Cardinal Toppo says every Christian in Asia can be a missionary

(Sept.02,2010) Indian Cardinal Telesphore, Archbishop of Ranchi, who earlier on Wednesday, addressed the Asia Congress of Catholic Laity in the South Korean capital, Seoul, gave a history of the evangelization of tribal India. To illustrate the need and the challenges that face the evangelization of Asia, Cardinal Toppo recounted the struggles of evangelization in his own tribal Church of Chotanagpur, faced by Jesuit Fr Constant Lievens. He said the priest was welcomed on his arrival by just 56 Catholics. But in just 7 years, more than 80 thousand tribals were baptized in Chotanagpur. He said their conversion was also marked by an impressive educational and social development, which has given fruit to the Church, which now has 12 dioceses in the area with local bishops, thousands of priests and religious.
Cardinal Toppo explained that evangelization is two-dimensional; one dimension is going out as a missionary, and the other is the life giving witness to the Gospel. He made it clear that not every Christian in Asia can be a missionary in the sense of going out to tell the Good News. But every Christian in Asia can be a missionary by imitating Christ’s own simplicity of life, he said.