LONDON, OCT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- World Mission Sunday is not just about economic aid to impoverished countries, said an African cardinal who believes that Africa has a duty to support the Church in Europe.
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, is visiting England this week to strengthen links between the two countries and highlight the importance of World Mission Sunday, scheduled to be observed Oct. 21.
Cardinal Turkson told ZENIT: "My first concern is to explain the vision of the mission in the Church -- this objective is not simply to be equated with development and economic aid in the south.
"The point of mission is the promotion of the Gospel and faith in Jesus. This will take many forms in different countries."
For example, the cardinal continued, "proclaiming the Gospel may require some structural support, as in India, Latin America, and Africa."
"Also, there are places where proclaiming the Gospel will take the form of the simple presence of witnesses, as in northern Africa and the Middle East; for instance, something as simple as carrying a Bible. In this case, the testimony is in the form of the witnesses' lives and what they do," he added.
Cardinal Turkson continued: "In China, and places like this, people may have an opportunity to say something, but it is limited, so new ways must be discovered.
"Mission is ways of doing all of these. The same thing applies here in the West. Here also we can do mission, though not in the same form as elsewhere. Here in the United Kingdom there are actually too many churches. So different forms must be used to present a new proclamation of what the Gospel message is."
Sharing in need
Cardinal Turkson said he believes Africa has a duty to support the Church in Europe.
The 59-year-old cardinal explained that just as Europe was generous in its missionary outreach to Africa, so now the Church in Africa must be equally forthcoming in sharing in the worldwide mission of the Church.
While Ghana has one priest for every 2,400 Catholics, Cardinal Turkson highlighted that "we are not talking about sharing personnel, since we don't have a surplus, but a recognition that we are a world Church -- a Church together. As much at possible we must respond to people's needs because we see what our brother needs. If this is what is needed in Europe, this is something we can share."
Cardinal Turkson places heavy weight upon formation to bring future priests to a more mature faith that they can bring to their parishioners.
"So very crucial, which may have been a problem of Europe, is this type of evangelization," the cardinal explained.
In Africa, he continued, "we have been the product of missionary evangelization. They did their best in putting together the essentials of the faith that they tried to share with the people."
"But people where admitted to the Church because they were taught notions they considered indicative of what the Catholic faith was about and merely recited what they had to," he emphasized.
"If a priest has to preach about conversion, he cannot do it if he himself has not experienced it, if it is missing in his life," explained the African cardinal.
He continued, "The people then leave the Church and enter other groups, like the evangelicals, because they did not have a deepening of their faith. The people learned a few notions and concepts, but not about the offer of God's love, and the richness of what the Church has to offer."
"What is needed is the experience of God's love for us in Christ Jesus, not just to be talked about but lived and experienced. When this is the case, something is lasting in the experience of the person," Cardinal Turkson added. "We need to discover new pathways of inviting people -- not simply philosophizing -- to enter into a relationship with God."
ZE07101607 - 2007-10-16