VATICAN - Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood: the family as a place of formation for the mission

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The consequences of the pandemic have also affected the activity of the Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood (POSI), as noted by Sister Roberta Tremareli, AMSS, Secretary General of POSI, in her report to the General Assembly of the PMS: "What we experienced at the beginning of last year due to the pandemic continues to this day, and this new reality continues to challenge us in our mission, preventing us from sleeping on standard and well-established proposals and instruments, asking us to renew with the help of the Spirit, our presence in the Church and in the world".
The isolation due to preventive health rules has in many cases made it possible for parents to discover their role as "subjects of evangelization, formation and missionary activity", stressed Sister Roberta. "Provoked by the collaboration with children and young people in spirituality and prayer, they have been able to recover, in many contexts, the role of the first operators in the pastoral care of faith formation". Another aspect that emerged from this particular period is the role of social media for missionary animation, "since children have no longer been passive subjects in their use but active, as they interact, even in a virtual environment, with other people with whom they share a charisma and a goal. Just as it was in the original idea of the Founder, Mons. Charles De Forbin Janson, according to whom involving children and young people in missionary proposals had the aim of making them protagonists and so all the media interactions developed in this pandemic period are producing good and lasting fruits which highlight its usefulness".
The Secretary General of POSI then highlighted some aspects that emerged in this period of emergencies and "out of the ordinary" activities, such as the willingness "to learn new strategies, new paths for the good of the Church and the people of God"; the commitment to renew ourselves day after day "to know how to respond to the new demands that have arisen in the current context, to be able to grasp the questions and needs of people, to be able to continue in constant care while paying attention to the other"; the search for the most suitable ways to help people live this phase of life in the light of the Gospel; the rediscovery of our "catholicity" not only understood from a geographical point of view.
"Certainly, prayer has been the most used and promoted instrument in this time and we are happy to have brought it back to priority in our missionary action", underlined Sister Roberta, who then reiterated the importance of social media to maintain or establish relationships, to give information, to investigate issues, to support the weakest. However, this theme requires a more solid formation in terms of content: "what we do on social media remains forever and we cannot run the risk of being superficial in what concerns Jesus, the Gospel, the Church and the mission, children and young people.
Radio, TV, Facebook and other media can also reach recipients who log on occasionally at that moment and listen to a word that can change their lives and thus involve them in the missionary activity of the Church". Hoping for a gradual return to normality, it is certainly not possible to do without the integration of modern means of communication with traditional means of animation and formation, since "one does not exclude the other and together they help and support missionary action".
Sister Roberta Tremarelli then indicated some challenges that POSI faces today, inviting the National Directors of the PMS to take them up in their local contexts. In the first place "to promote awareness of universal missionary responsibility in the context of the family as the domestic Church".
A second challenge, not only for Missionary Childhood, but for all the PMS and the Church today, is synodality, that is, walking together, seeking communion with the various ecclesial subjects and communities. For POSI this means not focusing only on Missionary Childhood groups, where they exist, but opening up to all children and young people. Then, to motivate the movements, associations and new communities present at a local ecclesial level, in order to give greater impetus to missionary cooperation: spiritual, vocational and material. Finally, the meetings at continental level for the National Directors and National Secretaries of the POSI, which will take place from 21 to 25 June, were confirmed. " Sharing experiences mutually enriches us, strengthens us in what we believe and witness, opens our hearts and minds, allows us to improve our contents and methods for a comparison and dialogue", said the Secretary General de POSI. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 4/6/2021)

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