A Call for Unity in the Church - Path to Rome Mexico

Inside the cover of this year’s Path to Rome Conference program are the words of the Byzantine Catholic Liturgy, “We worship the undivided Trinity for having saved us.” This year’s Path to Rome Conference in Mexico City brought together a variety of testimonies of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and countries to show that despite its diversity, the Church is still one, united in worship of the Holy Trinity.

Path to Rome 2007 was a milestone in the conference series. The Conference in Mexico City kicked off a new phase in Miles Jesu’s Continuity Movement, an apostolate for re-evangelization, drawing a contingent of interested listeners from Mexico who filled out the crowd of around seven hundred people, including participants from the United States, Europe, and Puerto Rico. The Conference was also a chance for attendees to draw closer to the unity of the Church, deepen their relationship with God, and be inspired to evangelize.

Providing the opening address, the Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, told the conference attendees, “In our times, the tyranny of subjectivism, of rationalism constitutes a weight to our profession of faith in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. In this context an initiative, like the Path to Rome Conference, is an inducement to rise up-above all subjectivism and all division. This valuable and opportune initiative is certainly a contribution to the work for the unity of the Church.”

Inspired to Evangelize
The speakers gave powerful encouragement for their listeners to. Two former Protestant missionaries to Latin America, Martin and Kristine Franklin, were particularly effective. “It is Our Mother the Catholic Church—only in She can we find the Truth,” Mr. Franklin said. All through his testimony, he showed his love for the teachings of the Church, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church often, and demonstrating how in reading its words he recognized the words and the authority of Christ. In reading the Catechism, the Franklins “found the true and intact Gospel in the last place we looked for...Every single one of our questions was answered fully, biblically, philosophically, and beautifully,” stated Mrs. Franklin. The Franklins exhorted those listening to love the truth and to spread it. “We have the true Gospel. Let us take on the work of spreading this Gospel,” Mr. Franklin said.

Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, repeated this message, saying that, “It’s time to evangelize—not tomorrow, not the next day, but today.” Miguel Rivera, a former Jehovah’s Witness, demonstrated how the Church, in contrast to the Witnesses, is consistent in Her beliefs. He, and another former Witness, Carlos Cordoba, encouraged those listening to not be afraid to defend the Catholic Faith against those who would attack it. Founder of the Pope John Paul II School of Evangelization, Victor Claveau, gave listeners tips in an evangelization workshop. The speakers as a whole motivated those attending the Conference to give their faith away through evangelizing in order to live that faith more fully.

During the Conference Mile Jesu members encouraged attendees to join the Continuity Movement through local, regional, and national groups. Through their involvement in the Movement, Mexican laity will help to fortify the Catholic Faith and evangelize the continent anew. The movement is already active in Great Britain—where it was founded—in the United States and in mainland Europe.

“It’s not easy to evangelize,” Eneida Marty, from Puerto Rico said. Though discouraged by those who attack the Church, Marty remarked on how Miles Jesu strengthened her through the Path to Rome Conference. “Miles Jesu is doing something very good with this Conference,” Marty said. “The news always tells bad things about the Church, and to hear some good things is something very good. When one hears these things they are animated in the Faith and in the work of the Church.” Many others at the Conference shared Marty’s sentiments; they also shared in the encouragement and light they received from the speakers to carry out the work of the “New Evangelization” by re-evangelizing ourselves and our neighbor.

Susan Wheadon from Somerset, England said that the Conference encouraged her to evangelize more when she returns home. “It takes courage, especially with the morals of our culture, to stand up. England is a Christian society, but it’s becoming more secularized,” Wheadon said. “That’s why it’s good to come to a conference like this, because it shows you that you can evangelize even though it’s in a small way.”

Becoming Better Followers of Christ
Another major aspect of the Conference was promoting Christian discipleship, striving to deepen attendees’ relationships with Jesus and Mary. “The mission cannot be separated from discipleship,” Bishop Vann said at the Conference. Before a Christian uses words, he or she must evangelize with the example of his or her life.

Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos linked faith to a relationship with Christ. “Faith is not intellectual assent. It is about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Today, Catholics may not be asked for their blood, but for their faith,” Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos said. “Now, more than ever, we are in need of Catholics who show they belong to the Church. We need Catholics to give a reason for the hope they have to build a real Path to Rome.”

The Cardinal also spoke about the need for holiness among the members of the Church in order to reach the world. “The Church has a true, but imperfect, holiness. This is true because the Church still needs to reach out to its members,” Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos said. “Each of you is like a tablet of yeast in the world, so that from our smallness we can give this gift [of holiness] away.”

Miles Jesu’s new General Director, Very Rev. Mark Gelis, MJ, animated those attending the Conference to strive to be saints. “God has a place for everyone, and wants everyone to be with Him in Heaven. This is the purpose of Miles Jesu,” Fr. Gelis said. “Love Jesus, love Mary in order to be a saint. This must be our goal—to be saints. Miles Jesu wants to inflame love for Jesus and Mary and the Church.”

The Conference not only featured inspiring testimonies, but also offered the opportunity for attendees to deepen their relationship with God through daily Mass, confession and spiritual direction, and visits to the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel. Through Path to Rome 2000 in Rome, God gave Adela del Coro from Puerto Rico a greater respect and love for the Holy Eucharist. At this year’s Conference, also, she received many graces, especially through the daily Masses. “The daily Masses [affected me the most]. I’m not accustomed to daily Mass. These days are like a retreat,” del Coro said. “It is like an injection of faith.”Wheadon, who was encouraged by Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos’ talk the most, related her day to day experience in England. “When people see me and i’m joyful, they ask me why,” Wheadon said. “And i say that i’m joyful because of Jesus Christ.”

The Church as Family
Above all, the Path to Rome Conference demonstrated that the Church is a family, with Christ as its Head. The Church united as a family remains strong, attracting hundreds of thousands of new members each year in the United States alone.

The speakers encouraged those attending the Conference to work and pray for unity in the Church. Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, spoke about the importance of preserving liturgical norms because they are the method the Church uses to protect and transmit the Faith of the Apostles. And Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos reiterated the same message of unity. “The Church proclaims that it is one Church, that it is unified. Christ is one, yet we’re really far from the unity of Christians,” Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos said. “We need to pray, but we need to work to construct this unity through the link of love.”

Fr. Gelis spoke more about the purpose of Miles Jesu, saying that it is “to carry the message that the Church is the family where one can have friendship with God, love Christ, and reach Heaven.” The Conference showed that the Church’s mission is to foster unity in the world. To this end, each speaker demonstrated his or her love for the Faith and obedience to the Holy Father. In her testimony, Kristine Franklin remarked on the disunity in belief of the other missionaries she had worked with while in Guatemala. Only in the Catholic Church did she find a unity of belief, as well as the truth. “The truth does not depend upon our opinions or beliefs. The truth is absolute and the same for everyone,” Mrs. Franklin said. “Opinion is not important. What we need is the truth...I wanted the doctrine given to us from God, not just opinion.”

The Conference as a whole was an opportunity to celebrate the Catholic Faith. During a time when all sides attack the Church, the Holy Spirit inspired the creation of the Path to Rome Conference Series as both a consolation to believers and a remedy to the various attacks. The 2007 Conference inspired such believers to fall more in love with the Church and to be evangelizers, bringing more members into the one family of the Church. As Fr. Gelis said to the crowd of attendees of this year’s Conference, “the ultimate end of Path to Rome is that we would love the Church.”

The Conference not only showed, through the testimonies of the speakers, the unity of the Church, but also Miles Jesu’s family spirit. “The Faith connects. It feels like a family. It validates me more as a human being to be with people who seem like instant family. It transcends any language barrier, any occupation barrier,” Linda Laugharn from California said.

“[Next year] I’d like to bring my sister-in-law’s family—to come as a family, bringing my own family, to be a part of this bigger family.”

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