By Bishop Wenceslao S. Padilla CICM

Bishop Padilla is from Tubao, La Union. After working in Taiwan he was appointed to lead the first group of missionaries in modern times to Mongolia in 1992. He was ordained bishop in the then newly built Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, on 29 August 2003. The Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar was established on 8 July 2002 and covers the whole of Mongolia, which has a population of around 2,800,000 and a land area more than five times that of the Philippines. Bishop Padilla is the first bishop ever in Mongolia and the first Filipino to be appointed bishop of a jurisdiction outside of the Philippines. The Papal Nuncio to Mongolia, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, who is based in Korea, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Cebu. The two are not related.

Brief History

On 10 July 1992 a Church was born in the steppes of Central Asia. This happened when three missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) set foot on Mongolian soil. It felt like it was an adventure for the three male religious to spearhead a mission where the Church had no physical structures or members to call her own. From the start, to establish a Church from scratch was a scary endeavor, full of challenges and excitement as well.

Arriving when the Republic of Mongolia had just been liberated from the grip of Soviet Russia, the country was on its first faltering steps to stand on its own. The newly constituted government was trying to address the various problems and needs of the country and the people. It was somewhat chaotic in the public places as a hunger strike was being staged in front of the Parliament/Presidential building asking for the stepping down of the then Prime Minister. The one leading the demonstration was a fearless and committed advocate of democracy, now President of Mongolia, Mr Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.

First Contacts

Staying in rented apartments, we slowly found our way into the hearts of the Mongols by trying to be one with them experiencing the hardships and difficulties of life at that time. There was a scarcity of food and lack of commodities. Mongolia was a 'hardship country' according to many foreigners whom we met during the first days of our integration. Not long afterwards nonetheless, after having acquired more knowledge of the people and their way of life, and after learning a bit of their language, we became more confident in making contacts with the locals.

‘Come and See’ was then our adopted watchword for people to feel welcome and comfortable in associating with and getting close to us. Questions such as ‘Who are these foreigners?’ . . . ‘What do they do?’ . . . and ‘What are they in Mongolia for?’ were gradually answered when we started inviting and gathering people for liturgical celebrations, organizing catechism classes and doing social action activities.

The first years were periods of survival, adjustment and adaptation to the physical realities of the country and its people. For the trio, they were truly years of discernment, enculturation and primary evangelization . . . the first contacts of the institutional Church with people of other religious beliefs and convictions.

We didn't mind so much the challenging difficulties that befell us such as extremely harsh winters, the language barrier, the lack of commodities, the 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. Personally, I took all of these as positive aspects of mission life. Such conditions offered to us a challenge and an opportunity. We maintained a strong conviction that the God who called and sent us to Mongolia had already been present in the ordinary lives of our Mongolian brothers and sisters even before we arrived. This thought propelled us to grow in appreciation and understanding of the concrete realities of the country and its people.

A quick look at the Church in Mongolia today

Looking back on these first 20 years of the Catholic Church’s presence in Mongolia, we are glad to repeat with the psalmist: Indeed He did great things for us; how happy we were (Ps 126:3).

From the three pioneer missionaries, we now have 81 strong, from 22 different nationalities, and from 13 groups/religious congregations -- CICM, ICM, SPC, MC, Fidei Donum Clergy, SDB, CJ, IMC, MDC, FMA, INBO, Lay Volunteers and JLMM. (See ‘box’ below). And from a zero Catholic population, around 835 Mongolian brothers and sisters have now joined the Catholic fold through Christian initiation. Many more are being introduced to the Catholic faith and are served through different outreach programs of the missionaries.

With the significant increase of Church personnel (missionaries and local collaborators) pastoral, social, developmental, educational, humanitarian and charitable works keep evolving and continue to flourish. These projects are all geared towards uplifting the plight of poor people. The mission now prides itself on having four parishes and six sub-stations with social outreach services: two street children centers, a home for elderly men, two Montessori kindergarten schools, two primary schools, a center for handicapped children, a technical school, three libraries with study halls and computer facilities, a lady’s dormitory for university students that is equipped with a study hall and computer/internet facilities, youth activity centers, two agricultural farms with community building programs, an outpatient clinic with laboratory, a Mostaert Research Center, campus ministry, three soup kitchens, language programs, Caritas-Mongolia (with programs such as digging and restoring deep wells, home industry, sustainable agriculture, food security, preventing human trafficking, and doing relief services in the countryside), a retreat center, social centers with poverty alleviation programs, and scholarships for poor but deserving students from the cities and countryside.

This year, to boost the 20th anniversary of the Catholic Church Mission, one of the parish sub-stations, Mary Mother of Mercy, will be upgraded to parish status. The Prefecture’s Elementary School, the construction of which started construction two years ago, will also be inaugurated.

We too are glad that two young Mongolian men are now in one of South Korea’s major seminaries and studying at the Catholic University of Daejeon, pursuing their vocation to the priesthood.

With all these, we are now able to look to the future with much hope and confidence. With patience and determination we are resolved to reach out to more people not only to those who have already joined us in the faith but also to those who are served in our works, though not yet baptized.

A frustration, however, is creeping into the adolescent Church. Around 23 percent of the baptized are no longer frequenting Church liturgies. Some have already given up on the Church. Another 15 percent are abroad in pursuit of greener pastures. We hope that they are still practicing some sort of Christian life wherever they are.

Looking into the future with its challenges

Twenty years have passed. It’s now hard to trace back where we started. With the rapid metamorphosis/transformation of the society brought about by democracy and the market economy, Mongolia heads into a future unimaginable to previous generations. It is now in the limelight and caters to the greed of foreign investors due to its wealth in natural resources. Mining has boomed in recent years and is drawing a migration movement from the cities to the countryside. There is also an influx of foreign experts/workers building the infrastructures of the mining industry and doing the initial mining operations.

