Month: October 2016
Challenging the Kids
Editor’s Note: Missioner Brandon Newland reflects on the past summer in Jamaica and the various activities that he arranged for the kids. The summertime is a wonderful time for students to rejoice and enjoy their freedom from school and homework, but to adults it can be a time to build patience and bonds with the…
Read MoreCome Grocery Shopping With Me
Editor’s Note: In order to provide a glimpse into her life in Cochabamba, Bolivia, missioner Catherine Sullivan takes her readers with her on her weekly grocery shopping experience. Every Saturday morning, my site partner Allison and I head out to do our weekly grocery shopping. With a list in hand (along with a price ‘guestimate’…
Read MoreCare for Creation at the Beach
Editor’s Note: Missioner Patrick Montine shares how a trip to the beach with some of the kids in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica, created a great opportunity for a lesson and experience of care for creation. Usually our summers in Savanna-la-Mar are pretty uneventful and most of our ministry shuts down because we work with kids and the…
Read MoreGood Things, God Things
Editor’s Note: Missioner Maeve Gallagher shares how an incident with a friend caused her to reaffirm her decision to be a vessel of love and acceptance on mission. “True enough, the Reverend Billing, when they caught up with him, turned out to be a thief, an adulterer, a libertine, and a zoophilist, but that didn’t…
Read MoreI Am Learning to Let Go
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Misty Menis-Kyler shares how her past service experiences at St. Labre Indian Catholic Academy formed and inspired her. Letting go means being willing to allow life to carry you to a new place and maybe even to a deeper, truer version of yourself. I spent the last two years serving the…
Read MoreCompassionate Equality
Editor’s Note: Missioner Tom Little reflects on the difficult struggle that often arises between compassion and fairness. Overall, teaching English in my first semester at UAC-Carmen Pampa in Bolivia was a positive experience. That is, except for one incident involving a student, which really tore me up. The university has pretty strict rules in place…
Read MoreLessons from my Hometown
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Anna Klonowski shares a poem about the Native Americans who lived in her hometown and reflects on how learning about other cultures – both near and abroad – has opened her to new experiences. This past Monday, the United States celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or Columbus Day (a name which many are…
Read More“So, Where Will You Be Going?”
Editor’s Note: Missioner-in-training Maggie Van Roekel reflects on her time in Formation waiting, discerning, and planning before traveling overseas for mission. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a meticulous planner. My calendar book is my life-line and I am constantly writing to-do lists, feeling triumphant each time I can cross off a…
Read MoreHappy Day
Editor’s note: Missioner-in-training Cindy Mizes reflects on her service at the Jeanne Jugan Residence, where she has formed relationships with the residents. Every Wednesday morning, I take a 30 minute walk from Casa San Salvador through the Catholic University of America campus to the Jeanne Jugan Residence, a long-term care facility for the elderly with limited…
Read MoreFree to Have Less
Editor’s Note: Missioner Annemarie Barrett shares how moving towards a simpler lifestyle has positively affected her in physical, spiritual, and emotional ways. I wonder about how complex we make the concept of simple living; I think about how entrenched we have to be in consumerist culture to buy more books to teach us about consuming…
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