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CICM Missionaries: Modern Martyrs and Leaders

1) Father Pacificador Laranang drowned under suspicious circumstances in Guatemala in 1984, demonstrating that martyrdom can occur in modern times. 2) Bishop Wenceslao Padilla led the Catholic mission in Mongolia starting in 1992, which had to build the church from nearly nothing as Christianity was new to Mongolia. 3) As progress was slow at first, Bishop Padilla and his team managed to baptize hundreds by practicing an approach of "come and see" without proselytizing.

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Mhara Chris Balinte
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210 views1 page

CICM Missionaries: Modern Martyrs and Leaders

1) Father Pacificador Laranang drowned under suspicious circumstances in Guatemala in 1984, demonstrating that martyrdom can occur in modern times. 2) Bishop Wenceslao Padilla led the Catholic mission in Mongolia starting in 1992, which had to build the church from nearly nothing as Christianity was new to Mongolia. 3) As progress was slow at first, Bishop Padilla and his team managed to baptize hundreds by practicing an approach of "come and see" without proselytizing.

Uploaded by

Mhara Chris Balinte
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Father Pacificador Laranang drowned under rather suspicious circumstances along Guatemala’s Pacific coast

in 1984. Martyrdom is not just something of the remote past but can occur in recent times as well. (b)The
CICM missionary as church leader: Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, Bishop William Brasseur, and others Not all
CICM ‘heroes’ were martyrs. We have already encountered the example of bishop Wenceslao Padilla (Ulaan-
Baatar, 2002-2018). Let’s refresh our memory: The mission in Mongolia started on July 10, 1992, when three
CICM confreres, the Reverend Fathers Robert Goessens, Wenceslao Padilla, and Gilbert Sales (SLU President
since 2015) - arrived in that North Asian country, after pope John Paul II, through the Propaganda Fide, had
sent them to establish the Catholic Church community there. Evangelization in Mongolia almost had to start
from zero. The pioneers’ position was not totally unlike that of the CICM founder, Father Théophile Verbist,
who could only rely on a very elementary church structure when they arrived in the vast Chinese part of
Mongolia in 1865, dedicating themselves to the conversion of the infidels, the preaching of the faith to the
Chinese and the salvation of the many abandoned infants. The CICM missionaries of 1992 also had to adjust
to the harsh climate, the scarce and different food; they had to learn something of the different language of
the locals, as they were dealing with non-Christian religious conservatism as well as indifference among the
locals. As Christian missionaries, they also had to deal with the sometimes “aggressive” missionary methods
of their non-Catholic counterparts. Even as progress was very slow in the beginning of the 1992 missionary
drive, bishop ‘Wens’ and his team managed to baptize several hundreds of Mongolians “without
proselytizing”, “come and see” being their main slogan. Bishop ‘Wens’ described his sentiments as follows: “I
didn’t mind the difficulties: extremely harsh winters; language barrier; lack of material comforts; strong
religious affiliations of the people to Buddhism, Shamanism, and Islam; the presence of other Christian
denominations and sects; and the absence of Church structures and local Catholic believers. I took all of
these as positive ingredients of mission life. I had a very strong conviction that the God who called had
already been present in the ordinary lives of the Mongolian brothers and sisters even before we arrived.
Thus, I just had to grow in spirituality, so I would understand the beliefs and practices of the prevailing
religions, and in wisdom, in order to learn more about the country and its people.” Father ‘Wens’ knew that –
today more than ever – missionary work is a complex and difficult task, that requires huge amounts of
patience, tactful communication, and well-considered, selective use of local cultural elements to make the
Christian message better understood and appreciated by the population. He

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