in a society and make room for different political
positions, which nevertheless have in common a central set of standard values,
the binding force of which simultaneously safeguards a maximum of freedom
(Ratzinger 218). As such, it is infeasible and in fact inappropriate to force
people to believe in the Catholic religion to the contrary of a man’s
conscience. In fact, according to the Declaration on the Relation of the Church
with Non-Christian Religions, Nostra
Aetate, the Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in
non-Christian religions, as they often reflect a ray of the Truth which
enlightens all men (NA 2). This paper discusses the
ways in which Vatican II’s views on religious freedom and ecumenism
influence the Church’s missionary efforts and the roles that could played by the use
of social media in this respect.
Even after two centuries’
hard work, it remains a gigantic task to accomplish the Lord’s command to spread
the Gospel to all the nations and peoples. About one-third of the population in
the world is Christians while the total number of Catholics account for around
18% of the world’s population (Wikipedia). Moreover, in some populated
countries such as China and India, the percentage of Christians in the country
remains very low (less than 5%). While these places have their own
non-Christian traditions and religions, it is important for Christians who
belong to the minority to bear witness in Christ by example of their own lives
in order for non-believers to gain a personal knowledge of God and Jesus our
Savior. Christians are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (c.f.
Matt 5:13-14). They should show the people among whom they live, and should converse
with them, so that the non-believers may learn by sincere and patient dialogue
what treasures a generous God has provided to mankind through His unfailing
love (Ad Gentes 12).
In territories where
Christianity is not a mainstream religion meaning that there are plenty of
opportunities for missionary work, Catholics ought to know the problems and the
benefits in their apostolate which derive from the ecumenical movement.
Ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and our separated brethren must proceed
with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility to avoid bearing a
false witness to the non-believers as if Christ has been divided. As Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, we are not baptized in the name of Paul or Apollos or
Cephas, but in Christ to become his followers (c.f. 1 Cor 1:12-13). Because of
this reason, Catholics should collaborate and pray with other Christians so
that we can apply the Gospel together especially in matters of common concern
such as care for the poor and the afflicted, moral issues and social justice.
In Hong Kong, the place where I live, for example, recent debates in the Hong
Kong society on same-sex marriage have also triggered ecumenical dialogues on
natural law, human dignity and religious freedom. When Christians of different
denominations are closely connected together and with non-Christians in their
life and work, Christ's disciples will be able to render to others true witness
of Christ, and to work for the salvation of mankind, even where they may not be
able to announce Christ fully in a formal Church setting. For Christians are
not only seeking a material progress and prosperity for men, but promoting the
dignity and brotherly union among all men, teaching those religious and moral
truths which Christ illumined with His light. In this way, Christians are
gradually opening up a fuller approach to God for the people, particularly in
territories where the penetration of Christianity is still low (AG 12).
In spreading Christ’s
message to the other people, the Church can and should make use of modern
technologies to make the message more pervasive. Pope
John Paul II made an excellent point:
Do not be afraid of new technologies! These
rank “among the marvelous things” – inter
mirifica – which God has placed at our disposal to discover, to use and to
make known the truth, also the truth about our dignity and about our destiny as
his children, heirs of his eternal Kingdom (The Rapid Development).
Both the Vatican and the particular Churches have already made good use social
media platforms and tools such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and mobile apps to
enable more widespread dissemination of God’s Word. Nevertheless, adopting
social media by the Church hierarchy alone is not enough. As we have already
seen, the laity also has a key role to play in spreading the Gospel and in evangelizing
and sanctifying men. Nowadays, Christians are closely connected to their
non-Christian relatives and friends of their social and professional circles in
the cyber space through the social media. A Twitter message of the Pope can ripple
to and reach millions of non-believers by the sharing of Catholics with their
Facebook and Twitter friends. The Pope App also provides a mobile platform for
sharing the Pope’s daily activities and messages to people anytime and
anywhere. Personally, I make use of this app to keep a close watch of the
Pope’s activities and share his messages and thoughts with my Facebook friends,
many of whom are non-Christians, whenever I find them useful to my
evangelization work. In this manner, the laity can help the hierarchy of the
Church to spread the faith of Christ very widely and effectively among the
non-believers with whom they live or have professional connections – an
obligation which is all the more urgent, because very many men can hear of
Christ and of the Gospel only by means of the laity who are their neighbors.
Through the laity’s active participation in spreading the Gospel using the
social media, they can fulfill a special mission of proclaiming the Gospel and
communicating Christian teachings, so as to add vigor to the nascent Church (AG
21).
