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A-2 | Introduction
position in light of faith convictions about our life in
communion in the Church.
The Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of St.
Paul show two simultaneous movements within the
life of the Church at her very beginning: (1) mis-
sionary activity that spreads the Gospel and con-
nects communities of faith and (2) the cultivation of
stable and settled communities of faith. Missionary
activity brings Word and Sacrament to different
communities in the Mediterranean world. As Paul
and other apostles establish churches, for example,
in Corinth or Philippi or Thessalonica, they also
make provision for the stability of those commu-
nities by appointing local leadership. Even more,
the Letters of Paul maintain a connection with the
communities and encourage faithful adherence to
their new life in Jesus Christ. Significantly, concern
for established communities does not signal a halt
to missionary activity, which continues. In our own
time and circumstance, the ancient and perennial
pattern that combines missionary activity and the
supportive care of stable communities continues.
The exchange of international pastoral ministers is a
manifestation of this pattern, which embodies both
mission and ongoing support.
The universal Church understands and quali-
fies, for example, the sending of clergy from mission
territories, so that these young Churches would not
be deprived of their necessary care.
4
At the same
time, the universal Church recognizes that pastoral
ministers sent from the younger Churches, where
priestly and religious vocations are more abun-
dant, can provide invaluable support in tradition-
ally Christian countries for efforts directed to the
New Evangelization.
5
Both our history and a deep sense of our iden-
tity as Catholics lead us to embrace the exchange
of international pastoral ministers as a gift and a
necessity. The reciprocal giving and receiving of gifts
expresses the reality of our communion and our soli-
darity with one another in Jesus Christ by the power
of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the exchange of
pastoral ministers manifests a great sign of our cath-
olicity and the gospel-inspired hospitality that flows
from catholicity. This vision of the Catholic Church
assumes a central position in St. John Paul II’s expo-
sition of the missionary activity of the Church:
4 See the document from the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples,
Instruction on the Sending Abroad and Sojourn of Diocesan
Priests from Mission Territories
, 2001.
5 See Pope Benedict XVI’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation,
Africae Munus
, no. 167.
Cooperating in missionary activity means
not just giving but also receiving. All the
particular Churches, both young and old,
are called to give and to receive in the
context of the universal mission, and none
should be closed to the needs of others. The
Council states: ‘By virtue of…catholicity,
the individual parts bring their own gifts to
the other parts and to the whole Church, in
such a way that the whole and individual
parts grow greater through the mutual
communication of all and their united
efforts toward fullness in unity . . . Between
the different parts of the Church there are
bonds of intimate communion with regard
to spiritual riches, apostolic workers and
temporal assistance.’ [
Lumen Gentium
,
no. 13] I exhort all the Churches, and the
bishops, priests, religious and members of the
laity, to
be open to the Church’s universality
,
and to avoid every form of provincialism or
exclusiveness, or feelings of self-sufficiency.
6
The exchange of gifts, including ministerial gifts,
assumes an even more specific expression of solidar-
ity and communion in the context of the Church
in the American hemisphere. In the Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation
Ecclesia in America
, St. John
Paul II writes: “I asked that the Special Assembly of
the Synod of Bishops reflect on America as a single
entity, by reason of all that is common to the peoples
of the continent, including their shared Christian
identity and their genuine attempt to strengthen
the bonds of solidarity and communion between the
different forms of the continent’s rich cultural heri-
tage.”
7
Later, he elaborates this direction and indi-
cates connections between our life in the Church
and our sharing in Trinitarian life:
The awareness of communion with Christ
and with our brothers and sisters, for its part
the fruit of conversion, leads to the service of
our neighbors in all their needs, material and
spiritual, since the face of Christ shines forth
in every human being. “Solidarity is thus the
fruit of the communion which is grounded
in the mystery of the triune God, and in the
Son of God who took flesh and died for all.
It is expressed in Christian love which seeks
the good of others, especially of those most
6
Redemptoris Missio
, no. 85.
7
Ecclesia in America
, no. 5.