In order to promote a deeper understanding of the work of missionaries in the modern world, the Texas Mission Council offers this newsletter for every parish in Texas in the firm hope that all may become aware of the ongoing work of Catholic Missions both at home and abroad and begin to actively participate in the mission of the Church.
“The Pilgrim Church is by its very nature missionary”
Vatican Council II
News from around Texas
The Texas Mission Council announced that the Texas Catholic Conference (TCC) of Bishops has appointed Bishop Vann of the diocese of Fort Worth, to be Episcopal Moderator of the Texas Mission Council.
Bishop Vann will be replacing Bishop Rizzotto, who has also retired as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston/Houston.
Bishop Rizzotto, like his predecessor, Bishop John McCarthy, was instrumental in promoting TMC’s healthy early growth. While the Texas Mission Council will miss Bishop Rizzotto, as we did Bishop McCarthy for their strong support of the Mission of the Church in Texas, we are thankful for the prompt appointment of his successor and we offer a hearty welcome to Bishop Vann whose dedication to the work of the missions promises continued Episcopal support for the Texas Mission Council.
TMC ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The 2008 annual conference of the Texas Mission Council was held at the Christian Renewal Center in Dickenson, Texas.
Each annual meeting stresses one aspect of mission to be developed by the Council and made available to all who are interested in the Mission of the Church through this newsletter and other publications...
The theme of this year’s conference was to develop a deeper understanding of the Spirituality of Mission. The theme was developed under the guidance of Father Joseph Donders, a former African Missioner and currently Professor of Theology at the Catholic University in Washington, DC.
Fr. Donders directed the discussion in two parts, namely:
“WHAT IS MISSION SPIRITUALITY?”, and “SPIRITUAL PRACTICES ON MISSION”.
The Conference concluded with a recommendation for missioners to observe these three Spiritual Practices:
- THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (The official prayer of the Church for the different hours of the day),
- JOURNALING (Describing the events of each day in a journal)
- RITUAL (Eucharistic liturgy and prayer)
These three basic activities will be further defined in our final booklet on the Spirituality of Mission.
2009 Annual Conference
The 2009 Annual Conference, to be held at the Oblate Center in San Antonio, on February 27-28 & March 1, will be dedicated to the theme:
“WALKING WITH THE PEOPLE”
This theme will develop in two parts.
- Dr. John Donahue of Trinity University will develop the theme, “What is Culture”.
- Dr. Arturo Chavez of the Mexican American Cultural Center will address the theme, “The Culture of Mexican Americans”.
The theme of the 2009 conference, “Walking with the People”, deals with how to understand the cultures in which we find ourselves in mission lands or on short term mission immersion trips. We measure our communication with other people not by what we say, but by what they hear. We look at ourselves in terms of our own culture which can be a tool to help us understand the values of other cultures and the message of the Gospel that is encoded in the each different culture. As Pope Paul VI demonstrated in his Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization: EVANGELII NUNTIANDI, “the Faith comes to each of us through our own unique culture”.
The Texas Mission Council is grateful to all the diocese and parishes that are promoting mission trips. Some of these trips are for long periods of time as has been the traditional view of missionary activity in the Church. But others are short term lasting perhaps only a week or two, just a few days, or even a one day immersion trip, perhaps to the Mexican Border to see how others live.
But whether the trip is long or short term, it is an opportunity to share our Faith with others and learn to appreciate the gifts of Faith that other cultures can share with us. Along with sharing our Faith with our neighbors, some mission trips include the sharing of material blessings, the giving of material gifts or the work of our hands, but always remembering that the others have gifts to share with us so that sharing is mutual.
In this sense, a recent trip by a group of senior high school students from the diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, (coordinated by Mary Wisniewski, the Director of the San Antonio Mission Office and one of the founders of TMC) is a wonderful example of how the work of the Mission Council has spread to other states?
The students, accompanied by their chaplain and Propagation of the Faith Director, came to the Texas border town of Eagle Pass and worked with the people on rebuilding houses destroyed by a storm as well as sharing and receiving gifts from the people whom they met on their mission trip.
Orientation by two members of the Texas Mission Council before and debriefing after the immersion trip helped the students to understand the values of another culture and how mutual sharing strengthens the Faith of both the visitors and their hosts.
Mission journeys such as this are also part of the sharing in TMC’s annual conference and the growing number of participants in short term and immersion mission trips here in Texas are helping to deepen the faith of both the visitors and their hosts.
If you wish to share your mission story, or learn how others do mission, come to the annual TMC conference. At our annual Conference, we can hear what others are doing as well as sharing our own story of a mission trip. We can learn from each other.
MARYKNOLL MISSION TALES
Bertha, a mother of ten children, who lives in a shanty town in Lima, Peru where I serve in mission, was worried about the folks across the street. Bertha heard that the children had nothing to eat, even though she had seen the mother leave well dressed each morning for work. So she made chicken soup and took it over to the family with the excuse that she had a lot left over and wanted to share it. The mother began to cry. This was the first meal that her children had in three days. Puzzled, Bertha said that she thought the children were fine because the mother left “all dolled up” for work each morning. The mother said, “I sell cosmetics and folks won’t buy anything if they don’t see a nicely presented salesperson”. Bertha learned a good lesson about checking things out before drawing conclusions.
Sr. Rosemary McCormack, M.M.
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