Mission Update: C 100 Y C E: S M W A
Mission Update: C 100 Y C E: S M W A
Mission Update: C 100 Y C E: S M W A
Mention missions and American Catholics think of far-off lands and exotic cultures.
And why not? Most Catholic historians give only a cursory mention to mission work
in the United States after the turn of the 20th century.
Yet this past century was a momentous turning point for the Catholic Church in this
country. After 400 years of missionaries from other nations coming to these shores,
Pope St. Pius X issued the decree Sapienti Consilio in 1908 that ended Americas
status as a mission country.
DO NOT ABANDON YOURSELVES
Henceforth, American Catholics would not only start sending their own missionaries TO DESPAIR. WE ARE
to other countries (foreign missions) but would also have to take care of their own
communities (home missions). THE EASTER PEOPLE AND
HALLELUJAH IS OUR SONG.
The Church here has grown so much that the United States now has more Catholics -Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005
than any other country in the world except Brazil and Mexico. Indeed, taken as a
whole, Catholics make up the nations largest single church.
However, these great numbers are most evident in large urban centers like New York,
In This Issue
Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. In the Pacific Northwest, Appalachia and the Supporting Missionary Work in
Deep South, its a far different story. These and other parts of the country remain America.................................................Cover
mission territories what we call Mission America.
Message from USCMA Director;
The fact that there are missions in the United States might have been almost as surprising From the Board; Washington
to urban American Catholics in Coalitions Report; Staff........................2
1900 as it is for Catholics today.
Three U.S. Missioners Murdered;
Learning from Protestant churches Book Reviews.........................................4
that had started home mission
societies as early as 1800, Father Mission: From Expansion to
Francis Kelley proposed a Encounter.......................................Center
Catholic Church extension society.
These societies were national
Mission Congress 2005.........................5
organizations that collected Will the Fence Mending Ever
donations from the more affluent Begin?......................................................6
members of their churches to build
new missions in rural America. Resources and Upcoming Events;
Orbis Book List.....................................7
Easter Greetings....................................8
Continued on Page 3
U.S. Catholic Mission Association
Mission Update Spring 2005
Continued from page 1 On October 18, 1905 the Catholic Church While this was a tall order even for the largest dioceses, its never
Extension Service of the United States of been very possible for cash-strapped rural dioceses. Even in 2004,
America was formed to raise funds to build and staff churches in for instance, there were only seven primary and secondary Catholic
rural America. Just as important, it would promote the missionary schools in each of the entire states of Wyoming and Alaska.
spirit of American Catholics.
Parish religious education classes have taken on a paramount role
T
his new organization would not seek to supplant aid to the of education Catholic children in their faith, today serving almost
Churchs foreign missions but raise aid for where it was two-thirds of the 12.4 million Catholic students attending public
also needed in the United States - and that generosity would schools.
naturally flow to every other part of the world too.
Catechetics is especially important in the Bible Belt and other areas
In 1908 it was reported at the First American Missionary Congress where Catholics are a tiny minority. The best answer to
that nine out of 10 small towns in rural America had no Catholic proselytization as well as a deepening of ones faith is education.
U
church. Even to this day, many communities have gathered for the
Eucharist in some of the oddest places: funeral homes, gas stations, ntil the last century, the work of the Church was seen as the
and even the wing of an airplane, which served as the altar of a almost exclusive responsibility of clergy and religious.
missionary to fishing villages in the Alaskan bush. However, movements to involve laypeople began early in
the 20th century.
So, not surprisingly, most of the first donations raised by Catholic Since Vatican II the number of lay people involved in ministry in
Extension went toward church construction. The chapel is a symbol different forms has grown steadily, with over 180,000 now working
of the presence and permanence of the Church in a community. full-time for the Church.
Former Catholics come out of the woodwork, encouraged by the
sight of a chapel and other Catholics flocking to Mass. More Another concept of missiology that came out of Vatican II is the
families feel like they can move into the community, contributing important relationship between faith and local culture. The respect
further to the ever-spiraling growth to self-sufficiency. for culture was reaffirmed in this country in 1992 when the Church
celebrated the quincentenary of the Gospels arrival in the Western
Parish closings in Chicago, Detroit and Boston in recent years have Hemisphere.
awakened many Catholics to the reality of a shortage in ordained
ministers. However, this has long been the situation in many mission Today the Church teaches that the indigenous people can be truly
dioceses of the American South and West. Indian and truly Catholic at the same time.
C
atholic Extensions aid to mission dioceses includes As the Church moves into the Third Millennium, it faces many of
assistance to diocesan seminarians as well as salary the same concerns that parallel those of the early 1900s: the need
subsidies to support men and women religious. for evangelization, church building, vocation formation, religious
education and ministry to Hispanics, Native Americans and recent
Since the first sisters arrived in the United States in 1727, they immigrants.
have largely been responsible for much of the growth of the Church
in America. From the start, the services these sisters provided have Catholic extension today helps some 80 U.S. dioceses that are
been an entryway into many communities where Catholics were considered home mission dioceses because they continue to
few or non-existent. depend on outside assistance to aid their poorest rural or remote
communities.
In 1866, the nations bishops set a goal at the Second Plenary
Council of Baltimore to establish a Catholic school in every parish. We celebrate the work of Catholic Extension over the last 100 years
and wish them all the best for the next 100.
