sharing the respective strengths of both types of programs before, realistically, we can begin to “integrate our mission perspec- tives.” Rev. Bob Schreiter’s opening keynote asked the question: What are the theological implications of long and short term programs? He documented the fact that in the U.S., short term programs have been growing and long term mission programs have been declining in number. Both devel- opments, he noted, were rooted in certain social and cultural factors such as how people today relate to their own life cycle, the relative ease of travel, the disap- pearance of life-long loyalty to employers, and society becoming more complex. He then high- lighted certain theological factors that impinge on lay mission Reflections on the 2006 USCMA Annual Conference MISSION UPDATEBy Andrew Thompson, Ph.D., National Director of the St. Vin- cent Pallotti Center and USCMA board member. “This was one of the best USCMA conferences I’ve at- tended in recent years,” said presenter Rev. Robert Schreiter. Speakers and participants were like the wise stewards who brought forth from their treas- ures, things both new and old (Matt 13:52). This was most appropriate given the title of this year’s 25 th Anniversary Confer- ence: “Celebrating and Integrat- ing Our Mission Perspectives: Short Term, Long Term, On Whose Terms?” Keynote presentations and small group discussions focused the themes developed during the Conference. One of the most central concerns addressed was that in today’s Church, we have an urgent need for long term missionaries to share their wis- dom with those engaged in short term missionary efforts. Simi- larly, the newer forms of short term immersion or mission pro- grams have pastoral insights to share with the long term pro- grams. This year’s conference, held at the University of Notre Dame, October 1-3, 2006, was the first time in USCMA’s his- tory that conference participants so explicitly reflected on both forms of mission and challenged attendees to “Integrate Our Mis- sion Perspectives.” As a conference participant, I think many of us came away with a clearer understanding of some of the issues. In my opinion, however, we, the Catholic mis- sion community, have much work ahead of us. We need to identify strategies for meeting this challenge. I wonder if, forexample, we could pair up each short term with a long term program and, through a dia- logue partner- ship, clarify ourvision of mission and how we recruit and form new members. It seems we might need some type of ongoing dia- logue process forIn This Issue Reflections on the 2006Mission Conference 1 From the Director 2 25th Anniversary Message from the President of the Board2 Annual Meeting and Resolu- tions 4Short Term, Long Term, On Whose terms? CenterThe Photovoltaic Project 13 Celebrating a Response to God’s Call14Mission Appeals Report 14Orbis Books 15 Resources & UpcomingEvents 15 We Pray thatthrough the effortof believers, together with living forces ofsociety, the new and oldchains which prevent the development of the African continentmay be broken. United States Catholic Mission Association Fall 2006 Volume 15, Issue 3 cont’d on p. 3 US Catholic Mission Association Themes from past Conferences
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8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
cently concluded Conference at Notre Dameis any indication, then the years ahead prom-ise to be very exciting. The Conference was
indeed a mirror to what can happen – partici- pants creating space and engaging in honest,critical, yet respectful dialogue. The sharingand celebration of the many diverse perspec-
tives of mission that our own experiencesallow us to see enriches and challenges our own stories of mission. In our world where
polarization seems to dominate the current
thinking, it is hopeful to see that there isroom for deliberate and intentional dialoguethat welcomes everyone at the table. It is withthis same hope, that our dialogue becomes
transformative. Thanks to all of you who
made the Conference a big success!
To paraphrase a dictum in community orga-nizing, “Good conferences regenerate to
actions!” The Conference has opened manynew possibilities for creative networking andcollaborations for USCMA. We ask you to
partner with us. As we have repeatedly said
during the Conference, USCMA is not just anoffice in Washington DC. USCMA is us!
Together we are USCMA!
We call on your expertise and your positiveexperiences to share with us “best practices”in the different areas of mission, be it on ashort-term or long-term basis. That way, we
can create a hub for “best practices” on our website. The Dialogue Sessions have openedthe conversations. But we need those conver-sations to translate into useful information!
We also call on your expertise in the differentlanguages spoken here in the US so that wecan make our website truly multi-lingual andhave a wider reach of audience in our promo-
tion of mission.
Also this year, we have launched“Transformative Dialogue Project” (TDP).
