Baptism and mission

Last weekend’s consistory in Saint Peter’s saw the creation of 22 new Cardinals for the Catholic Church. Among those elevated to the Cardinalate was Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

“If you’re baptised, you’re a missionary!” says Oblate Father Andrew Small. As national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, he’s on the front lines of the Church’s missionary effort. He spoke to us about the work of evangelisation in today’s world. “People want to move beyond their own borders, their own frontiers. And we’re called to do that by the very nature of being baptised Catholics.”

Father Small noted that missionary work benefits not only those who receive, but also those who give. “We were once great receivers of missionary support and animation and solidarity, and now we do that with others. The giving and the receiving in many ways are two different acts, but they’re all part of the same gesture.”

He said the work of assisting others throughout the world must be rooted in the Faith. “I think the question of what we do when we reach out to others has to touch upon our faith. It has to make us go into what it means to be people of faith, to get a language that we can pass on in this day and age to others, about what that faith means, how relevant it is, so that we don’t just become secularised in our love and in our charity and in our work for justice, that that is put within the context of the Christian message.”


Listen to the full interview of Fr. Andrew Small, OMI, with Christopher Wells: