Mission Today issue 15

The Newsletter of Catholic Mission

Registered by Australia Post NAR 3547 5/93 Volume 15 No1

World Mission Month I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me ... just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me (Matthew 25:35–40).

This issue of Mission Today marks World Mission Month 2006, celebrated in every Catholic community around the world in October and culminating in World Mission Day on Sunday, October 22.

Our theme this year – ‘Life for all?’ – questions whether it’s possible for the entire world’s people to be given the opportunity to develop their full potential, both physically and spiritually.

Inspired by the Bible passage above, celebrations will focus on how God calls each of us to work for the liberation of humanity as part of God’s plan of salvation for all.

There are many ways in which you can mark World Mission Month. One of the simplest is to wear a ‘Life for All’ sticker. This is a public way of saying that you commit yourself to actively promoting fullness of life for all. Stickers are available through schools and parishes and by contacting Catholic Mission directly.

Catholic Mission has produced school and parish kits to assist with fundraising, education and animation.

In his message for Mission Sunday Pope Benedict XVI tells us that the occasion provides an opportunity to reflect on the theme ‘Charity, Soul of Mission’. However, he cautions that unless charity flows from a profound act of love, it risks being reduced to a mere philanthropic and social action.

The Holy Father also reminds us that mission is for everyone. While missionaries serve on the front line of evangelisation, they are accompanied and assisted by the prayers and sacrifices of so many.

Life for all in Zambia Imagine living in a country in which the average life expectancy is just 37 years. One in five of your friends and family members is HIV positive.

Your children are at great risk of succumbing to malaria. Health and education services are grossly inadequate. Privatisation means it’s too expensive to grow your own food and unemployment is high.

Where do you turn?

Left: Catholic Mission supports healthcare for mothers and babies in Zambia continued overleaf

Catholic Mission catholicmission.org.au 1800 257 296

Catholic Mission National Office: Level 5, 47 Neridah St Chatswood NSW 2067

Life for all?

That is the question Welcome to this new issue of Mission Today, which marks World Mission Month 2006.

This year’s theme is a question, to which there can only be one answer.

We ask whether it is really possible to bring about ‘Life for All’ in a world where so often access to the Good News is restricted or stifled by the circumstances of life; starvation, lack of medical care and basic education, just to name a few.

However, the resurrection of Jesus from his situation of death and seeming hopelessness tells us to never give up. Our faith gives us hope, not just for ourselves but for every person on the planet, regardless of how difficult their situation may be.

As Christians we are called to the struggle for the liberation of humanity as part of God’s plan of salvation for all, from all that condemns people to the margins of life such as hunger, disease, illiteracy, poverty and injustices. We have a duty to proclaim this liberation and ensure it is achieved through life-fulfilling actions.

Working to achieve ‘Life for all’ is central to the mission of Jesus and the commission he handed on to each of us.

I encourage you and your community to be courageous witnesses to our mission of life for all people and to continue to be generous in all forms of solidarity.

Yours sincerely in our Lord,

Father Terry Bell National Director

Life for all in Zambia continued When Dorothy Makasa was growing up in Zambia she turned to the local mission – it was so integral to her community that it served as both the school and the hospital.

St Therese’s Ibenga Mission at Luanshwa cared for those with tuberculosis and leprosy and the blind and disabled, including one of Dorothy’s brothers who was crippled with polio.

“I just took the missionaries and the money to run the projects for granted,” Dorothy said. “Now that I know Catholic Mission I understand where this money is coming from and why it’s so important.”

After many years of working for non-government organisations for the improvement of her people, Dorothy immigrated to Australia. Now her mission is to help those left behind, including her 11 brothers and sisters and their families.

“I started collecting five-cent pieces to buy pencils for my nieces and nephews. But my brothers and sisters said there were so many people worse off than them,” Dorothy said.

“When the children and mothers see somebody buying them a pencil or a pen they know they’re not the forgotten people.”

The situation in Zambia is not hopeless – the country is now almost debt free and the government is trying to improve services. But they need help.

