Articles on Mission

This presentation was given at a workshop for recently incorporated members July 11, 2005 in Rome. Among the three pillars of a Society of Apostolic Life (Mission, Community and Spirituality) Mission has a priority. It is mission that calls us together and sends us out for the sake of the Church and the world.

This article was a presentation given at the USCMA Annual Mission Conference, University of Notre Dame, October 1, 2006. This article seeks to explore the many sides of the question about the term or lenght of time that a person is sent on mission, particularly the theological and missiological implications of different lengths of service in mission.

This article is taken from a presentation from a symposium given at the Pontificia Universita Urbaniana January 19, 2001 entitled "A dieci anni dalla Redemptoris Missio".  This article reflects upon missiological thought since the publication of Redemptoris Missio certainly the most important encyclical letter on Mission in the 20th centruy.

This article is taken from a presentation given at the International Seminar on Reconciliation August 21, 2006, Lima, Peru. In this article Fr. Schreiter focuses on a central element that is "both distinctive to the Christian tradition and at the same time one of the most difficult areas in which to work...that of forgiveness."

This is an article that appeared in the Wine Cellar, February, 1994, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 40-48

This article is taken from an address given by Fr. Robert Schreiter at the Second Precious Blood Congress, St. Louis, MO August, 1993.

This is an address given at an International Spirituality Workshop for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Rome, September, 1995.

This is an article published July 1, 1985 in the Cincinnati Province Newsletter. This article reflects upon how the spirituality of the Precious Blood can be a focus for mission within a parish community.

Message of Pope John Paul II to the members of the XV General Assembly.

In response to the keynote addresses at the 2010 Precious Blood Convocation in St. Louis, Missouri, six panelists offered their reflections looking through the lens of the spirituality of the Precious Blood.  The presentations highlighted five images from the spirituality of the Precious Blood: prophetic witness, evangelization, covenant, conversion journey and reconciliation.  

This article is the Keynote Address given by Fr. Charles E. Bouchard, O.P., at the 2010 Precious Blood Convocation on July 27, 2010.  The convocation was a gathering of approximately 300 members and lay associates of the Precious Blood Religious Congregations serving throughout North America.

This article is the Keynote Address given by Sr. Barbara E. Reid, O.P., at the 2010 Precious Blood Convocation on July 27, 2010.  The convocation was a gathering of approximately 300 members and lay associates of the Precious Blood Religious Congregations serving throughout North America.  The theme of the convocation was "Who will speak a word that will rouse them?  I can, I must, I will. Will you?" In her talk, Barbara Reid reflects upon the call to prophetic leadership in response to the needs of the church and the world today.

It might seem odd to some in this seminar on mission and globalization and what it means for missionary congregatins to begin talking about the "second" decade of globalizaton. I have deliberately chosen to do so for a number of reasons. The first is to remind us how long we have been grappling with this phenomenon.

The mystery of Christ's Blood is very rich in meaning and it is important to discover its contribution to each area of the Church's pastoral activity. This Seminar provides us with the opportunity to deepen the theme of the spirituality of the Precious Blood in the specific field of catholic education.

I would like to speak today from the personal blessing of having lived and served for many years within the African Church. In Africa I have recognized the holiness of the land and the presence of God in the people. There is great giftedness present in the many peoples and nations‐ a richness of faith and the blessings of a vast diversity of expressions of that faith which is a living hymn and a dance of praise to God. Africa is a sacred soil and our brothers and sisters of the African Church know well the love of our God.

Introduction

I am grateful for the invitation to participate in the USCMA’s annual conference, especially so because of the theme that has been chosen. The gathering of people at this conference provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the many sides of the question about the term of mission—not only in matters of effectiveness achieved by varying amounts of time in mission, but also what are the theological and missiological implications of different lengths of service in mission.

Introduction

With great joy we gather today to celebrate the presence of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in Vietnam. Here with us in spirit and prayer is the entire Congregation now exercing our ministry in twenty countries around the globe. As Moderator General responsible for the international community, I convey to you the love and support of all our Missionaries. Present in a special way are the members of the Kansas City Province through the presence of its Provincial, Fr. James Urbanic.

