Profile of a Religious Social Minister Focus On Human Maturity
Date
1998-04
Authors
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Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
The idea of writing a paper in this line came to my mind after some experiences of
living in some religious communities of my institute in different countries of Africa.
It is not good to judge people about how they handle their lives in community,
work and in their way they relate to others in their ministerial work. But what impressed
me was to find similar problems related to human maturity wherever I was. Seeing how
some of my confreres lived their cross cultural ministry, I felt deeply struck and I
questioned myself if that would be my future. It is also true that I am speaking about
people whose preparation was not the best to face the challenges of our missions and did
not have the opportunities that the people of my generation are having today. I am not
blaming anybody; what I want to emphasise is that as a religious social minister I realise
that our presence in a world which presents complex realities and big challenges today has
to be meaningful, bringing the novelty of the Gospel in a new creative way that makes our
message believable. Relationships are more important than ever, now that we are moving
into a new understanding of mission and evangelisation being relational. I believe that we
can hardly be in ministry to another if we have not come to be in relationship to ourselves.
In this way I see the importance of having an acceptable, intellectual preparation and
human maturity supported by a strong spirituality that allows us to minister efficiently and
effectively in a world that calls for that.
This paper wants to be, first of all, a work for my personal reflection that helps me
to grow as human being, as a religious and as social minister, trying to place myself in the
actual context of the world, especially in third world countries that are a big challenge for
the mission of the church. The actual situation of the world demands new identified
ministers that own a strong human basis and a clear and renewed spirituality. I am aware
that to bring about a new world I need to start with myself
In the first chapter of this paper I describe the identity of the religious social
ministers who are engaged in a new complex society. This society presents specific
challenges to ministers in cross cultural settings, describing that they are agents of social
transformation, being involved in human promotion. What I try to show in this chapter is the actual reality of the world that social ministers face today and the importance of being
aware of the challenges they meet while ministering.
In the second chapter I present an analysis of the role of the religious social
minister, describing certain attitudes and values that make social ministers more competent
and relevant as they perform their ministry.
Lastly in the third chapter I speak about the spirituality and formation required for
religious social ministers. I see the importance of a spirituality more incarnated in the
world to help ministers to be more human and to consider social care as genuine
spirituality. Concerning formation, I propose a suggested integral formation program that
I consider to have all the elements needed in a global formation for religious social
ministers.
Description
Keywords
Religious Persons, to Social Ministers, Religious and Human Promotion, Spirituality, Global Maturity