THE CATHOLIC HOUR 7 7 2 3 ^ 

THE CHURCH AND THE MISSIONS 
BY 

VERY REV. GEORGE J. COLLINS, C. S. Sp. 
Provincial of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Washington, D. C. 

The seventh in a series of nine addresses on THE CHURCH IN ACTION delivered in the Catholic Hour, broadcast by the National Broadcasting Com'-pany, in cooperation ' with the National Council of Catholic Men, on October 17, 1943. 

National Council of Catholic Men 
Washington, D. C. 



THE CHURCH A! 
In these days probably more 

than at any other period of his-
tory there is a universal apprecia-
tion of the blessings of peace. For 
modern war, much more than its 
ancient counterpart, inflicts its 
hardships as much on those who 
cling to hearth and home, as on 
those who gird on their armor and 
march forth to battle. The storied 
glamor of war makes no appeal 
to those who must live amid the 
squalor and havoc it has created. 
Especially at this time of the year, 
when the shortening days portend 
the advent of greater horrors de-
scending from the midnight skies, 
the tortured heart of humanity 
in the war torn lands must cry out 
ever louder in its anguish: "How 
long, 0 Lord?" (Isaias 6:11). The 
starving peoples of Europe, living 
in the ruins of what once were 
the i r homes, and in the bleak fields 
that once were teeming with an 
abundance of the good things of 
life, herald the approach of 
autumn, no longer now as "the 
season of mists and mellow frui t -
fulness, close bosom-friend of the 
maturing sun," but rather as the 
fateful harbinger of the dark, cold 
days of another dreary winter. 
The glorious pageant of every 
changing color that once stirred 
their hearts to songs of exultant 
thanksgiving, now arouses in them 

MD THE MISSIONS 
instead the dire forebodings of 
impending privation and misery. 

Is the Lord in heaven forgetful 
of the miseries of these his chil-
dren, languishing on the bosom of 
the once f ru i t fu l earth? Does He 
no longer feel compassion on the 
multitude, as He did on that oc-
casion when He fed the four thou-
sand with the seven loaves and the 
few little fishes? No, He does not 
forget; He is not indifferent to the 
sufferings of His fellowmen, but 
He sees these sufferings in their 
proper perspective. "Not in bread 
alone doth man live"; said He, "but 
in every word that proceedeth from 
the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). 
He Himself is the Word of God, 
and as such He is also the Bread 
of Life. As He had compassion on 
the multitude, therefore, because 
they had "nothing to eat," so like-
wise "he had compassion on them, 
because they were as sheep not 
having a shepherd, and he began 
to teach them many things" (Mark 
6:34). 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
me," He said, "wherefore he hath 
anointed me to preach the gospel 
to the poor, he hath sent me to heal 
the contrite of heart" (Luke 4:18). 
That was His primary objective. 
He did not come on earth merely 
to feed the hungry or to heal the 
sick. He did not come merely to 

DeacWWW 



improve any or all of the condi-
tions of man's material existence." 
He said specifically: "My kingdom 
is not of this world" (John 18:36). 
His chief concern was not with the 
natural relations of man to man 
or nation to nation, but with the 
supernatural relation of all men 
and of all nations to one another 
and to God. His mission was to 
reestablish all men in the supernat-
ural relationship of beloved chil-
dren of His heavenly Father. 

The mission of the Church, too, 
is primarily supernatural. While 
ever anxious to improve the lot of 
her children in every possible way, 
and ever solicitous for the main-
tenance of friendly relations be-
tween the nations, she does not 
dissipate her energies in pursuing 
the chimera of a man-made U.topia. 
Her objective is rather that "all 
men . . . comè to the knowledge of 
the t ruth" (I Timothy 2:4), that 
they "may believe that Jesus is 
the Christ, the Son of God: and 
that believing, (they) may have 
life in his name" (John 20:31). 
"No man cometh to the Father, 
but by me," said Christ {John 14:-
6). He is "the way, and the truth, 
and the life" (John 14:6). He is 
the Word who "was in the begin-
ning with God," in whom "was life, 
and the life was the light of men" 
.(John 1:2, 4). Only to those who 
receive Him as such does He gives 
"Power to be made the sons of 

God, to them that believe in his 
name" (John 1:12). This is the 
good tidings—the Gospel—which 
Christ commanded to be brought to 
the knowledge of every creature, 
to be for them a source of con-
solation and a guide of action. For 
the Church is commissioned, not 
only to enlighten the mind, but 
also to instruct the will: "Going 
therefore, teach ye all nations: bap-
tizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Teaching them to ob-
serve all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20). 

