Frontiers, Dialogue, and Discernment in Asian Contexts

Phan, LST Symposium 2017, 1

FRONTIERS, DIALOGUE, AND DISCERNMENT IN ASIAN CONTEXTS

International Theological Symposium, Loyola School of Theology, 16-17 March 2017

Leong Hall Auditorium and Jaime Cardinal Sin Center, Ateneo de Manila University Campus

Part II. Places: Borders and Bridges

Theological Perspective: Dr. PETER PHAN

(Unofficial) Minutes

“Go to Strange Places, Cross Borders, Build Bridges: Contemporary Challenges to the Asian Catholic Church”

INTRODUCTION

Since I am teaching in Georgetown and because of my aura of holiness, I am accused of being a Jesuit. I am not, thanks to Divine Providence.
Three words of the title of our session structure my presentation: “Places,”“Borders,” and “Bridges.”
As a good theologian, I begin with a biblical text:

Jesus’ “Great Commission” to the disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Nations refer to those who are not Jews, who have not been incorporated in the covenant. The answer is not that clear. As Fr. Spadaro said, the Gospel doesn't provide the answers.

Three questions:

The essential task of the church is to “go” (“going” [poreuthentes]) to the “nations” (ta ethnē). Which are today the “nations” (not simply geographical and political) in Asia to which Asian churches must go? What kind of nations? Peoples? Cultures? Who are they?
In going to these strange “nations,” the church will inevitably encounter borders of every kind. Which borders? What should Asian churches do with them? What functions do borders play in our life?
The church is commanded to “make disciples,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” the nations. What does it mean today to "make disciples"? 7% are Catholics in 2000 years of missionary work? If I were Jesus I would fire all the bishops who are not doing their jobs. How can Asian churches fulfill this mission today by building bridges, especially between them and the “nations”?

THE STRANGE PLACES IN ASIA TO WHICH THE CHURCH MUST GO

Church as a movement, not an institution.

The mission of the Church is to "go". Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium: the temptation is to turn within. His dream is a church to go out. He prefers a church that is dirty and wounded.
Image of church as field hospital is best image of the church. When someone shows up you don't ask if they are baptized. The church should heal the person. He prefers pastors who smell like sleep. Pope Francis’s “Going-forth” ecclesiology.
Inward-looking church vs. church turned-toward-the-world (“kenotic” and “regnocentric” ecclesiology). Church must exist for something else, empty itself so it has room for the reign of God. The reign of God is much larger than the Church, it has no walls, no borders. It includes more than Roman Catholics, Christians, everybody. The son of God was made human so that every human can be made God.
The greatest virtue in this 'new church' is the virtue of mercy. Pope Francis knew the heart of being a church. Mercy doesn't mean everything goes. Mercy is for the sick, the weak, the vulnerable. Asian churches are called to practice the virtue of mercy.
Which are the places in Asia today where the Asian churches must practice “mercy” and not just a strict application of the law?

Christian missions did not start from the West.

(Rome and Western powers such as Spain and Portugal) to the East but from the East (Middle East) to everywhere. Missions started from the East, from the East to the East. The orientation of the first missionaries was to the East.
St. Thomas in India, missionaries of the Church of the East (“Nestorians”) under Alopen to China in 635. The “Nestorian Stele,” erected in 781, buried in 845, and discovered in 1625: communicated Christian faith in the language and tradition of the local people.
Another myth to be dispelled: not all missions were carried out by the apostles. There is more evidence that Thomas went to India than Peter went to Rome.
There was a “gossiping of the Gospel” by the ordinary people. There were no missionaries, no priests. It was the people who brought the gospel around. We must discover the role of the lay people in propagation of the faith. The apostolic tradition is very doctrinal, systematic.
Which are the places in Asia today where Asian churches can resume their earlier missions? How do Asian churches recover this missionary impulse or dynamic present from the very beginning? Missions by Asians to Asians.

Asian “nations” are not “barbarians” but possess ancient and extremely rich cultures and civilizations (for example, India and China).
Asian cultures are a thousand years older than European ones. Gospel is not brought to uncivilized and uneducated cultures.
We are indoctrinated that Theology is only Roman, as if Asian cultures have little to contribute to communicating the faith. Unless we take into account Asian cultures, we are not communicating, we are only broadcasting what we learned in Rome.
Which are the cultures in Asia with which Asian churches must enter into dialogue and learn from? Not only those of the elites but also those of the subalterns (for example, the Dalits, the Adivasis, the indigenous people).

The “nations” in Asia are not “pagans” or “heathens,” or superstitious and immoral people living under the reign of the Devil, bur are deeply religious, with their own ways (“religions”) to God/Heaven/Nirvana/full human flourishing.

They are deeply religious with their own ways of reaching God. They talk about fulfillment, transcendence. Every religion disciplines their believers in their ways. Ways of God has communicated his spirit to them way before Christians arrived. Their land is already the Holy Land. God is already there.
There is not a different, not a contrasting presence of God. Our task is not to displace presence of Spirit already there but to make God's presence more apparent.
How should Asian churches enter into a humble and sincere dialogue with these “ways of salvation”?

