THE SPIRIT'S MOVE IN LAY MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS | KAIROS GLOBAL | APRIL 2023

Author: Manoj Sunny & Shelton Pinheiro

Intro: Shelton Pinheiro talks to JY International Formation Director, Manoj Sunny about the lay missionary movements in the Catholic Church today. 

It was an unusually quiet Sunday when I managed to catch up with Manoj Sunny in his home in Kerala. He was between his two recent international journeys involving formation programmes, retreats, and meetings related to mission and evangelisation.

Over the years Manoj has been at the centre of the Jesus Youth movement’s journey – particularly in its recognition as a missionary movement by the Holy See. He has also been a key figure in the movement’s myriad encounters, inspirations and collaborations with similar movements.

As usual, he was comfortably settled in his favourite sofa as we began to talk about his journeys and experiences. I knew he had recently returned from a global summit of movements in Rome, where all the significant lay missionary movements in the Church – including Jesus Youth – were represented. Over some strong coffee and his characteristic contagious enthusiasm, Manoj shared his thoughts, insights and experiences about the emergence and significance of lay missionary movements in the present-day Church. You'll find a summary of the thoughts below.

The mandate of lay movements 

Pontifically approved international movements are primarily called to catalyse and propel the global mission of the Church using their unique charisms. These charisms take on a larger significance in terms of specific, strategic missions of the Church. For instance, the Focolare Movement makes extensive contributions to the Church's mission around inter-religious dialogue, while a movement like Sant'Egidio has been at the heart of the Church's peace dialogue and summits involving different nations. In nations where the presence of the Church is officially curtailed, pontifically recognised Catholic movements have been liaising and building bridges between the Church and their respective governments. In short, lay movements have become primary shareholders in the pastoral and evangelical mission of the Catholic Church today.

New, contemporary and diverse expressions

As one can see from the summits and initiatives, the Church is keenly aware of the significance of pontifical movements and perceives them as fruits of the Vatican Council II. As we all know, the exhortation ‘every baptised Christian is a missionary’ resounds across Vatican II. The Church understands that this missionary challenge is echoed and re-articulated today in unique, creative and diverse ways through different lay movements. Many of these movements, including ours, have been able to respond to the missionary mandate of the Church in surprisingly creative ways – and some of the expressions have been on a massive scale. For instance, one of the initiatives of the fast-growing Shalom movement from Brazil has been the Shalom Christian Carnival during the famous Carnival in Rio. In 2018, the massive Shalom carnival spread across 100 cities in Brazil involving music, worship, adoration, healing sessions, seminars, retreats, and celebrations drew over 130,000 people. Now it has become an annual event growing in leaps and bounds. Its Halleluya Festival brings over 500,000 participants every year. The movement is also widely present in electronic and digital media in a powerful way, creating path breaking productions. In fact, one of their popular productions has been a collaboration between Rexband, the musical outreach of Jesus Youth and Shalom Music which resulted in a hit music video in Brazil – a Brazilian version of the Rexband track ‘Rise Up and Dance’.

JP II and the springtime of movements

The papacy of St John Paul II has unquestionably been the most fertile season for movements. It was a springtime when most lay missionary movements around the world took birth – including Jesus Youth. The inspiration for the founder of Shalom Catholic Community, Moysés Louro de Azevedo Filho, was an encounter with St John Paul II; during the papal visit to his diocese in Brazil, he was chosen to present a gift to the pope. He prayed to God for a gift worthy of the Holy Father and decided to write a letter offering his life for the evangelisation of young people. André Regnier, the founder of CCO (Catholic & Christian Outreach), the renowned Catholic student missionary movement, was also directly inspired by St Pope John Paul II in founding the movement. CCO, with which the Jesus Youth movement has close links, today has a vibrant Catholic presence in most major universities across Canada. It is believed, according to certain unofficial figures, that around 300,000 Catholics across different movements committed themselves as lay missionaries during the papacy of St John Paul II.

