SECRETARIAT FOR THE APOSTOLATE
This secretariat is intended to help the Order, to be ever more attentive to the Lord’s mandate to proclaim the Gospel to all people and throughout the world. We are a missionary Order and we cannot neglect this characteristic. This Secretariat needs to be attentive to our many realities of evangelization and missionary work and thus contribute to the general government of the Order with suggestions that can be helpful for the appropriate and timely animation of the Trinitarian apostolate in the world, always keeping in mind our charismatic values.
Program of the General Secretariat for the Apostolate 2019-2025
At the outset of our pastoral ministry in the Church and within the Order, we wish to first recall the renowned dream that our Capitulars envisioned as priorities during this sextennium period.:
«Becoming ever more “the House of the Most Holy Trinity” where the Family grows in unity and identity, without complexes, engaging with joy and strength in the redemptive mission».
How can we realize this project in our redemptive mission today according to the spirit of the Order? First, our legislation provides for the possibility of applying our charism in various ways:
“Our Order is available for the manifold work of the apostolate and for the various initiatives of the Church’s pastoral task” (Cost. 72).
Historically, our Order was born in the Church and offers service to the Church through the various apostolic works in conformity with its own charism. By definition, the apostolate is the specific work or occupation of the apostle; of someone who follows the steps of the apostles in the Church, precisely acting like them and therefore according to the objectives for which they themselves were constituted in the Church by Jesus: to evangelize.
The perfect model for us Trinitarians in the work of evangelization is Jesus. We follow in his footsteps. For this reason, the Trinitarian shares in the merciful redeeming love of the Triune God through the “Redeeming Charity” which is the soul of the entire apostolate of the Order. Today, the Order can embody its apostolic mission through a plurality of works.
The various jurisdictions, considering the conditions of the places and keeping in mind the norms of the Order and of the local Churches, define how this apostolate must be exercised (cf. Cost 70).
THE REDEMPTIVE MISSION OF THE TRINITARIANS IN THE MODERN WORLD
Introduction
The “Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives” (The Trinitarians) is a religious community founded by Saint John de Matha (1150–1213). It has its own Rule, which was approved by Pope Innocent III on December 17, 1198, through the papal bull Operante divine dispositionis. This approval formally recognized the Order and its Rule throughout the Christian world. The Order was later reformed by Saint John Baptist of the Conception (1561–1613) in 1599, and the reform was approved by Pope Clement VIII.
A meeting, organized by the Secretariat for the Apostolate of the Order of the Holy Trinity, was held in the Trinitarian Community of Salamanca from 6 to 8 February among the Trinitarians engaged in Pastoral Penitentiary at an international level. It was of great benefit to share such rich and varied experiences from so many parts of the world and to outline the Trinitarian charismatic spirit that animates us in our mission with people deprived of freedom, thus realizing the motto of our charism: “Glory to you Trinity and freedom to captives“.
Mission Ad Gentes
“Since thewhole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is the fundamental duty of the People of God,” our Order also fulfills this duty in a direct form in the mission lands themselves; which, in truth, responds to our spirit, heritage and tradition. In the missions, in fact, the Order promotes the redemption of people, exercises works of charity and apostolate, builds, through baptism, new temples and shrines of the Trinity” (CC No. 71).
Compare also G.D. no. 89-94
Mission lands where Trinitarians work: Egypt, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Brazil, India, Congo-Brazaville, Gabon, Madagascar. Responsible for the missionary apostolate is Fr. Luigi Buccarello, General Minister.
COUNSELOR
Maximilien Daudet Tsirahonandresy Maherisoa (Madagascar),
President of the Secretariat for the Apostolate.
E-mail: apostolato@trinitari.org