Kim Smolik
2014: Year in Review
As 2014 draws to a close, we reflect with gratitude on the past year and those who make our ministries possible. Here are a few organizational highlights from another fruitful year of encouraging the laity to follow the Franciscan mission tradition of sharing in the lives with those on the margins. Thank you for supporting us as…
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Forming New Disciples: 2014 World Care Benefit
Franciscan Mission Service recently celebrated the 2014 World Care Benefit! In today’s blog, we share the evening in a post of gratitude for Anselm Moons, OFM award recipient Jack Jezreel, keynote speaker Fr. Dan Horan, OFM, and all of our sponsors and members of the Franciscan family. As part of Friday night’s 2014 World Care…
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Report from Guatemala: Potential New Service Site!
Thirty minutes east of Guatemala City, a Franciscan boarding school called Valley of the Angels lives its motto: “Give the best to the poor.” Their emphasis on restoring dignity through service resonates with Franciscan Mission Service Executive Director Kim Smolik. Executive Director Kim Smolik with girls from Livingstone, Guatemala. The girls are friends of board member,…
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Report: Kim and Mariam Visit Missioners in Bolivia
On December 4, Franciscan Mission Service Director Kim Smolik and Associate Director Mariam Kaldas traveled to Bolivia for twelve days to visit the current missioners and provide a retreat for them. Annemarie Barrett, Kitzi Hendricks, and Jeff Sved are the current missioners serving in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Annemarie works in a parish garden with local women and…
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Franciscan Friday: Bridge Building at the Summer Confabulation
Photo by flikr user Conrad Kuiper – Creative Commons Bridge building is important. It creates avenues for mutual understanding, opens the lines for communication, paves the way for peacemaking, fosters community, and more. Bridge building is so important, in fact, that it’s the 2013 theme for the National Secular Franciscan Order USA. And this theme…
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Encountering God in the Kitchen
Family and friends are gathering around tables these next few days to share meals and celebrate Christmas. Executive Director Kim Smolik reflects on how she has encountered God while preparing for such occasions. I love to cook. Although I have had no formal training, it is one of the activities that gives me the greatest…
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Daring to Dream Anew: Kim Smolik Addresses CMSM Assembly
“Be more of who you are,” Franciscan Mission Service Executive Director Kim Smolik told Conference of Major Superiors of Men. The 200-plus attendees gathered in Texas earlier this month represented more than 17,000 Catholic religious brothers and priests in the United States. Kim Smolik’s well-received talk at the CMSM 2012 Assembly examined young adults In her…
Read MoreFinding God in “thin places”
“Thin places,” says New York Times writer Eric Weiner, are “locales where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent.” These places can confuse, disorient, relax and redirect us. They can be traditionally sacred places like a church, or wild and untamed like a…
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Prayers for Christmas: Volunteering and Human Rights
FMS Executive Director Kim Smolik offers a reflection as today’s prayer for Christmas: To say I am blessed in the work I do would be an understatement. I think a job like mine is a rare gift — it takes me around the world, to places one does not usually think of visiting, into the…
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