missioners
With the Sheep
Editor’s Note: Inspired by a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, lay missioner Victor Artaiz considers his time on mission as accompanying Jesus’ sheep. Being here on mission in Bolivia since January 2022 has allowed me to review my journey, to contemplate my experience, and to discern future steps in my life. Being steeped in…
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Get out of the Tomb!
Editor’s Note: As we continue celebrating the liturgical season of Easter, lay missioner Joleen Johnson reflects on how God calls us out of our individual “tombs” and invites us into new, abundant life. Mark 16:1-5: “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they…
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An Ending and a Beginning: Reflecting on Life and Death This Lent and Easter
Editor’s Note: During her first season of Lent on mission, lay missioner Kim Wagner relates Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to her reflections on the life of her mother. I can still recall the day like it was yesterday — March 31st, 2020. Upon waking up in my bedroom in my Dad’s house, I felt…
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Lent in Cochabamba, 2024
Editor’s Note: In light of this liturgical season of Lent, lay missioner Victor Artaiz reflects on how he’s living the three pillars of Lent–prayer, fasting, and almsgiving–while on mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Not all of our mission camino is filled with smiles and fresh air, cobblestone walks and views of fresh flowers, mountainside vistas and…
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Embracing Connections
Editor’s Note: As she waits for her time on mission to begin, lay missioner Susan Sarkissian reconnects with friends and family members and cherishes her relationships with her loved ones. When the FMS Formation ended in November 2023, I knew I had a long wait for my Jamaican Visa to be approved. My heart and…
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Nourishment on Mission
Editor’s Note: Lay missioner Victor Artaiz relates to Jesus’ moments of rest and prayer in Scripture by sharing his own moments of prayerful reflection on mission. Entering into the 22nd month of my mission journey here in Bolivia, I began to reflect on how Jesus and holy scripture continue to light my path and provide…
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World Care Benefit and Celebration 2016 Recap
When everyone gathered in St. Francis Hall on May 13 for the 2016 World Care Benefit and Celebration, the spirits of generosity and gratitude were almost tangible. This annual celebration at Franciscan Mission Service is more than a fancy catered event; it’s a call to action. It’s a reminder of how important it is to…
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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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“The Challenge of Lay Missioners” by Fr. Anselm Moons
Editor’s Note: In celebration of our 25th year of preparing and supporting lay missioners, we look back to our archives at a World Care newsletter from 1990 in which our founder, Fr. Anselm Moons, OFM, describes the importance of lay missioners and the challenges they face. On 22 September 1990, after many months of paperwork…
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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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Franciscan Friday: Combating Hunger in D.C.
In honor of September’s Hunger Action Month, we’re sharing experiences of combating hunger. In Washington, D.C. one in eight households struggles with hunger. D.C.’s poverty rate is the third highest in the nation, and on any given night, 6,000 people here are homeless. While our short and long-term international mission programs focus our attention on…
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Join Us For An Open House At Our New Offices
August has been a busy month for our staff as we prepare to welcome five new lay missioners to training in September. Part of that preparation has been moving our administrative offices out of our Casa San Salvador on Quincy Street and into space in the Theological College’s McCormick Pavilion at 415 Michigan Avenue, Northeast.…
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Mission Monday: Wine and Cheese Make a Reunion
To welcome home our returning missioners we held our traditional Wine and Cheese Open House. On this Thursday evening, snow threatened the roads and dark had already fallen, but Casa San Salvador soon filled with friends, new and old, to welcome home missioners who had been away for two to three years. The missioners came…
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Encountering God in the Face of Missioners
While our missioners encounter God in those we serve, we often find ourselves experiencing God through our missioners themselves. Development Director Br. Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, shares how our missioners inspire him: Br. Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, with some of our missioners in Bolivia: Kitzi Hendricks, Lynn Myrick and Joel Vaughn “My ministry with Franciscan Mission Service…
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Mission Monday: Hospice Residents Celebrate Feast Day
Domestic Volunteers who staff the office at our headquarters are taking Wednesday afternoons to serve at various sites around the D.C. area. Each volunteer is partnered with a non-profit and spending a few hours each week there through their service commitment at Franciscan Mission Service. So far, volunteer Chelsea has had a festive experience at…
Read MoreNew Mission Candidates get a taste of Bolivia
Over the Labor Day weekend the new mission candidates started arriving from all over the country. And what good timing! It just so happened there was a Bolivian festival going on at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in Manassas, VA. Many of these candidates are interested in going to Bolivia for their two years, so…
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