Pope Benedict XVI has
given his approval to the Goa-based Society of Missionaries of St
Francis Xavier, Pilar (Society of Pilar) as a Society of Apostolic Life
for mission Ad Gentes of pontifical right.
To mark the event, His
Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay will preside over
the solemn Eucharistic celebration at 4 pm, on 4 December, in the Pilar
Seminary Chapel, in Goa.
Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, Card
Telesphore Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, Archbishop-Patriarch Filipe Neri
Ferrao and Archbishop Emeritus Raul Gonsalves, of the Archdiocese of
Goa and Daman will concelebrate the Mass.
The official decree of approval for the Society of
Pilar as a Society of Apostolic Life for mission Ad Gentes of pontifical
right will be read during the celebration.
Canon 593 of the Code of Canon Law explains the
meaning of pontifical right. It says, ““institutes of pontifical right
are immediately and exclusively subject to the power of the Apostolic
See with regard to internal governance and discipline”.
Fr Theodore Mascarenhas, a Pilar Father in charge of
the Departments of Asia, Africa and Oceania at the Vatican’s Pontifical
Council for Culture, in an exclusive interview to AsiaNews stated that “the Society now has to gear up to its new role and new status.”
“The missionary charisma is to be further strengthened
and new ways should be found to exercise it. The constitutions have to
be amended to incorporate the changes ordered by the Congregation for
the Evangelization for Peoples.”
“These changes will affect governance and reflect the
new powers, rights and responsibilities of the major superiors in the
society and about the relationship of the Society to the Holy See and to
other bishops,” Fr Mascarenhas said.
“Cardinal Ivan Dias, when I met him shortly after the
approval, described this moment beautifully.” He said, “You are now a
grown up daughter, a spouse that I have given in marriage to the
Universal Church”.
Fr Mascarenhas told AsiaNews that the “Society
was born in the Archdiocese of Goa in 1887, founded by a priest of the
Archdiocese, hence [granting] this pontifical right to our Society is a
tribute to the people of Goa and the Archdiocese”.
“The people of Goa have always felt the society to be
their own. They have supported it with financial means but above all by
encouraging their sons to join the Society. We hope that with the
additional responsibility of the Society, with its new status, many more
gifted sons of Goa will enter its ranks to go far to proclaim the
Gospel. The society ventured into difficult areas, far-flung
god-forsaken islands in the jungles of Nagar Haveli, in the hinterlands
of Sanguem, in the heat and cold of Punjab-Haryana.”
As for new vocations, Fr Mascarenhas said, “Through
the Society of Pilar, the sons of Goa, following in the footsteps of the
great Apostle of Sri Lanka, the Blessed Joseph Vaz, have been carrying
out the mission of evangelization. Thus every vocation from Goa to the
Society is a tribute to the missionary spirit of the Goan people”.
Raising the Society to the status of pontifical right
can help it in its mission, he said, because it “increases the
responsibility of the Society and its members towards its Charism. The
particular spirituality of the Society of the Missionaries of St.
Francis Xavier follows from its purpose of making Jesus Christ present
among those who do not yet know Him and among Christians who have become
indifferent to Him”.
“Pilar missionaries are called to blend with the
culture of the milieu on the model of their Lord and Master, Jesus
Christ. To preach the Gospel more effectively, Pilar missionaries are to
fully integrate themselves in the culture of the place and live in
communion with the people to whom they are sent and be part of their
social and cultural world. This calls for detachment from many features
of one's own culture.”
“The Gospel way of life is to inspire our
missionaries” so that they can “make innovative cultural proposals
while, at the same time, remain cautious about the risks of syncretism
and relativism.”
“It is most significant to note the concluding words
of the Decree,” which read, “May the Society of the Missionaries of St.
Francis Xavier (Society of Pilar) be always guided by the same
missionary zeal that took St. Francis Xavier to distant lands, moved
solely by the love to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . .”
SIC: AN/INT'L
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