Opera Omnia

INSTRUCTION VI
THE PUBLISHING APOSTOLATE
True preaching

When we speak of our apostolate we are referring to a true mission, one that can be called preaching God's word with technical means by means of publishing. It is

to oppose the arms of evil with the weapons of truth.
Publishing is an acquisition of progress; it is the use of the modern means which are God's gifts, ordained to his glory and for the salvation of people's souls (Pius XI). It is the announcement of the good news, of the truth; it is thus true evangelization.
Evangelization to be carried out in every age and every place, in accordance with God's command: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation [Mk 16:15]. As all are called to salvation so all must know the truths revealed by God, the precepts to be observed and the means of grace in order to reach their objective.
Just as oral preaching spreads the Gospel so does preaching in its written or imprinted form. It multiplies it; its reach is all-pervasive. God himself gave us his word preached orally and he gave it to us in seventy-two books of the Scripture. The Church in every age has worked in the same way: Popes, bishops, priests speak and write.

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Art. 180. In order to render our vocation sure in the exercise of the apostolate, we should diligently promote literary, scientific, and theological studies in the Society, together with an appropriate training in the technical arts for the special works of the apostolate.
Art. 181. In fostering these studies, the members should take care to observe ever more the mind of the Church, and to adhere continually to its directives and

precepts regarding the selection of subjects, the time and schedule of studies, as well as the sources whence true and sound doctrine and culture can be more safely and fruitfully drawn.
Art. 182. Care shall be taken that in learning, as well as in teaching, studies be always directed and cultivated in a way that Jesus Christ, Our Divine Master, Who is the Truth, the Way and the Life, be ever more known and understood by us, and that Christ be more completely formed in our mind, will, and heart. Thus we shall become skilful masters of souls, because we have been, first, humble and diligent disciples of Christ.
Art. 183. From their early years all future members are to be prepared by the Congregation in its own houses of study, where the Aspirants are to be trained appropriately for their vocation. Consequently, the Society must have its own houses of study thoroughly equipped not only for philosophical and theological studies, but also for the secondary courses in humanities, as it is called - four years of high school, and two years of college.
Art. 184. Much care shall be taken that our pupils be formed in a true spirit of piety, along with their intellectual training, so that they may become worthy laborers in Our Lord's vineyard.

All are called to the apostolate

The official mission of evangelization was entrusted by the Divine Teacher to the priest. After Jesus Christ had passed a whole night in prayer

he called the crowd and from them he chose the Twelve whom he called Apostles.
Linked to this official mission is another which is subordinate, complementary, universal, and regulated by the Church. It is that of the lay brothers; just as Jesus chose seventy-two disciples.
In reality unusquisque mandavit Deus de proximo suo,¹ but in varying degrees. Confirmation complements Baptism; through it the Christian becomes also a soldier. Not all citizens are soldiers - only those who have the necessary age, health and strength. Confirmation confers the gift and virtue of fortitude. With the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles who were at first such timid men, were filled with light, grace and zeal; so much so as to make a generous start on the apostolate. Although they were flogged they showed themselves happy to have suffered something for Jesus Christ. In Confirmation the Holy Spirit infuses love of neighbor; thus it is also called the sacrament of the apostolate.
Every true Christian is a part and member of the Mystical Body; now in the material body every member loves the others; and if one member suffers, the others contribute to the well-being of the whole.
Parents, teachers, members of Catholic Associations contribute to the well-being of all, faithful and non-faithful. Catholic Action is sharing in the Church's hierarchical apostolate: Apostolate of the Sea, Protection of Young Women, Work of Saint Vincent de Paul, Propagation of the Faith, Salesian or Pauline Cooperators; all these have an apostolate to undertake especially when they are free from other duties.

The task of Paulines

There are religious Institutes of lay Brothers who carry out an apostolate as an ordinary duty and function of their Order or Congregation. Example: the Christian Brothers, the Camillians, and so on.
There are religious Institutes made up of priests and brothers. Example: the Capuchins, where priests and ordinary Religious have a life in common; but the priests carry out their ministry; the lay brothers instead are employed in ordinary jobs or services like ordinary Christians. For example, friar porters, sacristans, beggars, and so on.
There are religious Institutes which are dedicated to the missions: the work is common to both priests and brothers, but it is clearly distinct, because the former carry out a mission of preaching, confessing, celebrating, and so on, while the latter assist the sick, build churches and schools, teach catechism and carry out all the services needed in a mission situation.
The Pauline Institute instead is quite different, and it has a net superiority: priest and brother compete to fulfil the same publishing apostolate. This, in fact, has three parts: editorial, technical, and distribution; but the three parts form one sole apostolate. Here the first part, that is, the editorial, is characteristic of the priest; the second and the third, that is, the technical and the distribution stages, are characteristic of the Brother. Priest and Brother together, linked in this publishing apostolate merit the name of Apostles. Contrariwise, the writer does not carry out the Pauline apostolate on his own; if he does he is simply a writer. The Brother without the priest writer is an ordinary worker, even if he produces with technical means what is truly good.

What does the Brother increase and multiply with technical means, or distribute through promotion? The same that the priest gives: dogma, morals and worship. The mission entrusted to the Apostles was announced with the words: Preach, teach what I have commanded you, baptize [cf. Mt 28:19-20]. A Brother, therefore, who constitutes and carries out with the priest a mission that is one and the same; he is raised up to the regale sacerdotium;² in the Christian order it is the highest that he can reach; he cannot go beyond that.

Editorial, technical, distribution stages

Forms of the apostolate are the press, cinema, radio, television, discs, and so on. These various forms of the publishing apostolate are always carried out with the three parts linked: editorial, technical, distribution.
In the editorial part there is a range of subjects, from the Parish Bulletin to the Treatise on Moral and Ascetical Theology. The former requires a good understanding of the language, basic principles and the needs of people; the latter requires knowledge in proportion to the subject, and assured competency. There is a wide gulf between one and the other.
If, at present, the Pious Society of Saint Paul uses two thousand quintals of paper a week, more than half of it is due to the editorial work of our writers.
There are translations and updatings.
There are catechisms for children and for adults.
There are school books for sacred and secular subjects.
There are books on science, liturgy, literature, fiction, and so on.

The editorial stage of film-making requires the study of the subject and scene-setting; radio requires the study and drafting of what you want to broadcast; television requires combined studies, that is, the needs of both film-making and the needs of radio.
The spoken word has the advantage of penetrating the mind more easily. The written word has the advantage of being better thought out, better preserved, more readily multiplied into other copies.

The Lord said: Write…

The Lord said to Moses: Write this as a memorial in a book (Ex 17:14), that is, the victory over the Amalekites and the miracle of the water that sprung from the rock.
Then the Lord wanted written down the covenant binding on him, Moses and Israel: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel [Ex 34:27].
God gave Moses his Law written on two tablets of stone [cf. Ex 24:4f; Deut 4:13].
God ordered Moses to write. Among the remembrances and the prescriptions to be observed in the future: And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in charge of the Levitical priests (Deut 17:18).
Moses wrote the Law of the Lord and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant (Deut 31:9). Then he commanded that every seven years it should be read to the people in their hearing: that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law (Deut 31:12).
After the death of Moses God spoke to Joshua: This book of the Law (written by Moses) shall not depart

out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it… and then you shall have good success (Josh 1:8).
In the book of Ezra-Nehemiah (Neh 8:2-8) is a description of the solemn reading of God's Law in the square, before the Water Gate, by Ezra the scribe at the behest of Nehemiah.
God said to Isaiah (8:1): Take a large tablet and write upon it in common characters…. Again God orders Isaiah (30:8): And now, go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever….
Jeremiah receives an order from the Lord: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you (30:2).
Again (36:2) another order: Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you until today.
As Jeremiah dictated Baruch wrote everything down.
But King Jehoiakim burned the book because it announced punishments for him and the people. So God gave this order to Jeremiah: Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim has burned [36:28]. Jeremiah took another scroll and Baruch wrote down what was on the first scroll.

God's word inspired, written and printed

Apostles and evangelists, inspired by God, not only preached but also wrote. Thus Saints Matthew,

Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude.
Likewise the series of Fathers and Doctors of the Church; so too the Popes, Church Writers, the Apologists, bishops, priests and lay people inspired by zeal for God and people.
There was a time in history when monks had their writing-table or room for their secretaries and copyists. In this way the Bible and many precious writings, both religious and secular, have come down to us.
With the invention of moveable type the press made enormous progress, thanks also to the continual upgrading of technical means. Yet these means were not always used for the truth and for good; many times they were exploited for error and vice. Thus the need was born to oppose a good press to a bad press. Then good films to bad films. The same is to be said of the radio, of television, discs, pictures, and so on.
Our Congregation was born for the spread of truth and of all that is useful for a loftier way of life, particularly in view of our eternal salvation.
The Publications Office studies the needs of the Church and society at the present time; it writes and gives rise to competent writers, directing and editing their work so as to achieve the best results, in accordance with the spirit and the letter of the Constitutions.
Such an office can be set up in the General House or in the Provincial House or in an individual House, always in reasonable dependence on the

Superior General and in accordance with the Constitutions.
We add what Pius XI said to a Conference of writers: The press is already omnipotent in the free world: but this expression hardly suffices to express the reality… and what shall we say then of this printed word, already supreme in its own right, when it is combined with massive production and distribution systems…? then absolute power increases beyond all measure.

Requisites for the Brother

The Brother has a twofold role: technical and promotion. These two parts require more personnel than the editorial part; hence the need for two-thirds of our total Religious to be Brothers. In this way the Lord will grant abundant blessings for our sanctification, as well as joyful charity and broad-based success in our apostolate.
If the Brother is to carry out his role in a holy and effective way there has to be faithful religious observance. This is a basic, essential and necessary component. He has, moreover,
a) to understand his particular apostolate in the Church and in the Congregation;
b) to identify with and, insofar as possible, have a specialization in technical work and promotion. A promotion that is not only house to house but collective and rational;
c) to have a deep love for his office; to be enterprising, and docile towards those who guide the Institute;

d) to have a broad idea of the content of what is written by the priest so that his collaboration can result in greater success.

Requisites for the priest

The priest editor needs a good production manager, a technician and graphics designer; as well as a skillful distribution organizer; he has to see that the magazine comes out on time; and he needs a wise management team.
Let both the brother and the priest aim for the interests of God and of people's souls. Little by little, in accordance with his talents, the Brother will become a specialist in technical work and promotion.
The secret of success and spiritual gain is for promotion to be as wide-ranging as possible.
Of what use would it be to have gifted authors and superb production if they were let down by the technician and the promoter? It would be wasted effort.

Unity and pastoral awareness

The Institute is the body corporate; what we need to experience particularly in the apostolic part is the body social, unity.
The Institute can be likened to an immense parish; of which the Superior is the spiritual head. The Institute must know the moral and spiritual condition of all kinds of people: the faithful, the non-faithful, fervent Christians, indifferent Christians, heretics, the honest, the dishonest, pagans, adversaries,

chosen souls, obstinate souls; children, youth, adults; professional people, artists, farmers, workers, and so on. To each and everyone it has to provide the bread of the spirit, sharing it abundantly and adapting it to the needs of the individual.
Conclusion. Each one, priest and brother, will have his own examination of conscience, his own resolutions, his own prayer.
Priest and brother work together, out of love, for God's glory and peace among men; together they will receive and enjoy their eternal reward.