Below is a response by Father Philip Kennedy, president of Catholic Missions In Canada (
www.cmic.info), to a query from a retired Catholic teacher seeking to volunteer in the missions.
Dear Father Kennedy,
I am a Catholic teacher who has just retired after more than 30 years in the Catholic schools. I regularly read your magazine accounts of missions and missionaries, and think I would be able to dedicate my time to serving as a missionary myself in the North. I spent five years teaching in the Northwest Territories in the 1980s, and being single, I now have time on my hands. What do I do now?
R.J.O., Oakville, Ontario
Dear R.J.O.,
Thank you for your generous impulse to work with our mission communities. You should be aware that Catholic Missions In Canada is not an order or a religious congregation that prepares people for missionary activity. We do our best to raise funds to keep the Catholic missions alive in this country and assist the many sisters, priests, bishops and lay people doing the great work of ministering to the people of God.
Nevertheless, there is a great need for lay women and men to labour for the cause of Christ in catechesis, church maintenance, parish organization, and prayer leadership.
Where would you begin?
You must start in your own home parish, be involved in your local church’s ministry, if you have not already done so. You should be known by your pastor and other church workers. If you feel happy and productive in ministry at the parish level in your own town or city, then you may approach a society which trains lay people for specific mission ministry. Sometimes, courses in theology and pastoral studies are recommended. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate have been pioneers in this dimension of Church work, and there are other such groups. You will be encouraged to contact a bishop in a Northern Canadian diocese, who will expect strong recommendations from your pastor and even from your present bishop. There is usually a period of supervision and probation that a new missionary must undergo on the site of the remote mission. After that, a commitment of a certain number of years may be required, and close cooperation with the bishop is necessary throughout the time of service.
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I hope this helps you discern the vocation you have contemplated. At least it should give you a sense of the qualifications and dedication of the lay men and women already serving in our missions.
–From “Letters to our Mission Office,”
Catholic Missions In Canada Magazine, Spring 2009
(Catholic Missions In Canada (
www.cmic.info) is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with offices at 201-1155 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2, and can be reached at 416-934-3424, or toll-free within Canada at 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642) or by email at
info@cmic.info)
