In Rome, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, secretary of the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, lamented that Catholics from former mission lands are labeled as “conservative” for remaining faithful to the teachings received from Western missionaries, while from the West itself they are urged to adopt “new and untested values.”
The Nigerian prelate issued this warning before bishops ordained during the past year who are participating in Rome in the formation courses organized by the Dicasteries for Evangelization and for Bishops. During the day, held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Nwachukwu presented the project called “Church of the Sheaves,” with which the Dicastery for Evangelization seeks to describe the new stage of Churches that received the Gospel from missionaries and are now called to contribute to the evangelization of the universal Church.
Nwachukwu explained that the clergy and religious of these territories have progressively assumed “from the hands of Western missionaries the responsibility of evangelization” and that they are now beginning to contribute their own fruits to the universal Church as well.
To explain this transformation, he turned to the final verse of Psalm 126: those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, return with joy, bearing their sheaves.
In the men who went out to sow, the archbishop identified the missionaries who left their countries, families, and surroundings to bring the Gospel to unknown lands. Many, he recalled, departed knowing they would probably never return, and some died only months after arriving at their destination.
“They sacrificed everything, including their lives,” Nwachukwu noted. Those missionaries, he added, carried with them “the seeds of the Gospel,” and their sacrifice produced fruits that are now ripe.
The image of the sheaves thus serves to represent the Churches born of that evangelization. “We are now in the time of the harvest,” the archbishop explained, noting that it falls to the Dicastery to continue watering what the missionaries planted and to help bring those fruits to the universal Church.
“Many in the West want them to abandon the teachings they received”
Nwachukwu, who described himself as “part of the sheaves,” then offered words of gratitude to the Churches that sent those missionaries, whom he called “heroes of our faith.”
The archbishop recalled that they sacrificed the best years of their youth and even their lives to transmit values that, he noted, were also foundational to present-day Europe.
From that recognition, he raised a critique of certain tensions currently arising between the Churches of former mission territories and Western sectors.
“Unfortunately, at times, when some people from our local Churches insist today on remaining faithful to those teachings of the missionaries, they are labeled as conservative,” he stated.
Nwachukwu added that “many in the West want them to abandon the teachings received from Western missionaries in order to embrace new and untested values,” promoted, he maintained, by people who cannot be compared with those missionaries “in conviction and fraternal solidarity.”
“We cannot abandon our heritage or neglect the past, because the future has its roots there,” he concluded on this matter.
The secretary of the Dicastery therefore urged the Western Churches to honor the memory of those who brought the Gospel to these lands by also welcoming the fruits born of their sacrifices….
From Infovaticana
What’s the incentive to be a missionary now? We’re told that everyone goes to heaven except Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and Trump.
Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, thank you for reminding the West of their roots in mission. As a Catholic in America I take it upon myself to discover the missionary roots of the Western Church. In doing so, I rediscovered America as first sacred mission territory, saintly priests, and holy laity of a merciful church full of grace. I believe priests have the hardest job on the planet and die every day to heresy, mostly from Catholics who do not form themselves in a holy spiritual life or care to remember who Jesus is and who created them. God Bless You.
God bless and keep you safe, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, as so many in the West apostatize, you truly are one of the sheaves as the seed fell on fertile ground and took root in so many places in Africa, even before European missionaries. There were immense sacrifices made by a lot of different people, even some Protestants. Let’s us not forget the Good Samaritans. Please pray for all our full conversions.