Movements and lay missionaries

Recently, we had a few meetings with the Shalom movement which is spread across 30 countries. The growth of committed lay missionaries in such movements is extraordinary. The Shalom movement alone (founded around the same time Jesus Youth began in India) has 2,000 members who have taken up a lifetime mission commitment, 8,000 formed covenant members, 40 priests ordained and dedicated for the movement’s mission, seminarians, celibates and around 80 consecrated families across 125 mission houses (centres of Shalom outreach, these are places of residence, prayer and fellowship) worldwide. Cafes like the popular SH82 Cafe run by Shalom volunteers are spreading fast. These cafes – including the one at heart of Rome – are known for their artistic ambience, good food and conversation. Importantly, the cafe houses a tiny beautiful chapel within and the volunteers are available for conversations with customers who need help.

Shifting from individually inspired highs to sustained intentional journeys 

This is an area our movement too struggles with. Our entire journey of formation has perhaps emerged from these needs. In a startup mode, mission initiatives emerge and run on individual inspirations, which of course must always be an important part of our movement. But the next phase of growth and sustained seasons of fruitfulness will depend on intentional and ordered approaches to mission, as we see in highly effective missionary movements like Shalom in Brazil or FOCUS in the United States.

Such clashes in approach were often felt as our movement spread to different countries and cultures. In India this came into play because of the fundamental cultural and educational dynamics that were once part of our university and youth environment. Our dependence on individual inspiration and initiative was the result of a system that only allowed such space and freedom. 

Progressively, our youth culture is shifting towards a focused, systematic approach which calls for a deliberate approach in our mission too. Driven by powerful, inspiring personal encounters but sustained by intentionally charted pathways will help us ensure that there is a consistent missionary move across time.

Bringing Catholic culture to the frontline

Recently, I attended the FOCUS conference in the United States which drew 17,000 students and animators from American universities, besides 30 bishops and 700 priests. In a sense, movements like these bring together the entire Catholic Church like never before. The event’s exhibition brought all contemporary Catholic initiatives under the same umbrella, showcasing the impact of such movements on popular culture. What struck me at the FOCUS conference was that the central events attracting most participants weren’t concerts or entertainment but pillars of the Catholic faith like Eucharistic adoration, confession, and the public ministry of prayer. The event was suffused with an ambience of encounter from beginning to end. Life Teen, another popular movement doing extensive work among teenagers, is known for arranging vibrant youth Masses with contemporary music, bringing hundreds of young people together. So does its youth night vigils, campfires or Night Outs. Catholic lay movements are opening up the ministry of the Church to larger, even secular audiences.

Addressing the burning questions of our time

Be it politics, gender, identity, power, technology, media, or teenage struggles, lay missionary movements are at the forefront of the discussion, bringing out practical decisions and answers drawn from a Catholic perspective. Movements like Focus and Life Teen have taken a clear Catholic stance on questions of gender, identity and celibacy. The movement Desert Streams specifically caters to Christians struggling with sexual and relational issues. Elijah 18 in Germany offers pastoral care and fulfils the mandate of the Church by making Gospel teaching and evangelistic material available to non-Christian refugees in their native languages – thus introducing them to Jesus. Many of these movements inspire individuals to live a life of giving, sharing and evangelising. Recently, I was inspired to learn that a senior leader of an international movement and a dear friend of mine in his seventies still sets apart time to accompany 40 young people, regularly offering them spiritual direction.

Lay movements beyond the Catholic Church

Today an array of massive Christian missionary movements outside the Catholic Church work with like-minded mission. Often the Catholic Church works together with some of them on ecumenical platforms. The Haggai Leadership platforms have strategically positioned over 132,000 leaders across the world in the last 32 years. (Jesus Youth is associating closely with Haggai International to host a Catholic Advanced Leadership Learning Program in the Vatican this year.) Meanwhile, the well-known Dr Rick Warren and his Finishing the Task is preparing for the 2000th anniversary of the great commission. The GO movement aims to reach one billion people on the planet by that time. The Chosen project and the Jesus Film project are just a few of the other highly visible examples.

To sum up, lay missionary movements have opened up a whole set of new dynamics in mission and evangelisation that are in sync with the fast-changing culture, attitudes and mindsets of our time. Which is why the Catholic Church sees these movements as important signs of the Holy Spirit in our age.

Manoj Sunny was both the first JY National Coordinator for India and the JY International Coordinator. He is presently the JY International Director for Formation. He has recently been chosen to serve as Executive Secretary, Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference - Office of Evangelisation

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An Executive Creative Director of an advertising agency, Shelton Pinheiro, is also the coordinator of Rexband. He lives in Cochin, India with his wife Anu and their two daughters.