Texas Mission Conference
February 25 – 27, 2011
Sunday Morning Address
by: Matt Rousso
Introduction: Good morning! In the agenda, this morning's session is scheduled as "On-Going Formation and Mission Activity/Reflection." I had planned on doing a sort of "show and tell" – telling you about some of the things I've done re: on-going formation for participants of short term mission immersion programs and giving you a number of handouts that you might find helpful. However, I had a very restless night and very early this morning I decided that I needed to rewrite my talk for this session. Rather than an informative session, I'd like to have a sincere and open "heart to heart" sharing with you as directors of short term mission programs. I think that the vast majority of us here this morning are directors of programs. Others of you have been on more than one short term mission program so what I have to say is addressed to you also . . . I also need to forewarn you that what I have to say may be controversial. A participant told me yesterday that he found very challenging something I had said in one of the small group discussions. You also may find challenging some things I say today; and I confess, I myself will be challenged by some of what I have to say.
You know just recently I received notice that I have been working with Maryknoll for twenty years. And this morning I am realizing that I have been participating in the Texas Mission Conference for twenty years. In fact, only two other people who participated in this year's Conference have been here more than me – Larry Boudreau, who is here this morning and Sr. Patricia Ridgley, who was here yesterday. During these twenty years I have directed forty something short term mission trips to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, and El Salvador. And during these twenty years I have come to know some of you and have profited greatly from your experiences in mission – people like Awanda Whitworth, Fr. Ralph Davila, Fr. Bill Donnelly, Colleen and Felicia and Ken Eppes and Fr. Gerry Kelly, and many others. I wonder how many trips we have directed cumulatively. All total, I wonder how many people have we taken into mission – young people and adults?
I think we can proudly say that we have become really good at leading Mission Trips! We know how to recruit, who to contact in the host countries, what activities to provide for participants. We've written books and essays and directions. People even talk well about us! In fact, they talk so well about us that it should cause us to say, as Dom Helder Camara once said, "I pray that I can become the person people think I am."
Directors of Mission Formation:
Yes, it's been at least twenty years since the first Texas Mission Conference. We have become very good at directing short term mission trips. I believe strongly that we have now come to a point where we need to make a new turn; we need to enter into a new realm. We need to move from being good Directors of Mission Trips to become good Directors of Mission Formation. We need to begin to see ourselves differently – we must no longer see ourselves just as facilitators or directors of mission trips but rather as Directors of Mission Formation. We are not simply mission tour guides! We are about nothing less than developing future missionaries. I believe this change in understanding of who we are demands major shifts in what we are doing; I believe this new turn is going to be very challenging – for all of us. . . Now what might this look like? Well I'm not completely sure!! I just want to sketch some possibilities.
- First and foremost, I think we need to be absolutely clear that we are about forming missioners – forming missioners for life. Now I suspect that some people will think that is presumptuous – that we could do that. But I believe nothing less is worthy of our efforts! Taking people on an 8 day mission trip might be a first step – but we must be clear that we are not simply interested in bringing people into mission for only eight days - we want them to be in mission for a lifetime. Don't we really believe that mission begins in earnest when we come home? So when we invite someone to come on a mission trip we must be clear what we are inviting them to do with us; and we need to be clear when we talk with them – let's tell them from the word "go" that we are inviting them into life as a missioner. Maybe we ought to stop referring to "mission trips" and start saying we are engaging people in "mission programs." The word program implies much more than trip. You've got to fill in the blanks here. We are asking people to begin a journey that will last a lifetime.
- There has always been a saying in religious formation that "you can't give to others what you don't have yourself." Well I think that applies to us as well. We must attend seriously to our own formation as missioners. When is the last time that we have read anything serious re: mission? I asked someone the other day what he is reading. He told me, I really don't read. Well, maybe we have got to start listening to tapes! It's not acceptable for me or you to presume we know all about mission because we went on umpteen mission trips. Every diocese has obligatory continuing education and formation courses for its catechists; priests have to participate in continuing education weeks; even business people have to do continuing education. Do we think we can treat our own continuing education and formation any less seriously? . . . And there are all kinds of materials available to us – both in terms of mission spirituality as well as mission education.
Three books that I have personally found very helpful: "Engaged Spirituality" by Joseph Nangle, "Hope in an Age of Despair" by Albert Nolan and "Jesus Today" by Albert Nolan. (all three are recent Orbis publications.) Chapter 4 in "Hope in an Age of Despair" should be required reading for all. In this chapter entitled "The Service of the Poor and Spiritual Growth," Nolan offers a description of what needs to take place in our common journey toward maturity in the service of the poor; he shows how our service of the poor should move us from (1) Compassion and Relief Work to (2) Discovering Structures to (3) Discovering the Strength of the Poor and lastly (4) From Romanticism to Real Solidarity. This one chapter alone would give us a lot to work with (and struggle with!) for a good while. Wouldn't it be great if we as directors could have days of reflection together to work with such material?