There is the command of Christ. 
How has it beSn carried out? The 
Apostles took that command liter-
ally, and made their plans to carry 
the Gospel to every known land. 
In the Acts of the Apostles we have 
a written account of the missionary 
journeys of St. Paul. The labors 
of the other Apostles in spreading 
the Kingdom of Christ are known 
mostly by tradition. Their suc-
cessors carried on still fur ther the 
work of extending the domain of 
the Church. It was particularly, 
however, the successors of St. 
Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, 

•who, as they undertook St. Peter's 
task of governing the Church, also 
undertook the principal obligation 
of spreading the Gospel. The peo-
ples of Europe owe the Christian 
civilization and culture, for the 
preservation of which they are 



now fighting, chiefly to the zeal 
of the Bishops of Rome in spread-
ing, the Gospel of Christ. Thus we 
see Pope Celestine sending St. Pat-
rick to preach the faith in Ireland 
and Pope Gregory the Great send-
ing St. Augustine-to labor for the 
conversion of England, and Pope 
Zachary strengthening the hand of 
St. Boniface in his labors among 
the Franks, by investing him with 
the authority of Papal Delegate. 
Later we find the Popes St. Nich-
olas I, Hadrian II, and John VIII 
laying the foundations of Chris-
tianity among the Slavic peoples by 
their approval and encouragement 
of the apostolic labors of SS. Cyril 
and Methodius. The people of the 
Scandinavian countries are indebt-
ed to Pope Gregory IV who sent 
St. Anschar to bring the knowledge 
of Christ to their ancestors. Final-
ly, a permanent organization, the 
Congregation for the Propagation 
of the Faith, was established by 
Pope Gregory XV in 1622, for the 
express purpose of carrying on the 
missionary work of the Church in 
countries that had not yet accepted 
Christianity. 

The last 150 years have wit-
nessed a remarkable spreading of 
the Church throughout the entire 
world, and a constant increase in 
missionary spirit amongst clergy 
and people alike. Numerous congre-
gations of men and women have 
sprung up, especially devoted to 

work in the Missions, thus provid-
ing additional laborers to assist the 
members of the.older religious or-
ders who have borne "the burden 
of the day and the heats," in gath-
ering the harvest of the Lord. The 
people have assisted by providing 
for these soldiers of Christ the ma-
terial sinews for the spiritual con-
flict of wresting souls from the 
grasp of Satan, and by praying the 
Lord to shed His grace in abun-
dance both on His missionaries and 
on those for whom they labor. 
Grouped together in societies such 
as the Society for the Propaga-
tion of the Faith, the Association 
of the Holy Childhood, and others 
too numerous to mention, their 
prayers and their alms have up-
held the arms of the missionaries 
outstretched like Moses' to im-
plore God's blessing on his people. 

The history of the missions in 
these later years shows how God 
has responded to these unremitting 
efforts and these untiring prayers, 
as little by little the Church ad-
vances in her work of pushing 
Satan from his last strongholds on 
earth, and establishing in his place, 
the Christ, the Son of God. That 
this work has advanced beyond 
mere infiltration into the enemy's 
lines, is evidenced by the spectacle 
of Chinese and Japanese, Indian 
and African, Malayan and Poly-
nesian, offering up now, for their 
own people in their own lands, the 



self-same Sacrifice that Christ Him-
self offered in time gone by for all 
mankind on the altar of the Cross. 
Scattered through these missionary 
lands are 7,000 native priests and 
45 native bishops, with 12,500 na-
tive seminarians offering abundant 
promise for the future. As the 
Popes have frequently pointed out, 
the presence of native priests and 
bishops in a land is an evidence 
that the Church has been estab-
lished there on a solid foundation. 
The day when these pagan coun-
tries will be completely conquered 
for Christ is not here yet, but its 
sun is slowly beginning to appear 
above the horizon. 

