CICM MISSION IN

EUROPE
LEILANI O. SANIDAD, ED.D,
J.D.
OPENING PRAYER
 GROUP PRESENTATION: CICM WORLD MISSION TOUR IN EUROPE

Group Presentation on the CICM in the World

(20-25 minutes)

What are the CICM mission countries and the CICM distinct contributions?
Inspired by Christ and the CICM missionaries, how can you participate
actively in the missionary endeavors of the Church and in particular, the
CICM? What could be your concrete contribution for social
transformation?

Content – 20 points
Creativity - 10 points
Collaboration and Participation – 20 points
TOTAL : 50 POINTS
 The CICM statutes, drafted by a team led by Father
Theophile Verbist, were approved by Cardinal Engelbert
Sterckx, archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels (Belgium). The
site called ‘Scheut’ or ‘Scheutveld’, where the chapel of
Our-Lady-of-Grace and the CICM mother house (the later
Seminarium pro Sinis) were located, was situated in the
vicinity of Belgium’s capital city.
 Both in China and the Philippines, the CICM were known
as the ‘Belgian Fathers’. This is in spite of the fact that
Father Verbist had already at an early stage opened the
group for non-Belgian - especially Dutch – members, so
as to enlarge his field of recruitment of candidates for
the new mission.
 Today, CICM is active in limited projects, as in youth
apostolate and in a number of parishes, as the once
‘sending’ Belgian Church has become a ‘receiving’
Church, due to a lack of vocations for the priesthood and
the religious life. Secularized living and thinking –
resulting from scientific and technological progress,
material wealth, social welfare policies, and a critical-
liberal press.

 The attitude of a lot of people towards the Catholic

Church has also been adversely affected by scandals
and abuses involving priests or religious, while some
nurture resentment about the powerful social and
political role the Church has played in the past.
 In spite of the challenges this brings, CICM is still
actively present in the Belgian environment, as a
number of people are still feeling some form of religious
need. Even among young people, a good number admit
in private that they are praying, while some new
religious movements have proved to attract members
who hunger for allowing the transcendent into their
lives.
 The presence of several retirement houses for
missionaries who are enjoying a deserved rest in their
homeland from their former work ad extra in the Lord’s
vineyard, also needs to be mentioned when referring to
CICM in Belgium and the Netherlands.
 CICM Missionary Message
 Mission in the context of the contemporary world, more
than ever, is obviously a complex and difficult task. But
in spite of it all, the work of God's grace can always
find a way. Primarily, for the CICM missionaries, one
way is to heed their pledge to engage in inter-religious
dialogue.
 The CICM Constitutions declare: “We sincerely love and
respect the people to whom we are sent. We adopt a
listening attitude and try to gain knowledge and
understanding of their socio-economic, political, cultural
and religious realities. Aware that the Spirit has been at
work everywhere, we discern the evangelical values
present in these realities.”
Inspired by Christ and the CICM
missionaries, how can you participate
actively in the missionary endeavors
of the Church and in particular, the
CICM? What could be your concrete
contribution for social transformation?
CLOSING PRAYER