Evangelical availability: A contemporary Spiritan theology and spirituality of mission in the light of Spiritan living tradition

Evangelical availability which remains attentive to the Holy Spirit manifesting itself in the concrete situation of life is how Henry Koren, a Spiritan, describes the driving force of the spirituality of Spiritan founders: Claude Francis Poullart des Places (1679--1709) and Francis Mary Paul Libermann (1802--1852) and their followers. The thesis being argued in this dissertation is that evangelical availability that is docile to the Holy Spirit is not only the best way to describe the Spiritan "lived spirituality" that is faithful to the "spirit" of Spiritan founders but that it is also a perspective of mission that can best guide contemporary Spiritans in the complex terrain of mission today and indeed offer to the Christian world a major insight into contemporary mission. The dissertation emphasizes that evangelical availability is a dynamic kind of spirituality that possesses great potentiality and universal applicability to help the Christian faithful of any organization or denomination revitalize his/her spirit of Christian discipleship.; The perspective of evangelical availability emphasizes the great need for the missionary of continuous discernment of the signs of the times and to follow the lead of the Spirit who is continuously speaking through the events of history and the cries of the poor and neglected of our day. This is why part one of this dissertation composed of chapters one and two takes a candid look at the contexts of contemporary mission and the current trends in mission theology and spirituality. The contexts examined include the demographic shift in world Christianity and its implications for mission, globalization and its challenges to mission, the challenge of Islam, and a series of disturbing issues facing Christian mission especially in Africa (poverty, climate change and global warming, HIV/AIDS, refugees and internally displaced peoples, mystical power and the evil of witchcraft). It is emphasized in this study that when the contexts of mission change, the direction of mission must also change so that the missionary will not be speaking to the dead or the past but real issues of the day. Mission understood as a Missio Dei must be about the service of God's reign, proclaimed in "prophetic dialogue" and in "bold humility." It must also attend to the ministry of reconciliation, healing and peace-making especially in the fragile and broken world of today.; It is from the life-story and spirituality of Spiritan founders discussed in part two of the dissertation that one understands clearly how the perspective of evangelical availability is their special insight to Christian discipleship--the charism offered to their followers. Being a priest for Poullart des Places was an evangelical availability in obedience to the Spirit for the service of the poor and abandoned in voluntary poverty. For Libermann, a convert from Judaism, a Spiritan is above all an apostle, walking in the footsteps of Jesus and the Twelve; and the apostolic virtue par excellence is "availability"--an availability which means an openness to the events of the country where the missionary serves and the changing situations of a church in the process of growth. It also means a reaching out to others and acceptance of them as different, an openness to other cultures that will lead us to the ends of the earth. The images of availability and docility to the Spirit found in Libermann's writings, insist that a Spiritan must be like a child who expects everything from his mother; clay in the hands of the potter, a statue in the hands of the sculptor and a light feather at the whim of the wind. Fidelity to the charism of Spiritan founders implies that spiritans must embrace freedom, flexibility and openness to change.; Part three of the dissertation discusses the emphasis of a new theology and spirituality of mission that has emerged since Vatican II calling all religious and missionary groups in the Church to continuous renewal in the light of...