INDIGENOUS CLERGY OF THE MISSIONS. - The specific purpose of the missions is to establish the Church in territories where it does not yet exist, endowing it with the means necessary for its further development. Hence the necessity of forming an indigenous clergy capable of governing the local church, that is, of a sufficient number of priests born in the country and in a position to exercise the ministry there, even if of a different language and race. The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide has insisted on this necessity from the very beginning. Fundamental reasons of method mean that the missionaries alone are insufficient for the work of conversion and assistance of the infidels, especially when the number of converts multiplies in a proportion greater than that of the missionaries. The indigenous people, on the other hand, also have a right to cultivate their own field and, being more acceptable as they are to their fellow countrymen, whose language they speak, they are also more suited to this. In moments of crisis they are moreover in a position to better ensure the life of the Church. The formation of the indigenous clergy has been one of the first concerns of the Apostles and later of the missionaries who through the centuries have labored for the conversion of unbelievers. Errors and deviations from the genuine thought of the Church, if they were not lacking, were chiefly due to a deficient evaluation of many elements and to prejudices proper to the time. As regards what constitutes the theological concept of the Church, no prejudice of nationality or race can stand in the way of the formation of an indigenous clergy.
Following the example of the ancient and medieval Church and the very teaching of the pontiffs, missionaries always aimed at educating the natives for the priesthood, even if not all the difficulties were always adequately overcome. Often the matter became necessary for want of immigrant personnel, but it was only in the second half of the 19th century that the formation of an indigenous clergy took on the development it has at present. There are native bishops in India, Indochina and China: in Japan all the Ordinaries are natives. The East Indies also has a bishop from the region. Australia and New Zealand are entirely independent of abroad. In Africa there are two native bishops and one native apostolic prefect. Native priests are everywhere fairly numerous and generally well trained. The number of Chinese priests is greater than that of foreigners: this is what made possible in 1946 the establishment of a regular hierarchy.
Various causes delayed in the past the formation of a more numerous indigenous clergy, and among these the lack in mission lands of an episcopate of adequate proportions. Ecclesiastical circumscriptions comprised until the last century immense territories, and this made the authority of the Ordinary nominal and fictitious for all that part which remained outside the radius of his material activity. Often there was not even an episcopate, at times because of the obstacles placed by the colonial powers. To these are added also the racial prejudices of European governments. In India the caste system and in China and Japan the difficulty of having young men equally masters of the local language and of the sacred sciences made the missionary work in those regions more arduous. The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, on the other hand, was not always in a position to provide adequately for the formation of an indigenous clergy for lack of impartial and timely information. Everything was finally made more difficult by the primitive state of transport and postal services, nor were there yet direct representatives such as today's apostolic delegates and nuncios.
Modern progress has eliminated many of these causes: territories are proportionate to the radius of the effective influence of the Ordinaries, and the seminaries are fairly numerous. Other difficulties remain, however, which only the education of peoples will be able gradually to eliminate. Constancy and perseverance in one's vocation, with all the obligations inherent in it and especially that of celibacy, can at times find an obstacle in the temperament of certain populations. In such cases the difficulty can be overcome only with a suitable moral and spiritual education. In countries with a mixed population, as in Africa, a particular obstacle is constituted by racial prejudice, but this too will be overcome by the principles of Christian brotherhood. The indigenous clergy must have the same moral and intellectual formation universally required of all the clergy. It is subject, without exception, to the norms of canon law, so as to be rendered capable of all hierarchical offices.
As for the question whether the indigenous clergy should be religious or secular, the pontifical documents prescribe the formation of both kinds. In dioceses of common law secular priests are generally in charge of them, occupying almost all the offices directed to the care of souls, and missionaries, though in the great majority religious, are obliged to promote proportionately the development of the two clergies. Where the best elements were attracted to the religious life, the secular clergy would find itself in a condition of inferiority, which would make vocations more difficult and the work of organizing the Church more arduous, because of the difficulty that would ensue of finding parish priests, school directors, seminary teachers and the other priests destined for the higher offices of the hierarchical order. The indigenous clergy must be directed toward all posts and must not be left on the margins of the mission, avoiding situations proper to certain missions, in which the entire indigenous clergy is religious. For this reason the Holy See has established various prescriptions, which limit to young men of the missions free entry into religious institutes. - See Pl. CXXI.