SEDOS Seminar

Ariccia, 14-18 May 2002

Trying to peer more than two decades into the future is a very risky undertaking. If we were to place ourselves backward for the same length of time, would we have predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of globalization? The best which we can do in all of this is make some extrapolations from the present. In the previous presentation I tried to do some of that by looking at how the lens through which the leaders of our institutes in 2025 is being formed.

Introduction

This first of two presentations will look at the results of the 2001 Seminar, where participants reflected together on the past, present, and future of the missionary Church. Such periods of reflection are good, first of all, for gathering what is emerging as common wisdom about the past. It helps build a kind of resource of what has been done well, and what perhaps should not be repeated.

Introduction

It is not given to us to be able to peer deeply into the future. As a result, we have only a dim perception of the what the consequences of events and documents will be. We may set our sights on the future with a particular agenda, but things actually unfold in a complex interaction between various factors, some of which are familiar, while others are surprising and beyond our control.

The forward thrust of this assignment is the infinitely powerful cause and prompt effect of a sincere devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. I hope to accomplish this by employing the simple method of the greatest storyteller of all time, namely, Jesus, the simple carpenter from Nazareth.

Because I was woefully lacking in points, the army offered to send me to the states immediately after V.J. Day for 45 days, provided that I would agree to return to Japan for further occupational duty. I agreed in writing to this arrangement.

Blood of Christ, Courage of Martyrs, Save Us

On November 1, the feast of All Saints, we heard John's familiar vision from the book of Revelation. "Who do you think these are, all dressed in white? And where have they come from?" Our answer that day included these names: Sr. Barbara Ann Muttra, Sr. Mary Joel Kolmer, Sr. Shirley Kolmer, Sr. Kathleen McGuire, Sr. Agnes Mueller.

We are called to be faithful to our charism and to the spirit of our founders, while responding to the signs and needs of the times in which we live. Put another way, we are called to BE where GOD wants us to be. Our challenge is to follow Jesus and to be obedient to his call in changing historical and cultural contexts. As people who bear the name of the Precious Blood we are being called by the Blood of Jesus. Can we let ourselves be led by the poor, by the hungry and the outcasts of society? We are called to make visible God's presence among them.

Enduring the catechumenate process in jail is a real lesson in what "spirituality" means. Often that word misleads us. Jesus guides us into a spirituality that does not take us away to ethereal mysteries in some outer space. It is not concerned primarily with sacred rites held in sacred times and places. Nor does it evolve around special prayers and formulas.

The history and the reality of the indigenous people who inhabit the Guatemalan State is a history of suffering, of pain, and of death. It is a history marked by agonic signs of life. They are signs which can be revitalized or extinguished. The reflections which Fr. Robert Schreiter presented in his book In Water and in Blood gives us a blueprint and necessary orientations for responding with a spirituality of solidarity in a world torn apart by conflict, divisions, and violence.

I want to share with you the ways in which St. Mary's Parish works in the context of a Precious Blood ecclesiology. It begins with the vision of lay leadership. Several phrases of the pastoral council vision statement always stand out to me as examples of a Precious Blood spirit of thinking: "becoming a community of service," "developing each person's ministry," "in our eucharistic gatherings," "bringing us deeper union," "providing comfort in sorrow," and "confirming our hope."

My topic is rather an unwieldy one for a short presentation. How does one present a picture of the CPPS today in a relatively brief presentation?

A spirituality of the Precious Blood is able to interpret and give direction to individual lives. It seems as if our call as members of the Society of the Precious Blood is to aid people in our ministry to come to the awareness that in the light of the Precious Blood, the price of our redemption, we can find meaning, purpose and direction in our lives.

When we reflect on arriving at a proper perspective of what community life means for us, it is important to clarify the nature of our community life together. Community life will mean one thing for the trappists or for cloistered religious, while it will mean something quite different for our congregations engaged in the active apostolate. We need to recognize the apostolic nature of our community.

When we reflect on how to live out our charism in the future, we must begin with the world in which we live and then see how our charism speaks to that world, rather than the other way around. Thus, we do not seek to fit the world into Precious Blood spirituality, but rather we ask what faithful and prophetic word a Precious Blood spirituality can speak to the world as we understand it. This, it seems to me, has to be an ongoing task of our discernment. It will mean that how our charism is enacted will differ from time to time and place to place.