An Identity Professed
The challenge of mission calls for a generous and faithful response. Here are the remaining points of the Comboni Missionary identity which we profess:
5. We welcome as our own the mission, chosen and loved by Comboni, that which is marked by the Cross (difficult situations). This becomes a symbol of a radical love for the peoples to whom we are sent and with whom we wish to make common cause. Our vow of chastity professes to be a sign of our belonging totally to Christ who embraced eternally the fate of all the “crucified” in history.
6. We confirm our desire to be a “cenacle of apostles (witness as a community). We welcome with joy the many faces of the Institute, always becoming more international and multicultural. We undertake to cultivate brotherhood, to live and work together, to reject individualism and taking center stage, and to value the vow of obedience through a common mission venture. Acknowledging the prophetic dimension of our call, we cultivate a sense of Church, inserting ourselves in local Churches and promoting collaboration with other pastoral and humanitarian agents.
7. We reaffirm our openness to the signs of the times. Seeing the new dimensions of mission (Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation, reconciliation, inter-religious dialogue, the promotion of human rights...) and to the diversity of ministries.
This involves us in an on-going discernment of the promptings of the Spirit, the true protagonist of mission. Our consecration is a prophetic witness of the world to come and a steady challenge to a social order that does not promote the culture of life.