Which are other particularly urgent and strange places in Asia where the church should go? How can Asian churches implement Pope Francis’s teaching on migration, ecology, social justice, and the family?

There are difficult areas for us to enter:

Migration. Even within each country there are movements of peoples and they cause a tremendous pastoral challenge. Ex. There are more Catholic migrants in Japan than there are Japanese Catholics. When we think about Japanese Christianity we have a very pious image. What about the singing and dancing Filipinos who live in Japan?
Ecology. Act of God? God has nothing to do with it. It is we who create these ecological disasters.
Social Justice. Greater discrepancy between rich and poor.
Family.

BORDERS AND BORDER-CROSSING

Three functions of border (not only geographical!):

As markers for one’s individual and communal identity: useful insofar as identifying who we are. The Church also needs boundaries to distinguish us from other religions.
As barriers to fence out other people different from oneself, e.g. Us vs. Them. We do not allow people to come in. Ex. Donald Trump: build walls so people cannot come. Borders today are multiple. But these borders cannot close off anything entirely.
As frontiers from which to venture out into new horizons to expand one’s knowledge and one’s circle of relationships. Frontiers are horizons, they beckon us. Borders can be an opening to crossing over. The Church is called to be frontiers. We do need identity markers, to destroy walls, above all as frontiers to cross over.

Today, due in part to globalization and mass media, borders have become exceedingly porous and multiple, and yet in recent times borders have become more and more barriers and fences.
Asian churches and borders: In virtue of its “catholicity,” the church is called to open up borders as “frontiers.” Asian churches as agents of

Presence: To be with, to stay with, to listen. To live with, share their joy and sorrow, share the common life. This appeals to people more. Presence may be the only thing Christians can do in countries where other activities are not allowed.
Kenosis: Church is not there to build itself up. Those are the means, not the end. Churches, hospitals, schools, etc, these are means. The greatest sin for me is idolatry: when we make the means into the goal. We worry about survival and maintenance.
Reconciliation and harmony: There are so many conflicts, the Church is called to be an agent of reconciliation.
Holistic integration: Mission is not just for the soul; the person must be brought into wholeness.

Jesus as the border-crosser par excellence: (1) in the Incarnation, (2) in his ministry, and (3) in his death and resurrection.

CHRISTIAN MISSION AS BRIDGE-BUILDING

How has Jesus’ command to “baptize” and “teach” the “nations” been understood and carried out throughout the centuries?

Three models:

Missio ad gentes (Mission to the Gentiles)

Model which shows a giver and the receiver. Christians are the chosen ones and we go to a pagan land. We bring the truth to them. Language: "Teach, proclaim, evangelize." Purpose of mission to Gentiles: baptize as many as possible and build the Church. Notion of original sin provides incentive to baptize pagans and keep them inside the Church. In Vatican II we realize that people may be saved outside the Church (Lumen Gentium 16).

Who are the “gentes” of Asia? Double goal of mission to the “pagans”: conversion and church-planting. Dynamics of mission ad genres.

Missio inter gentes: Reciprocal mission among and in the midst of Christians, believers of other religions, and the “nones.”

1.We are doing mission not to/for/at them but among them. Christians act not as evangelizers, proclaimers, teachers, and converters but as guests (most often uninvited!) in a foreign land where the native people are hosts. As guests we bring gifts, a typical Asian custom. The guest is always at the mercy of the host, surviving because of their generosity.

2.After a while you get to know the host, then it is your turn to invite them to your home. But before you invite them as guests, clean your house. The Church cannot expect the guest to come in and be part of the house if inside there are so many rotten things. Reformation is not for the survival of the Church but for evangelization.

3.The Gospel reveals new questions that, in my experience, I have never imagined. I am not against conversion, but against talking down to them. We should witness, the gift is there. We cannot force down the throat of our hosts what we bring. It is exactly the same way God deals with us: we have the freedom to accept or reject him.

4.How should guest and host behave to each other?

Missio cum gentibus: Christians collaborate with people of other faiths and of no faith of course not to plant a church but to promote a world of justice, peace, and integrity of creation, which are the signs of the Reign of God.

They will not walk with you if your goal is to expand the Church. They will walk with you if we work with them to create a place of peace, justice, integrative creation, the Kingdom of God.

CONCLUSION

We are all terrified by these new challenges. We are used to missio ad gentes because we have been doing it for 20 centuries and the result is 7%.

Missio inter gentes and cum gentibus. The 2 other models are not worried with numbers.

We are sustained by the promise of Jesus. Foundation of the church’s hope in border-crossing and bridge-building in strange lands. Jesus’ faithful and efficacious promise: “I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

“I am with you” [egō meth umōn eimi]
“always” [pansas tas hēmeras]. Not just every day.
“to the very end of the age” [eōs tēs sunteleias tou aiōnos]. Brings the eschatological dimension. The basis of faith is the Kingdom of God.