TDP hopes to help promote mission aware-ness locally through the collaboration and
dialogue of mission-sending groups and indi-viduals who have had mission experiences. It
envisions a strong network of mission-oriented groups and individuals in a particu-lar locality that promotes an integration of thecomponents of mission (proclamation, justice
and peace, witness, dialogue, and spiritual-ity). It provides a space and time to sharestories of mission and learn from each othersexperiences. With TDP, we hope to put mis-
sion on the agenda of the local church. The best advertisements to mission promotion are
Dear Friends in USCMA,
With our wonderful 2006 Conference behindus, we’re already looking forward to nextyear’s gathering with you. The Board spent a
day after the conference looking at what weexpect to be our most important priorities in
the coming year.
First among those is building up our member-ship and participation. As we noted during theconference, new styles of mission are fast
growing among us, and the people involved inthem have a great deal to offer to and gainfrom USCMA – if only we could find the wayto let them know that. So, we’ll be strategiz-
ing around that question and asking you to do
the same with us.
Aiding us in the strategizing will be our twonewest Board Members. We welcome Sister Flotilda Lape, ICM and Sister Mayon Sylvain,RSM, both of whom were elected at our last
meeting. We are grateful for their generosityin allowing their names to be on the ballot.We extend that same gratitude to Sister Joanna
Okereke, HHCJ who also accepted nomina-
tion at the convention.
As we welcome the new Board Members, wealso thank the out-going ones, Sr. Mary Paul
Asoegwu, DDL and Rev. Mr. MickeyFriesen, for their service to USCMA as mem-
bers of the Board.
Those of you who were with us in SouthBend know first-hand that the USCMA officeis under the able and energetic new leader-
ship of Rev. Michael Montoya, MJ. You willfind his message in this issue of MissionUpdate, and see how the publication reflectshis contributions to our organization. Please
give his requests for support your serious
consideration!
God Bless you all in this season of autumnwhere we see the splendor of the old prepar-ing space for the quiet of winter and the new
growth that is to come.
Mary M. McGlone, CSJ
the concrete stories of people that have goneto mission! We need to harness the beautyand power of these stories to reveal the rich
potentials they hold for transformation.
By now, you must have received our 25th
Anniversary Annual Giving Campaign. We
ask you to please be generous in your gift toour Association. We are able to do the work entrusted to us and create new and relevant
programs with your financial partnership. Weneed you to help us achieve the goals wehave set. Your gift does not only affirm our work, but it also promotes a sense of owner-
ship to the association. Thank you for your
continued commitment and partnership.
We also ask the Mission Offices in the Dio-
Fall 2006
ceses to remember USCMA as you assign parishes for your Mission Cooperative Plans.We want to share the good things that to-
gether, we as US catholic missioners,whether working here and abroad, do as we
participate in God’s mission.
Lastly, as you read through this Mission Up-date, we want you to join us in prayer ofthanksgiving for everything that God has
blessed us with at USCMA. And as we lookinto the future, Robert Schreiter in our Peri-odic Paper reminds us: “… it is important toremember that mission is ultimately on God’s
terms. This is not our mission; it is God’smission, in which we are called to participate.If indeed God is calling people into shorter and long-term mission, then it is up to us to
find ways to make that happen.”
US Catholic Mission Association
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
women in Church leadership roles, BishopCarmody affirmed the importance of laity and
women and indicated certain ministerial ques-
tions were beyond his domain of influence.
The prayerful
character of theconference alsoreceived high
praise. Prand music ser-vices flowedthrough the three
days which inte-grated and gaveadditional defini-tion to the pro-
ceedings. Manyfound the liturgical highpoint to be the Eucha-ristic liturgy in the Basilica of the SacredHeart, with Bishop Carmody as the main cele-
brant and with the accompaniment of the awe
inspiring fifty-member strong student Notre
Dame Folk Choir.
Eucharist was followed by the traditional din-
ner banquet which this year celebrated theAssociation’s 25 years of service to theChurch and society. “Together, we are
USCMA” was the refrain which Father Mi-chael Montoya, MJ, sounded throughout theimpressive festivities. Twenty-five large post-ers identified the theme of each of the
USCMA’s 25 annual conferences. Takentogether, this display illustrated the emphasesgiven to missionary efforts and how they de-veloped over the past quarter of a century.
This colorful and professional review of thethemes of USCMA’s conferences, most ofwhich I attended, underscores the importanceof the work of the USCMA. Father Michaelalso focused a spotlight on those individuals
and mission communities who were givenawards at each of the prior 24 conferences.This year’s award recipient was the University
of Notre Dame Center for Social Concerns.
