The ad gentes Mission
in an Institute of Brothers

By way of introduction, I would like to speak to you about what has been taking place in my Institute of the Brothers of St. Gabriel, and about some projects that are now on course. Assuredly, we are proud of our highly valued vocation as Brothers and of our charism which is Montfortian, and we cannot keep this certitude to ourselves alone. There is an inner compulsion that urges us to extend our spirituality and our service to other cultures and to other nations. This, in fact, is part and parcel of the missionary character of our Institute.

"The love of Christ impels us" (2 Cor 5:14). The members of every Institute should be able to repeat this truth with Saint Paul, because the task of the consecrated life is to work in every part of the world in order to consolidate and to expand the Kingdom of Christ, bringing the proclamation of the Gospel even to the most far-off regions (...). This duty continues to impose itself with urgency to Institutes of consecrated life (...).

Those Institutes which are being established and are at work in the younger Churches are invited to open themselves to the mission among non-Christians, inside and outside their own countries of origin. Despite the understandable difficulties which some of them meet, it is good to remind everyone that just as "Faith is strengthened when it is given to others", so the mission strengthens the consecrated life, gives it new enthusiasm and new motivation (Vita Consecrata, 78).

Originating in France at the start of the XVIIIth century, our Congregation has spread to all the continents only during the course of the past 110 years. In the XIXth century, between 1835 and 1895, we had about forty requests coming from bishops around the world for opening schools, orphanages and schools for the deaf and the blind. However we had to stay anchored in France because of the policy of the superiors of that time and of the bishops on whom we were dependent as a diocesan congregation. Only in 1888 we could go to Canada, and in 1890 to Egypt.

The Institute took a big leap forward in terms of expansion, at the start of the XXth century, partly due to great trials at home. In 1903 it was dissolved in France, with 42% of the Brothers (422 out of 1062) forced to be dispensed from their vows. But in less than five years, it spread to 13 new countries: European (Belgium, Italy, Spain... ), Asian (Thailand, India) and African (Gabon, Madagascar... ). The international face of the Institute today is largely thanks to what happened in France at the beginning of this century. The Institute of tomorrow will depend on the decisions on expansion we take today. From 1905 to 1948, the Brothers would get established only in three new countries.

The ad gentes mission acquired added strength after the Second World War, due to two reasons: the increase in the number of Brothers which reached its peak in 1966 (1800 Brothers) and the consistent appeal of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) in favor of missions. He wrote four Encyclicals on this theme (1939, 1940, 1951 & 1957). The last, Fidei Donum, was meant for the priests whom the European dioceses would lend a few years for the missions. In response to these appeals, Brothers would leave for Africa (Senegal, Congo, Central Africa, Cameroon, Rwanda), South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru), Asia (Sri Lanka, Iraq). 10 Brothers would join these missions between 1949 and 1965.

The originality of the latest implantations in new countries (9 since 1968) was that, except for one, all the rest were non-European initiatives undertaken by the Provinces of Asia and Africa. These latter, in their turn, have become missionaries ad gentes.

In order to develop this missionary spirit, we organized a meeting of all the Provincials of Asia (6) and their Councilors in Bangalore (India), in June 1997. They agreed that the time was quite propitious for reinforcing our Montfortian presence in Asia and Oceania. After all, are not the Brothers in this sector over 500 strong, with an average age of just 43 years? They viewed this possible expansion also as a way of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the canonization of Montfort, a "missionary of extraordinary range" (John-Paul II). A meeting of all the Provincials in October 1997 was in full accord that these projects of Asian origin should eventually become projects of the whole Institute, and that the enthusiasm of our Brothers of Asia should be shared by all the Brothers of all the Provinces.

Now, let me place before you some characteristics of these proposed implantations:

These are inter-provincial projects: that is, many Provinces are involved under the supervision of the Central Administration. This is something new: earlier, the missionary initiatives and structures came from the Provinces alone. We do not envisage large number of Brothers being sent: rather, we are hoping for local vocations and the Institute will get established through a process of incarnation of the Montfortian charism. We have several projects on hand and we have no intention of fixing any priorities right from the start. We have the right to make mistakes: we will do everything in our power to succeed; the Lord will do the rest. "If the Lord does not build the house, the builders are working in vain" (Ps 126). Finally, we look forward to a Montfortian Family collaboration.

Since 1997, we have explored six new countries in view of an eventual implantation. We hope to begin our presence in two of them from this year. Today, more than half our members are Asian or African. After 30 years of ageing and numerical decrease, there is now a certain stability and even a push forward: the number of novices and temporarily professed members is clearly on the increase.

In short, we have established ourselves in 38 countries: 13 of these between 1900 and 1904, and 20 after 1948. Today, more than 160 professed Brothers out of a total of 1150, that is nearly 15%, exercise their mission outside the countries of their birth, and this is so more and more with our African and Asian Brothers. It should be also noted that there are Indian Brothers who work 3000 km away from their home states, and with people who have an entirely different language and culture.

Finally, it should also be noted that the Brothers' Institutes have lay associates who work as missionaries ad gentes through our networks of co-operation and solidarity. But I would leave it to those among us who have a better experience in this field to share their views on this new phenomenon.