Last year Catholic Mission through the international Solidarity Fund supported Zambia

with more than $1.6 million through the work of Partnering Local Churches and Communities.

In the diocese of Livingstone we funded the formation of 26 full-time and 100 part-time catechists. In Lusaka funding was used for the construction of a new church, which will also serve as a multi-purpose hall. In Mansa diocese, visited by Father Terry Bell in 1988, a Catholic Mission grant paid for the purchase of bicycles for catechists and for the repair of a water system in the diocese headquarters. In Mongu diocese funds enabled the digging of a well and the construction of a water tank for a congregation of Sisters. These are just a few of approximately 90 grants in Zambia during the past year.

You can help the Church to remain a beacon of hope in Zambia, and in 159 other countries, by supporting this appeal.

“There is something we can do – the problem is not too big. Whatever little something you give, it creates hope,” Dorothy says.

“We need to build and strengthen these communities. If we don’t act now what type of generation is going to take over tomorrow?”

Below: Catholic Mission supports the Home of Joy (below left) and catechist training (below right) in Lusaka, Zambia. Dorothy Makasa (bottom, at centre) visits her people in Zambia.

Getting the homework done

Catholic Mission is helping students succeed at school through the GIL (Getting Involved Locally) Program.

Completing homework can be difficult if you have minimal English and your parents don’t speak English at all.

Combine this with trying to look after younger siblings and do housework and you’ve got a recipe for underachieving.

Catholic Mission’s GIL Program aims to break this cycle by using educated, English-speaking volunteers to support schoolchildren in need.

While many Australian children spend their afternoons playing sports and enjoying themselves, the reality for some is very different.

The program has also proved a fulfilling and rewarding experience for volunteers.

Above: Laura Carroll, a social work student, works with Aluac Majak from St Joachim’s Catholic Primary School at Lidcombe, in Sydney’s west

Thanks to St Finbar’s St Finbar’s School at Brighton East in Victoria has a generous heart.

In just over one week the 322 students raised more than $4000 for Catholic Mission.

Religious education coordinator Tess Suda said the children were constantly encouraged to “look outside of themselves and to think globally”.

“We look at ways in which to extend the children’s thinking. The people here are very generous and different classes take on projects,” she said.

Fundraising ideas included walkathons, market days and focusing on specific projects with illustrative graphs to show progressive amounts raised.

Catholic Mission is extremely grateful for the support of the students and staff at St Finbar’s and at so many other schools across Australia.

These funds are part of the children first! program, which goes to disadvantaged children around the world – children helping children.

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Catholic Mission is currently running the GIL Program in some NSW and WA dioceses. If you’d like to know more phone Freecall 1800 257 296.

Moments of prayer and reflection Catholic Mission has reprinted its popular prayer booklet, Moments of Prayer and Reflection III. The booklet contains 12 popular prayers including A Prayer of St Francis, Morning Prayer and A Blessing for the Young.

If you’d like a free copy phone Freecall 1800 257 296.

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Supporting the church in East Timor The Catholic Church provided a sanctuary for many people fleeing their homes during the civil unrest in East Timor earlier this year. Many East Timorese flocked to churches, convents, seminaries and schools seeking refuge from violence in the capital Dili.

Catholic Mission has helped sustain the church by providing funds to the two Catholic dioceses in East Timor – Dili and Baucau – through our work under Partnering Local Churches and Communities.

An orphanage in Dili that Catholic Mission is supporting this year moved its 36 resident children to another of its orphanages in the mountains in Soibada for safety.

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Can you support us regularly?

As a charity that relies completely on donations from generous people such as you, Catholic Mission sincerely appreciates any financial contribution you can make.

If you can make a commitment to be a regular donor, however, this really helps with our planning and efficiency.

Friends in Faith caters for those regular donors to our work in Partnering Local Churches and Communities (Propagation of the Faith). This work helps build churches and communities in 160 countries around the world.