The University’s facilities more than met theneeds of the conference. The large presenta-
tions and small breakout sessions were all heldin the University’s Center for Continuing Edu-cation building. The two conference facilita-tors, Dr. Rudy Vela, SM and Sr. Caroljean
Willie, Ph.D., moved the attendees throughtheir paces with skill and gentility. But theysurprised and delighted the attendees in theirListeners’ Report by taking each of the home
communities’ short summary phrases, combin-
work. Today the Church affirms the universalcall to holiness (and mission) and no longer
sees laity as peripheral to the life of theChurch. Similarly, today, mission and its
Trinitarian character, is seen as central to theChurch and not a specialized department.Further, the Catholic community emphasizessocial justice (Lk 4:18-19), the Church’s social
teachings and no longer simply defines mis-sion exclusively in terms of making disciples
(Matt 28:19-20).
The question of whether or not short term
programs are “mission” depends on one’stheology of mission, Schre-iter noted. A member of the Society of the Precious
Blood (C.PP.S) and theauthor of Mission in theThird Millennium, he thenreferred to the four ele-ments of mission as de-
scribed by SEDOS, namely proclamation, dialogue,inculturation and, for the
poor, freedom from oppres-
sion (see www.sedos.org).He concluded that God is calling all of us to
mission and we need to find out how to make
our short term and long term programs work.
On the second day, conference attendees weretreated to a panel presentation on four different
types short term programs, described respec-tively by Ms. Rosanne Fischer (St. Cloud, MNDiocesan Mission Office), Sr. Mary Medved(Jesuit Volunteers International), Ms. Teresita
Gonzalez de la Maza (Amor en Acción), andMs. Rachel Tomas Morgan (Univ. of the NotreDame International Service Learning Pro-gram). In their descriptions, the presenters
affirmed their programs were:
• various forms of immersion experiences in
God’s one mission,
• short term missions which build commu-
nity at home and between countries,
• often a partnership of laity sharing in areligious order’s charism,
• a discipleship training program for laity
who experience intimacy with God
• and intimacy with the affairs of the world,
• and sometimes based on service-learningcomponents which include theological reflec-
tion.
This panel presentation was well received. Insubsequent conference sessions, many partici-
pants repeatedly expressed their appreciationfor the pastoral wisdom and professionalism
evident in the panelists’ presentations and inthe design of their programs. No one ques-
tioned to whatextent these programs em- b o d i e d
“mission.”
After eachkeynote presen-tation and the
panel, confer-ence partici-
pants used oneof two forms of
small groupdiscussion to dig deeper into the implicationsof the speakers’ thoughts: home communitiesor dialogue sessions (content-specific breakoutsessions). The home communities’ facilitators
made sure each participant was listened torespectfully and without interruption. Thecontent-specific dialogue sessions began witha brief presentation which participants had
time to question and apply to their own pas-toral situation. Each of the home community
sessions ended with the group coming up witha “headline” - a phrase which captured the
flavor of the prior hour’s discussion.
A second keynote was delivered by Bishop
Edmond Carmody, DD, Ordinary of the Dio-cese of Corpus Christi,Texas. Based on hisown missionary ex-
perience serving in theU.S. and Ecuador, headdressed the questionof how to prepare andorient missionaries
who are coming into anew culture. “Tell themissionary priests theyneed to be loving and
need to know the Mas-ter” was one recom-
mendation. That way,even if the priest does not know the local lan-guage, he said, the people will recognize andrespond to his love for them. Carmody illus-
trated his points with charming Irish storiesand such light humor that a few of the younger conference attendees said they appreciated thatBishop Carmody was down to earth and con-
sidered him the “coolest bishop ever.” “Don’twalk away from negative people,” Carmodyadvised, “run!” When a few of the more sea-soned attendees asked pastoral questions about
cont’d from p. 1
Page 3
cont’d on page 4
Fall 2006 MISSION UPDATE
US Catholic Mission Association
Reflections on the 2006 USCMA Annual Conference
Teresita Gonzalez de
la Maza, Panelist
Most Rev. Edmond Carmody
Dialogue Session with Robert Schreiter, CPPS
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
starts to look at one’s life in segments of time, some
period can be allotted to work like mission. For the preponderance of young people who participate both
in short-term and longer-term service, it can be seen
as part of a larger preparation for one’s working life.
For those in high school, having such service onone’s résumé is helpful in seeking admission to elite
colleges.
