Defining Mission: Comboni Missionaries in North America (review)

The birth of the nation of Ghana in 1957 marked the beginning of the achievement of independence for the nations of Africa and an end to colonial imperial rule. With it came the revisiting of the ecclesial question of the role of a missionary. But for the Comboni Missionaries to Africa (also known as the Verona Fathers, since their headquarters were in Verona, Italy), the challenge to their service in the Churches of Africa came from the European political conflicts sparked by Hitler twenty years earlier. The Africa in which they served was ruled by England and France, the new wartime enemies of Italy.

Dr. Patricia Durchholz's Defining Mission reveals the pressures and the paroles of the congregation as it struggles to maintain its vocational commitment to serve the people of Africa. The missionaries sought English-speaking non-Italian vocations to work in Africa, thus maintaining the charism of the society. Their strategy brought them to the shores of the United States in 1939. On the one hand, their dedication made them a valuable asset to certain bishops, but on the other hand, their life-style and their successes challenged the Comboni traditions and made them subject to the ridicule of being "unfaithful to the rule" in the eyes of their confreres.

As a student of American Catholic history, I find that Durchholz's investigation brings to light another challenge to the spiritual strength and morale of the new Italian religious immigrants, which is rarely recorded in the American Catholic experience. The Comboni came to work among the Negroes and Native Americans of the United States. In the Mid-West they were "caught between the biases of Whites and the needs of Blacks, [thus] they could find the truth difficult to discern in the undercurrents of racial politics." Contrary to ministry to American people of color, their work in Africa had taught them the importance of utilizing the talents of the people with whom they worked. In the west, they were unaware of the "heritage of violence" which had devastated the Native Americans for over two hundred years. Thus the ambivalence on the part of the Native American community was confusing.

In each new situation, Dr. Durchholz enlightens the reader on the specific historical context into which the Comboni Fathers are called to serve. The text offers penetrating pastoral insights, especially, given the pressures brought to bear by the society's desire for more vocations and funds for the missions and the desire of those Comboni priests in the United States for better pastoral service to their parishioners. Due to the author's keen sense of the positive qualities of each Comboni missionary, one comes away with a sense of having met each of the major players personally. Yet she does not overlook their failings. She is forthright and honest in her review of their history, of their painful internal struggles after Vatican Council II. Their staggering renewal of the spirit, vision, and life of the community in a North American context leads the Catholic reader to recall his own journey through those years of change.

Durchholz offers us a balanced and perceptive presentation of an immigrant religious community caught in the Church's ambivalence and occasional hostility regarding its service to its people of color. Yet in unexpected ways, they come to reaffirm that the job of missionaries is to work themselves out of a job.