Year: 2010
Quincy U. Students Visit FMS
On Friday, December 17th, Franciscan Action Network hosted an event for Quincy University Students at Casa San Salvador to learn more about “Care for Creation” with FAN and 3 year international mission with FMS. The students, many of them history majors, had all taken the same course, Visions of the World, with Quincy visiting professor…
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“God’s Mission, Many Faces.”
Kim expresses her appreciation for the perspective Cardinal Rodriguez shared in his inspiring keynote address. “Mission is a grand expression of Communion – of being the body.” These words come from Cardinal Rodriquez, who spoke at the 2010 Mission Congress in Albuquerque, NM, which took place back in October. Kim Smolik was invited to facilitate…
Read MoreThe Parable of Picking Mulberries
The following is an experience one of our missioners, Tim Marcy, recently had in South Africa, working at St. Francis Care Center. In the story, Tim describes how he helps a man pick mulberries “because he wasn’t tall enough to reach them, nor could he climb the tree.” Enjoy the Reflection: “I climbed up, got…
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HNP Today: FMS’s Anniversary Celebration
Holy Name Province recently published an article about Franciscan Mission Service’s 20th anniversary celebration. Read the article here. The article features information about our award honorees, but also the OFM friars who have supported our organization: John O’Connor, OFM, provincial minister who serves on FMS’s board; Claude Lenehan, OFM; and Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, Return Missioner…
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FMS’s 26th Commissioning
R to L: Bryce Bradford, Sandra Bradford, Rhegan Hyypio (Our Program Director) and Susan Slavin stand outside St. Camillus. On Sunday, November 14, 2010, FMS commissioned its 26th class of mission candidates: Sandra and Bryce Bradford and Susan Slavin. The ceremony took place on a beautiful autumn day at St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring,…
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Missioner On The Air!
In Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of our Current Missioners, Nora Pfeiffer, recently prepared a radio program promoting ecological awareness. The show was entitled “Programa de la Familia” and focused on restoring the environment with respects to Franciscan spirituality and the integrity of creation. Read more about Nora’s stories from Bolivia, on advocacy for the environment on…
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Celebrating 20 Years of the ‘Ministry of Presence’
Click to see a slideshow of the event and videos here. On October 23, 2010, Franciscan Mission Service celebrated its 20th Anniversary Benefit & Celebration to commemorate its rich history of laity in mission. “From the start,” said Fr. Joe Nangle, OFM, former executive director, “Franciscan Mission Service has been oriented not just to walk…
Read More“Called to Act with Justice”
Our missioners in formation arrived just last week. Susan Slavin of Centerpoint, NY and Sandra and Byrce Bradford of Detroit, MI began their intensive mission formation classes on Monday, August 23, 2010. This past Sunday was their first mass celebration at St. Camillus where in 13 weeks from now they will be commissioned for their…
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Celebrating Peace at Casa San Salvador
FMS Staff, Return Missioners, Missioners in Formation, friends and neighbors gathered on August 28, 2010 to celebrate our annual Peace Pole Planting. The service took place in front of our home site in D.C., Casa San Salvador, amidst a group of reflective and thoughtful individuals who offered up their prayers for peace, prayers for our…
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FMS Return Missioner Professes Solemn Vows
On August 21, 2010, FMS staff and members of the Franciscan family gathered for the celebration of the Rite of Solemn Profession for Return Missioner, Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, and three other friars (Brothers Cidouane Joseph, OFM; Robert Lentz, OFM; and Erick Lopez, OFM). During the solemn vows ceremony and multilingual mass, Brother Paul expressed his…
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An Ongoing Reflection: Franciscan Mission in the Third Millennium
This is the second series of reflections on mission by Fr. George Corrigan, OFM, that will appear monthly. Fr. George is a Franciscan Friar of Holy Name Province and an FMS returned missioner. Part II: Mission as A Movement of Life and In Life Among founders of religious orders, Francis of Assisi is the first…
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A Warm Welcome
Husband-and-wife lay missioners Joel Vaughn and Lynn Myrick report that they received a warm welcome at their new mission site in Carmen Pampa, Bolivia. Joel and Lynn will be working with students at the Unidad Academica Campesina, a small rural college that is a branch of the Catholic University of Bolivia. The college aims to…
Read MoreIt’s that time of year…
Graduation! More than caps and gowns, smiles and celebrations, it means stepping from one stage of life into another. For our missioners in Bolivia, it means that they are just at the beginning of their time as lay missioners; they are truly experiencing a “commencement”. On Thursday June 10, Clare, Nora, Lynn, Joel, and Catherine…
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Franciscan Mission in the Third Millennium
This is the first of a series of reflections on mission by Fr. George Corrigan, OFM, which will appear monthly. Fr. George is a Franciscan friar of Holy Name Province and an FMS returned missioner. Part I: Introduction How do contemporary Franciscans understand mission? It is a difficult question to answer, partly because so often…
Read MoreMission Reflection 6
To round out our series of reflections on mission, here is returned missioner Sharon Wahl (Class XXIV) reflecting on her experience as a Franciscan lay missioner in Musoma, Tanzania. As an extra item, here is an article that Sharon wrote during her last year on mission in Tanzania, about the daily struggle of working in…
Read MoreWhy We Have Lay Missioners
A Reflection by Peter Mueller, FMS Full-Time Domestic Volunteer It’s coming up on mission appeal season here at FMS. That’s the time of year when our returned missioners go to parishes all over the U.S. to make presentations about their mission, in order to spread the word about the good work being done on mission…
Read MoreMission Reflection 5
Continuing our series of reflections on mission from recently-returned lay missioners, here is Richard Nalen (Class XXIII) on his time in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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Mission Reflection 4
A very joyful and blessed Easter to all! We submit two images for your consideration. First, the beautiful cross in the Church of San Damiano, depicting the glorified Christ, before which Francis spent many hours in prayer: Like any Christian, St. Francis was profoundly moved by the celebration of Easter. His devotion was spread to…
Read MoreMission Reflection 3
This week’s reflection is from returned missioner Kristen Zielinski-Nalen, who with her husband Richard Nalen was stationed in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Read MoreMission Reflection 2
Second in our series of mission reflections is returned missioner Ginny Dachenhausen; she was stationed in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where she worked at a home for boys, aged 6-12.
Read MoreMission Reflection
When we had the missioners here for Re-Entry, I got the chance to do quick interviews with almost all of them about their mission experience. The poor quality camera-work is mine; the moving and insightful reflections are theirs. First of this series is Lee Lechtenberg; he and his wife Jean were stationed at a small…
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Wine, Cheese, and Returned Missioners
A bare few days after five missioners departed for Bolivia, seven missioners who had returned in December from their time of service in Bolivia and Tanzania arrived here at Casa San Salvador for our annual re-entry program. The program, which lasts three weeks, is intended as a time of retreat for the missioners to look…
Read MoreAn Ongoing Struggle to Redefine Mission
There’s been much in the news recently about the group from Idaho, Baptist Christians, who decided to jump-start a program for orphans in Haiti . They flew in and gathered 33 children, including a few who still have parents, and apparently planned to settle them at a temporary orphanage in the Dominican Republic, whence they…
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Departure
Four members of FMS Class XXV departed for mission in Bolivia on January 5, 2010. Nora Pfeiffer, Clare Lassiter, Joel Vaughn, and Lynn Myrick flew to Miami, and then to La Paz, arriving early in the morning of January 6. From there they flew to Cochabamba, where they will be attending Maryknoll Language School for…
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