I do not of course want to reduce the motivation of
young people to these factors. Their desire to serve is
certainly much more complex than that. But these
factors cannot be overlooked. That in both of thesegroups (the short-term missioners under 20, and the
21-25 age group serving long-term) more than eighty
percent of the participants are Caucasian points to thefact that a certain level of privilege gives them the
option of thinking in these terms.A second cultural and social factor that deserves
attention is the distinctive feature of the age cohort
under 25. These young people have self-designatedthemselves as “millennials,” inasmuch as they began
coming of age at the turn of the millennium. The re-
search that has been done on this age group findsthem more altruistic, more intellectually curious, and
more at home in cross-cultural and interracial settings
than the two previous age cohorts (usually known asGeneration X and the Baby Boomers). This openness
can be partially accounted for by the fact that at leastthe older members of this age cohort came of age in atime of economic prosperity and relative stability (the
years of Bill Clinton’s presidency). Annual surveys
of college freshmen support this general finding
about altruism and ability to live with difference, withthe added note that Catholics in this group tend to be
especially well represented in these statistics. To be
sure altruism, curiosity, and ease with difference donot characterize all Catholic young people, but it cer-
tainly is a salient factor. A supporting factor from the
CNVS survey shows that among those who go on tograduate school after completing their service, the
great majority choose the “helping professions”—education, social work, theology and medical care.
Across the country, those involved in graduate theo-
logical education have noted in recent years a newgroup coming to study theology: they typically have
spent one or two years in some social service after
college, and now want to study theology, at least
term reported being married, while 154 married mis-
sioners were working in the long term. Sixty-four
short-term missioners reported have dependent chil-dren, while just 18 long-term missioners reported
having dependent children. Thus only about 7% of
lay missioners serving in both short-term and long-term are married.
Cultural and Social Factors Affecting the Term of
Service
As we begin to reflect on what are the implica-
tions for mission, it could be useful to begin by pro-
viding a cultural and social frame for these reflec-tions. Are there things in the cultural and social en-
vironment of the United States that help us under-
stand better what is going on in mission? I would
like to reflect on three of these.
The first of these is changes in our understanding
of the life cycle. At the height of the industrial age
in the United States—running roughly from 1880-1970—those who entered the job market outside the
home were likely to engage in the same kind of work
for most of the rest of their lives. This was partially
explained by the level of education; most people hadrelatively limited education until the end of that pe-
riod and so could not move around easily in the jobmarket. There was in some trades and professions aswell a sense of loyalty to one’s employer who in turn
would be loyal to the employees. Henry Ford was
one of the pioneers in this, raising working classwages in his factory and being repaid by lifelong
fidelity of the workforce. This even stretched across
generations. In its heyday IBM (“Big Blue”) tried to
do much of the same.
The volatility of the employment scene that hasresulted from globalization and technological ad-
vances has changed all that. There are now somewho say that those entering the workforce must be prepared to change their professions—not just jobs
within professions—three or more times over their
working life. As the median age of the populationhas risen, people no longer think in terms only of
work and retirement. The work possibilities become
more variegated.
What does this mean for mission service? If one
Fall 2006 MISSION UPDATE
US Catholic Mission Association
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
Given that the percentage of long-term interna-tional missioners is already fairly small, this may
come to shrink even further.
The Ongoing Impact of Term Mission on Theol-
ogy and Missiology
As was already seen above, there have beenchanges in mission throughout especially the latter
part of the twentieth century into these first years
of the twenty-first. The context in which mission
is done, and the theology of mission that came outof the Second Vatican Council has changed how
we imagine mission and how we engage in it. A
stronger sense of the Church as essentially mis-sionary, and the universal call to holiness and par-
ticipation in the mission of the Church haschanged the face of mission today. Consequently,
we should be careful not to try to squeeze contem-
porary experiences of mission too quickly into our pre-arranged boxes. That the numbers of short-
term missioners have continued to grow so rapidly
may be one of those “signs of the times” to whichwe should be attending. Our missiological strate-
gies should be informed by a praxis that feeds
back into our theology the experiences we are en-
countering.
Whose Terms?
I wish to conclude with the final part of the titleof this conference and this presentation; namely,
on whose terms do we engage in mission?
To a great extent, the terms have been set by theHoly See and by the religious institutes. The latter
have carried the major part of what had been con-
sidered mission work. As their numbers decline
here and in other wealthy countries, they may have nochoice but to cede whatever terms they had been able to
set forth. To say simply that the terms will be ceded to
others engaged in short- or longer-term mission has totake into account that term mission depends upon an in-
frastructure that sustains it. To the extent that infrastruc-ture is in place, to that extent that handing on of the di-
rection of mission will be able to happen. We will needto do two things at once. If, on the one hand, we say all
Christians are to be engaged in mission, then we should
try to bring that about. But on the other hand, this willnot happen if a wider body is not given the resources
and the capacity to make decisions about mission.