With the development brought about by this phenomenon, the standard of living of the people is reaching higher levels. The cost of living and the cost of commodities are reaching new levels. To cope with this situation, the people are allocated subsidies from the government that already takes considerable amounts from the investments tendered by the mining companies. As it were, the ‘not yet realized gains’ from the mining activities are already being used by the political authorities to share with the people. As a consequence, most of the government’s dividends from the profits of mining will most likely go back to the investors once the mining operations are fully developed and profitable.

The Catholic Church is very much affected by the trend of the present times. The challenges we have to encounter as a Church are tremendous. What’s happening might be beneficial to the people but to the detriment of the Catholic Church that seeks its support and sustenance from abroad. There is no local income as the Church is registered as a non-profit-making organization. This year’s increase of salaries by 53 percent also adds heavily to the Church’s financial burdens. It’s most likely that the missionaries will have to tighten their belts, let go of a good number of personnel or close down some of their projects.

Along with the above mentioned difficulties the Church faces is the much smaller foreign grants and donations to sustain its projects. The funding agencies, which are affected by the ongoing economic recession, can no longer give as much as in former years. Benefactors who hear or see the advertisements/propaganda about Mongolia’s rise to wealth are also giving less. With this new situation the Church has to hurdle greater obstacles to survive.

Another condition that the Church has to put up with is the revival of Shamanism, the culture-based religion of the people, propagating the worship of nature, and Tengerism (worship of the Blue Skies). People are again going back their ancient cultural customs and traditional beliefs because of a resurgence in these.

Finally, due to the need of numbers to run the mining operations, I surmise that with this new situation, there ought to be a shift in Church/mission strategies to help address the pressing needs of the people ushered in by the expected reverse migration from urban to rural areas.

Role of the Church: What can the Church offer to Mongolia today?

To be relevant, the Church has to look harder into the future adopting itself to the fast changing society propelled by democracy, the market economy, materialism and consumerism. To serve a people who have gone from being a nomadic pasturing community to being settlers in the cities and mining sites, with an augmented sedentary form of existence, the Church has to adopt new avenues of apostolate/ministries to carry out her evangelizing mission, the spread of the Gospel. In order to thrive the Church will need to concentrate on helping the people in preserving or acquiring the values of civilized living. This can be achieved, I believe, by inculcating human and Christian values and the discipline that goes with these.

We are crossing a threshold from the past twenty years where the Church has concentrated her efforts on social-developmental-humanitarian works. These still remain as involvements since many of the people, especially those in the countryside and the newly arrived migrants in the cities, are still struggling with their social and economic life due to the lack of social ethics and the bloated price of commodities. However, the pastoral and educational roles of Church have come of age.

I see that education with its varied ramifications has to be embraced. I believe that in whatever direction Mongolia and its people are going, a change in mentality from that of a nomadic/rural to a sedentary/urban way of life has to take place. This can only happen with the right attitudes and ways of behavior to be ushered in by proper learning. The Church propels herself in this respect by making a shift in her strategies and thinking of new paradigms in her evangelizing mission.

Meanwhile, we have to readily maintain our reputation as a welcoming Church and the defender of the poor, offering moral strength to the needy. In order to be credible and trustworthy agents of evangelization, the life-witness of her constituents must be consistent in their preaching and Christian way of life . . . witnessing to the Gospel and its values in word and deed.

By way of conclusion

I believe that this Church thrives with God's Spirit leading her. She survived the earlier and more difficult years of her existence through the dedication and commitment of the missionaries and their lay collaborators, and I know that she continues to grow with the ongoing endeavors of her pastoral agents and cooperators coupled with the generosity of philanthropic individuals and groups of other particular Churches all over the world. To our benefactors, we are indebted indeed! A grateful note of thanks to our supporters! Thanks and God Bless!

Moreover, a strong spirit of collaboration and organization, such as integrating our different congregational charisms in a common effort and with a common vision, is very much needed. The spirit of unity and communion among the missionaries is a must, as it is the best testimony we can offer/transmit to our Mongolian people. Also, the personal life of each of the pastoral agents is a powerful way of testifying to the Gospel. The words of Pope Paul VI are all the more true in our situation: ‘Men and women today listen more gladly to the witnesses than to the masters, and if they listen to masters, it is because they are witnesses’ (Evangelii Nuntiandi, § 41).

Equipped with her Pastoral Plan and Mission Vision, the Mongolian Mission moves onwards into the future, fully mindful of the ‘WE’ of the Church, the ‘we’ of the apostolic faith. Each one has a different task in the field of the Lord, but we are all God's fellow workers. This is valid for us today and in the future, for every Christian. We are all humble ministers of Jesus. We serve the Gospel in the measure that we can, according to our gifts, and we ask God to make His Good News and His Church Community develop today and in the time to come through US.

And so, beyond fulfilling our functions effectively, the real challenge of being true missionaries, called upon to help transform the lives of those we come in contact with, is our resolve to allow ourselves to be converted by God’s transforming WORD.

The website of the Catholic Church in Mongolia is here.

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Misyon has published articles on the Church in Mongolia in a number of previous issues.

Missionary Groups in Mongolia

CICM: Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
ICM: Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SPC: Sisters of St Paul of Chartres.
MC: Missionaries of Charity.
Fidei Donum Clergy.
SDB: Salesians of Don Bosco.
CJ: Congregation of Jesus.
IMC: Consolata Missionaries.
MDC.
FMA: Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco)
INBO: Congregation of Charity of the Blessed Sacrament.
Lay Volunteers.
JLMM: Japan Lay Missionary Movement.