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A Tribute to Our Lay Missioners

Editor’s Note: As this year’s Overseas Lay Missioner Formation comes to a close, DC Service Corps member Bohdan O’Shaughnessy dedicates this blog to FMS’s three recently commissioned missioners. In the not-too-distant future, the Casa is losing our three lay missioners as they embark to their international ministry sites. Last Saturday was their Commissioning Mass, and…

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Commissioning 2018: Grounded in a Call, Grounded in Community

After an intensive three-month period of formation with Franciscan Mission Service (FMS), Becky Kreidler, Hannah Hagarty, and Sabrina Portner were commissioned as lay missioners who will accompany members of economically poor communities abroad. The November day of the ceremony included a Mass, presided over by Br. Ignatius (Iggy) Harding, OFM, at the Franciscan Monastery of…

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Class 32 Commissioning

On November 12, Anna Klonowski, Misty Menis-Kyler, Cindy Mizes, and Maggie Van Roekel were commissioned as Franciscan Mission Service lay missioners. They will serve overseas with FMS at one of four diverse locations for at least the next two years. Misty will be serving at the Valle de los Ángeles School in Guatemala. Cindy is headed…

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Class 31 Commissioning

At the end of August, our missioners-in-training all arrived at the Casa San Salvador mission house in Washington, DC to begin formation training with Franciscan Mission Service. During the next three months, they would attend classes on scripture, Franciscan spirituality, and cultural sensitivity together. Through all of this, in the classroom and out, a group of acquaintances…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: Go forth

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent.  “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” What a powerful way…

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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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29th FMS Commissioning: Sent Forth!

“This is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.” –Archbishop Oscar Romero As their formation program drew to a close, the Franciscan missioners were all aware that the Commissioning Mass was actually a celebration of beginnings. On Sunday, November 17, at 5:30 p.m.,…

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Come, Journey in Love This Advent

This first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a journey. Around the world, Catholics joyfully welcome a new Church year and start to ready ourselves for the coming of Christ’s birth. And here in Washington, D.C., Franciscan Mission Service comissions our new class of lay missioners. We mark the end of Annemarie Barrett and Jeff Sved’s three-month…

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Prayers for Christmas: Reason for the Season

“My prayer for Christmas is that the REAL reason for the season takes ahold of our hearts and grows us more in God’s unabounding love.”  – Michael Redell, FMS lay mission class 27 Kitzi and Michael at their commissioning. Photo by Gerald Martineau. It is because of God’s love that Michael and fellow missioner Kitzi…

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Prayers for Christmas: Unity and Understanding

Kitzi Hendricks, who is being commissioned today as part of our 27th class of lay missioners, shares her prayer for Christmas: “I pray for understanding in our world – a world that is so noticeably divided by individualism and personal gain. I pray that there may be conversion of hearts this holiday season in that…

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Mark your calendars: Commissioning Mass of Class XXVII

You’re invited to join us for the commissioning of the 27th class on Sunday, December 4 at 11:15 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington. After Mass there will be a reception. After 13 weeks of formation with FMS, Michael Redell and Kitzi Hendricks will be commissioned as our newest lay missioners. In…

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