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Abstract/Sommario: The earliest recorded entry of Christians into Nepal was the visit of a Jesuit priest, f. Cabral in 1628. Capuchin monks were given permission by the Malla ruler to reside in the Kathmandu valley in 1715, but they were forced to leave in 1769. For almost two centuries Nepal was totally closed to any Christian presence. The revolution in 1951 was a turning point in the country's development and its openness to the outside world. From just a single secret Christian residing in Nepal in ...; [Leggi tutto...] The earliest recorded entry of Christians into Nepal was the visit of a Jesuit priest, f. Cabral in 1628. Capuchin monks were given permission by the Malla ruler to reside in the Kathmandu valley in 1715, but they were forced to leave in 1769. For almost two centuries Nepal was totally closed to any Christian presence. The revolution in 1951 was a turning point in the country's development and its openness to the outside world. From just a single secret Christian residing in Nepal in 1951, the number of Nepali Christians grew to 40,000 baptized believers in 1990 and increased more rapidly since then. The most comprehensive survey of churches and Christians in Nepal was conducted by the Nepal Research and Resource Network. Begun in 2001 with result published in 2007, the survey showed a total of 2,799 churches and 274,462 baptized church members (1.5% of Nepal's population). Protestant missions began the Eastern Hymalayan Mission in 1870; another group was the Australian Nepalese Mission (ANM) which began its Nepalese activity in 1917 near Nepal Border, at Bihar. A third group was the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, along with the Raxaul Medical Mission; both worked in Bihar. When King Tribhuvan opened Nepal's borders in 1951, three different missionary groups converged to contribute to the formation of the Church in Nepal. The first group was conducted by a Jesuit priest previously working in Patna, who established St. Xavier's school on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley in 1951. In 1952 the Evangelists established an hospital in Pokhara, the ' Shining Hospital'. The United Mission to Nepal came about in 1954. At the end of the 1950s there were persecutions against Christians. In the 1960s Government restrictions ensured that church and mission remained officially distinct and that evangelistic activity was done only by Nepalis. From 1990 the Constitution allows freedom of faith

Abstract/Sommario: Ignace Partui was an Iroquois story teller and voyageur, whose commitment to the Christian faith sparked the interest of the Salish Indian nation years before any European missionaries had ventured into the Great Plains. Sometime around 1816 24 Iroquois fur-trappers came to settle among the Flathead Salish in present days South Montana, under the auspices of the North West Company. They were led by Ignace Partui, reputed for being honest and gentle. Although little is known about his e ...; [Leggi tutto...] Ignace Partui was an Iroquois story teller and voyageur, whose commitment to the Christian faith sparked the interest of the Salish Indian nation years before any European missionaries had ventured into the Great Plains. Sometime around 1816 24 Iroquois fur-trappers came to settle among the Flathead Salish in present days South Montana, under the auspices of the North West Company. They were led by Ignace Partui, reputed for being honest and gentle. Although little is known about his early years, he became known among the Salish for the wealth of stories he would recall from his childhood spent in the Jesuit village of Caughnawaga near Montreal, stories about God, the beautiful ceremonies and the black-robed teachers who taught him those stories. Motivated by Ignace's stories the Salish tribes choosed six people to make journey to St. Louis, to take contact with the 'Black Robes' living there. Unfortunately they died, not before having reached St. Louis and contacting the 'Black Robes'. Meanwhile, Big Ignace made plans to take his sons to St. Louis to be baptized. In 1835 they arrived at the Jesuit seminary and Ignace's sons were baptized. But t was only in 1840 that the first Jesuit priest, fr De Smet could meet the Salish and in 1841 he returned to their camps with five Jesuit companions. They lived among the tribes, converting them to Christian faith and establishing the St. Mary's Mission. Although great diseases changed the life of the Salish Flathead and in 1850, following some devastating enemy raids, the Jesuit decided to abandon the mission, the faith still continued to live throughout the Salish nation. The Caoeur d'Alène tribe still hosts an annual pilgrimage on August 15 at the Catholic mission to celebrate their cultural heritage

Abstract/Sommario: Born in 1926 in Vienna to a Croatian father and a Jewish mother, Illich earned master's degrees in theology and philosophy. After Pius 12. and John23. had called for a major program of aid to Latin America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Catholic bishops in the United States organized a Latin America Bureau in their organization, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and began a serious missionary effort in Latin America. Illich was chosen to train these missionaries, due to ...; [Leggi tutto...] Born in 1926 in Vienna to a Croatian father and a Jewish mother, Illich earned master's degrees in theology and philosophy. After Pius 12. and John23. had called for a major program of aid to Latin America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Catholic bishops in the United States organized a Latin America Bureau in their organization, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and began a serious missionary effort in Latin America. Illich was chosen to train these missionaries, due to his previous work amongst Puerto Rican immigrants in New York. Cardinal Francis Spellman greatly appreciated Illich's effort with the Puerto Rican community and gave him the title of monsignor, and then gave him the position of vice-rector of a catholic university in Puerto Rico itself. While spending most of the 1960s and 1970s in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Illich became a prolific social critic. As Illich prepared his missionary training centre in the spring of 1961, he understood that two Popes had called for massive aid to Latin America, but he believed that missionary work by Americans for Latin Americans would be harmful for both groups. He affirmed the mystical nature of missionary service, especially its connection to Christ's incarnation through suffering; but he spent much of his time drawing out the dangers of faulty missionary preparation. In the end, the Author argues, Illich and his Centre played a major role in the failure of the Catholic missionary initiative in Latin America. As his centre attracted more and more negative attention, in 1968 Illich was summoned to Rome for a trial by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Although he was not convicted for heresy, Illich renounced his priestly powers and privileges in 1969. But he never saw his projects as anti-Church or anti-Christianity. In "Mission and Midwifery", a speech to other missionary training directors in 1964, he spoke insightfully about mission as " the growth of the Church into new peoples" and "the interpretation of the Word of God through its expression in ever new languages, in ever new translation"

Abstract/Sommario: The article shows how Christian witness on cultural-religious frontiers rises fresh questions about bewelderingly complex and constantly evolving issues of contextualization and syncretism in predominantly Hindu and Muslim societies. The Author's esperience in Bangladesh