Contemporary Developments in Catholic Missiology : the Story of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions of the Province of Aotearoa New Zealand, 1861-2000

Abstract

Significant changes have occurred in the Catholic practice and theology of mission since the second Vatican Council (1962-65). To appreciate better the extent of these changes, I have charted major shifts in the story of mission of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, founded in Lyon in 1861. In particular, I have examined the various theologies that informed these shifts. This micro-study of one particular Catholic group offers an entry-point into a consideration of contemporary Catholic theologies of mission and missionary practice. Since Vatican II, there has been a growing awareness of the universal and salvific presence of the Spirit in creation and history. I will seek to show how this has affected Catholic missiological reflection through an examination of the work of selected Catholic theologians. These theologians direct attention to the mission of the Spirit, and to the relation between the Spirit and the Son in the mission of the Triune God. This pneumatological emphasis often has been overlooked in theologies of mission that are more overtly ecclesiological or christological in their orientation. I then examine selected New Testament texts in order to discern the legitimacy of such pneumatological emphases in emerging trinitarian theologies of mission. While New Testament texts indicate that the mission of the Spirit is both antecedent and consequent to the mission of Jesus, the examination of scriptural texts in this research concentrates on the antecedent mission of the Holy Spirit in selected Johannine, Matthean and Lukan texts. My research suggests that an emphasis on the mission of the Spirit permits an understanding of mission that can expand the parameters associated with ecclesiocentric and christocentric models of mission.