Matthew 28:19
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Most Catholics do not see, understand, or realize the movement against missionaries in the world. But, it did not start with the seculars, but within the Church herself.
In the mid-sixties, more and more missionary orders were accepting vocations. Groups like the Maryknolls, Marianists, Marists, Lazarists, Redemptorists, Paulists, as well as Jesuits, Franciscans and Benedictines fell from great heights in numbers to practically zero vocations.
Some of the missionary orders are dying off fast, becoming extinct. Many did it to themselves for two reasons. The first is relativism, which states that all religions are equally valid, and the second is the Marxist-based, condemned Liberation Theology.
Priests and nuns who succumbed to such heresies made their own orders die from the inside out.
I remember phoning Paulist Press years ago for some older encyclicals which this order use to publish. The woman told me they were no longer going to publish certain key encyclicals as they did not consider this part of their vision any longer.
Amazing.
But, it is clear that the desire to be obedient to Christ and make disciples in all nations, a command directly from the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, has vanished.
Now, newer orders cannot get permission to enter countries which need missionaries, including once Christian countries, such as England and Australia.
I know this from several person both within orders and some laity who want to support missionaries that visas are being rejected.
The devils have their day now regarding missionary activity. The problem is political correctness. One is not longer to convert people from other cultures, from paganism, from ignorance of God as most people, in and out of the Church, no longer believe that their is just one true religion.
Sorry, read this document....
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html
We Catholics either believe in missionary work or not. We either believe and obey Christ's command or not.
There is no middle ground.Without missionaries, many people will never hear the Gospel, never be taught the Truth of the teachings of the Catholic Church.
This is our fault, for compromising, for accepting relativism. All "religions" are not the same and there is only one real one.
