Priests cannot be content just to welcome and evangelize those who come to church, but they must go out into their neighborhoods and across the globe to proclaim salvation, said a Vatican document.
Priests are consecrated to preach the Gospel to the whole world, said a letter titled "The missionary identity of the priest in the church."
The document from the Congregation for Clergy was dated June 29, 2010, but released by the congregation Jan. 24.
The church is called to continually share the message of salvation, bring God's love to more people and grow through the addition of new members, it said.
While all Catholics share in the missionary task, it said, priests have special responsibilities because they are ordained to act in the person of Christ, reaching out to all in need of God's love.
The circular letter said some priests have a special vocation to be foreign missionaries, but serving in the diocese where one was born does not mean there is no opportunity or obligation for missionary work.
"A significant portion of our baptized Catholics takes little or no part in our ecclesial communities," the letter said, and often enough it is because no one ever took the time to help them establish a relationship with Christ and understand how that relationship must be lived and nourished within the community of the church.
In addition to bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth, "the future of the church also depends on our willingness to be missionaries in practice among our baptized faithful," it said.
The push, it said, must begin with each priest making a commitment "not only to welcome and evangelize those who seek him out," but also to set out in search of the baptized who no longer go to church and in search of people within the parish boundaries who may never have heard of Christ.
The clergy congregation's letter also said priests have to do some preventative missionary work, not leaving their parishioners "defenseless" without the ability to look critically at "the indoctrination that often comes from the schools, television, the press, computer sites and, also at times from the universities, and the world of entertainment."
Priests are consecrated to preach the Gospel to the whole world, said a letter titled "The missionary identity of the priest in the church."
The document from the Congregation for Clergy was dated June 29, 2010, but released by the congregation Jan. 24.
The church is called to continually share the message of salvation, bring God's love to more people and grow through the addition of new members, it said.
While all Catholics share in the missionary task, it said, priests have special responsibilities because they are ordained to act in the person of Christ, reaching out to all in need of God's love.
The circular letter said some priests have a special vocation to be foreign missionaries, but serving in the diocese where one was born does not mean there is no opportunity or obligation for missionary work.
"A significant portion of our baptized Catholics takes little or no part in our ecclesial communities," the letter said, and often enough it is because no one ever took the time to help them establish a relationship with Christ and understand how that relationship must be lived and nourished within the community of the church.
In addition to bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth, "the future of the church also depends on our willingness to be missionaries in practice among our baptized faithful," it said.
The push, it said, must begin with each priest making a commitment "not only to welcome and evangelize those who seek him out," but also to set out in search of the baptized who no longer go to church and in search of people within the parish boundaries who may never have heard of Christ.
The clergy congregation's letter also said priests have to do some preventative missionary work, not leaving their parishioners "defenseless" without the ability to look critically at "the indoctrination that often comes from the schools, television, the press, computer sites and, also at times from the universities, and the world of entertainment."
SIC: TBP/USA
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