It would be a mistake, however, 
to look only at the bright side of 
the picture. The Church is on 
the offensive, it is true, but the 
road to final victory is long and 
tedious. Only a mere handful of 
souls in these missionary countries 
have accepted the doctrines of 
Christ. Millions and millions of 
others have still never heard of 
His gracious Personality, and of 
His- yoke that is sweet and His 
burden that is light. They also 
must hear His voice and follow 
Him so that there may be one Fold 
and one Shepherd. There are thou-
sands of priests, brothers, and 
nuns laboring in many lands to en-
lighten these children of God who 
have gone astray concerning their 
noble destiny, and to bring them 

all to the "Shepherd and Bishop 
of their souls" (I Peter 2:25). But 
other thousands are needed. There 
are thousands of fai thful souls at 
home leagued together to assist 
these missionaries by their prayers 
and contributions. Other thousands 
are needed to carry on the work 
and keep it ever growing. 

This is the essential work of the 
Church, to make Christ's Person-
ality known and His precepts obey-
ed from one end of the world to 
the other. Whatever else may have 
to be accorded attention because of 
the exigencies of time and place, 
the extension of Christ's Kingdom 
on earth must always receive full 
priority both in the allocation of 
the human agents who are to be 
God's instruments in this regard, 
and in supplying these agents with 
all the material assistance they re-
quire. The Church is animated 
with the sentiments of t h e great 
Apostle St. Paul, who wrote to 
the Corinthians: "If I preach the 
gospel, it is no glory to me, for a 
necessity lieth upon me: for woe 
is unto me if I preach not the 
gospel" (I Cor. 9:16). Like him 
she considers herself a "debtor" 
to preach the Gospel "to the Greeks 
and to the barbarians, to the wise 
and the unwise" {Rom. 1:14). 
Those souls have caught the t rue 
spirit of Christianity who are 
animated with a similar zeal to 



make Christ known and loved by 
all men. 

"How beautiful upon the moun-
tains," says the prophet Isaias, 
"are the feet of him that bringeth 
good tidings, and that preacheth 
peace: of him that sheweth forth 
good, that preacheth salvation, that 
saith to Sion: Thy God shall 
reign!" (Is. 52:7). That is the 
work of the missionary as it was 
the work of Christ, to bring to all 
men the good tidings of salvation. 
If that supernatural message is 
accepted, in its entirety, by the 
nations as by individuals, the bless-
ings of the natural order will fol-
low perforce, and in much greater 
measure than if they were made 
the primary object of pursuit. It 
is only when the supremacy of the 
supernatural is recognized that the 
natural can come to its full de-
velopment. It is only when men 
give glory to God in the Highest 
that they will have peace on the 
earth. 

In the philosophy of the Chris-
tian mind, the improvement of the 
domestic, political, and internation-
al relations of mankind is to be 
sought, not as an end in itself, but 
only as the by-product of man's 
betterment in the supernatural or-
der. "Seek ye therefore first the 
kingdom of God, and his justice, 
and all these things shall be added 
unto you," is the divine guarantee 
of the truth of that philosophy. 

The nations, however, have pre-
ferred to be guided by the pru-
dence of man father than by the 
wisdom of God. They have per-
sisted in their refusal to accept 
the philosophy of Christ in this 
regard, and in their reluctance to 
carry out the course of action that 
He advocates. They have rejected 
the supernatural bond of unity 
among men, and have placed their 
reliance instead on the material, 
on the existence of common inter-
ests and common fears. As the 
Lord said of old to the prophet 
Jeremias: "My people have done 
two evils. They have forsaken me, 
the fountain of living water, and 
have digged to themselves cisterns, 
broken cisterns, that can hold no 
water" (Jer. 2:13). 

In these days, therefore, when 
all men of good will are praying 
for the coming of peace, they should 
pray also for the coming of the 
Kingdom of Christ, both in the 
hearts of those who have not yet 
heard of Him, and in the hearts 
of those who have already accepted 
Christianity in theory, but shrink 
from putting that theory into prac-
tice. The only peace worth having 
is the peace of Christ secured by 
the reign of Christ. 

Man's dream of everlasting peace 
among the nations of the world 
will remain only a dream until the 
individual nations and their lead-



era recognize that their power on 
earth is subject to a greater Power 
in Heaven; and un^il they ac-
knowledge that in making their 
decisions concerning the division 

and the regulation of the dominions 
of the earth, they must ever respect 
the rights, and obey the laws, of 
the supernatural Kingdom of 
Heaven. 



THE CATHOLIC HOUR 
1930—Fourteenth Y e a r — 1 9 4 3 

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