Verbites: 150 years at the service of the world

Born in German-speaking countries, today more than half of the missionaries belonging to the institute founded by Arnold Janssen are from Asia, and are also on the frontline in the existential peripheries of Europe today. Now the institute is being called to reflect on mission in today's world at an international conference In Rome from 27 to 29 March.

Rome (AsiaNews) - He had earned a reputation as an educator in the schools of the diocese of Munster. Then, in 1873, he founded a magazine, The Little Messenger of the Heart of Jesus, which - like ours, founded in the same period - brought news from the missions into people's homes. But Father Arnold Janssen had one regret: unlike what had happened in France, Italy and other European countries, in Germany there was no Institute that sent missionaries throughout the world.

In 1875 he would realise this dream by founding the Society of the Divine Word, the Verbite Institute. Today Father Janssen is considered a saint by the Catholic Church and his missionary family is one of the most present worldwide. But those beginnings were not at all easy: Germany at the time was deeply marked by the Kulturkampf, the ‘cultural battle’ waged against Catholics by the German government, including the imprisonment and physical expulsion of priests and religious. In such a delicate situation, it was a missionary from the then Lombardy Seminary for Foreign Missions, the Institute that in 1926 would become PIME, that encouraged Father Janssen. Father Timoleone Raimondi – after taking part in the first unfortunate and apparently unsuccessful experience of the Milanese missionaries in Melanesia – had become the apostolic vicar of Hong Kong and in 1874, during a visit to Germany, strongly supported the idea of a German missionary Institute. It was also thanks to him that, in 1875, Father Janssen was able to inaugurate his ‘missionary house’ in Steyl, just across the German border, in the Dutch diocese of Roermond. It was a place for training missionaries to be sent to the East: the first two, Johann Baptist Anzer and the future saint of the Ladins Joseph Freinademetz, at the suggestion of Bishop Raimondi, were sent to Hong Kong to work with the Milanese missionaries and prepare for their service in Shandong, China. But the house in Steyl also quickly became an exceptional point of attraction for many lay people who wanted to support the missionary apostolate.

One hundred and fifty years later, how relevant is the charisma of the Divine Word Missionaries? And on what frontiers are these missionaries today witnessing to the Gospel? This will be discussed – at the end of this month – at an important international conference on mission in today's world, promoted by the Society of the Divine Word and held in Rome from 27 to 29 March at the Gregorian University. And in view of this event we also asked Father Anselmo Ricardo Ribeiro, a 51-year-old Brazilian missionary with experience in Chiapas and in his homeland, who has been leading the Institute of the Divine Word as Superior General since last summer. ‘Father Janssen,’ he comments, ‘said that the proclamation of the Gospel is the first and highest form of charity. This is why he worked so hard to get the Church to send missionaries to bring the good news of Jesus to places where it was not yet known. Times change, of course, but this insight is still very relevant today, even for many frontiers.

From where and to where? ‘From the beginning there was a strong idea of an international community of missionaries from German-speaking countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands...’, continues the superior of the Divine Word Missionaries. ‘Today it has taken on a multicultural dimension: we come from 76 different countries and carry out our ministry in 77 nations on all five continents. Living the mission together, coming from different realities, is part of our DNA."

Nowadays, only 15% of the Verbites are of European origin: new vocations come mainly from Asia, the continent where Christians are a small minority. ‘Half of our missionaries were born there,’ confirms Father Ribeiro. ’The largest group is that of the Indonesian brothers, who number 1,575. Then come India, the Philippines, Vietnam, while another 680 grew up in African countries. This plurality of origins is a challenge for us. But it is also a sign for today's world.’

A testimony called to make the Gospel present on many particularly hot frontiers. ‘I am thinking of our missionaries who are in both Ukraine and Russia,’ comments the Superior General. ‘But I also have in mind Cuba, where I was recently on a visit: I encountered a country that in many respects today is literally a land of first proclamation. Or to the situations that are still waiting to fully experience the challenge of inculturation. However, I also look to Holland, the land where Father Janssen established our first house in Steyl and which has given us so many missionaries: we now have Indonesian, Indian, Ghanaian and Congolese brothers who live their apostolate here on many existential frontiers. One of them, while carrying out his service in a hospital, found himself in front of a Catholic who asked him for Communion saying: ‘Father, it's the last one I'll receive: I've asked for euthanasia’. What does it mean to be a missionary in these situations? We are constantly called upon to ask ourselves this question’.

What does today's Europe represent for a missionary coming from Asia? ‘The culture shock is strong,’ admits Father Ribeiro. ‘Generally we come from contexts where Christians are certainly a minority, but where religious identity remains very strong. On the contrary, in Europe we find ourselves immersed in secularised societies, where it is not enough to open the church door for people to come: in today's cities, for many people, our gestures no longer mean anything. And this doesn't only apply to the West: even in a country like South Korea, for example, many young people no longer think about getting married or see the idea of a family as an obstacle to their career. So what can we do? It's about going out, reaching out to those who are alone, coming to terms with many wounds. Get closer to show, despite all our limitations and fragility, that there can be a different life. Show that the Gospel of Jesus has a hope to bring».

Talk to today's world. With missionaries who often belong to Generation Z themselves: there are still many young people in the Verbite novitiates, in Asia alone there are currently more than 600 in formation. What do they bring to your congregation? ‘They come from a context that prefers experience to rationality, they are much better at using the digital environment than we are,’ replies the superior general. ‘They are fortunate in that they still have family experience behind them, which can become a valuable testimony among their peers. As can their deep sense of the sacred, a dimension that has been lost in the West. The challenge, on the other hand, is to help them grow in generosity, in a cultural context in which we are all much more self-centred".

With a compass that remains clear: the reference to the Divine Word, that is, looking to Jesus as the Word of God made flesh, which Father Janssen wanted in the very name of the Institute. ‘The biblical apostolate is a fundamental aspect of our ministry,’ says Father Ribeiro. ’Which means, first of all, listening to the Word of God in our communities, and then sharing it with others in everyday life.’

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