In trying to think through these future dimensions, itis important to remember that mission is ultimately on
God’s terms. This is not our mission; it is God’s mis-
sion, in which we are called to participate. If indeedGod is calling people into shorter and long-term mis-sion, then it is up to us to find ways to make that hap-
pen.
____________________________________
1 “2004-2005 Membership Survey Results.” I am grateful to Mi-
chael Montoya, MJ, for making this available to me.2 Statistics may be found in the executive summary at:uscatholicmission.org/go/missionersurveystatistics/
missionhandbook .3
Representative of this literature is Neil Howe and William
Strauss, Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (NewYork: Vintage Books, 2000). 4
These are published annually in The Chronicle of Higher Educa-
tion.5
Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of
Human Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000).6 The proceedings of this conference may be found in Joseph
Lang and Mary Motte (eds.), Mission and Dialogue (Maryknoll,
NY: Orbis Books, 1982).7
Angelyn Dries, The Missionary Movement in American Catholic
History (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998).
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
USCMA is grateful to have been invited by five diocesan Mission Offices to participate in the 2006 Mission
Coop Plan. We thank each of these offices and the 12 parishes that welcomed us. The generosity of the pa-
rishioners to whom we spoke has been most gratifying. We give special thanks to each of you who spoke on
our behalf.
Diocese Parish Speaker
Bridgeport Christ the King, Trumbull Charlotte Cook, staff
Cincinnati Holy Angels, Dayton Nancy Bramlage, SC
St. Joseph, Springfield Joan Patrice, S.C.
St. Raphael, Springfield Nancy Bramlage, S.C.
Philadelphia Mother of Divine Grace, Philadelphia Michael Montoya, staff
Our Lady Help of Christians, Philadelphia Charlotte Cook, staff
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Jamison William Christy, C.S.Sp.
San Angelo Sacred Heart, Abilene Jack Whitley, C.S.B.
St. Joachim, Clyde Jack Whitley, C.S.B.
Youngstown Our Lady of Perpetual Help, McDonald Anthony Anomah, C.S.Sp.
St. Joseph, Masillon Anthony Anomah, C.S.Sp.
St. Pius X, Warren Anthony Anomah, C.S. Sp.
Fall 2006
US Catholic Mission Association
Celebrating the Response to Christ’s Call
2006 MISSION APPEALS
“The saint is precisely that man or woman who, responding with joy and generosity to Christ ʹs call,
leaves everything to follow him,” the Holy Father said at the canonization of four new saints on Oc-
tober 15, 2006. One of these new saints is St. Teodora Guérin (1798-1856). Born Anne-Thérèse inFrance, she was sent by the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence to Indiana in 1839. The reli-
gious founded St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana in the United States. USCMA congratu-
lates the Sisters on the canonization of their foundress.
USCMA also celebrates the life of and mourns the death of Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, a Consolata Mis-
sionary Sister killed in Mogadishu in September 2006. Her life was also a response “with joy and
generosity to Christ’s call.” Our prayers go out to Sr. Leonella’s family and the Consolata Mission-
ary Sisters.
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association
Dorothy Day Portraits of Those Who Knew Her, Rosalie C. Riegle, 2003
Ecology at the Heart of Faith, The Change of Heart that Leads to a new Way of Living on Earth, Denis Edwards, 2006
Francis of Assisi, Leonardo Boff, 1982, reissue 2006
From Union Square To Rome, Dorothy Day, 2006
Jesus Today, A Spirituality of Radical Freedom, Albert Nolan, 2006
Leo Tolstoy, Spiritual Writings, Charles E. Moore, editor, 2006On the Move, The History of the Hispanic Church in the United States, Moises Sandoval, revised, 2006
Religion in Latin America, A Documentary History, Lee M. Penyak & Walter J. Petry, 2006
Remembering Henri, Gerald S. Twomey & Claude Pomerleau, editors, 2006
Signs of Peace, The Interfaith Letters of Thomas Merton, William Apel, 2006
Soulsong, Seeking Holiness, Coming Home, Thomas A. Forsthoefel, 2006
The Asian Jesus, Michael Amaladoss, SJ, 2006
The Power of Principles, Ethics for the New Corporate Culture,William J. Byron, SJ, 2006
The Ten Commandments, Laws of the Heart, Joan Chittister, 2006
Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, R. S. Sugirtharajah, Editor, 2006
8/9/2019 Autumn 2006 Mission Update Newsletter - Catholic Mission Association