- I think that you and I need to do much more Critical Thinking. I mean dead serious reflections! I hear people all the time saying "poor people are so happy . . . they are always smiling! . . . the poor seem so satisfied with what they have . . . they have so much faith" The implication is "so they're okay." I think this is very shallow thinking. I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone – but it is just shallow! We need to be more critical in our thinking. The reality is the vast majority of the people we meet during our mission immersion programs are suffering; they are oppressed – you can name for yourselves where their oppression stems from. Now they are not going to walk around crying, especially in front of visitors. But for sure we have to know that their economic burdens are severe – they worry a lot about how to feed their children. Do we know what a father or mother feels like when they don't have but beans and tortillas to put before their children? I met a kid in Bolivia; when I asked him why he was out on the street so late he told me "I had to leave the house; there is not enough for me and my brothers – I am the oldest." . . . Why do you think so many want to migrate? I had two experiences in Guatemala recently that drove me to depth reflection. Hugo is a young man who works in the kitchen of the Monastery in Esquipulas, Guatemala where I stay with groups. One day, only half-jokingly, he asked me to take him to the United States when I returned. I tried to brush him off saying something like, "Oh Hugo, you don't really want to leave Guatemala; look how nice it is here." He looked at me seriously and said "O yes; it is very nice here where you live but outside, where we live, it is very, very difficult." (of course I stay in the Monastery! with my groups - where we have three full meals a day, a private room, good bed and hot shower – and even a generator that goes on automatically when the electricity in town goes out.) Another young girl, Olga, came to an English class Janet was teaching. At the beginning of the class Janet asked "why do you want to know English?" Olga answered "I need to immigrate to the United States because there is no future for me here." Now I could feel her pain – but she said this with a smile on her face! Larry Boudreau has been talking to me for twenty years about Critical Thinking – and I still find it hard to do. . .
For me one of the most impressive moments of this Conference was the little talk Fr. Thames gave us on Friday evening. He was exposing us to some Critical Thinking. He didn't have a fancy Power Point presentation; he didn't even have his "talk" written out; he had a few notes on a small piece of paper. Yet his talk is going to be one of the first things I read from the transcripts of this Conference. Did you hear him say that the next 20 years are going to be influenced by the availability of food and water? What significance will that have on our formation as missioners? He's thinking seriously! - Not everyone will agree with this, but I think we have gotten really good at enunciating some of the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. We say "it's the best kept secret of the Catholic Church." I don't think it's any longer a secret. Every Catholic High School in the country has courses on Catholic Social Teaching. We've all got the cards from CRS with the 7 principles of Catholic Social Teaching. We know the doctrine; it's no secret. What we need to do is spend the next 20 years learning how to apply these principles to the issues of our day. Sure, we are not politicians; I agree, we are men and women of faith. I'm tired of people calling me a liberal because I am for universal health care; for justice of undocumented immigrants. I'm tired of people questioning whether I'm a true American because I am against war. I know we are not called to write the policies – but as men and women of faith we are called to advocate and act on behalf of justice. I believe we've got to get on the side of the Bishops! I admit, I often criticize some of their decisions. But they are engaged in campaigns for justice and we often leave them out on the line by themselves. They are speaking – and we should be speaking with them . . . loudly! Just last week an article appeared in newspapers about statements that Cardinal Mahoney and Archbishop Gomez made re: immigration reform. Mahoney said that some of the rhetoric being bandied around on television (both on Fox and on MSNBC) re: undocumented immigrants is "not worthy of the Gospel." Archbishop Gomez, speaking to Legatus, a Catholic business leader's organization, said the immigration system in the United States "is an immoral system that thrives upon the weakness and suffering of those without a voice." Can we repeat that in our meetings? Do we have handouts on this in our churches? . . . Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in early March urging him to sign legislation banning the death penalty in his state. Bishop Blaire recalled that, "Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have called for the end to the use of the death penalty as a sign of greater respect for all human life. . . Almost daily now we hear Bishops applying social justice principles to issues of our day. And the USCCB's web site has background papers and action alerts on all the justice campaigns being waged by the various Bishops' committees. ." I mean the Bishops are really pro-life – in the fullest sense of what that says. We must join with them – and help people hear what they are saying. We cannot shy away from being very specific in advocating just policies. This is the proper work of men and women of faith. It's not about politics –it's about faith.
- Yesterday, in our sessions, I think it became very clear that we must become very conversant with the core elements of mission. Call them what you want – "elements," or "characteristics" or "dimensions." And whether you count five or six or whatever – let's just get clear that mission is about more than just doing some good things for poor people and playing with their children. . . . We've got to get so clear about these "elements/characteristics/dimensions" that we can talk about them in very simple words. People (not even me!) cannot understand theological treatises. Yesterday one of the young people in our group said "these "elements, characteristics, dimensions" are too wordy; and if you are going to talk to young about them, you need visuals and stories." It's not enough to read off the elements from our mission books – we've got to be able to talk them- in language that we and others really understand.
And the "elements/characteristics/dimensions" are not "pick-and-choose." We are called to commit ourselves to the whole package. I reacted yesterday when someone said we are not all called to "evangelization" (which is one of the key elements of mission.) Yes we are! She probably meant we are not all called to preach in a pulpit – but we are all called to Evangelize (which as we know includes Witness and Proclamation.) And we are all called to Act on Behalf of Justice. And we are all called to Be with the Poor. And we are all called to engage in Solidarity with the Poor. This is what it means to be missionary. We can't keep watering it down to fit the ideas of people who come with us on mission trips. I think we have to hold up a high standard. . . Though challenging I still believe, as I am sure you do, that this missionary activity of Jesus which we have been drawn into is a wonderful enterprise.
Conclusion:
. . . I'm not sure how to end this "heart to heart" or where we go from here. What will you call this: "a Sunday morning ranting?" or a "locker room pep talk?" or "thoughtful provocations?" or "trying to sketch a new vision?" I don't know; I just leave it with you for what it is . . . Maybe the best thing to do is just take a break before our next presentation and finale.
