“Contemporary study of mission has profoundly changed the theology, practice, and life of the Church.” With these words, Brother Gioacchino Campese, a Scalabrinian missionary, opened his reflection on September 15, 2025, during a formation course for a group of Consolata missionaries on the occasion of their jubilee (25 years of ordination and/or religious profession).
By Stephen Ngari and Father Maurice Awiti *
Brother Campese, with vast missionary experience in the Philippines, the United States, Mexico, and Europe—especially in accompanying migrants—and currently a professor at the Urbaniana University in Rome, reflected on the theme: “New Trends and Missiological Currents Today.”
From the Mission of the Church to the Mission of God
“Today, mission is no longer understood only as an activity of the Church (missio ecclesiae), but as the mission of God Himself (missio Dei). It is the Trinitarian God who sends His people into the world to dialogue, bear witness, and renew the life of humanity. This shift invites us to be a more inclusive, synodal, and dialogical Church, capable of responding to the challenges of the modern world, both in the global and the digital sphere,” explained Brother Campese.
Stimulating Questions
The professor then posed two key questions to the participants: How do we define mission today? What are the new missiological trends and movements?
“More than defining,” he insisted, “the point is to live the mission in practice, with concrete gestures and testimonies.”
The Impulse of Vatican II
The Second Vatican Council, celebrated sixty years ago, represented a turning point that allows us to speak of a “before” and an “after.” In this sense, before Vatican II, mission focused on the “salvation of souls” and on ecclesial hierarchy. But after the Council, a new perspective emerged: the starting point was no longer the Church thinking of herself, but the Kingdom of God, giving prominence to the “people of God—all the baptized.”
From this arise transformative questions: Why? To whom? With whom? How? Questions that continue to inspire missionary action.
The Vatican II and subsequent ecclesial teachings are considered fundamental in calling for a new missionary awareness. In particular, Pope Francis has been a great motivator with expressions such as “a Church on the move,” “hacer lío” (“make noise”), and “a Church that spreads through witness.”
Currents trends for the 21st Century
Brother Campese proposed ten currents trends that mark the path of mission today. These, in a sense, chart the course of change so that a new way of carrying out mission can be found. Among the most significant are:
From the mission of the Church to the mission of God; From the mission of a few to a synodal mission; From rigid plans to prophetic dialogue; From missio ad gentes to missio inter gentes and cum gentibus; From mission “for many” to mission “with all, all, all”; From the human sphere to a mission that includes care for the Common Home; From the analog world to mission also in the digital and virtual world.
The was clear and inspiring: “Mission belongs to God, and the Church as the people of God is called to discern the signs of the times with a critical and open spirit. The order of priorities is revealing: first God, then mission, then the Church. Only in this way can we understand what it means to be missionary disciples today.”
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The second ongoing formation course begins in Rome
Fifteen missionaries (14 priests and 1 brother) from Africa, Latin America, and Europe are participating in the ongoing formation course in Rome from September 1 to 27.
From September 17 to 21, the course program continued away from Rome, in the city of Turin, birthplace of our Institute, where the group of missionaries was welcomed into the Motherhouse. Visits are scheduled to the Founder’s birthplace in Castelnuovo Don Bosco, to the Sanctuary of the Consolata, and to the tomb of Saint Joseph Allamano.
* Father Stephen Ngari and Father Maurice Awiti, Consolata Missionaries in Colombia.
