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Month: July 2014

Invited into Community

Third-year missioner Kitzi Hendricks continues her reflection on community and what it means to  find one when you’re away from home.  “[Neighbor is] not he whom I find in my path, but rather he in whose path I place myself, he whom I approach and actively seek.”—Gustavo Gutiérrez For the past two years in Cochabamba,…

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Cutting Down Barriers and Stereotypes

Lay missioner Valerie Ellis talks about an experience she had connecting with a woman in a Bolivian prison.  When I heard that women in jail in Cochabamba earn credits by cutting hair in their peluqueria (hair salon), I knew I had to go. Not only do they have the opportunity to get out of jail…

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Learning from Weeds

Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett completes our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.”    At the end of the day, I am learning that Mother Earth is our greatest teacher. When we look close at the garden, it is all there. “Greatest teacher” of what? What is “all there”? In reconnecting…

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Getting Over ‘Otherness’

Program associate John Quense tells how he ended up teaching yoga every Wednesday at Miriam’s Studio, an art therapy program in Washington, DC.  I find that God often draws me to Himself using very personal and uncomfortable methods. This particular encounter began in my bed (pretty comfortable) while I read about the conversion of St.…

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Franciscan Saint of the Day: St. Bonaventure, the “Seraphic Doctor”

Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Bonaventure, the first and greatest of the Franciscan Doctors of the Church. Saint Bonaventure was born in 1221 and joined the Franciscans in 1243, where he quickly established himself as one of the brightest minds in the Order. Having been sent to study at the University of…

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Mother Earth Teaches: The Sacred Nature of Seeds

Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett continues our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.”    “In the Andean cosmovision, we recognize that we are part of our environment. We are not superior to the Earth, nor owners of her, but we coexist in harmony with her, in relationship with the Pachamama, and…

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Bridge-Building in Bolivia

Lay missioner Hady Mendez answers one of the questions mostly frequently asked of a missioner: “What do you do in Bolivia?”  I build bridges. No, not the kind people walk on or cars drive across. I build other types of bridges. Another way to describe what I do is “bring people together”. It’s not actually…

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Bringing Beauty to the World

Lay missioner Mary Mortenson reflects on her time with an artist cooperative in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Last year, when I was still stateside, I was exploring and working with clay almost everyday. I rented studio space from the University in Eau Claire and spent 20 to 30 hours there a week. A big part of my…

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New Evangelization: Bell Towers vs. Houses

Continuing our coverage of the first-ever OFM Congress on Mission and Evangelization, communications manager Bridget Higginboham shares some thoughts on the presentation Br. Enzo Biemmi, of the Brothers of the Holy Family. Biemmi was an expert observer at the 2012 bishops’ synod on the New Evangelization.   Bell at San Damiano in Assisi If you’ve…

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The Marginalization of Farmers and Learning from Communities

Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett continues our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.”    In connecting with the land, I am also growing closer to farmers. And in our time spent together I am learning more about their reality, their suffering and their resilience. In knowing the women in Santa Rosa,…

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Photoshoot: Goodbye to Cochabamba

Missioner Nate Mortenson shares some photos he shot in Bolivia.  This weekend marks a special time for Mary and I. We are packing up our beloved room at the Franciscan Social Center in Cochabamba and moving to Carmen Pampa where we’ll begin working at the university in Carmen Pampa – UAC (Universidad Academica Catolica). Here’s…

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Franciscan Saint of the Day: St. Elizabeth of Portugal

Today marks the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal, one of the few women in history to be both queen and nun. Elizabeth showed an early enthusiasm for her Faith. She said the full Divine Office daily, fasted and did other penance, as well as attended twice-daily choral Masses. Religious fervor was common in her family, as she could count several…

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Learning to Be in Bolivia

Short-Term Mission and Global Awareness Trip participant Jennifer Peresie reflects on her experience of going with Franciscan Mission Service to Bolivia in May 2014.  When I signed up for this trip, I think I had illusions – no delusions! – of changing the world. That is a lofty goal for anyone, but certainly in a…

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Bl. Junipero Serra: Franciscan Founder of Southern California

Today marks the feast day of St. Junípero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar who is best known for founding many of the Spanish missions in the region of New Spain that would later become California. Born in 1713 in Mallorca, Spain, he entered the Franciscan Order in 1730, at the age of 27, taking the…

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