Mission and Service
Making a Fashion Statement
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” On a recent weekday afternoon, I was reviewing my Quechua homework while waiting to process some of my immigration paperwork in the local immigration office. Quechua is one of the two most widely spoken indigenous languages in Bolivia and is commonly…
A Shared World at Home
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” I can still remember how nervous I was my first night hosting at Claremont Homeless Advocacy Program (CHAP); I laugh when I think about it now. I started volunteering at CHAP in preparation for formation with FMS in Washington, DC. CHAP…
God’s Surprises
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” I know now that the squeals were not the finish line. I recently brought flowers to a woman in a nursing home that I visit regularly, and they were received with squeals of delight. I’d met Gladys* the week before at…
Brother Santa
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Fr. Tom Washburn, OFM, is the newly elected board president of FMS. My first real experience of ministry took place the very first year that I entered into religious life as a Franciscan. It was 1991, and finally entering religious life was…
Time Well Spent
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World” through Nate’s thoughts and experiences. Last week a faculty member from the Unidad Académica Campesina-Carmen Pampa came into my office and asked if I could go through the filing cabinets to clean out old papers and documents left behind from previous…
A Special Connection
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Fr. Michael Della Penna, OFM, is the Director at Valley of the Angels school in Guatemala. I am sharing one of the most touching letters I have ever received here at Valley and perhaps in my 15 years as a priest.…
Sharing is Caring
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” It started with a story. It was Holy Week of my senior year of high school and I was volunteering with Bissonnette House, a home for recently released convicts looking to get back on their feet. While we took a break…
Building Bridges
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Fr. John Ullrich, OFM, is a close friend of FMS. As a Franciscan friar who’s been professed for more than forty years, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to reach out and serve people in serious need, be it physically, economically, socially…
A Humble Mission
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Fr. Joe Nangle, OFM, is a former FMS executive director and board member. The originating vision of Franciscan Mission Service remains compelling today, thirty years after it was articulated by FMS founder, Anselm Moons, OFM. Called by Franciscan leadership in North…
We are One
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” The way I have come to see human beings as the same is not in one event, but in a series of small gestures. It is in the way people interact with me as if I understand everything: whether at my…
Learning in the House of Mary
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” January 12, 2010: the day the whole world turned its eyes towards Haiti. The day I began a lifelong journey. The day I started to fall in love. I was 18 years old and in my freshman year of college. I…
How Did I Get Here?
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” When my best friend Meghan asked if I wanted to go on a mission trip to Jamaica with her the summer after our freshman year of college I was a little skeptical. As much as I don’t like to admit it,…
The Shared [Captive] World
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” Teresa is a Secular Franciscan with a long-standing relationship with the FMS family. “To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners…” (Is 61:1) About 12 years ago, I received an invitation from Andrew, one of the first prisoners from when I…
Kind Gestures
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” The director of Manos Con Libertad, one of my ministry sites, is from the UK. This past winter, she decided to head home for a few months. She said it was to rest, but I think she actually spent a lot…
One Ear at a Time
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” New missioner Brandon talks about an experience that lead him to Franciscan Mission Service and his mission call. I walked up a very steep hill along an ever-narrowing pathway towards what would be my home for the next eight weeks in…
Sharing the Mission
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” On December 3rd, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Francis Xavier, the namesake of my house in college. For those of you who don’t know, Saint Francis Xavier was from the Basque region of Spain, and was one of the first…
#GivingTuesday – Meeting the Needs of the World
As we celebrate our shared world this holiday season, we reflect on the needs of our Church and world today: Franciscan Mission Service meets these needs with a Franciscan spirit. Our ministries transform lives around the globe. Today, on this #GivingTuesday, we hope that you’ll show your support of these ministries by 1) making a…
The Power of One
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World.” New missioner Maeve talks about an experience that lead her to Franciscan Mission Service and her mission call. On the surface, Wendy and I don’t appear to have much in common. When we met she was fourteen and I was nineteen. She…
An Invitation to Change
Last weekend I was able to witness the past, present and future of the Catholic Church. On Saturday I attended the USCMA conference in Arlington, Virginia, where I was surrounded by hundreds of years of mission experience from all over the world. It was a humbling situation to have the opportunity to listen and share with…
The Big Reveal
They’ve been waiting. And praying…and waiting and praying some more. With much anticipation, the five members of Mission Class 30 learned this week which countries they will each be traveling to in January to being at least two years of service and solidarity. Brandon Newland and Patrick Montine are on their way to Jamaica to…
Walking Together on the Journey— US Catholic Mission Association Annual Mission Conference
Three years ago I was on my way to Miami, Florida for the annual Mission Conference hosted by the United States Catholic Mission Association (USCMA). At the time, I had no idea what I would be getting myself in to. I was a college sophomore, had only been an intern with USCMA for two months, and…
Prison Ministry – It’s No Joke
My family and friends laugh at me when I say,“ Talk to you later. I gotta go to jail,” “It sounds funny,” they tell me. But for me it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s what I do. I started prison ministry roughly six months ago. When I first started going to jail,…
Overcoming Discomfort and Making Friends
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) In the weeks leading up to Christmas last year, my siblings and I received a group text message from our mother explaining the details of a caroling outing at a local convalescent home. When the time came, our family of seven trudged into…
Learning About Homelessness
The first few weeks of my training at FMS have been very eventful. In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve met countless individuals that have opened up and shared stories that are both meaningful and full of great experiences. I have been a part of a community that is set on helping each other…
Living on Less
I lived on just $400 last month! Yes, this is a proud moment in the life of Hady Mendez. The $400 I spent includes some money from savings in addition to money from the stipend I am paid each month. I’m really proud of this accomplishment because living simply has taught me to be more…
I Have a Sister Again!