When a non-believer begins
to open his heart to receive the message of God, he must establish a personal
relationship with Him in Christ. It is of paramount importance that religious
freedom is in place for people to accept faith. The Church strictly forbids
forcing anyone to embrace the faith, or alluring or enticing people by
worrisome wiles. By the same token, she also strongly insists on this right,
that no one be frightened away from the faith by unjust vexations on the part
of others (AG 13). In Hong Kong, although citizens enjoy full religious freedom
in worship, this does not necessarily imply that they are totally immune with
issues on religious freedom. Accepting faith requires the progressive change of
a man’s conscience and values into Christ’s. The convert’s motives of becoming
a Christian can sometimes be a challenge in conveying and accepting faith. In
Hong Kong, for example, some catechumens join catechism classes because they
want their children to be baptized in order to get a better chance to be
admitted to good Catholic schools under the local education system. In accord
with the Church's ancient custom, this motive should be purified (AG 13). Catechists
would therefore have the responsibility to teach catechumens, regardless of
their original motives, on the Church doctrines and beliefs, and most importantly,
enabling them to live a Christian life and become true disciples of Christ
their Teacher. Much similar to the Samaritans who believed in Jesus when they told
the Samaritan woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
for we have heard for ourselves that this is truly the Savior of the world”
(John 4:42), the converts’ motives should be purified so that on the day they (and
their children) receive the sacraments of Christian initiation, they can profess
that Jesus is their Savior and appreciate that the gift of becoming God’s
children and a member of the Body of Christ is much more valuable than sending
their children to a famous Catholic school. They should also come to realize
that one of the primary purposes of studying in a Catholic school is to allow
their children to receive eternal Christian values but not only temporal material
gains. In this way, they can continue to develop their own and their children’s
Christian life after Baptism and contribute voluntarily to missionary work in
the spread of the Gospel and in the building up of the Church (AG 14).
The ecumenical spirit should
be nurtured in the neophytes, who should take into account that the brethren
who believe in Christ are Christ's disciples, reborn in Baptism, sharers with
the People of God in very many good things. As already mentioned above, Catholics
should cooperate in a brotherly spirit with our separated brethren, making
before other people a common profession of faith in God and in Jesus Christ,
and cooperating in social and in technical projects as well as in cultural and
religious ones, so that our lives together may become a more convincing witness
for Christ among the non-believers (AG 15). After the neophytes have gathered
into the People of God, it is important for all Christians to understand that
we belong in one Community which is “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, God’s own people” (1 Peter 2:9). In order to plant the Church and to
make the Christian community grow, the ministry of priests should be duly fostered.
In priestly training, students should be educated in the ecumenical spirit, and
prepared for fraternal dialogue with other Christians and non-Christians. They
should also learn to mediate between the traditions and religion of their
homeland on the one hand and the Christian religion on the other. Paul said, “I
have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some” (1
Cor 9:22). For this purpose, priests should learn the history, aim, and method
of the Church's missionary activity, and the special social, economic, and
cultural conditions of their own people, so that they can better engage in
ecumenical dialogues and collaborative projects with other Christians and
non-Christians (AG 16).
Again, the social media can
play an important role in priestly work. For example, priests and students receiving
priestly training can make effective use the Facebook
to feature topics on papal and diocesan news, collaborative projects with other
Christian communities, daily Biblical reflections, Saints of the day,
catechisms as well as social subjects of local concern. Being pastors and
teachers of faith, their social media posts should reveal the necessary virtues
of priests: goodness of heart, sincerity, strength and constancy of mind,
zealous pursuit of justice, affability, etc. (Presbyterorum Ordinis 3). In this
way, lay Catholics who are Facebook friends of the priest can help to
disseminate Christ message to their personal circle of friends by sharing on social
media. Furthermore, sharing knowledge on religious subjects using the social
media is not a monopoly of priests. Likewise, permanent deacons, the religious,
catechists, professors in seminaries and universities, and theology students
can make use of the social media to engage in ecumenical dialogues and in
spreading Christian faith. As a theology student, I maintain a blog
(vwklam.blogspot.hk) to share my doctrinal learnings and spiritual experiences
with others through the blog and Facebook.
Besides the missionary activities in the
particular Churches, heavy emphasis has been placed on planning missionary
activity at the universal Church level because it is the greatest and holiest
task of the Church. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is set
up to direct and coordinate, throughout the world, both missionary work itself
and missionary cooperation. In coordination with the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, it aims at bringing about and directing fraternal
cooperation as well as harmonious living with missionary undertaking of other
Christian communities (AG 29). Through the dialogues between the competent
experts from different Churches and Communities, everyone gains a truer
knowledge and fairer appreciation of the teaching and religious life of the
Churches and Communities (UR 4). When comparing doctrines with one another,
Catholic theologians should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a
"hierarchy" of truths, since they vary in their relation to the
fundamental Christian faith. Thus the way will be opened by which through
fraternal rivalry all will be stirred to a deeper understanding and a clearer
presentation of the unfathomable riches of Christ (UR 11). Let’s continue to
pray and strive at all levels of the Church in gradually overcoming the
obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion, so that all Christians will at
last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and
only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the
beginning (UR 4). Together we will strengthen our missionary efforts in
spreading the Gospel and building the Kingdom of God on earth.
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