Mission America - details how this modern mission period in the U.S. grew and evolved with the changing
times of the 20th century. Its a quick survey of the growth of the Catholic Church in our country thats easy and
fun to read, commented author Bradley Collins.
The 56-page book, which is filled with colorful photos, charts and graphs, reports on the progress that has been
made in the Churchs growth as well as what challenges remain. It shows how demographics have shaped the
Church here. It reveals where missions still exist in this country today, whos doing what to help those missions,
and explains what the role of a modern missionary is in the age of Vatican II and Pope John Paul IIs call for a
new evangelization.
Julie Lupien who has authored a resource booklet of guidelines for the returning group of short-term missioners will develop concepts
needed for those debriefing the journey and bringing the experience to their churches and communities at home. The implementation
of this phase of the mission experience is developed through a number of gatherings spaced at intervals to help participants in making
the mission experience a truly foundational faith experience.
Please mark your calendars for October 12/13, 2005, for this seminar to be held at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Tucson, Arizona.
Registration materials will be available in May. Registration will also be possible on the website: www.uscatholicmission.org.
I
am privileged to have had the opportunity to travel to Israel, We asked about the reasons to divide the peoples and what
January 1-9, 2005 under the auspices of the American Israeli effect it has had. This man-made division is built for the time
Friendship League. The invitation was a mission-study so being to separate the Israeli and Palestinian territories. For
that we would become more aware of the current situation in the most part, it is considered a temporary way in which both
Israel. In particular, we were exposed to the complexities of sides can stop the terrorists from disrupting their lives. Most
the politics that surround the people and the land. of the people we spoke with consider this a good thing. There
are fewer suicide bombers because the wall/fence/barrier is
We were sixteen pilgrims led by Sister Carol Rittner, RSM, monitored by soldiers. The terrorists are partitioned out of
Distinguished Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies becoming destructive to the people. According to one Knesset
at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. It was through report a year ago, there were 70 suicide bombers, this year
Carols initiative that this trip was designed. And, it was because there were only 10.
I serve as an NGO at the United Nations that I was invited to
be a participant. The social difficulties and the hardships caused by the wall/
fence/barrier are huge. People are not able to get to work
For me, the trip was a wonderful mix of biblical history and without crossing the checkpoint, children cannot get to school,
current politics. As we walked and drove through the sacred and ambulances with emergency patients have been stalled
terrain we explored the current conflict bit by bit by listening for long period of time causing even more serious difficulties
to stories of the peoples, Jews and Arabs, Palestinians and to already emergency situations. The claims on city services
Israelis, Christians and Bedouins, politicians, parents, students, such as water and garbage collection and electricity have been
peacemakers and contemplatives. disrupted causing chaos particularly for the Palestinian people.
As I reflect on this journey, it is difficult to articulate a clear or As an outsider, I still do not understand the depths of the
single statement of what I heard. The complexity of the conflict conflict. Our trip offered us examples of how the conflict is
is quite apparent. At least 90% of the people want peace and understood. We spoke to three grieving parents whose children
work hard at bringing it about in their daily lives. I, too, come were killed by suicide bombers. We met with a grieving
home praying and longing for a cease-fire and a long-lasting Bedouin father whose son, an Israeli soldier, was recently killed
peace for peoples who have suffered longing for a sense of in a tunnel bombing. We spoke to four members of the Knesset,
security and a place to call home. to an official of the City of Jerusalem, a cloistered Benedictine
sister and Arab students. We spoke to several Rabbis and a
I was aware ahead of time that the State of Israel began building Palestinian peacemaker who specializes in conflict resolution,
a security barrier in June, 2002. This wall/fence/barrier is and the director of a Palestinian Lutheran center in Bethlehem.
intended to prevent terrorist attacks inside Israel. The concrete We met with two Dominican Sisters who are Arabs and minister
sections of the wall are 25 feet high with a watch tower every in a school and an orphanage in East Jerusalem.
200 meters. The fence areas are made of layers of razor wire.
A
When this barrier is finished it will stretch 400 miles along the ll of our conversations were mostly longings for peace.
West Bank, making it three times larger than the Berlin Wall. There are so many efforts to bring about peace in small
The barrier is supposedly on the green line which is the ways and in large ways. And in the midst of all these
unofficial border between Israel and the Palestinians. However efforts is this wall/fence/barrier that continues to be built and
these boundaries are not hard and fast as the wall/fence/barrier separate the peoples. For me, this energy, time and money
continues to be built. that are going into securing separation is heartbreaking. My
question, why isnt this effort going into making peace and
There is a long history of violent conflict that predates this bringing people together. I do not have an answer. But I do
latest round of Middle East conflict. Israeli citizens live in know that I met many dedicated people who are sincerely trying
fear because many of their citizens have been killed or to bring about peace, each in their own way.
wounded. Many in the Arab world question the legitimacy of
the Jewish State. Palestinians have suffered greatly by having It is my hope and prayer that the efforts of peace will continue
their land confiscated, employment denied and natural and that the current wall/fence/barrier will be a temporary
resources depleted. It is this climate of animosity, violence, means to a end that will be noble and for the good of all the
poverty and fear that culminated in the building of a thick people who live in the State of Israel. I hope that the Palestinian
boundary between peoples. people will have the same opportunities for basic services as
the Israelis now have. And I hope and pray for a settlement
In most of our meetings, we asked about the wall/fence/barrier. that will be just.
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