Education and sending ad gentes in the 400th anniversary of the Congregation of the Mission

Education is an act of hope. In his Apostolic Letter for the 60th anniversary of Gravissimum educationis, Pope Leo XIV recalls that education is not an ‘accessory’ activity, but the very fabric of evangelisation: the Gospel becomes an educational gesture, a relationship, a culture, within a ‘complex, fragmented, digitised’ environment. The compass remains the Council: the right of all to education, the family as the first school, subsidiarity, integration between faith and culture.

Within this horizon lies the Missionary Appeal 2025 of the Superior General: to renew our identity by going forth, confirming the commitment to send 1% of our confreres (about 30) on mission ad gentes each year, as promised to Pope Francis and reaffirmed to Pope Leo XIV on 4 September 2025. In 2025, new missions were opened in Congo-Brazzaville, Togo, Goma (DR Congo) and Pakistan; in early 2025–26: South Korea, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, East Timor, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Gabon. Operational contact: segreteria@cmcuria.org (after discernment with the Visitor).

To educate is to evangelise: the conciliar compass

The Letter relaunches an integral vision of the person and of learning: no reduction to an ‘algorithm’ or mere efficiency; we need educating communities, disarmed languages, and a stable alliance between family, school, parish and social works.

Identity that becomes mission: the 2025 Missionary Appeal

The Vincentian style combines charity and formation: sending missionaries where the Church calls and, at the same time, taking care of what makes the mission fruitful (formation, language, team). The Appeal lists concrete needs (formators for Madagascar, DR Congo, PNG, Mozambique; parish priests and animators for Cameroon and Togo; ecumenical presences in Istanbul; support for the Region of Cuba).

From words to action: two faces of the same hope (the poor & the clergy)

In the Vincentian tradition, educational hope is embodied in two inseparable faces:

• “Teaching the poor“: simple, accessible catechesis, even while travelling, “instructing the poor, especially beggars, in Christian doctrine”.
• Forming the clergy: the CM was also created to take over the direction of seminaries and teach in them; and it must not neglect its ministries “in favour of ordinands and seminarians“.

Five operational areas to keep these two aspects united:

1. Access to education for the poor
   Scholarships, after-school programmes, funds for books/transport; catechesis in simple, popular language in mission parishes. (CM method on the simplicity of proclamation.)
2. Training of trainers & clergy
   Annual modules for teachers, catechists and ordinands (pedagogy, accompaniment, digital discernment); CM teams supporting seminars in the priority areas indicated in the Appeal.
3. Missionary service-learning
   Linking curricula and pastoral care with services to migrants, the sick, prisoners, indigenous peoples, in network with the Vincentian Family. (Consistency with the Appeal: Bolivia, river areas, urban peripheries).
4. Peace workshops and unarmed languages
   Nonviolent education and conflict mediation in schools/oratories; combating digital polarisation. (Line of the Letter).
5. North-South educational twinning
   CM schools/universities twinned with seminaries and parishes in newly opened countries (e.g. Togo, Gabon, East Timor): exchange of teachers and trainees.

In this way, catechesis of the poor and stable formation of the clergy support each other: the former roots the Gospel in the peripheries, the latter preserves its fruits over time.

Newman and Vincent: a common grammar

Newman’s idea of a university (unity of knowledge and life) meets Vincent’s practicality (“infinite inventive charity”): thought that becomes a path, teaching that becomes a bridge. (Inspirational theme of the Letter.)

How to get started (immediately)

• Personal and community discernment, then email the Superior General (segreteria@cmcuria.org) indicating languages/skills/times.
• Provinces/Visitors: choose a country to commit to opening up; send a proposal to the Curia for accompaniment.
• Young confreres: targeted language preparation (French/English/Portuguese/Spanish/Turkish…) according to destination.