How much you want to give is up to you and you can donate monthly or quarterly – even yearly.

When you become a part of Friends in Faith you’ll receive a newsletter twice a year specifically detailing the projects that this work is funding.

If you’d like to know more please phone Freecall 1800 257 296 or go to www.catholicmission.org. au and click on the Friends in Faith logo.

Inspired by the Rosary Perth couple Nic and Bernadette D’Amico have seen first-hand how their donation to Catholic Mission has changed lives.

They recently travelled to Tamil Nadu in India and visited the Upaharmadurai rehabilitation centre, where Catholic Mission funds have been used to a buy a much-needed and long-awaited minibus. The bus means hundreds of blind and physically disabled children now have access to regular schooling.

Mr and Mrs D’Amico were inspired during a rosary prayer meeting in Perth with Sister Rosa Mary, a Servite sister from Narrogin, whose brother, Jesuit Father Henry Amirtharaj, runs the rehabilitation centre.

The D’Amicos expressed their desire to help these children in some practical way. After much correspondence with Father Henry and the Bishop of Dindual, in India, the D’Amico’s donation to Catholic Mission was used to purchase the bus.

Mr and Mrs D’Amico were warmly welcomed at the centre by students, teachers and carers on their visit.

Catholic Mission funds more than 2,700 projects in child health and education in developing countries around the world.

If you’d like to know more about our work for children phone Freecall 1800 257 296 or go to www.catholicmission.org.au.

You too can help through prayer: Founder of Partnering Local Churches and Communities, the venerable Pauline Jaricot, promoted prayer for missionaries and the people they serve. She encouraged the mission rosary as a form of that prayerful support. In it we dedicated a decade for each of the continents. Sometimes rosary beads are coloured to represent each continent – Africa (green), Asia (yellow), the Americas (red), Oceania (blue) and Europe (white). October as the month of the rosary is a valuable time to engage ourselves in this prayerful support. If you’d like some multicoloured rosary beads, free of charge, please phone Catholic Mission on Freecall 1800 257 296.

Below: Staff and students at the Upaharmadurai rehabilitation centre with their new minibus

Fr Terry meets the Pope

Catholic Mission’s National Director Father Terry Bell has met with Pope Benedict XVI for the first time, finding him a man of great humility.

Father Terry was one of 114 national directors of Pontifical Mission Societies around the world who came together for their annual general assembly near Rome in May. Father Terry was fortunate to be among 60 delegates who personally met the Pope at the Vatican.

As is the custom, Father Terry genuflected before the Holy Father, kissed his papal ring and shook his hand.

“I told him I was looking forward to his visit to Australia for World Youth Day in 2008,” Father Terry said.

Father Terry said the Pope appeared in wonderful health and looked younger and more vibrant in the flesh.

“He looks the part – he fits into the role so comfortably,” he said.

Father Terry said he was also delighted with some little signs of the Pope’s humility.

“At one point one of the national directors dropped something and the Pope bent down to pick it up. He was definitely not standing on ceremony.”

In his address to the national assembly, the Pope thanked all the friends of Catholic Mission who worked in parishes and dioceses through prayer and effective support.

The assembly approves projects for funding across all areas of the organisation’s work. This year projects funded totalled almost $190 million across the globe.

Above: Father Terry Bell meets with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican earlier this year.

Making people think Catholic Mission’s popular Village Space performance program is continuing as part of this year’s World Mission Month activities.

Village Space is a dramatisation of thought-provoking stories aimed at involving school children and adults in mission. It will be performed for the fourth year under the banner ‘Call this a Life?’ with stories from the Philippines, Peru, South Africa, Australia and India. The performances focus on the underlying causes of poverty and racism and confirm positive ways of change.

The stories are about the plight of disadvantaged women and children and the environment and confirm that through faith, we can all make a difference by our own thoughts and actions.

“The Village Space stories are important because they give a voice to people who have often been silenced and not had their story told,” said Patrick Fox, National Education Manager. “It truly can transform people’s attitudes if they really allow themselves to enter into the stories.”

