PONTIFICIUM OPUS A SANCTA INFANTIA

Life of Missionary Childhood   

MAI 2001
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE 
PONTIFICAL SOCIETY OF THE MISSIONARY CHILDHOOD 
TO THE PMS SUPERIOR COUNCIL

         The Jubilee Year is over and we stand at the turn of the millennium. Having gazed anew on the face of Christ, what must the Church now do? That is the theme of the Pope's Apostolic Letter "NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE" (at the start of the new millennium) signed in St.Peter's Square on the 6th of January.

         The Pope ends the letter with a rallying cry to the Church to "go forward in hope". The New Millennium, he says, "is opening before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall venture, relying on the help of Christ".

It is in this context that we place our work on behalf of Missionary Childhood. Our coming together at this meeting of the Superior Council gives us the opportunity to share ideas, dreams and problems. Where children are concerned there are many problems. For instance, according to United Nations Officials, if the AIDS epidemic in South Africa continues to spread at its current pace, nearly half of the country's 15-year-olds will die of AIDS-related illnesses in the coming years.

        A Bishop from South Africa wrote to me saying "that in the coming 20-25 years one of the most pressing issues to address will be the babies and children who are orphaned as a result of a parent, or both parents, dying of AIDS. The Government of South Africa has conservatively estimated that by the year 2004 there will be more than one million AIDS orphans in the country, and this will create a massive problem":

        It is estimated that 19,000 children die every day world-wide because of the dept burden on the world's poorest countries. Mahatma Gandhi said: "There are enough resources in the world to satisfy all men's needs, but there are not enough resources in the world to satisfy all men's greed". In his New Year address, Dr. George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, made a heartfelt plea for the environment, involving his three-month old grandson Linus. He pointed out that 20% of people in the world consume 80% of its resources. As a child born in a wealthy country Linus was likely to consume, waste and pollute more in his lifetime than 50 children born in developing nations.

        We thank God for being able to celebrate the WORLD MISSIONARY CONGRESS last October in Castel Gandolfo and for the Mass celebrated with John Paul II on Mission Sunday. On the Monday following Mission Sunday the staff of Missionary Childhood met with Msgr. Schleck and several delegates from the National Directors, representing the different geographical areas, as we had US$ 1,357,020 to distribute.

        My report from this October Meeting was sent to all the National Directors. Those Directors whose countries received subsidies also received a list of those subsidies.

I visited Nigeria from November 9th to November 21st. In the Archdiocese of Onitsha we celebrated SOMA I (School of Missionary Animators) with 50 participants from Onitsha and neighbouring dioceses, from November 14th - 20th. On the other days I was able to visit schools and orphanages that are being helped by Missionary Childhood.

         I visited Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ecuador from January 22nd to February 3rd. The Third LATIN AMERICAN CONGRESS OF MISSIONARY CHILDHOOD ANIMATORS - ELIM, was held in Ecuador in July of 1998 with 324 delegates. The Fourth Congress will be celebrated in San Josι, Costa Rica, in July of 2002 but will be called ECIAM I (Encuentro Continental de la Infancia y Adolescencia Misionera - Continental Meeting of Missionary Childhood and Adolescence), because now we include Canada, the United States and English speaking Caribbean. Guatemala will host CAM 2 (Congreso Americano Misionero - AMERICAN MISSIONARY CONGRESS) in November of 2003. This Congress brings together 3,000 delegates and, as happened for the first time in Argentina at CAM I, we will have 300 children as delegates from the Americas at CAM 2. 

         Their presence, as members of Missionary Childhood, made a big impact on the adults present at CAM I. For instance, at one session of the Congress, two children of the Missionary Childhood were invited to share their testimony with the adult delegates. One, an eleven year old girl, Marμa, from Argentina spoke of the formation she had received in the Missionary Childhood. She had suffered for some years from a tumour on her leg, had it removed but it grew again and obviously, caused her quite a bit of discomfort and pain. Yet, she offered this suffering for all missionaries and for all those children who did not know Christ. The second child to speak was nine year old Antonio from Cuba. He had joined a group of the Missionary Childhood when he was five years old and through the group learnt about "Jesus, Mary and all those things". His birthday was the first of October, the feast of St. Therese and it gave him great joy to share this feast with her. He often did not eat cake, gave up other sweet things or things he enjoyed doing "so that all the children of the world would one day know and love Christ". As Antonio said this last sentence he grew emotional and began to cry - he was so fervent. The testimony of these two children was extremely moving and probably spoke more effectively and deeply to the adult delegates (including myself) than did many of the many theological and well prepared expositions we had heard during the whole Congress.

So during my visit in Central America I had meetings with the different commissions who are preparing the working documents and the logistics of the two Congresses. I was also able to visit schools and parishes where the Missionary Childhood is active and in Guatemala City we celebrated a SYMPOSIUM ON THE 10 YEARS OF "REDEMPTORIS MISSIO".

         I returned to Nigeria on February 8th to conduct two more SOMAs, one in Ibadan and one in Abuja, involving another 80 or so animators, finding time also to visit schools, parishes and orphanages.

        As I write this report we are planning to inaugurate our WEB-SITE as a part of the official Vatican site. This will make the Missionary Childhood Association better known and should bring many advantages.

ECONOMIC REPORT

OFFERINGS RECEIVED IN 2001

As of May 3rd 2001, the P.M.S. National Directions placed at the disposal of the Universal Solidarity Fund of Missionary Childhood offerings in the amount of US$ 13.610.692,62 The total offerings received are distributed by continent as follows:

Offerings from Africa  …………………….                                  US$           169.223,63

Offerings from North America (USA, English-speaking Canada)   US$         2.551.932,00

Offerings from Latin America and  the Caribbean  …                US$           517.142,88

Offerings from Asia  ……………………....                                  US$           757.334,37

Offerings from Europe  …………………...                                  US$         9.009.612,48

Offerings from Oceania  …………………..                                  US$            604.807,55

Total Offerings from the  NATIONALS DIRECTIONS             US$           13.610.692,62

Balance of the  MISSIONARY CHILDHOOD
SOLIDARITY FUND………..                                                    US$                500.000,00

Offerings from the 3Kings - Aachen                                              US$                478.000,00

TotaL AMOUNT AT THE 
DISPOSAL OF THE MC SOLIDARITY FUND                      US$        14.588.692,62

We thank the Song of the THREE KINGS Action for the financing it offers us for a few May 2001 projects.

                                                                                                Fr. Patricio Byrne S.V.D.