Lay missioner Hady Mendez talks about one of the new friends she has made in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As the youngest of four sisters, I’m used to being the “little sister.” However, during the times I’ve formally participated in the Big Brother Big Sister program back in the states, I’ve really enjoyed being the “older sister”…
Community: A Demonstration of Love
Third-year missioner Kitzi Hendricks continues to reflect on her experience of finding community in Bolivia. “Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don’t need a lot of money to be happy–in fact, the opposite.”–…
Moving to the Country and Slowing Down
First-year missioner Mary Mortenson talks about her and her husband’s recent move so that they could serve in different ministries at a rural Catholic university (photo by Nate Mortenson). For those of you who do not know me all that well, I rarely leave a place with all my boxes checked and all my bows…
School Raises $5,000 in Support of Alumnae, Lay Missioner
Love of others through charity and justice is a core value at Holy Spirit School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Each year the parish school selects a social justice focus to encourage students to think beyond the community and act on behalf of those in need. One year they supported Heifer International, another they built a…
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,…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
The Disconnection from our Earth and the Call of Franciscan Mission
Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett continues our series, “Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community and Justice.” Living in the city, shopping at grocery stores, and watching a lot of TV, I never had to think much about how my food arrived at my table. I could answer that easily, “From the grocery store.”…
OFM Congress: Enzo Bianchi’s Three Elements for Evangelization
Communications Manager Bridget Higginbotham blogs about her experience last month at the Order of Friars Minor first international congress on mission and evangelization. What does “evangelization” mean and how do we do it? According to Enzo Bianchi, one of the first lecturers at the OFM Congresso, evangelization means to give witness and bear testimony, but not necessarily…
Discipleship in Bolivia
In today’s post, Stephen F. Scott, Associate Director of United States Catholic Mission Association, reflects on the spiritual gifts he received last month during our Short Term Mission and Global Awareness Trip to Bolivia with FMS Associate Director Mariam Kaldas and Program Coordinator Natalie Helfrick. The following is an excerpt from an article previously published…
Valerie’s New Ministries: Violence Prevention and Awareness Raising
Lay missioner Valerie Ellis talks about the two new ministries in which she has been invited to serve. I came to Bolivia with the goal of working with children, and possibly women, who are survivors or current victims of violence. Unfortunately, like in the United States, this is not hard to find. I saved one…
NEW SERIES! Mother Earth Teaches: Digging Deeper into Faith, Community, and Justice
Today we launch a new series by lay missioner Annemarie Barrett about what she has learned from her time working in the parish garden alongside rural communities in Bolivia. Okay, so I am just going to say it again. I grew up in the city, disconnected from the land. In my parents’ house, we grew…
OFM Congress: Enzo Bianchi on the Importance of Listening
Communications Manager Bridget Higginbotham blogs about her experience last month at the Order of Friars Minor first international congress on mission and evangelization. “If believing in God means to speak about God to others then I do not believe in God. If believing in God means speaking to God then I believe in God.” –…
Mission Monday: I’m Happy Here!
In today’s post, we share the joy, wonder, and happiness expressed by current lay missioner Hady Mendez at the beauty of mission service. I’m happy here in Bolivia. And even as I write these words, I’m knocking on wood because I don’t want to somehow jinx myself. I’ll admit it. I didn’t expect to be…
Mission Monday: Enneagram on Mission
In today’s post, current lay missioner Nate Mortenson reflects on the rich personal insights he gained from the Enneagram and how it relates to his spirituality while on mission. For those of you who know Mary well, you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that on our very first date she hashed out The Wisdom…
Franciscan Friday: “Como estas?”
To highlight the service component of the Nonprofit Leadership Program (positions are currently available), recent Franciscan Fridays have featured reflections from program associates about their experiences with weekly direct service. Today’s post is by communications associate Jason Bach. “Hay algo en que te puedo ayudar?” “Is there anything I can help you with?” This was one…
OFM Congress: Discussing Mission and Evangelization in the Franciscan Tradition
Communications Manager Bridget Higginbotham kicks-off a special blog series live from Rome, Italy. It’s a historic week for the Orders of Friars Minor. Their first-ever international congress on mission and evangelization has drawn to Sassone (Rome), Italy, about 200 brothers from around the world – Madagascar, the Philippines, South Africa, Australia, Colombia, Pakistan, Brazil, Canada,…
Mission Monday: A Third Year of Service for Annemarie and Jeff!
Today’s post features an exciting update about two current missioners in Cochabamba! Great news: second-year missioners Annemarie Barrett and Jeff Sved have each decided to stay in Bolivia for a third year of mission! When our lay missioners are commissioned, they agree to a minimum of two years of service, but they can renew their…