Village Space was performed in the Parramatta and Lismore dioceses in August, and in Wollongong and Sydney in September. It will be performed in Broken Bay in November.

If you’d like to know more about Village Space – perhaps to organise a performance for your diocese – phone Freecall 1800 257 296.

Right: Catholic Mission’s Village Space performs for the students of St Scholastica’s at Glebe in Sydney

An SOS for St Peter’s followers

The Society of St Peter Apostle, whose work is Fostering Local Church Leadership, has sent out an SOS for more support after announcing it had subsidised more than 81,000 seminarians across the world last year.

The plea came at a meeting of national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (Catholic Mission) near Rome in May. Catholic Mission National Director Father Terry Bell said there were concerns about the Society’s ability to support seminarians and female novices in future.

“The Society is bound to support all seminarians in mission territories and funds have not kept pace with the increasing numbers studying for the priesthood,” he said.

“We need to provide opportunities for good education and formation for all who present themselves to the Church for service.”

As part of a global expenditure of $54.1 million in 2005, the Society

subsidised 938 seminaries, including 472 in Africa and 295 in Asia. On top of this there were 3503 male novices and 6431 female novices subsidised.

New admissions to major seminaries totalled 9,962 with 6,083 in Africa. In 2005 there were 2,282 ordinations in major seminaries in mission territories.

Catholic Mission supports this work through our Seminarian Supporters’ Program and through a program for regular givers, Leaders for Life. For more information phone us on Freecall 1800 257 296 or go to www. catholicmission.org.au.

Right: Father Terry Bell visits with students at the Major Seminary in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea

Sister Maria’s letter from Sudan Loreto Sister Maria Sullivan writes from Maria Comboni Mission, Mapuordit, southern Sudan. The following is an edited extract of a letter she sent to her Aunt, Josephite Sister Helen Sullivan, our Mission Liaison Officer.

Below: Sister Maria (centre) with mothers and children at Maria Comboni Mission

Life is busy and I am learning every day. It is still very hot although we have had one small shower of rain ... I have been sleeping outside in the open and had to pick up my bed and walk when the rain came. I do some teaching and help the women with sewing and do other odd jobs.

I have realised how limited the experience of the students is. They have no idea of car travel, air travel, of space travel, movies or significant jobs or any of the normal dreams that our children would have. The people live in such isolation that they have no concept of anything more than a few kilometres away and the very isolation and ‘ghettoism’ leaves them enmeshed in their ignorance.

There are 300 children on the property every day. There is food provided to the school and because there is such poverty, the children need it to survive.

The students in Forms 3 and 4 have bench desks but the lower classes have no desks and have to write on their laps. Many of the children walk for hours to get to school and to go home again.

The children have to pay a small amount to come to school and so many cannot afford it. It is so sad to see the little ones at the fence on the day the others come to school. There is no option as it is the only way the teachers can be paid.

You will not be surprised to hear that the saddest thing is the situation of the girls. Only one girl came back to secondary school.

The Sisters live very simply and things are always going wrong. There are only three of us here now and none of us is young!! The water pump broke down last week so now we are carting water for washing ourselves and our clothes. I wash my body standing in a basin, then use the water to wash my clothes and finally put the dirty water on the seed bed.

The church is a hayshed with no walls. The parish priest is a 34-year-old Mexican priest who gives the best homilies every day.

The Stations of the Cross are very different. Each Friday we start at the little chapel and wander through the village accompanied by dogs, goats, street children (some undressed) and other mottled congregation members.

One day we were interrupted between stations nine and 10 when the presbytery dog took off after a goat.

I love the little children who roam the streets. There is one little boy whom I meet at various spots all around the town. He was wearing a woollen red top with a hood when I first came and, despite the heat, he still has it on.

He wears no pants and the jacket does not quite reach the vital parts.

Every time he sees one of the sisters he crosses the road to shake hands and then goes on his way. We call him Little Red Riding Hood.

God bless and much love, Maria.

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