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Month: January 2015

Learn to play Cacho

Annemarie Barrett, missioner in Bolivia, spends much of her time gardening to help the community in Cochabamba. Surprisingly enough, she does have down time. “Cacho is a game I often play with friends here in Cochabamba,” she said, “and I loved sharing the tradition with my family as well when they came to visit.” To pass…

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Happy two year anniversary to Jeff!

Editor’s Note: Also pictured in the featured photo is fellow FMS class 28 lay missioner Annemarie Barrett. Jeff Sved is beginning his third year serving in Bolivia this January. Working with many prisons in the Cochabamba area to ensure the inmates are receiving spiritual guidance and materials to make goods to sell for an income,…

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Happy one year anniversary to Hady!

Editor’s Note: Also pictured in featured image is Maryknoll lay missioner Caitlin.  One year ago this moth, Hady Mendez, of FMS’ 29th class of missioners, arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Since then, Hady had used her time work with Manos Con Libertad to help women in prison to better their spiritual life and their financial situation,…

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Happy two year anniversary to Annemarie!

Editor’s Note: The following was written by FMS. Also pictured in feature image is former FMS lay missioner Kitzi Hendricks. 2015 is the beginning of Annemarie’s third year as a FMS lay missioner, and we could not be more proud. The work that she has done with the agriculture of the community in Cochabambato to…

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Finalists for First-Ever San Damiano Servant Leadership Award

We are pleased to announce the five finalists for our first-ever San Damiano Servant Leadership Award. Launched in conjunction with our 25th anniversary, this honor recognizes a faithful, service-oriented young leader dedicated to building the kingdom of heaven on earth today. The winner, who will be announced the first week of February, will be given a $500 scholarship…

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Missioners begin language school

As we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord this past Sunday, signifying Christ beginning his ministry, several of our 30th class of missioners have left for their respective countries this weekend to begin their own ministries. While Jesus went to the desert for 40 days and 40 nights to reflect and pray in preparation for…

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Friendly Support

“One day more means one day less.” This is something my girls at prison say. It’s sort of an inside joke. Once I understood what it meant, I got to thinking, “Shoot, sometimes I feel the same way when I’m homesick.” In the same way, I too have “time to complete” before I can go…

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The Search for the Heart – Remembering Margaret

It is with great sadness that we share news of the death of Margaret Hughes, a returned missioner and former board member. Margaret passed away at the age 51 on Christmas Day after a long battle with stage IV breast cancer, leaving behind Eddie, her husband of 15 years, and Thomas, her 12-year-old son. Having…

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What Does it Mean to be Sent?

After 13 weeks of formation filled with classes, early mornings at service sites, and plenty of community time, the 30th mission class of Franciscan Mission Service walked into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the Franciscan Monastery filled with our family and friends for our Commissioning Mass to celebrate our being sent out on mission. During…

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Thanks for Sharing

As we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany this past Sunday, we also celebrated the end of our Shared World blog series. We want to thank everyone that participated and submitted their stories and shared their lives with us. We hope everyone who read them was able to take something away from each story and…

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Sharing Life

Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.”  This is not a story of an epiphany, of one overwhelming moment of clarity or a life-changing event that altered my perspective of the world. More so, this is a story of a journey, one that started slowly and continues slowly,…

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Pope Francis gives Address on World Day of Peace

Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” As we welcome in the new year, His Holiness Pope Francis is focusing on slavery as the theme for the World Day of Peace on New Years Day 2015. “Tragically,” the Pope writes, “the growing scourge of man’s exploitation by man…

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Breaking Bread

Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Fr. Jason Welle, OFM, is a close friend of FMS. As an undergraduate, I travelled around the Middle East for several months with a group of college students. It certainly wasn’t mission work, but an attempt to appreciate better the cultures…

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